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Willard Houle spent life bettering his home town |
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Wednesday, 30 April 2008 |
Cliff Buchan
News Editor
They say things — good and bad — come in threes and so it is with the passing of prominent Forest Lake residents.
First there was former meat market owner Tom Ersfeld on March 30. Bernard “Spike” Ashbach, who spent more than a half century with Ashbach Construction, passed away on April 14.
Now Willard Houle of Forest Lake has joined the list.
Houle, 91, the second generation of the Houle family to own E.J. Houle Feed Mill in Forest Lake, died on Friday, April 25. His passing marks the third departure of a key figure from the community within the span of 27 days.
Building a business and promoting the community were both trademarks of Willard Houle.
Will be missed
Bob Johnson hadn’t been in Forest Lake for more than a week when Houle walked into his store to buy minnows for a late winter fishing outing.
That was in March of 1949, just days after Johnson purchased what became Bob Johnson Sporting Goods.
It was the start of a long friendship between the two who hunted and fished together, enjoyed social outings with their wives and helped craft business ventures that improved Forest Lake, Johnson said.
The two were instrumental in the planning and building of Forest Hills Golf Club and were partners in the Town ‘N Country Lanes bowling business that no longer exists in Forest Lake.
Both ventures were signs that Houle saw good business deals and projects that would make Forest Lake a better place, Johnson said.
“We were playing golf at what is today Castlewood,” Johnson said of the plans that led to Forest Hills. Houle, Johnson and a host of other Forest Lake residents began exploring plans for a new private course here.
The group rejected an offer to buy Castlewood for $135,000 and instead purchased 120 acres of farm land just east and south of Castlewood from Delbert Hoekstra. That was in 1958.
Two years later the group had raised the capital needed to begin construction. Forest Hills opened its first nine holes in the summer of 1960 and later added a second nine holes.
Johnson said Houle was a key figure in pushing the project and contributing the labor as did the likes of Bill and Ty Jeans, Clem, Frank and Larry Thurnbeck, Fran LaBelle, Henry Lynch, Arnie Carlquist, Jack Erickson and Mel Strand.
“Like all of us, Willard would bring his boys out and we’d pick rocks,” Johnson recalled. “He felt it [the course] would be important for the community.”
It was the same attitude that led to the bowling alley venture. Houle, Johnson, Howard Sargeant, Strand and Jerry Kohl were the early partners with the business eventually in the hands of Houle, Sargeant and Johnson who made it a success for a number of years.
Johnson said it was Houle’s love of sports and competing that helped motivate his friend. His love of the outdoors and wildlife led to the establishment of a Ducks Unlimited fund-raising chapter here in 1977.
Johnson and Houle remained close friends in the latter years. For the past year, Johnson was a regular visitor to the Houle home. The two would often go out to play cards but for the past four months, Houle remained in the home when getting out became a chore.
During the weekly visits, Johnson and Houle would work each other over in cribbage. “He liked to play anything,” Johnson said of his friend. “It didn’t have to be for money. He liked to compete.”
On the final visit between the two about a week before his death, Johnson said Houle had the cards and the cribbage board ready to play when Johnson arrived.
“We never dealt the cards once,” Johnson said. “We just sat and reminisced. That was good.”
Houle’s life
Willard Houle was born in Forest Lake on April 13, 1917, the son of Edmund J. Houle. It was his father who started the feed mill. He spent more than a year cutting trees and making lumber that was hauled to town for construction of the first mill building at its current location next to what was then the Northern Pacific Railroad tracks.
The mill had been open for just a year when Willard was born. He grew up in the feed mill, working at an early age and learning the ropes, much as his kids would later on.
He graduated from high school here and attended St. Thomas while working in the feed mill. For a time, Edmund and a brother, Harry, ran the mill with two of their sons, Willard and Mert. All four were involved in the mill in 1938.
World War II broke up the partnership for a time.Willard and Mert both joined the Army with Willard serving in Europe and Mert in the Pacific.
The two cousins eventually took over operation of the mill after the war and remained together until the 1970s when Willard Houle took control of the business.
Although retired since 1993, Houle maintained a presence at the mill up until a little more than a year ago when declining health no longer enabled him to make his daily trips to the operation. The business is today owned and operated by Houle family members.
During his years in the mill business, Houle also found other ways to contribute.
He was a life member of American Legion Post 225 and served as commander in 1948-49. He was grand marshal of the Fourth of July parade in 1991.
He also served on the Forest Lake Fire Department for more than 20 years from a period that started just prior to World War II, according to fire department records.
Funeral details
A Mass of Christian Burial for Willard James Houle was Monday, April 28 at St. Peter’s Catholic Church, Forest Lake. Interment will take place at 3 p.m., Sunday, May 5 at Calvary Cemetery, Forest Lake.
He is survived by his wife of 67 years, Joan; sons, Jim (Sherri), Gary (Julie), Jeff (Cindy), Greg (Debbie); daughter Mary (Lyle) Koski; 17 grandchildren; 12 great-grandchildren; one sister, June Patrin; other relatives and friends.
He was preceded in death by a grandson, Tony.
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