They are known as patrons of Franconian customs and culture: Georg and Theresia Götz celebrate their diamond wedding anniversary on July 21st. The church celebration will be rescheduled on Sunday, July 31, at 10 a.m. in the parish church of St. Peter and Paul.
It was Franz Fleckenstein, then cathedral conductor, who married the couple 60 years ago in the chapel of the Elisabethenheim. The cathedral choir sang under the direction of the young cathedral organist Paul Damjakob, who will also accompany the celebration of the marriage anniversary this time. Georg Götz had been a member of the cathedral choir since 1956, where he sang for over 50 years.
Georg Götz, born on March 14, 1936 in Grombühl, met Theresia Eules, who was born on October 19, 1940 in Collenberg-Fechenbach, in Bad Brückenau. Both were there because of a lung disease, which was completely cured in both. The doctor’s order at the time said: “You should avoid the sun and seek shade.” “We found our shadow in Brückenau and got married later,” the Götzens still smile today.
Destruction of Würzburg witnessed
Georg Götz experienced the destruction of Würzburg in March 1945 at the age of nine in the family’s garden at Bismarckswäldchen. He was evacuated to Rimpar with his mother. His father had died six weeks before he was born. Götz: “It wasn’t until 1956 that we were able to move back into Petrinistrasse.” In the meantime, the trained bricklayer had taken evening courses to become a construction engineer. He last worked for the Werner Kraft company and from 1975 in the building construction department of the city of Würzburg. In 1983, Götz switched to the building inspection office, where he was responsible for Heuchelhof, Heidingsfeld and Rottenbauer as master building inspector until he retired in 2000.
Theresia Eules had completed the rural home economics school and initially worked in private households. Later in Würzburg, she first worked as a seamstress, then worked in sales at the Fränkisches Volksblatt and the Main-Post until she retired in 2000.
In October 1968, Georg Götz founded the Main-Franken-Kreis (MFK): “Right from the start, our goal was to maintain culture, history and customs and to strengthen contacts with Würzburg’s partner cities.” Götz initiated – with the support of his wife – hundreds of trips at home and abroad, countless guided tours, wine tastings, lectures, participation in pageants and the Epiphany Ride. He was in Caen, France, 109 times alone. Numerous friendships emerged from all these activities, which Georg and Theresia Götz still enjoy today.
Numerous honors
The Würzburg couple also built up intensive relationships in the Holy Land. During 38 visits to date, Georg Götz has brought around 260,000 euros in donations he had suggested and collected for those in need in the Palestine region. His wife accompanied him nine times. The Greek Catholic Patriarch Gregorios III. presented Georg Götz with the Patriarch’s Cross in Gold in 2019 as a thank you for the decades of support and the organization of many encounters. She joins numerous honors for Götz from church, city, state and federal government.
Even today, the 86-year-old Georg Götz likes to give historical tours, lectures and also with photographs at other associations. But he also knows that the Main-Franken-Kreis, which is over 50 years old and once had over 1000 members, will no longer have a future: the few remaining activities of the association have recently fallen victim to Corona. Götz will not find a successor as MFK chairman. Because the Main-Franken-Kreis club house, the Debes villa between Nordtangente and Würzburger Stein, is no longer used, Götz plans to return it to the city at the end of the year.
On their marriage anniversary, Georg and Theresia Götz will congratulate the extended family with daughters Jutta and Petra, grandchildren Simon, Ruben, Rahel, Lea and Kathleen and great-grandchildren Elia, Samuel and Naomi. A few days ago, Auxiliary Bishop Ulrich Boom was a premature well-wisher at one of the services for married couples as part of the Kiliani pilgrimage week. All couples received a heart carved from olive wood in Bethlehem. A gift that particularly touched Georg and Theresia Götz given their strong contacts in the Holy Land.
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