William Herbert Hildebrand

William Herbert Hildebrand, beloved husband of Hilda, suffered a heart attack and passed on to his eternal reward, at the age of 81, in the early hours of April 24, 2023, surrounded by his wife of 58 years, and son Jeff.

William, known as Bill was born on May 18, 1941 in the Concordia Hospital in Winnipeg. His parents were Peter and Helena (nee Froese) Hildebrand. Bill was the sixth born child of eight children. They lived in a small four room house in Lowe Farm, Manitoba. It was a mixed farm with chickens, hogs and cattle, and for several years ducks and geese. They also planted and harvested crops every year.

Bill gave his life to the Lord and accepted Jesus Christ as his personal savior in 1955 at Winkler Children’s Bible Camp and was baptized in 1961 at age 20 before attending Bible school. Bill went to Winkler Bible School and graduated in 1963 after two years with a Teacher Diploma from the Evangelical Teacher Training Association.

Before attending Bible school Bill was a shy and quiet young man. Bible school helped develop and ground his faith in God and His word. Bill also enjoyed living in the dormitory. This was where he began to develop a more outgoing and social personality that remained throughout his life.

After Bible school Bill worked for his older brother Peter and brother-in-law Jake Falk in the construction business. He was attending Portage Avenue Mennonite Brethren Church where he met a beautiful young lady who was a student at Grace Hospital in her second year studying to be a Radiographer.

While courting, Bill saw Hilda over 200 times in that year. They were married 362 days after their first date. Bill kept track and recorded each date and what they did. On September 12, 1964 they were married in the Coaldale Mennonite Brethren Church. Their honeymoon was a trip to Yellowstone National Park. They tented three nights and stayed in a hotel three nights.

In 1966 they purchased a 800 acre farm southwest of Boissevain, Manitoba together with his brother Peter and wife Marge. In 1968 through 1970 they added three children to their family: a son, a daughter and another son. In 1974 Bill and Hilda bought a farm on their own northeast of Killarney, Manitoba and raised beef and grain. In 1976 their youngest son was born and the family was complete.

In 1981 Bill, primarily by himself with his wife and children, built a new 2800 square-foot split level house. After the cows were sold Bill added a 500 chicken flock and 200 rabbits to the farm. Affectionately known as Bill’s Bunnies, he provided eggs and rabbit meat to the Manitoba market.

These were fun years as the family was getting older. Bill bought four snowmobiles for the family, buying himself a Polaris racing snow machine. He enjoyed the snow trails with friends and family on weekends in the southern Manitoba Turtle Mountains and in North Dakota.

In Killarney, Bill and Hilda together with a few other couples started a K-Grade 8 private Christian 1-room school starting with 15 students. All four Hildebrand children attended. The school has continued and is still active today.

After the three oldest children finished high school, Bill and Hilda sold the farm and relocated to Winnipeg in 1988 and enrolled in Herzing Career College. Bill had always been interested in computers and had already, way back in 1980 received some early computer training and was among the first to run the farm office on a computer. In Winnipeg he enrolled in the Business Information program and achieved honors.

In 1989 Bill and Hilda made their final move to Abbotsford, BC. Bill was in partnership with CP Ediger & Co Ltd, a vinyl sundeck company in the Chilliwack and surrounding area. Bill had a reputation for high quality work and incredible customer satisfaction. Mom says on Sundays when going for drives, Dad would drive the Fraser Valley and point out each deck he had worked on. He would tell stories about the details and challenges of each deck and how he worked things out. He could also usually recall what type of baking the woman of the house would serve him on break time.

In 1998 while at work, Bill was in a fire. He suffered third degree burns to his legs, arms and hands. Initially the Doctors treated him and sent him home but infection set in and it got very serious. He ended up requiring skin grafts to his legs. Bill lost a year of work recovering but during that time he read the entire Bible and received many visitors, each left encouraged after spending time with him. He never complained and always had a positive attitude and was able to take the challenges thrown at him.

Bill eventually started his own vinyl sundeck company and added sundeck railing installation to his business with the same quality work. Bill decided to retire in 2014 after training his son Jeff. He enjoyed his last year partnership working with Jeff more than any other year.

Bill has always been involved working in the church. Whether he was singing in the church choir, usher, teaching Sunday school, the midweek Boys Brigade program, chairman of the DVBS program, Sunday School Superintendent, Church Council Secretary, the Alpha program or service as Elders of the church, Bill was always willing to offer his time and service to the Lord and the local church.

Bill always enjoyed his many hobbies. He started collecting coins as a child and now has coins from more than 56 countries. At last count Bill has recorded, documented, itemized and categorized over 20,000 stamps from over 100 countries. Bill was always a farmer at heart and harvested seeds everywhere he went. He always had quite a few plants growing in his office. He planted the crown of a pineapple several years ago and last September harvested and ate his own pineapple. Bill liked to collect sand samples. By that count, Bill and Hilda have been on approximately 50 vacations. Highlights were Arizona, California, Maui and the Atlantic provinces.

Another accomplishment was writing and self-publishing his book, The Life of Peter P. & Helena (Froese) Hildebrand. Bill had been researching family genealogy most of his adult life. His book was written to include family history, church history and Mennonite history. We are grateful he was able to finish this project a year ago.

In the last years Bill was a part of a Saturday morning men’s breakfast that was a tremendous support to him. Bill lived his life in response to his love and devotion to God. Everything he did was because he loved Jesus. Bill never met a person he couldn’t talk to. His goal was to be the reason someone smiles. He was genuinely interested in people. He was quick to volunteer to help anywhere needed. He loved his family. His grandchildren meant everything to him.

Bill was on the board of the Missionary Gospel Fellowship. Donations in memory of Bill may be made to: Missionary Gospel Fellowship of Canada (MGF), PO Box 465, Abbotsford, BC, V2T6Z7

A funeral Service was held at Northview Community Church on Thursday, May 4, 2023 at 1:00pm. A private internment will be held at the Greendale Cemetery.

Bill is survived by his loving and faithful wife of 58 years Hilda (nee Poettcker). Bill is also survived by his four children: Lawrence (Victoria), Theresa (Rob) Stumpe, Jeff (Kobie) and Curtis (Nancy).

Bill was blessed with and enjoyed spending time with his grandchildren: Christine (Marcel) Drouin, Kyle (Tanya) Peterson; Noah and Katie Stumpe; Annika/Jay and Sophia Hildebrand; Lillia, Caleb and Asher Hildebrand. Also survived by great grandchildren Ainsley, Royce and Hadley Drouin; Ireland, Landon and Oaklyn Peterson.

Bill is predeceased by his parents Peter and Helena Hildebrand, sister Jessie Falk, brother David (in infancy), David Hildebrand and Peter Hildebrand. Sister-in-law Marge Hildebrand and brothers-in-law Jake Falk, John Peters and Tony Novak.

Bill is also survived by his siblings Helena Peters, Linda (Bill) Dueck and Ruth Novak (betrothed to Dennis Dahl) and sister-in-law Anne Hildebrand and many nieces and nephews on the Hildebrand and Poettcker sides of the family.

Fond memories and expressions of sympathy may be shared at www.woodlawnfh-abbotsford.com for the Hildebrand family.