Obituary: Art Kaemmer, of St. Paul was pediatrician, philanthropist and ‘Alice the Gorilla’

Mary Divine, Pioneer Press
·8 min read

Art Kaemmer was known for his work in pediatric medicine, his love of music, his philanthropic endeavors and his passion for fly fishing in remote rivers around the world.

But Kaemmer, of St. Paul, may be best remembered as “Alice the Gorilla,” who for 45 years frightened — and delighted — children on Halloween night in the Merriam Park and Crocus Park neighborhood.

As trick-or-treaters climbed the stone steps to Kaemmer’s front door, spotlights would suddenly flood the entryway and illuminate a large cage. Behind the bars of the cage, Kaemmer, dressed as Alice, would be pounding his chest and grunting.

“I got some flood lamps that operated with a foot switch, and I put that under the rug, so Alice could sit there in the dark,” Kaemmer told the Pioneer Press in 2018. “The kids would come up just to the bars, I’d hit the foot switch and stand up and ‘Grrrr!’”

Alice then asked trick-or-treaters if they had brought a canned good for the food shelf. If the answer was yes, a big hairy arm with real monkey fur would hand them two pieces of candy. If the answer was no, they would get one. Kids learned quickly that it paid to bring a canned good to the “gorilla house.”

Kaemmer died Jan. 31 of natural causes at his home in St. Paul. He was 80.

Kaemmer “knew that the kids needed a mission on Halloween, and he provided that by having them bring food for a neighboring food shelf,” said Philip Brunelle, a longtime friend. “His profession was as a pediatrician, and he was the quintessential example. Whenever I saw him with a young person, he was focused on that child 100%. That’s why ‘Alice the Gorilla’ was a huge neighborhood hit.”

The tradition ended on Halloween night 2018 when Alice “retired.” “It’s time,” Kaemmer told the Pioneer Press. “Alice has gotten old and will be staying at the zoo from now on. She won’t appear again.”

Brussels sprouts at Carleton College

Kaemmer grew up in Fond du Lac, Wis., where he played football and ran track in high school. He graduated from Carleton College in Northfield in 1965 with a degree in English.

While at Carleton, he met Martha Hulings, who was a year younger.

“My dad was a bit of a mischief/troublemaker at Carleton, and my mom’s older sister, Mary, who was a senior, knew this,” said Fred Kaemmer, the couple’s son. “When Mary got wind of the fact that my dad wanted to date my mom, she was way against it. My mom was very quiet and shy, and it wasn’t a good match according to Mary, who knew my dad’s reputation on campus.”

But Kaemmer persevered, going so far as to make his way through the seating chart at choir “to eventually get seated next to my mom,” Fred Kaemmer said.

And then there were the Brussels sprouts.

“Once, my dad ate a whole bowl of Brussels sprouts in order to get cut from working at the dining hall and make it to his date with my mom,” Fred Kaemmer said. “The shift supervisor said that anyone who ate the Brussels sprouts could get out of work early, and my dad rose to the challenge.”

The couple got married in 1967 at People’s Congregational Church in Bayport and had two children. Martha Kaemmer, co-founder and longtime owner of Cooks of Crocus Hill, died in 2018 at the age of 73.

‘Impending delivery’

After graduating from Carleton, Art Kaemmer attended Marquette School of Medicine, now the Medical College of Wisconsin, in Milwaukee. One of his most memorable med school moments occurred just a few days before his 1970 graduation: delivering Fred, the couple’s first child, in the bathroom of the couple’s apartment in Milwaukee.

“At his commencement, Eleanor Delfs, then the Patrick J. & Margaret G. McMahon Chair of Obstetrics and Gynecology, singled him out, saying she didn’t know whether to give him an ‘A’ for effort or an ‘F’ for failure to recognize the signs of impending delivery,” according to an article about Kaemmer published in Medical College of Wisconsin (MCW) Magazine in 2020. “Perhaps this was a fitting start to a career dedicated to helping children and their families!”

Kaemmer became a pediatrician after completing his residency at Maine Medical Center in Portland, Maine.

“He always wanted to be a doctor,” Fred Kaemmer said. “From a young age, he knew that was what he wanted to do.”

He was drawn to pediatrics because “he loved the innocence and honesty of children,” Fred Kaemmer said. “He always said there was this sweet spot – from ages 4 to 10. He liked that energy and enthusiasm and the innocence and to a certain degree, gullibility.”

‘A better place for kids’

Kaemmer worked at Group Health, now HealthPartners, where he “championed the wellbeing of hospitalized children and handed out ‘Super Kid’ stickers to his patients,” according to the article in MCW Magazine. He also served as a clinical associate professor of family practice and community health at the University of Minnesota Medical School.

In 2011, Kaemmer established the Kaemmer Professorship in Pediatrics: The “Super Kid” Chair in Special Needs at MCW. “Children often have a limited capacity to comprehend the circumstances of their illness or hospitalization,” Kaemmer told MCW Magazine. “I wanted the hospital to be a better place for kids, especially those with special needs.”

The Kaemmers were strong supporters of arts organizations throughout the Twin Cities, and Art Kaemmer served on the boards of The St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, VocalEssence, Minnesota Opera, The Schubert Club and the Minnesota Chorale.

“Art was truly a Renaissance man: He deeply loved music; it was not a superficial thing,” said Brunelle, artistic director and founder of VocalEssence. “He was a keen listener, a person who asked fascinating questions of conductors and performers, who found composers to be amazing people that he wanted to learn from, and a man who understood what it takes for music organizations to survive.”

Kaemmer expressed his love of music by serving as the organist on the pump organ — “you’re basically running in place playing the organ,” Fred Kaemmer said — choirmaster and minister for summer church at the family’s cabin on Sand Island, one of the Apostle Islands on the south shore of Lake Superior. He also sang bass — “louder than anyone else” — in the Olivet Congregational Church choir for more than 40 years, Fred Kaemmer said.

Art and Martha Kaemmers were lifetime supporters of Carleton and served as trustees of the college. The Kaemmer Family Gallery at the Perlman Teaching Museum and the Kaemmer Classroom at Hulings Hall were named after the couple, who in 1988 received the Exceptional Service Award from the Carleton Alumni Association. The Kaemmers were inducted into Carleton’s Founders Court in 2018, and received the William Carleton medal in 1999.

“Carleton is the great college it is because of the talents, wisdom, and ready sense of humor of graduates like Art,” said former Carleton president Robert Oden, a longtime friend. “Art was a loyal friend — a friend always willing to do what was needed for his friends. He was simply a grand human being, a grand man, in every way. He was beyond terrific, and we will miss him.”

Fred Kaemmer said his parents made lifetime friends at Carleton. “My mom’s parents met in a science class at Carleton,” he said. “One of my dad’s siblings went to Carleton. My sister went there. (My parents) were strong believers in a liberal-arts education. They knew the importance of a curious, well-rounded mind.”

Art Kaemmer also served as chairman emeritus of the National Medical Fellowships, which provides scholarships to students underrepresented in medicine, and he was board chair of the HRK Foundation for 25 years.

‘Always a new river with new fish’

Kaemmer was an accomplished fly fisherman who fished in remote rivers in Iceland, Brazil, Argentina, Chile, New Zealand, Mongolia, Canada, England, Russia and Scotland, among other places. He also loved saltwater fly fishing in places like Christmas Island and the Seychelles. He often went with longtime friends, David Whitney and the late Ivan Schloff, Fred Kaemmer said.

“It was all about the experience,” he said. “There was always a new river with new fish and untapped resources. It’s what fishermen do. They think they might be missing out, so they always have to go and try a new spot.”

Kaemmer “was among the finest outdoorsmen I have met, and I have met a lot of them,” said Oden, a fellow fly fishing enthusiast. “Art knew streams, knew bonefish water and knew game superbly well.”

One of Kaemmer’s favorite places to fish was the Whale River in Nunavik, Quebec, Canada. He went every August for 35 years in a row, Fred Kaemmer said.

“Martha would often comment, the number of pictures of men and fish in his possession are epic,” his obituary stated. “There is nary a riverbank, flats boat or lodge that he hasn’t told a joke in, and he will be remembered by the anglers who knew him for his encyclopedic and theatrical repertoire.”

Kaemmer served on the boards of both the American Museum of Fly Fishing and the Kinnickinnic River Land Trust.

Kaemmer is survived by his son, Fred, and his daughter, Julia, and four grandchildren.

A celebration of his life will be held later this spring.

Related Articles