August 6, 2014 at 1:51 p.m.
Hildebrand Funeral Home under new ownership
Hildebrand Funeral Home under new ownership
In the Northwoods, Hildebrand Funeral Home has helped make that process easier for 126 years.
Originally opened by F.A. Hildebrand in 1888, Hildebrand Funeral Home is still a signature business in the Rhinelander community.
In recent years, Dave Russ has served as owner and funeral director, but after more than four decades, he's decided to retire.
Tom Kniewel and his wife, Andrea, have purchased the funeral home and are excited to make Rhinelander their permanent home. Kniewel has been a licensed funeral director for over 30 years and has owned funeral homes in the past. He spent a couple years working at the Hildebrand Funeral Home under Russ and said he was immediately drawn to the history of the area.
"My wife and I have always had an affection for older homes and that's one of the things that drew us to Rhinelander," he said. "The historic district is really pretty special and unique. There are a lot of older homes, and the house we have is one of those older homes. We spent five years rehabbing it. We're just finishing up now."
A job near his hometown lured him away for awhile, but when Russ put the funeral home up for sale, the chance to head back to the Northwoods proved to tempting to pass up.
"When we moved to the Northwoods, we didn't have any children," Kniewel said. "My son, Alex, is now five years old. After we were here for a year, the opportunity arose to take a position in Waukesha. We though we were moving back to the Milwaukee area where we grew up. The funeral home here came up for sale, we still owned the home and we decided to make an offer. It's a good fit."
Now that he's entrenched his family as a permanent presence in the Northwoods, Kniewel said he has seen that Rhinelander's reputation as family-friendly is well deserved.
"The community itself is so friendly," he said. It's a peaceful area. We're a block off Stevens Street and it's still so quiet. The neighbors are friendly and the area is gorgeous. We love being able to drive just a few miles and be out in the woods. It's incredible."
While Hildebrand Funeral Home is welcoming its newest funeral director, it's also saying goodbye to Russ, a rock for countless Northwoods families who have dealt with loss over the years. He said it was a privilege, every step of the way.
"I was born and raised here, so to continue to work with the same families, generation after generation is something I'll always remember," Russ said. "These days, when we'd have a funeral, it was a family that we've buried their grandparents and parents for as well. Each funeral home probably has the same clientele for many years. That's how it was for us and that made it special."
The business has changed since Russ started way back in 1972. He said he was practically chained to his phone back then. Things are much easier now, he added.
"There were no cellphones back then," Russ said. "You had to stay home and the funeral home phones were brought into your house. We had extensions in our homes before there were cellphones and even pagers. Then we had bag phones, which were huge but you were finally mobile. You could actually go out and do something then instead of waiting for the phone to ring at the funeral home. Then we got call forwarding which would give us the ability to forward calls wherever we wanted."
Despite the technological advances, it became clear to Russ that it was time to call it quits. He said he grew tired of saying goodbye to his peers.
"We've taken care of grandparents, parents and now people my age," he said. "I'm 66 years old so I'm burying classmates. I've gone through three generations that I've taken care of. I've had too many of my friends become sick and die. I want more free time to be with my family and do the things I want to do, while I'm still able to get around. To leave and have time to visit family and do the things on my bucket list is something I'm really looking forward to."
Russ said he's confident Kniewel will carry on in a way that honors both the history of the business and its standing in the community. Kniewel said he's looking forward to making the place his own.
"There are a few things we want the community to know right away," he said. "We're very affordable. That's a concern more than ever with families. We'll work with the families and we're very approachable. Funeral service has evolved over the 30 years I've been a funeral director. You need to keep changing with the times. We offer more to each families now. We have a complimentary banquet facility. It should be an extension of your home. People can bring in any food or beverages they'd like. I think that's important in a community."
He's also excited about bringing Hildebrand Funeral Home into the 21st century. That means cutting edge technology like flatscreen televisions, but it also means a magnified understanding of what his customers want.
"We're working on putting together a children's room," Kniewel said. "Sometimes families are here for a long time and that can be tough on young children. We'll give them a place to go where they can have fun and their parents can check on them. Children should be involved in visitations and services, but they're also kids, so that's something we're working on."
It's that kind of approach that makes Russ so confident in his successor.
Andy Hildebrand may be reached at [email protected].
Editor's note: In the interest of full disclosure, River News Reporter Andy Hildebrand is the great-great-grandson of Hildebrand Funeral Home founder F.A. Hildebrand. The Hildebrand family is no longer involved in the operation of the funeral home.
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