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Sen. Maurice Kremer

Return to Notable Former Nebraska Legislators

During Aurora Sen. Maurice Kremer's 20 years in the Nebraska Unicameral Legislature, he was best known for helping establish groundwater laws to help protect Nebraska's water resources.

His contributions earned him the nickname, "Mr. Water."

The Milford-born senator served in the Unicameral from 1963 to 1983, and was chairperson of the Agriculture and Public Works committees. He also served on the board of trustees for the Nebraska Groundwater Foundation.

Born in 1907, he died in 1990 at age 82.

A legislative resolution passed in his honor stated:

"... Senator Kremer is fondly remembered and respected ... for his fairness, quiet determination, Christian faith, modesty, sense of humor, and championship of agricultural and other rural issues tempered with concern for the entire state and the nation."

The Lincoln Journal said Kremer made sure that policy advances were firmly anchored.

"He understood the need for public participation in the conservation of privately controlled resources, but, being cautious and conservative, he always insisted on hard proof of justification," the newspaper said.

He graduated from Aurora High School and from Lincoln's Farm Operators College of Agriculture. He farmed and raised livestock in Hamilton County and was a partner in a family construction company in Aurora.

"As happy as he was serving the 34th District, he appeared happiest when he was on the tractor seat at planting time," wrote his hometown newspaper after he died.

"He was not flamboyant; he did not have the eloquent vocabulary of many of his colleagues ... What he did have was the respect of those he represented in the 34th District as well as those he worked with in Lincoln," the newspaper said.

Kremer was actively involved in local government and community groups. He was a 40-year member of Gideons International and served on the executive board of Back to the Bible.

Sources: The Aurora News-Register, Hastings Tribune, Lincoln Journal, Nebraska Blue Book and Legislative Journal.