Home as a concern
Home is for josef "sepp madl not a kitschy romantic affair, but a concern. This was already the case in its original home of altotting. And that is also the case in stadtsteinach, where he found his current home in 1958. Today, tuesday, he turns 80 years old.
Even though it wasn’t his first choice, he had to learn the carpentry trade from home first, madl recounts. After three years of apprenticeship, he added two more years as a journeyman. In his free time, he explored his upper bavarian homeland, climbed mountains, and was also involved in the altotting fire department and the kolping family.
Patrols instead of workshops
In a kolping magazine he finally read something about the border guard and decided to apply there. Patrolling drapes was more what he had in mind than working on wood in a workshop. He was taken.
And after eight years, he was faced with the alternative: border protection on the spot or professional civil service in some office or other. He decided to go into practice and came to stadtsteinach in 1958 to the base of the border guard in the former post office buildings, today salem.
Here he also met and fell in love with his wife hildegard, who to this day is not only a support for him, but a true partner with the same interests, as he says. This is also how he got to know the frankenwald, where he feels "just like before in the alps, only here the peaks are missing", as he teasingly remarks.
Patrols at the czech border were the order of the day until 1962, when the border guards were replaced by a federal army telecommunications regiment in the post office buildings. Other duty stations were coburg and nabburg. Madl changed to the federal army administration and was stationed in munich for more than 20 years. For the last nine years of his career, he was the head of administration at the army base in hof. As a parting gift, he was awarded the honorary cross of the german armed forces in gold.
Even when they were in other places, sepp and hildegard madl were always drawn back to stadtsteinach. "We were here at least once a month, says sepp madl, and at the request of hildegard’s parents they finally settled down in stadtsteinach in 1994.
Diligent wegewart
After their long absence, both of them initially sought and found a connection through the kolping family; madl is still a parish councillor in st. Michael. He also belonged to the fire department, the red cross, the music club and other associations. But especially in the frankenwaldverein sepp madl has been actively involved. He was a diligent wegewart and is still a schriftfuhrer. The local hiking trail concept bears his signature, as do the certified hiking trails.
The madls still share their passion for their hometown and the frankenwald with hiking tours today. To stay fit himself, sepp madl accompanies his wife to the gymnastic group as the only man.
And last year he wanted to know it again and took part in the frankenwald marathon – and the complete 44 kilometers to the finish line.
