Hardy Rickbeil – A Lifelong Learner, A Lifelong Teacher

Photo: Hardy Rickbeil at age 100 doing his daily workout.

On Sunday May 16, the opening of new senior housing was celebrated by Ecumen in Worthington, Minnesota.  On the same day, Worthington community leader and Ecumen customer Hardy Rickbeil died at age 101, having surpassed his goal of living a century.  Hardy was all about building community and moving forward, so he would have loved the standing-room only crowd at the grand opening celebration.  And he would have been humbled by the following headline that appeared above an article about his life in the Worthington Daily Globe newspaper:

Remarkable. Mentor. Generous. Promoter. Considerate. Coach. Volunteer. Honest. Friend.

More excerpts from the Daily Globe on Hardy, a remarkable person . . .

Early Life

Born June 21, 1908, in North Dakota, Hardy moved at age 12 with his family to Worthington, where his father became the proprietor of the local hardware store. He grew up helping in the family business, but went away to college with a dream of becoming a basketball coach. That dream was cut short, however, when his father suffered some setbacks and health issues, and Hardy returned home to help out, eventually taking over the business.

“I was not happy about that,” admitted Hardy about leaving college in a Daily Globe article marking his 100th birthday in June 2008, “but it was a real opportunity. I had the opportunity to dig right into the community as a businessman with the Chamber of Commerce — back then it was called the Commercial Club — and I became a Mason and a member of Kiwanis.”

Hardy’s relationship with longtime friend Bethel Knapp blossomed into a romance, and they were married in 1931. The Rickbeils had two children, Richard “Dick” Rickbeil and Dianne Rickbeil Frerichs, and their family later grew to include 11 grandchildren and 19 great-grandchildren. Bethel died in 2003.

Entrepreneur, Learner and Teacher

Under Hardy’s ownership, the Rickbeil’s hardware enterprise grew to encompass appliances, furniture, marine, repair shop and warehouse and delivery services in 40,000 square feet of display and storage space in downtown Worthington. Hardy incorporated the business and made several of his employees officers of the company. He also became involved in state and national associations such as the Minnesota Retail Federation and National Retail Hardware Association.

Although he never had a career as a sports coach, he became a coach to his employees and was always a “straight shooter,” according to George Habeck, who worked in the appliance store for 26 years.

“Hardy was the one who really interviewed me, and he said, ‘Remember this, try to follow this (priority) in your life: God, your country, your family and then your job. Try to keep that in perspective. Don’t ever put your job in front of those other things.’ That really impressed me right from the start.”

But Habeck was also a bit perplexed when Hardy gave him “homework” along with the job.
“He said, ‘Here’s a book. I want you to read this and give me a report,’” Habeck remembered. “The book was ‘How to Win Friends and Influence People.’ I asked some of the other (salesman), Frank Schuster and Mike Christensen, about it, and they said, ‘Yeah, we had to do that, too.’”

Hardy did his own homework, studying trade journals and merchandise materials and underlining as he went, keeping abreast of all the latest information. He stressed exercising both mind and body throughout his lifetime.
“From my desk, I could see Hardy’s desk upstairs” in the appliance store, Habeck said. “I could see him on the phone talking, then all of a sudden he’d be gone, then I’d see him again. He was doing deep knee bends while he was on the phone. He was multitasking. And this was when he was in his 80s. Up to the very end, he had a very sharp mind and was always up on everything, stayed on top of everything. He kept a file on every individual who worked there, and when I retired, he presented me with the file folder.

“He took a personal interest in you, too,” added Habeck. “He knew I had high blood pressure, so every once in a while he’d leave me an article that he’d read about high blood pressure. Besides losing a former employer, I also lost a friend.”

Heaven on Earth

All of Hardy’s family, colleagues and friends recall that he lived his life by the Golden Rule — do unto others as you would have them do unto you — but he utilized and created many other slogans in his business dealings.

“Rickbeil’s had a slogan, ‘We serve to serve again,’” recalled fellow downtown businessman Russ Rickers, whose photography studio shared an alley with several of the Rickbeil’s stores. “‘We sell the best and service the rest,’ he’d always say about the repair department. Hardy would always talk about competition, that competition is good, something like ‘Competition makes you better if you have what it takes.’” . . . .

Later in life, Hardy became an active member of Ecumen’s Meadows of Worthington senior living community, and his was a familiar figure inside and outside The Meadows.

In the 2008 article, Hardy said the grounds patrol provided him with exercise and relaxation. He loved to be outdoors and once was an avid big game hunter, although now his hunts were for trash.

“These cumulus clouds are fantastic,” Hardy said about being in the outdoors. “It’s almost heaven on earth, so why be in a hurry to die?”

Hardy Rickbiel, a man in motion, making a difference.  Thank you, Hardy.  Enjoy the real heaven.