Entwisle’s look back on life and business

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HURON — As a middle-school student in Adrian, Minn., Bob Entwisle was asked by a neighbor of his father’s business if he wanted to keep him company on a trip to Rochester.
“That was the first of many trips I made with the local funeral director,” Bob said, “and the difference he made in people’s lives during the difficulty of losing a loved one made a strong impact on me — it was permanently etched into my mind.”
When he was in high school, he no longer had time for those trips, and right after graducation, he was off to serve his country in World War II.
For most, that would be the end of that story.
However, when Bob returned at the end of the war, “I needed to decide what I was going to do with my life.” He wanted to do something rewarding and worthwhile in his career. “I remembered the compassion and positive impact that the funeral director had made on so many lives, and going down that career path was an easy decision that I have never regretted.”
After attending mortuary school in Minneapolis, Bob came back to Adrian and worked for his mentor. The business was a combination furniture store and funeral home, which was very common in those days.
“It goes back to the 1800s when furniture makers crafted coffins,” Bob said. “That experience working in Adrian set the bar pretty high, and I never wanted to let my mentor down.”
While learning the ropes of the business in Adrian, Bob ran across a girl he knew from high school — his future wife, Emily. “He was a senior when I was a freshman; I didn’t like him much and was glad when he graduated,” she said.
However, Bob noticed that the gangly freshman had “gotten all grown up and curvy” when he returned after spending several years in the war and at college. “I thought I had better see if she would go out on a date.” Sure enough, her opinion of Bob had also changed for the better and they started dating.
After 66 years of marriage the couple looks back fondly on their lives together and the path that led them to over four decades in the funeral business in Huron.
Emily was in training to be a nurse for the war effort, but WWII ended before she finished her schooling. However, Emily also had a passion to have a profession that made a difference, and continued to pursue her nursing degree.
“After we were married, Bob had a job offer in Mitchell; we moved there. I worked in the pediatrics wing of the hospital,” Emily said.

Then an opportunity arose in 1955 that permanently changed their lives. The owners of Welter Funeral Home were ready to retire and wanted to sell their business.
Bob partnered with Ken Loe, a funeral director from Pierpont, to buy it. “Ken needed to relocate to a larger community to better meet the medical needs of his child,” said Bob. “It was certainly a stretch for me financially – I had to borrow money from my brother, dad, in-laws, a Mitchell businessman and virtually everybody else I knew to come up with the down payment.” But with hard work and perseverance, everyone was paid back.
Ken was older than Bob, and the Entwisles became sole owners of the businesses when Ken retired in 1970. To keep up with the business, they hired Mel Radke to work with them. “Mel was the very best person to work with, both as an owner and from the client’s perspective,” said Emily. “He was so compassionate and caring, and we were so fortunate that he worked with us until we retired.” Bob noted that Mel continued to work with the new owners after his retirement, which made for a smooth transition.
When asked the secret to their success, Bob quickly credits his wife Emily for the success of both their family and business. “When we purchased the business and moved to Huron, she worked as a full-time surgery nurse in the hospital,” said Bob. “At the same time she also helped out extensively in the business.”
After earning her mortuary license in 1961, Emily began working full time at the business until they retired. “She was a specialist in attending to every single detail to make certain our clients’ varying needs were fully met – all while being an attentive and loving mother to our two children, Jim and John,” said Bob.
While they sold their business in 1996, several of their long-time acquaintances continued to request their personal attention when a loved one passed. Working in cooperation with the new owners of the business, the Entwisles assisted those friends with funeral arrangements by special request for many years after they “retired.”
The couple has maintained their state licensing and recently received recognition from the state of South Dakota for 65 years of continuous service to the profession. “We are honored to have been in a position to help so many,” said Emily.
In addition to funeral services, the business was also operating an ambulance service when they purchased it. “It was very difficult to adequately service the needs of our funeral families with the added responsibility of making ambulance calls,” Bob said. “We not only serviced Huron and the surrounding area, we also did frequent patient transfers to Sioux Falls and Rochester.”
Often, Bob and Emily went on multiple night time ambulance calls, and then assisted with funeral arrangements the next day after little or no sleep.
“When a local taxi service came to us in 1963 and wanted to take over the ambulance service, I was so excited that I could hardly restrain myself from immediately saying yes,” said Bob. “However, I first made sure they had staff members with the medical training required to do the job – then I almost jumped across the desk to shake his hand!”
Not long after taking over the ambulance service, the taxi company and the County Commission got into a dispute over reimbursement. “I think the going rate for a call was $5 at the time,” said Bob. The dispute ended in a stalemate, and the taxi company ultimately discontinued ambulance service.
Bob said that several doctors came to his office and asked him to resume the ambulance service. “I told them that the ambulance service had been difficult to staff alongside the funeral business, and I suggested that the fire department was in a better position to operate a 24-hour ambulance service.” And that is what happened. Said Bob, “It was in the best interest of the community.”
In his free time, Bob enjoyed playing golf “until my body refused to cooperate recently due to old age.” But he still continues his lifelong passion for sports, primarily following the Minnesota Twins and Vikings. “I watch them on TV or listen on the radio; I don’t think I missed over one or two games this last year,” said Bob.
In fact, that passion took Bob and his long-time friend, Larry Bales, on a memorable adventure when they piloted a small plane, a Piper Cherokee 180, to a newly organized event.
“We flew the plane to the very first Super Bowl in California; both the trip and game were unforgettable,” said Bob. “Of course, it was a great game to be a part of, and then we accidentally landed on a taxiway, instead of the runway, during a refueling stop in Denver on the way back — it was memorable all around!”
“We also piloted the small plane to a number of games in Minnesota with our wives until we pushed through some marginal weather one time,” Bob said as he looked over at Emily. “She said we were going to end up getting hurt – or worse,” said Bob. “She strongly suggested that I quit flying because I didn’t follow the limits of my training — and she was right about that, so I did.”
When asked why the couple decided to create an endowment in the Huron Community Foundation, their answer was simple. “Huron is our home. We have never considered moving anywhere else since the day we moved here — not while we were working or after we retired,” said Bob.
Emily added, “It has been a great town to live in, and we have seen the help that the Huron Community Foundation has provided to local groups. We like that – it is important to us.”
Bob and Emily’s son, Jim, worked in the business for a decade after getting his business degree. It wasn’t until he returned to his childhood home to work in the business that Jim came to understand the sacrifices his parents had made to serve their clients.
“When I was a youngster and our family had to cancel a planned vacation or other outing because of an unexpected death, I didn’t understand why they couldn’t let someone else handle it,” Jim said. “However, when I worked in the business and had the opportunity to observe my parents working with families I quickly realized that it was much more than an occupation – they felt a true calling to provide the best possible service during a family’s time of loss.”
Jim said that he wasn’t surprised when his parents told him about the idea of a gift to the HCF. “They have a lifelong history of service to the community, and it is completely in character for them to want to support the community they love for generations to come.
“I encouraged them to make the gift now, while they were able to witness the results,” Jim said. “Why wait until one or both of them have passed on and wouldn’t be able to see the great projects they will have supported.”
The Entwisles initially asked that their gift not be publicly announced. “They didn’t want to draw attention to themselves, “Jim said. However, after discussing it with their family they decided to allow the announcement. Said Jim, “We hope that others might see this gift and make a similar decision to support the HCF.”
“We aren’t the Rockefellers or prominent Huron citizens; we are just ordinary people that were looking for a lasting way to give back to the community,” Bob said. Summing up their feelings about the HCF gift, Emily added, “Huron provided us with great friendships and a wonderful quality of life over the last 60-plus years that it has been our home; we want to pass that legacy on to future generations.”