Bill Kindel's Home & Family


George J. Kindel (1855-1930)William H. Kindel (1922-1998) The Colorado branch of the Kindel family has been based in Denver since my great grandfather, George J. Kindel (left), came west in 1877 to seek his fortune selling bedding to the silver miners. The family remained in the mattress business until my father's retirement in the late 1980s. Had I stayed with "firmware & extra-firmware" instead of software engineering, I would have been the fourth generation to lead the family business, which made and sold Serta® mattresses and foundations throughout the states of Colorado, Wyoming, Montana, most of New Mexico, and western Kansas. I also helped to launch the first Mattress Factory® store at the factory in Denver, which was successful beyond all expectations and changed the way that mattresses are sold in the Denver area.  My father, William H. Kindel, is to the right.  We have long referred to the life-size portrait to the left as "Scary George."  He terrified me as he hung above my dad's desk when I was working summers at the factory in my youth.

I have become the de facto genealogist for this branch of the Kindel family.  As a result, I have produced a CD-ROM and a web site containing family trees and documents for the Kindel, Danner (George's wife's family), Harvey (my paternal grandmother's family), and Enberg (my mother's family) that I share with my far-flung cousins.

From 1997-2004, I owned a three bedroom townhome on Warren Lake in Fort Collins.  Once I became a seminarian, I lived in a 400 square foot efficiency apartment across the street from the Episcopal Theological Seminary of the Southwest in Austin, TX.  I graduated with an M.Div. in May of 2007 and was subsequently ordained as a Transitional Deacon in June and as an Episcopal Priest in December.  I then served the Episcopal Parish Church of St. Charles the Martyr, in Fort Morgan, Colorado through 2010, after which I became a "Bi-vocational" Priest.  I later supported myself as a technical professional (software engineer), while serving congregations who are unable to affort full-time professional clergy.  I've been fully retired since 2020 (just in time for Covid), though I continue to provide pulpit supply to Episcopal and Lutheran congregations from time to time.

Steve, Bob, and Jessie Jane E. Kindel (1922-) My mother, Jane Kindel (right), passed away in 2018 at the tender age of 95.  My father passed away 1998, and she waited 19 years, 8 months, and 3 days (but who's counting) to rejoin him.  One of the things I'm most thankful for is that I was able to be home in Colorado and in frequent contact with my father during the final year and a half of his life.  My mother adapted well to his absence, and her deep faith in God (and something of a sense that my dad is watching over her) help keep her going.  In February of 2006, she moved into assisted living at what was then the Village at Johnson Center in Centennial, CO.  Nine years later, in February 2015, she relocated to Balfour Senior Living in downtown Denver.

My elder son, Bob (center), has been married to his MIT sweetheart, Jessie Stickgold-Sarah since the Summer Solstice of 1998.  He graduated in Aeronautical and Astronautical Engineering from MIT in 1995 and received his Ph. D. in Aeronautics and Astronautics (with a heavy concentration on robotics) from Stanford University in 2001.  He is now the Vice President of Finance for Real-Time Innovations, a robotics software firm, which moved Bob and Jessie back to Massachusetts after graduation for their New England office.  Bob and Jessie purchased a 2-family house in Somerville that they have renovated into a single-family home.  (I gave them a copy of The Money Pit for moments when the project threatened to get the best of them. 8^)  Jessie has been supervising the work while writing her first novel; she has recently completed a Ph. D. program at Brandeis University (yet another doctor!).  She is now on the staff at MIT, helping students to become more capable writers.

Violet on Jessie's lapViolet and Bob (TStop)Their big news is that Jessie and Bob have adopted (Jessie referred to it as "offshore outsourcing") a daughter, Violet BaoEr ("precious child") Kindel Stickgold.  She's the first grandchild, so her Chinese name is certainly apropos.

Here are two photos that Jessie and Bob sent from China, just a few days after the adoption was completed in late January.  Violet was about 11 months of age and 20 pounds at the time.  She is now a remarkable teen with her eyes on the future.

My younger son, Steve , is a 1999 graduate cum laude in Biological and Engineering Sciences from Washington University in St. Louis.   He earned his Doctor of Medicine degree in June of 2003 from the Ohio State University Department of Medicine.  "Dr. Steve" completed a residency in Pediatrics at the Children's Memorial Hospital in Chicago, and he completed a fellowship in pediatric cardiology in Cincinnati in 2010.  Steve is married to Dr. Tammy Venema, of Dayton, OH, who is a bariatric surgeon (MD + PhD), and they welcomed Jonah James Kindel on September 24, 2009.  They have since welcomed twin sons, Davis & Devin, on January 19, 2019.

Tammy and Steve had a "destination wedding" in March, 2007 at a resort on St. Croix.  I was able to represent the Kindel clan at their wonderful event.

Drs. Tammy & Steve Kindel Wedding Party

My paradox (two doctors) is now complete, and then some! 8^)

One of the joys of returning home to Colorado was getting to know my niece and nephews. My brother Win lives in Westminster.  In addition to his "day job" as an ISO 9000 quality maven, Win operates Precision Electronics out of his home as the Spirit moves him.  Julie, Win's wife of 29 years, passed away unexpectedly in November, 2005.  She is greatly missed, but my niece and nephews are her legacy and we give thanks for all that she gave to them and to the rest of the family.  He has since remarried, been widowed again, and (mostly) retired..

Mary, my niece, is a 2002 graduate with highest honors from the University of Colorado at Boulder.  She is smart and funny and musically gifted and we're all immensely proud of her.  Mary married Roelant van der Heijde in August of 2001 and they subsequently purchased my mother's house (aka "One South") in Denver.  Mary has soared through her profession as an actuary, which has produced a surprising amount of travel (and frequent flyer miles) in service to her customers.  That marriage ended in divorce, but Mary has since remarried (Nick Creten, another actuary) and relocated to Cedarburg, WI, while continuing to operate multiple practices as an Equity Partner at Milliman.

My nephews, Jon and Scott, are both grown and gone from the nest.  Julie home-schooled all three children through the 8th grade and she obviously did a very good job at it.  Jon has his father's tecnical aptitude, while Scott is the Executive Director of an addicition recovery center in Steamboat Springs, CO.

CynthiaRachaelI met Cynthia (left) on a Cursillo weekend in 2006.  After many years of single life (on both of our parts), our lives had changed dramatically.  Cynthia has two grown children.  Jeremiah ("Miah") is a recently-retired Chief Petty Officer in the US Navy, formerly stationed in San Diego.  He is married and the father of Cynthia's two grandsons, who she loved to spoil with toys she knew would drive their parents nuts.  (Christmas shopping with Cynthia was great fun as she "cackled" her way through the noisier parts of the toy department.)

Cynthia's daughter Rachael (right), is graduate in Criminal Justice from the University of Colorado at Denver.  She rose through the ranks of the Aurora Police Department's Police Explorer program, and was chosen to attend a special leadership camp with the US Secret Service one summer.  After service as a Jefferson County Deputy Sheriff, Rachael is now a Patrol and School Resource Officer for the Parker Police Department.

Bill & Bev at Transfiguration Church Now that I have found and married Bev Hayse, it's time to add her story.  Bev was a Registered Nurse for many years , most recently as the Administrator of several nursing homes in the Denver area.  She was very skilled at turning troubled facilities around to provide the best possible care to their residents.

Bev and I were each widowed in 2019, and we met at a mutual friend's funeral in 2022 at Trinity Episcopal Church, Greeley.  A week or so later, Bev's sense of hospitality led to an invitation to coffee after the Sunday service.  We "clicked" almost immediately. and since we're only six months apart in age, we "get" each other's obscure references to the past.

We married on February 1, 2022, then had our union blessed (adding God to the equation) by Trinity's retired Rector at the Episcopal Church of the Transfiguration in Evergreen CO on Valentine's Day, February 14, 2022.  Those are our smiling faces in front of the altar on that happy day.

Since that time, I have sold my home in Fort Morgan (severely downsizing as I brought only the essentials) and moved in to Bev's home in Greeley.  I'm the computer/internet/entertainment systems expert, while Bev is the creative part.  In 2022, we added "split" heat pump cooling to the upstairs bedrooms to make the house that much more comfortable; in 2023, we're adding solar panels, which should cover nearly 100% of our electrical needs (including my all-electric IONIQ 5).

We enjoy traveling together, visiting our far-flung grandchildren in four states and seeing new things.  2022 saw trips to Tulsa, San Francisco,  Boston (which included my 50th+2 Reunion from MIT), and Milwaukee.  For 2023, we took a belated anniversary trip to the Broadmoor in Colorado Springs, and we will return to Milwauke via Cincinnati (Kindel Family Reunion).  We will also visit the Holy Land & Rome in the fall.


I am immensely proud of all of my/our children, who are making their marks on the world both now and into the future.  The next generation looks pretty promising, also.

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