GO WEST, YOUNG KRAUT
Published in the July 11, 2026 edition.
It’s fitting that Dieter Fiebiger, who passed away on the evening of Friday, July 3, graces the same front page as a lion. Not only did he have the heart of one, he WAS one – a member of the Mammoth Lakes Lions Club for half a century.
We’ve reached into the archives to reprint a profile on Dieter written by Mike McKenna which graced the cover of this publication’s Sept. 5, 2009 issue.
A funeral service is scheduled for Saturday, July 25 at 11 a.m. at the Mammoth Lakes Lutheran Church, a church Dieter literally helped found in 1974. All are welcome.
A celebration of life will be held sometime in August or September.
When Dieter Fiebiger was a young boy growing up in the Bavarian town of Erlangen, life wasn’t exactly fertile ground for dreamers. With Germany in the throes of World War II, dreams had given way to nightmares. But that didn’t matter much to “der junge” Dieter.
On that fateful day in 1945, when American and Royal British Air Forces attempted to bomb the nearby city of Nuremberg off the face of the Earth, Dieter didn’t run for cover like everyone else. Instead, he stayed outside to watch the planes fly by.
“My mom was yelling at me to come down to the basement, but I wouldn’t go down there. I just loved the planes, so big, fast, powerful. It was exciting,” explained Dieter earlier this week, with a twinkle in his steely blue eyes and a heavy dose of his Deutschland accent.
A couple of weeks ago, Dieter celebrated his 76th birthday hiking around the Twenty Lakes Basin with his wife of 51 years, Marlene. While most people Dieter’s age wouldn’t even think about hiking around lakes more than 10,000 feet above the sea, Dieter can’t see living life any other way.
“I always want to have a little fun and not just ‘umph, umph, umph’ all the time. You know, you can’t be too serious. You still have to enjoy life,” Dieter said, from across the kitchen table at the home he built in 1973, above Alpine Garage in Mammoth Lakes.
Eggshells
In 1952, Germany was a post-Apocalyptic mess. Hope, like much of the Krautland, lay in ruins. But somehow, Dieter’s young spirit remained strong and he still harbored dreams of one day owning his own automotive garage. His hopes for a happy future took an especially lucky turn the day a cute young “fraulein” moved in next door.
“I could look into her bedroom window from my house and I liked what I saw,” Dieter said, with a big, boyish grin beneath his mostly-full head of graying hair. “You know how it works. You go to a dance together and then you grow closer and closer and then you get engaged.”
By 1958, Marlene and Dieter were happily wed, and Dieter had just received a Master’s Degree in Automotive Mechanics. Despite being the youngest graduate in a class of 63 (half of whom didn’t pass the grueling, 15 day final exam), Dieter had difficulty finding work and the newlyweds had trouble finding a home.
“No one would hire me because they’d say, ‘du hast noch die Eierschalen hinter den Ohren,’ that I’ve still got eggshells behind my ears. It’s an old German saying.” Dieter explained, adding, “It was also tough to find any place to live because everything had been bombed to pieces. So we said, ‘Okay, Germany, goodbye.’”
Jaguars
The Fiebiger’s headed west across the Atlantic in a big, powerful airplane, not all that different from the ones Dieter watched more than a decade before destroy his homeland. Their first stop in North America was Toronto, Canada, where they lived with family. As is the case with German taught mechanics, Dieter had no trouble finding work. The couple spent four years living in the land where they say “Eh?” Soon, however, Dieter had begun to suffer from some serious desires to answer the call, “Go west, young man.”
“I wanted to see the Wild West,” Dieter said, waving his thick hands. So he left his job working on Jaguars and converted a 1953 Chevy so that the seats would fold down and make a big bed for the Fiebigers, which now included a daughter, Debbie.
For a few months, the young family explored, rolling through both the Canadian and American Rockies before heading to California to check out job offers Dieter had received in both the Bay Area and LA.
“They used to say that if you can fix a Jaguar, you can fix any car. So I had no trouble finding work,” he said.
Preferring the warmer Southern California weather, the Fiebigers settled in the San Fernando Valley and Dieter began working on the Jaguars of the stars in Hollywood and Beverly Hills.
“Bob Hope and Frank Sinatra were always very nice to me, always treated me like a friend,” said Dieter, who would occasionally have a drink with the “Chairman of the Board.”
Having grown up in the brewing haven of Bavaria, naturally, Dieter enjoys a beer now and then; although it did take a little while for him to get used to drinking beer cold, as is the custom in America.
“I only drink beer when I’m thirsty,” he joked.
Dream fulfilled
After getting settled in their new home, the Fiebigers took their first trip to the Eastern Sierra. And much like the first time Dieter set eyes on Marlene, he was instantly smitten with Mammoth.
“As an immigrant you always look for what you left behind. For me it was the mountains around Bavaria, and I found it in Mammoth,” Dieter said.
The Fiebigers began to vacation regularly in Mammoth and by 1969 Dieter had saved up enough money to buy a lot on Center Street. It took four more years and several rounds with the County (Mammoth was far from being an incorporated town), before Dieter was given the okay to build a garage and home he designed and drew up himself.
Construction was completed that summer and on Dieter’s birthday, August 27, 1973, Alpine Garage officially opened for business.
“Alpine Garage had been my dream forever and ever and it finally came true,” Dieter proudly declared.
After getting his garage rolling, Dieter became active in the community. Over the next three decades he would, among other feats, found the very popular local chapter of AYSO (Youth Soccer), help found the Ski Education Foundation, sing in the Community Chorale, volunteer for Jazz Jubilee and the Ski Race Department, join the Lions (where he has been named “Citizen of the Year” three times and received the prestigious Melvin Jones Fellowship Award), and help found the Lutheran Church, at the corner of Old Mammoth and Meridian.
Dieter even placed the large wooden cross at the top of the church, for his youngest son, Kenny, who died of bone cancer shortly before the family moved to Mammoth.
“That cross is 14 feet tall, seven feet deep and seven feet high and I had to carry wood up to the top of that church 50 times to build it,” Dieter explained, as his ever-present grin faded for a moment. “I did it to honor my son, Kenny.”
The Future
Dieter’s other son, Michael, grew up in Mammoth and in Alpine Garage. From the age of 10 on, Dieter had his son helping out around the shop and listening to him preach that his son should learn a trade.
But “Big-er,” as he’s known throughout Mammoth (a nickname that aptly matches his personality, sense of humor and energy), much like most young men about to graduate from high school, wasn’t really sure what he wanted to do when he grew up.
As commencement ceremonies approached, Dieter began to grow nervous about his son’s future. Then one afternoon, Big-er came home with a local newspaper article that asked graduating Seniors what they planned to do after graduating. Mike, as his dad calls him, had been one of those interviewed.
“He came home and handed me this paper and in it he said that he planned on going to college to be an automotive mechanic,” Dieter said as a monstrous grin spread over his face.” I dropped the paper. I was so happy and excited.”
The father and son team worked together until the day Dieter turned 65, when he retired and passed the reigns off to his son and nephew, Johnny Teller. “I did my share. That was that,” he said.
Now Dieter spends his days as as an active grandfather, a Park and Recreation Commissioner (fighting for a Community Rec Center), competing in local 5Ks (usually winning his class), skiing in winter and running around as a referee for youth and high school soccer games during warmer weather months.
“My motto is: youth and sport is my support,” explained Dieter, who annually makes donations to 10 different youth sports organizations. “The fact is sports and bad habits don’t mix. That’s my belief,”
Another one of Dieter’s beliefs is that, as he said, “Our youth is the future of our country.” A future Dieter, as he always has, is very hopeful about.
A few stats…
Dieter Fiebiger is survived by daughter Debbie Teller and husband Karl, son Mike Fiebiger and wife Karen; four grandchildren: John Teller and wife Angela, Elise Martin and husband Nick, Brittany O’Brien & husband Jesse, and Mishelle Fiebiger and partner Michael Plunkett; and five great-grandchildren: Brody Teller, Reese Teller, Desmond Martin, Warren Martin and Mason Plunkett
*Lions Club member 50+ years
*Eastern Sierra Community Chorus 10+ years
Founding Member Mammoth Lakes Lutheran Church, 1974
AYSO Soccer Coach & Referee over 40 years
High school soccer referee (stopped refereeing at age 90)
Member Mammoth Lakes Parks & Rec Commission
In regard to AYSO, son Mike said Dieter founded Mammoth’s chapter in 1984. Initially, eight kids signed up. Now there are close to 1,000.
Mike said during the summer months, Dieter would ride his bike to the Lakes Basin every day.
At one point, Mike said, ‘Dad, there’s no tread left on your tires. You’re gonna have to replace them.’
A child of privation, Dieter would argue of course there’s tread left.
During the war, Dieter would steal gasoline off the tanks at the U.S. bases and sell it to German farmers so he could buy potatoes to help feed the family.
They lived for two years on potatoes and strawberries.
“And he’d still eat them,” said Mike. “How could you eat them anymore if that’s all you ate for two years?”
At the end, Dieter was sleeping a lot. One morning, Mike was sure he wasn’t going to wake up. He left for a moment to call his sister to brace her.
When he returned, Dieter suddenly sat bolt upright in his bed and said, “Hey, when’s the game [World Cup] on?”
Dieter loved soccer, the Bundesliga and his favorite team, Bayern Munich.
