Age 96 of Mendota Heights

Milt was born on June 30, 1926, the eldest of four children born to Anna (Glewwe) and Henry Hildebrandt.  He became a Christian one day when challenged to do so while cutting up potatoes for the cows in the barn during the depression years.  He was baptized into the Riverview Baptist Church where both the Hildebrandt and Glewwe families were heavily involved in the church ministries.

He attended a one-room country school through the 8 ^th grade, and then attended high school in South St. Paul, Minnesota.  Immediately following graduation in 1944 at the height of WW2, he enlisted in the Merchant Marine.  For the better part of the next four years, he sailed the seas delivering supplies to Allied troops all over the world, and during the post-war period, he replenished supplies to countries all over the world.  During these four years, he sailed on all of the oceans of the world as well as innumerable other seas and bodies of water, and visited six of the seven continents and lots of countries in each of them.  Note that this all took place before he reached the age of 22!  He served as an Oiler on tankers, as a Deck Engineer on a Liberty ship, and as a Junior Engineer on a Victory ship.  After his WW2 and post-WW2 duties, he continued to serve in the Naval reserves for a period of time.  Later in life he answered the bidding of some local lakes as well as the waters of Lake Superior and Lake Michigan (sailing for pleasure on sail boats this time rather than on tankers and such by courtesy of the US government).  After his WW2 travels, he was content to remain at home, only traveling beyond the Midwest when required to do so for business or volunteer duties.

In 1948 after retiring from the Merchant Marine, he started working for the Minnesota Mutual Life Insurance Company (now named Securian Financial).  He quickly realized that he had better get a decent education if he ever hoped to land a decent long-term job, so he began taking night classes at the University of Minnesota.  At this time, he also became engaged to Daraliene Klinger and began building a home for their future life together on a portion of the Hildebrandt Family farm that had been established by his Grandparents August and Louise Hildebrandt, both German immigrants.  Milt and Daraliene were married on September 9, 1950 (on what would have been his parent's 25 ^th anniversary) and moved into the finished portion of their home (the basement) which consisted of three rooms and had no running water.  He continued building the remainder of the home in various phases over the years as the family grew.

In 1956 after attending seven years of night school while working fulltime, continuing to build his house, volunteering in various local church and national conference capacities, and welcoming their first three children into the family, he completed his BBA (Bachelors of Business Administration) degree -- with distinction!  Later in life, he pursued a course of study at Bethel Seminary and completed his Master of Theological Studies degree in 1996 at the age of 70.

His began his career at Minnesota Mutual as a Mortgage Loan Accountant, then steadily advanced until he reached the position of 2 ^nd Vice President and Comptroller of the Accounting Department where he spent the last 20 years of his career.  He retired in 1991 after working for the company for 43 years.  He also served on Boards of Directors, such as HealthEast when the Woodwinds Hospital Campus was developed.

Throughout his adult life, and even well into his 80's, he volunteered heavily at Riverview Baptist Church, at the state level with the Minnesota Association of churches (including Village Creek Bible Camp in Iowa), and at the international level serving as the General Treasurer for the North American Baptist Conference for 25 years or so.  Some of his major accomplishments were:

• Board member and Chair of the Church Planting Committee
• Chair of the original CEIF (now CIF) board and getting CIF up and running
• Area Minister for the Minnesota Association for several years after retiring from his career at Minnesota Mutual.
• Board Member and Treasurer of the quad-state Village Creek Bible Camp for about 25 years
• Established the Apple Valley Baptist Church along with his entire family
• Many Minnesota Association positions - too numerous to count
• And far too many positions to begin to enumerate at the Riverview Baptist Church in West St. Paul, Minnesota, where he attended his entire life, but a few worthy of mentioning are that he served as church treasurer for some 25 years, served on the Deacon & Trustee boards, served on the Church Council, served on the building committee and assisted with the building of the church in the early 1960's, taught adult Sunday School classes for over 50 years, and so much more.

Always conscious of maintaining a healthy lifestyle, he continued to walk about five miles a day most days of the week well into his 95 ^th year.   His hobbies included woodworking, gardening, walking, sailing, putzing and fixing just about anything, reading non-fiction, writing poetry, and writing in general.  While retired, he wrote five books for his family documenting the history of his life, from growing up on the farm, serving in the military, establishing a family, and general words of wisdom and poetry that seemed like a good idea to record for posterity.  He remained in good health throughout his life, and spent only his final 13 months in an assisted living facility in Woodbury.

Family, family gatherings, and holidays were all important to Milt.  In particular, he made Christmastime extra special by displaying an elaborate "Dept 56" Christmas village that expansed two rooms of his house and consisting of well over 1,000 pieces.  Family members, neighbors, friends, and even community members unknown to Milt stopped by each year to enjoy this remarkable display.

Milt and Daraliene raised a family of six children in the same home that he began building in 1949.  Eventually the family grew to include six children-in-law, 17 grandchildren, 12 grandchildren-in-law, and 24 great-grandchildren with one more due to arrive in June 2023.

He was preceded in death by his wife of 54 years, Daraliene in 2004; his mother in 1941 (when he was just 14 years old); his father in 1984; his only sister Ruth Ann in 2008; his youngest brother Ralph ("Bud") in 2019 and sister-in-law Lois in 2020.  He is survived by his six children and their families: Dr. Michael (Paula); Anne Dee (Sheldon) Carlson; Mary (Craig) Hillegas; John (Denice); Sam (Colleen); Sue (Greg Hoven);

the 2 children of Michael: Dan (Heather) and Eric (Alisha) and their 3 children;

the 5 children of Anne Dee: April (Zach) Lindstrom and one child, Skip, Casey (Josh) Ewert and their 3 children, Jesse (Jennifer) and their 2 children (and one due in June), and Brooke;

the 4 children of Mary: Tom (Jen) and their 3 children, Bob (Erin) and their 3 children, Mike, and Rick;

the 4 children of John: Rebecca (Andrew) Wright and their 3 children, Rachael (Justin) James and their 2 children, Daniel (Emily), and Caitlyn (Andrew) Johnson and their 3 children;

the 2 children of Sam: Lindsey (Michael) Bommarito and one child, and Garrett;

his brother Vern (Rosie);

and countless cousins, nieces, nephews, and friends.

Milt's funeral will take place at 11am on Saturday, April 8, 2023 at the Riverview Baptist Church, 14 East Moreland Ave in West St. Paul, with a lunch to follow.  Visitation will take place prior to the service from 9am – 10:45am and will also resume after the funeral service.  A private interment will take place at Fort Snelling National Cemetery at a later date.  The funeral service will be live streamed and also available via YouTube; to access the service, refer to the church website at riverviewbaptist.net.

PLEASE COPY AND PASTE LINK BELOW INTO YOUR BROWSER FOR A GIFT FROM MILTON.....

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1gNLREI-Rf-LqMzuR6jqj9FFWpPsEo__j/view

Another link to share with you:

Please copy and paste: This is from the funeral service.

https://www.youtube.com/live/OEK7Q_IH8MY?feature=share