COMMUNITY NEWS
NEW MEMORIAL BENCH INSTALLED AT PANORAMA WEST
George Mirras is honored with bench on the fourth hole behind the 296-yard par-four teebox.
Posted 09/13/2023
By Susan Thompson
Lake Panorama Times
A new granite bench was installed at the Panorama West golf course Aug. 25. It’s in memory of George Mirras of Urbandale, who passed away Feb. 14, 2023. The bench is on the fourth hole behind the 296-yard par-four teebox. It offers views of both the Panorama West pond and the fourth fairway.
Tom Gratias and his wife, LaDonna, have owned a secondary home at Lake Panorama since 1990. With help from Greater Des Moines Home Builders Association, Gratias led the effort to raise money for the memorial bench and worked with Friends of Lake Panorama to order and arrange installation of the bench.
He founded Gratias Construction in 1972. “I became friends with George Mirras when he worked as a salesman for Midwest Gas. He called on builders to promote installing gas furnaces and appliances until he was 70 years old,” Gratias says. “When he retired in 1993, he took up golf.”
Gratias says Mirras came to Lake Panorama most weekends to play with him at the Panorama West golf course. “Often, Joe Scheiring joined us. George wasn’t a low handicap golfer, but he did his best,” he says. “Especially as he got older, if he didn’t hit a good shot, another ball would pop out of his pants pocket like a slot machine, and he would say ‘That wasn’t a golf shot...I better try another one.’ ”
That’s the back story to the words engraved on the bench: “In Memory of George Mirras, with pants pockets full of golf balls, was always prepared for another swing.”
Mirras was born in Fargo, North Dakota, on Oct. 18, 1922. He enlisted in the Army during World War II and saw combat in France, Holland and Germany. He was promoted to Artillery First Lieutenant in the Korean War where he trained troops in Japan.
After completing his journalism studies at the University of Missouri, he worked in marketing for the Junction City Kansas Daily Union, Omaha World Herald, WOW Radio & TV in Omaha, Des Moines Register & Tribune, Business & Industry Magazine in Des Moines, Iowa Power & Light Company, and the Home Builders Association of Greater Des Moines.
“George simply was fun to be around, with a competitive spirit to want to hit a better shot. He played golf with me at Panorama West for more than 20 years, all the way up into his 90s,” Gratias says.
The Mirras bench is the eighth gray granite bench installed at the Panorama West golf course by Des Moines-Winterset Memorials.
By Susan Thompson
Lake Panorama Times
A new granite bench was installed at the Panorama West golf course Aug. 25. It’s in memory of George Mirras of Urbandale, who passed away Feb. 14, 2023. The bench is on the fourth hole behind the 296-yard par-four teebox. It offers views of both the Panorama West pond and the fourth fairway.
Tom Gratias and his wife, LaDonna, have owned a secondary home at Lake Panorama since 1990. With help from Greater Des Moines Home Builders Association, Gratias led the effort to raise money for the memorial bench and worked with Friends of Lake Panorama to order and arrange installation of the bench.
He founded Gratias Construction in 1972. “I became friends with George Mirras when he worked as a salesman for Midwest Gas. He called on builders to promote installing gas furnaces and appliances until he was 70 years old,” Gratias says. “When he retired in 1993, he took up golf.”
Gratias says Mirras came to Lake Panorama most weekends to play with him at the Panorama West golf course. “Often, Joe Scheiring joined us. George wasn’t a low handicap golfer, but he did his best,” he says. “Especially as he got older, if he didn’t hit a good shot, another ball would pop out of his pants pocket like a slot machine, and he would say ‘That wasn’t a golf shot...I better try another one.’ ”
That’s the back story to the words engraved on the bench: “In Memory of George Mirras, with pants pockets full of golf balls, was always prepared for another swing.”
Mirras was born in Fargo, North Dakota, on Oct. 18, 1922. He enlisted in the Army during World War II and saw combat in France, Holland and Germany. He was promoted to Artillery First Lieutenant in the Korean War where he trained troops in Japan.
After completing his journalism studies at the University of Missouri, he worked in marketing for the Junction City Kansas Daily Union, Omaha World Herald, WOW Radio & TV in Omaha, Des Moines Register & Tribune, Business & Industry Magazine in Des Moines, Iowa Power & Light Company, and the Home Builders Association of Greater Des Moines.
“George simply was fun to be around, with a competitive spirit to want to hit a better shot. He played golf with me at Panorama West for more than 20 years, all the way up into his 90s,” Gratias says.
The Mirras bench is the eighth gray granite bench installed at the Panorama West golf course by Des Moines-Winterset Memorials.