Dennis Kiekhofer has lived two professional lives. He grew up on the family farm near Deer Park, Wisc. and worked on the livestock and crop operation into his 50s where he says days were filled with hard work and long hours.

“I was getting to where I couldn’t bend down to milk cows and do other things. We also used to have a hog operation,” he said. So, 20 years ago he began a new career in New Richmond. “My sister got me started here. The first day we worked on rubber boots. I pounded rivets into the bottom so people wouldn’t slip on the ice,” he said.

Dennis is a faithful and dependable employee who likes working at Rise, and especially enjoys spending time with the people and staff. He admits there are very few jobs he hasn’t done over the past two decades there, including witness changes like a new building, and a new name when ESR merged with Rise.

Now in his 70s, Dennis transitioned to full-time retirement at the end of January 2023. “I’ve pretty much done all of it,” he said, pointing around the New Richmond production floor on one of his final days of work there. “My family told me it’s about time,” he said. “I’ve been here long enough.”

After 20 years of driving to town every day for work, he’s prepared for some quiet, but also unsure of the future. He knows he’ll stay busy with some small farm projects. He expects to spend much of his time in the outdoors, which he enjoys.