Beloved Bartender ‘Ger’mama’ Is Retiring

Germaine Bowers passes out hard candies to patrons during service on July 10. Photo by Sophie Bolich.

Germaine Bowers makes her way down the bar, shaking a basket of cellophane-wrapped hard candies as she passes the occupant of each stool. It’s just before noon on what is shaping up to be a scorching July Friday, but the cool, dark cave of Coffeetails is worlds away from the sunbaked streets outside.

In the 18 years since it opened, the third-shift tavern has maintained three constants: spiked coffee, a colorful cast of regulars, and Bowers behind the bar. Over time, Bowers’ calm demeanor, friend-to-all attitude, and tendency to distribute snacks have earned her the nickname “Ger’mama.”

She fulfills the role with ease. “They’re all my baby girls,” Bowers said of her regular customers. “I’m pretty much the older person and the mama figure.”

Just as summer in Milwaukee nears its fever pitch, Bowers is preparing to leave her post. She’ll soon retire with family to a private lake in Michigan, a plan she announced last year to allow plenty of time for goodbyes.

A five-decade industry veteran, Bowers has spent her career “totally behind the pine,” working at a Big Boy burger joint and a gas station before securing her first bartender position at age 18. “I just like doing it,” she said. “Every day is a little bit different.”

These days, she works the morning shift at Coffeetails, the downtown dive at 1506 N. Van Buren St., which shares a liquor license with the attached Y-Not II. Bandanna knotted over her short-cropped hair, Bowers greets 6 a.m. crowds — mostly industry and third-shift workers — with the cheery confidence of a well-seasoned barkeep.

“There are only a few bars that are open that early, and it does require a special touch,” said Paul Chier, a longtime friend and co-worker of Bowers. “When you’re open at six in the morning, you get a lot of weirdos,” he added with a laugh. “But Germaine is very, very good.”

Though Bowers will continue working with a limited schedule until her final shift on July 26, Coffeetails hosted an official send-off earlier this month. Patrons from all walks of life poured into the retirement party, packing “every inch of the bar for the better part of eight hours,” Chier said.

“There was representation from every group – the service industry, her customers, family and friends, former co-workers. It brings a tear to my eye just thinking about it. She’s a tiny, diminutive woman, but she made a hell of an impact in a lot of people’s lives.”

Bowers’ departure will mark the end of an era for the East Side, where she was born and raised, later working under three generations of the DePalma family, including at Monica’s on Astor and the original Y-Not tavern. The timing is especially difficult, she said, given the recent death of patriarch Anthony F. “Tony” DePalma.

“They’ve been like my family for so long,” Bowers said. “Losing Tony was so hard for all of us.”

Though she’s eager for the slow, peaceful days that await her in Michigan, Bowers is sad to part with the community she’s built over a lifetime in Milwaukee. And her absence will be felt in return.

“Everyone loves Germaine,” said Adele Fernandez, whose industry career paralleled Bowers’. “She has a heart of gold, and she’s going to be missed.”

A large part of Bowers’ appeal is her immediate ease with new people, a skill that’s long been apparent to her brother, Barry Jens.

“Even as a kid, Germaine made friends easily,” he said. “Now when I visit, we can’t walk half a block before someone comes up to hug ‘Ger’mama.’ It happens near Coffeetails, on Brady Street, in Walgreens – everywhere we go.”

Those connections run deeper than a simple beer-and-shot transaction. “She has attended weddings of customers she first introduced, held their babies, even attended their funerals,” Jens added. “She’s been a shoulder to cry on and a cheerleader when times are going well.”

Bowers’ generosity is reflected in numerous anecdotes from her loved ones, including the tale of her serving breakfast to college students after their overnight pizza-delivery shifts. “She gave so much care and comfort to those kids, they started calling her their Milwaukee Mama,” Jens said.

That nickname would eventually be shortened to its current form, “Ger’mama,” which now appears on Bowers’ own merch: stickers that read, “I woke up with Ger’mama.”

Though frequently visible on bumpers and signposts across the city, the stickers have also journeyed to faraway places including Thailand and Australia. “My stickers are in every country I’ve never been to,” Bowers said.

Perhaps her greatest triumph — and certainly the best known — is Bowers’ annual toy drive. For 15 years and counting, Bowers has raised funds to purchase holiday gifts for children in need. The effort has become central at Coffeetails, which hosts a yearly Christmas party to support the drive, and has spread to industry folks throughout the neighborhood, some of whom pledge a day’s worth of tips or supply in-kind donations for the cause.

“As much fun as those bashes were, my favorite part was going toy shopping with Germaine the next morning,” said Bowers’ sister-in-law, Tina Jens. “A lot of people donated money rather than toys because we knew Germaine would pinch the value out of every last penny. Never has Kohl’s Cash been more effectively used.”

The women would make a day of purchasing basketballs, dolls, puzzles and blocks, making sure to include options that “represented and reflected kids of color and kids with disabilities,” and giving business to several independent, family-owned stores on the East Side to balance out big-box buys.

Journey House has been the drive’s recipient for all but its first two years. “It has my heart,” Bowers said of the nonprofit. “I’m a kid at heart, and I love shopping for toys.”

When the time came to deliver the toys to Journey House, however, Bowers made herself scarce.

“She never wanted any of the attention to be about her,” Tina Jens said, adding that her sister-in-law also supports veterans, domestic violence survivors and the unhoused year-round, raising money, collecting clothes and assembling care packages. “I’ve known a lot of kind and caring people, but none so generous as Germaine.”

When she moves, Bowers will leave the toy drive in the hands of co-workers who plan to continue the tradition in her honor. Service at Coffeetails will also continue, ideally with minimal change, Chier said, noting that those picking up the torch have learned from the best.

“The people who are taking over her shift, myself included, were taught by her,” he said.

Bowers will be on-site for several more days, candy in hand as she tempts patrons to look up from their Coors Lights and Irish coffees to reach for a piece. She’ll leave big shoes to fill and maybe some cavities in her wake, but is working to fill a handwritten address book with a promise to keep in touch.

“I’m not going to say goodbye, I’ll say see y’all later,” Bowers said. As it turns out, even retirement can’t keep her away from the job. “Monica [DePalma] already put me on the schedule for September.”

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