Business Traditions - Roll of Honor 2023

By Travis Grimler Echo Journal

In a world full of big name insurance companies with seemingly endless advertising licenses, the city of Pine River is home to three independent brokers, one of whom thinks that’s not by accident.

“In this type of community not everyone likes the big companies,” said Pine River Insurance owner Tim Christianson. “They like to have options. When I bought this agency in 2006, we lost some customers, of course, but I still have a lot of customers from 2006, and then new business as well from Grandpa down to his grandson.

“You get to see all parts of some of the families and get to know them a bit, including what Grandpa does and what his grandsons and granddaughters do in school,” he said.

Christianson thinks a small town like Pine River is the perfect atmosphere for independent firms to thrive.

“Being independent, we have a few more different options than a captive carrier like the big guys you see on the TV,” Christianson said. “All I can say is, don’t always believe what you see on TV or what you hear. It isn’t always what it seems to be. With us having more than one option, hopefully we can find a fit for most people.”

That’s been the model since the first owners

of Pine River Insurance, formerly Bean’s Ameriguard Insurance. Robert Bean founded the business on the types of relationships only possible in a very personal, independent insurance company.

“My dad was a people person,” said Richie Bean, Robert’s son. “He did as much business out of the cafe and coffee shop, golf course or high school event as he did in his office. He was very much a small town type

of operator.” Those relationships still allow agents to make the most personalized recommendations for their customers.

“Rates don’t seem to be going down, so we love to have options and

love to be able to help people save money, and if they do have a claim for fire or wind - and hail has been hugebeing able to walk them through the claims process and help them on that end,” Christianson

said. “If you like people, it’s a good industry to be in.”

Robert Bean had many years of insurance experience, even before he and his family located to northern Minnesota, almost retiring from the industry at one point.

“My dad worked for MSI, Mutual Service Insurance, which is now Country Financial,” Richie Bean said. “He worked for them for 20 years. He was a regional vice president of sales for the Upper Midwest. He did that for years before he had a heart attack and semi-retired. They decided to move up here I think in ‘81.”

Robert Bean put in another four years under Dick Sessing in Walker and Bemidji before deciding to become his own boss. At first he ran the business from his home.

They later rented a space just south of the corner of Barclay and First avenues, between the Cenex and the former Family Dollar building in a building Richie Bean said is no longer standing.

Maucieri’s Italian Bistro home to 49 years of family restauranteering

Echo Journal

CROSSLAKE – Tony

Maucieri was chasing a dream when he moved his family – including his daughter, Dawn, who was 8 at the time – from Chicago to Crosslake in January 1974 to buy Echo Ridge, a small resort with a supper club that was located where Zorbaz is now.

“He always wanted to own a restaurant,” Dawn Maucieri, 56, said. “So they came up and looked at it, and that’s kind of how it all started.”

Tony Maucieri died in 2018, but 49 years after the family first moved, Dawn Maucieri and her brother, Tony Maucieri Jr., are still carrying on his legacy as owners of Maucieri’s Italian Bistro.

“How crazy for them to move up here in the middle of January in 1974,” Dawn Maucieri said. “I mean, the rest of the family thought we were crazy.”

History

Dawn Maucieri was the fourth generation of her family to live in Chicago after her greatgrandparents immigrated from Italy. The family had stayed in the Windy City until her dad was in the military.

During his service, Tony Maucieri was stationed at Camp Ripley in Little Falls. He returned to Chicago, and it was there he saw the adver-

tisement for the sale of Echo Ridge, just an hour drive from Camp Ripley, posted in the Chicago Times.

“Isn’t that crazy?”

Dawn Maucieri said.

“And that’s where he saw it, so I guess it’s meant to be, right?”

So he made the move 550 miles north with his wife and children, his mother and Dawn Maucieri’s aunt and uncle, who still live behind Zorbaz today.

“None of them had experience in this, so that, I think, is really (nervy),” Dawn Maucieri said. “My dad was a milkman. My mom didn’t work. My grandma was a florist. My aunt and uncle were in other businesses and stuff.”

The Maucieris came to the area at a time when supper clubs were common, so Echo Ridge served steak, chicken ribs and other Midwestern fine dining options, though they managed to sneak in some Italian dishes, like their spaghetti, baked mostaccioli and meatball sandwich.

The family owned Echo Ridge off and on until 2000, when they sold it for the last time. For the next few years Tony Maucieri and Dawn Maucieri bounced around different restaurants in the area, with Tony Maucieri working at Pestello’s in Pequot Lakes and Riverside Inn in Crosslake and

Dawn Maucieri stopping at Moonlite Bay and The Bungalow in Emily before managing the Wharf for a couple of years.

“My dad and I just kind of decided to do (Maucieri’s),” Dawn Maucieri said. “He’s like, ‘Well, maybe it’s time for you to have your own place to run.’”

So together with Dawn Maucieri’s brother as a reluctant addition to their trio, the Maucieri family started looking for a place to open their restaurant and began construction on Maucieri’s as it stands today in 2004 before opening in 2005.

“We were looking for buildings and looking for restaurants that were already here,” Dawn Maucieri said. “But we just decided this is what we wanted to do, and we wanted to keep it Italian, something different in the area.”

Italian heritage

Italian heritage and traditions are not common in the Brainerd lakes area, and it was even more rare in the ‘70s.

“I remember when we first moved here –the Italian food – it was kind of different,” Dawn Maucieri said. “It’s not the meat. It’s not like a burger. It’s not the normal, and that was kind of my thing. My dad’s like,

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BISTRO

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‘If we’re (opening our own restaurant), we’re doing Italian food.’ And I said, ‘Absolutely.’”

The recipes were new to Crosslake, but they were deeply familiar to Dawn Maucieri, whose great-grandmother invented Maucieri’s famous red sauce and other popular eats.

“My great-grandma I don’t remember so much, but my grandmother, I remember sitting in the kitchen watching her make these and this and that,” Dawn Maucieri said. “It’s pretty cool. Not a lot of people have that.”

Coming to the area at a young age was strange for Dawn Maucieri, though she’s happy she grew up here. She went from life in the big city where she was two blocks from school to an hour-long bus ride each day.

There was the added challenge of entering a

INSURANCE

From Page 1

Tragedy struck in 2000 with the death of Robert Bean. Wife Mona kept the business running while seeking a buyer. That’s where Pat Smith, of Brainerd Insurance Company, stepped in.

“Pat came in and bought it and moved it to the current location and renamed it Pine River Insurance,” Bean said.

In Brainerd, Smith was very active. He owned a mix of businesses and got involved in community matters when possible.

“He did a lot of things and had a lot of businesses in Brainerd,” Christianson said. “He had a UPS store, a pizza place and the agency that I think had about eight employees when I worked there. He sold (Brainerd Insurance) some time around 2011 maybe.”

Mona stayed on for a while under Smith.

Carol Windorski, an agent who has worked in the Pine River Insurance office since the Beans owned it, said Smith

small community where everybody knew each other, plus the lack of other Italians.

“It’s so funny, but they thought my dad was from the mafia,” Dawn Maucieri said. “That we came from Chicago to hide out. I mean, it’s so funny, because now that I think about it, it was kind of crazy. The whole thing was crazy.”

A family affair

Though Dawn Maucieri, who had been serving since she was 13 and went to school for restaurant management, had always thought she’d own her own restaurant own day, her brother was quite the opposite.

“It was never his jam,” Dawn Maucieri said. “Never his thing at all.”

When Dawn Maucieri and her father decided to open Maucieri’s, Tony Maucieri Jr. was an original partner and the general contractor of the restaurant during its construction.

“He never really wanted to be involved with this,”

was a “crackerjack,” referring to his skill in the industry.

“My employee, Carol, has been here for the owners before Pat and then worked for Pat,”

Christianson said. “I was fortunate to have her stick with me since the beginning of 2006. A lot of people know her more than me.”

Windorski said the building was previously a Coast to Coast store.

Smith split it in two, with one door to the right leading into a different business and the door on the left leading into Pine River Insurance.

While Smith owned the building, he made acquaintance with Christianson, the next future owner.

“My dad was a marketing rep for one of the insurance agencies we write insurance with,” Christianson said. “He was good friends with Pat and I was able to work for Pat for a while. I would have liked to work with him a little longer.”

Christianson and his family had migrated to Breezy Point because of his wife’s ties to Longville.

Dawn Maucieri said. “But of course, he ended up being involved.”

Now the pair work as an effective duo: Dawn Maucieri does prep work and is often at the restaurant interacting with customers while Tony Maucieri Jr. covers administrative work and a lot of the catering.

“It’s so nice to have a family, right?” Dawn Maucieri said. “I can’t imagine trying to do this on my own. You have people to back you up, to help you, to support you.”

That support was especially important during challenging times like the COVID-19 pandemic and the Great Recession. Both times the restaurant had to cut down on staff to make it through, and it was mostly just family left to run it.

In 2008-09, that meant Tony Maucieri, Dawn Maucieri and Tony Maucieri Jr. In 2020 it was Dawn Maucieri, her three nephews, Tony Maucieri Jr. and their manager.

Christianson wanted to make the same transition as Robert Bean, from employee to owner. On Nov. 1, 2006, he purchased Pine River Insurance from Smith.

The personality of the community was a big draw.

“When the option comes up for someone to own a business with the option of helping people and being an employer in the town of Pine River, it just made sense to me,” Christianson said. “Timing wasn’t perfect, but it is what it is. I’m super fortunate to have the employee I do. It worked out great.

“Pine River’s a great community,” he said. “I enjoy it a lot. The school is good here. They have lots of things going on in the summertime. Win-

tertime is a good time. There’s a parade and Christmas season and people are friendly.”

Throughout the years, insurance has had a lot of changes and many customers operate without having a personal agent in charge of their accounts. Bean and Christianson said there are some drawbacks inherent with doing business that way.

“Part of it is your agent will go to bat for you,” Bean said. “Some bigger companies, if you get in an accident you’re kind of on your own, especially in online ones where there is no agent involved. You kind of have to battle some of the insurance stuff on your own.

“With an agent, a good agent will stand with you

and push back and work with you against the company and adjusters,” he said.

The personal, faceto-face service of an independent insurance company remains a big part of what makes Pine River Insurance a good fit for the community. Pine River is host to three such agencies (Hanneken Insurance Agency, Cass Company Insurance and Pine River Insurance), which Christianson considers a positive thing.

“I think it’s a better fit for a smaller town,” Christianson said. “There are three independent agencies in Pine River. We aren’t necessarily fighting for the same customers, but competition is good. It gives people more free-

dom and more options too. To make sure their agent is doing what’s best for them.”

Reflecting, Bean commended the three independent firms in town.

“It was one of those small town shops that have really kind of disappeared,” Bean said. “I’m not taking anything away from the three there, they still do a very good job of that and hold onto that, but insurance has changed so much it’s tough to do that.

“In my opinion they are doing a great job of staying connected to the community,” he said.

Travis Grimler is a staff writer for the Pineandlakes Echo Journal weekly newspaper in Pequot Lakes/Pine River. He may be reached at 218-855-5853 or travis. grimler@pineandlakes.com.

The manager at Zorbaz Crozz Lake found an Echo Ridge Lodge sign in the basement of the building and gave it to Maucieri’s. The sign is displayed in the restaurant.

Tony Maucieri Sr. died in 2018. A large photo of him is displayed prominently in the dining room at Maucieri’s Italian Bistro.

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‘Yoga is for everybody’

Lakes Area Yoga Association celebrating nearly 28 years

By Sara Guymon Brainerd Dispatch

BRAINERD — Lakes

Area Yoga Association has been in the community for over 27 years and has continued to evolve throughout the years.

The nonprofit organization was founded in 1995 by Martha Kuenm, Sharon Fodness and Lisa Wig. They started teaching classes in the former Healing Center in Baxter, but the organization had many homes before moving into the Franklin Arts Center in Brainerd.

Previously, it occupied space at Nisswa Elementary School, Central Lakes College, church basements and the Washington Educational Services Center.

The current studio has been located in the Franklin Arts Center on Kingwood Street since 2014.

“I think the space probably found us because we’ve gravitated toward school and college buildings,” said Jess McMullen, director of Lakes Area Yoga Association. “It feels like a good setting and this Franklin Arts building is so beautiful. And the fact that all of these businesses here are businesses or organizations of the arts, and I guess you could say yoga is kind of an art in of itself.”

McMullen took over as director in 2018. The previous director, Sarah Gorman, held the position for nearly 10 years and helped pave the way for the organization to evolve.

“I feel like I have to give her (Gorman) so much kudos because I’ve only been here a sliver of time that this organization has existed but I’m so proud,” McMullen said. “I love this organization to my core because of what we deliver to our community and it’s like a family.

“Current students are welcoming in new students and they become friends and everyone’s just super welcoming. I love it. We’re just a small, little organization making big changes in our community,” she said.

Much like the location, the classes offered at Lakes Area Yoga Association have changed quite a bit since it began in 1995. Yoga was not very popular at that time but has become much more popular in the past decade.

With the recent widespread interest in yoga, the organization has worked to make classes inclusive to everyone instead of classes by level, which was the setup when it began.

YOGA: Page 5

I love this organization to my core because of what we deliver to our community and it’s like a family.

- Jess McMullen

Lakes Area Yoga Association Director Jess McMullen, right, talked to Colleen Larson before a yoga class Jan. 10.

Currently the organization offers seven different classes over five or six days a week. Classes vary from Exploring Yoga to The Joy of Being Here and Now.

Recently added was an oncology yoga class entitled Yoga for Cancer. The class is aimed toward cancer patients and survivors. The instructor, Sandra Kaplan, is one of six instructors and a volunteer board member.

“I always like the phrase, ‘Yoga for everybody,’ with an emphasis on ‘body,’” Kaplan said. “Yoga for every ‘body’ and so everybody can take any class because we all have all skill levels.”

Yoga for Cancer is one of the many things that make Lakes Area Yoga Association stand out from other yoga studios in the area. It is a studio

dedicated solely to yoga and the holistic thinking that is often associated with it.

“There are a number of studios who have moved completely online (due to COVID-19) or outdoors in the summer or it’s like a gym setting where they have all of these other gym services and yoga is this little bubble,” McMullen said. “For us, yoga is everything.”

Like many other studios, Lakes Area Yoga Association tried online classes during the pandemic. They offered hybrid classes when able to return to the studio, but have since gone back to solely in-person teaching.

The instructors also focus on educating their students in mindfulness, meditation, anatomy and more. The studio has a plethora of yoga and lifestyle books available to borrow.

This month, they are starting a yoga book club.

Their library, the Rob Rasmussen Commemorative Library, is filled with books donated mostly by Rasmussen, a former instructor for the organization. He taught yoga for 26 years with Lakes Area Yoga Association and his wife donated his collection of yoga and lifestyle books to the organization after he died in 2021.

When looking at the future, McMullen wants to show the community anyone can participate in yoga.

“I do want to bring this awareness out to the community that there’s a little bit of something for everyone in yoga, and we’re really here to help make it accessible and to break that stigma of everyone thinking that I can’t do yoga because I’m not flexible,” McMullen said.

“It was so exciting to be open again and to have people again, because you don’t realize when they’re not here,” Dawn Maucieri said.

Extended family too

From Echo Ridge to Maucieri’s, Dawn Maucieri has worked at many restaurants in the community. The combination of a small community with high out-of-town traffic means she’s met a lot of people, but she’s always seen what a small world it can be.

“My customers, the people that come in here, the characters,” she said. “There’s so many people I’ve been so lucky to know. Being in a small town, they become family.”

When thinking of her extended business family, one couple named Betty and Dale came to mind. Dawn Maucieri has been waiting on them since she started bartending around 40 years ago, and

they’ve followed her to every place she’s worked.

“That’s the amazing part of having this business is having that connection with people, for sure,” Dawn Maucieri said. “I don’t think I could do what I have been doing my whole life and not have had that. That was the biggest reward for me: the people.”

Tony Maucieri’s legacy

Tony Maucieri died five years ago this March, but Dawn Maucieri still feels his presence on quiet mornings alone in the restaurant when she’s doing prep work, which she and her father used to do together.

“It’s been hard since my dad’s been gone because the two of us were the ones that were here like every day, and he was kind of my rock,”

Dawn Maucieri said.

“After my mom passed we became really tight, just with the business. But I’m just really lucky to have that relationship with him that a lot of people don’t.”

Tony Maucieri was one of three Crosslake restaurant owners to start the St. Patrick’s Day parade, a tradition that has only gotten more popular since it began in 1976.

“We’d always put him on top of the float, that poor guy,” Dawn Maucieri said. “He’d show up for the parade, and we were like, ‘OK, this is what you’re going to do this year.’ He was St. Patrick one year, everybody thought he was the pope.”

Dawn Maucieri has been like her father in a lot of ways. She fulfilled her dream of owning a restaurant. Like her dad, she doesn’t see herself ever retiring, even if she eventually works fewer hours.

“People talk about him a lot,” she said. “So that’s really nice because you realize how much of an impact he had in this town, and people loved him. He was a great guy. I’m proud to be his daughter.”

From Page 3

Maucieri family photos are displayed throughout the dining room at Maucieri’s Italian Bistro, including photos of Dawn Maucieri’s grandparents.

before making its home in the Franklin Arts Center in Brainerd in 2014.

Pike Plumbing and Heating continues tradition, looks to the future Growing need for skilled workers points to opportunities for young people

By Renee Richardson Brainerd Dispatch

BRAINERD — Watch-

ing Roy Pike work into his 70s, Kevin Gruber thought if he was still on the job at that age, he wanted someone to kick him in the backside.

“And here I am waiting for somebody to kick me,” he said and laughed.

On a recent birthday as Gruber celebrated the start of his 72nd year, he was still on the job — about seven years after he planned to phase out of his working life. But his enjoyment of the work has been a boon to Ben Schoepf, who purchased Pike Plumbing and Heating in 2018.

A strong work ethic is part of the ethos of Pike

Plumbing and Heating dating back to 1940. A 30-year-old Rochester native, Roy Pike began the legacy when he established his business in Brainerd that year. Copies of vintage photos and an early advertisement piece show the changes over time and the early phone number — all four digits of it — 1263.

Fresh out of trade school, Gruber started working at Pike Plumbing and Heating in the fall of 1970. He described Pike as the type of man who always let you know where you stood with him, whether that be criticism or praise.

Pike, described as a man of short stature with a crew cut and a lot of character, was a diverse

businessman who owned a sheet metal shop as well as the plumbing and heating business and expanded to include real estate with a number of rental properties across the city.

At the height of his operations, Pike employed about 60 people and had jobs across PIKE: Page 7

Renee Richardson / Brainerd Dispatch

Kevin Gruber, left, shares a laugh with Ben Schoepf, outside Pike Plumbing and Heating Tuesday, Jan. 10, in Brainerd.

the state from working on projects at the university in Marshall to apartments in Ely.

When Gruber came on in 1970, he was promised a job as an apprentice as Pike began working on a remodel of St. Joseph’s Hospital in Brainerd. A Pierz High School graduate, Gruber went to trade school in Wadena for 11 months before he started working with Pike in September 1970 for $3.50 an hour. A journeyman plumber at that time was making $7.50 an hour.

“That was good money,” Gruber said, remembering it was more money than the $2.88 an hour his father was making working for the railroad.

Gruber grew up on a farm and when he first started working, he was picking rocks for farmers — all day long — for $5 a day. One day when he helped his father-in-law pick rocks, he was asked how much they should pay him.

“I said, ‘Well, the last guy I worked for, I got $5,’ and he says, ‘Holy cow, I’ve got to sell a little pig for that.’”

But Gruber noted at that time, gas cost 25 cents a gallon and a three-bedroom rambler was $27,000. In high school, a counselor wanted Gruber to go into teaching.

“I thought to myself, I might not mind teaching but I can’t see myself sitting inside of the building all day long,” Gruber said.

When the man from the Wadena Vocational School came to Pierz High School, he spoke of a new 11-month plumbing program with a chance to make decent money. The counselor said he thought Gruber would be wasting his talent. The man from the trade school said Gruber could go on to own his own shop one day and make good money.

“He said, ‘Well, I suppose it’s possible,’” Gruber recalled the counselor saying.

So Gruber took a chance and tried the

career. He never regretted the decision.

“I was happy I made the decision,” he said.

When his partner, Mike Anderson, died in 2014, Gruber continued running the operation until 2017 before he began thinking he was too old to keep running the business by himself. A salesman for the Goodin Co. had an idea — his son, Ben Schoepf, was looking for a new start himself.

It turned out both men were willing to stick their necks out and try something new at points in their lives. Schoepf was an experienced career plumber already.

“My dad was a plumbing wholesale rep for Goodin, so I pretty much grew up with plumbers,” Schoepf said.

He wanted to follow in his father’s footsteps and didn’t want to be a plumber.

“But I didn’t really have any direction out of high school,” Schoepf said. “I knew I wasn’t going to a four-year college but I had no idea what to do. I knew I

wanted to make a lot of money but I had no idea how to get there.”

What was expected to be a temporary job at Gravelle Plumbing and Heating in Aitkin to help with a project for two weeks, led to 15 years on the job there. Later, he carried a master plumber license and worked at Grand Casino but missed being outside and in the light.

His dad mentioned there may be an opportunity at Pike Plumbing and Heating. Schoepf knew the company’s valued reputation and often saw the notable red vehicles when he was working in Brainerd.

Pike’s was also noted as an employer paying 100% of health benefits, one of the reasons employees stayed with the company over many years.

Schoepf was doubtful he could afford to buy the business but he met with Gruber and worked at Pike’s for a couple of weeks to see what he was getting himself into.

Gruber had other options, but those

included the potential to barely break even by selling all his equipment at auction, or being absorbed and consolidated into another company.

Instead, he was driven by a goal of being there for his employees, including those who were there more than 20, more than 30 and more than 50 years, and to give a young man an opportunity to have his own business.

“He took a chance,” Schoepf said. “I’m not sure everybody would have done that.”

They worked out a deal and after a tough first month on the job, they won the CentraCare clinic bid in Baxter. Bidding was an artform Schoepf was glad Gruber was staying on for as he learned the business end.

One of the first bidding jobs was Iron Range Eatery in Crosby. Looking back now they aren’t sure how everything came together. They worked together to make the transition a success and continue operations for the only plumbing

business within Brainerd’s city limits. \Gruber was able to step back from the responsibility but stay involved.

Schoepf expanded from 6-9 employees to 17. The business has grown from word of mouth and a recognizable name that has been in the community for 83 years.

The business specializes in doing work within the city and with projects involving the state, which can bring a host of permitting regulations that they’ve been involved with for years. Pike’s is currently doing work on the historic Brainerd water tower project.

59 Years

Gruber said those projects mean providing plumbing plans and submitting them for review, something not everyone wants to deal with.

“So a lot of the contractors don’t want to deal with that,” Gruber said. “They don’t want to either draw the plans up themselves, or have someone draw the plans, so they just stay away from that and medium size jobs. And that’s what we do mostly. So that’s kind of our niche.”

Pike’s does a lot of commercial work, including restaurants and elder care facilities, among other jobs.

Schoepf said he’s learned so much from Gruber. “I never, ever would have been able to probably do this from the ground up on my own without help,” Schoepf said. “I just got super fortunate that we were able to work this out.”

Schoepf said he was lucky Gruber stayed beyond the transition time to work and be a mentor.

“So hopefully someday I can do that for somebody else,” Schoepf said.

One of the business keys, Schoepf said, was Gruber’s continuation of Pike’s thought process on doing good work, not incurring debt and being responsive to customers.

Schoepf also learned that doing the bidding process with a sharp pencil and two lines on a pad of paper — one for parts and one for labor. And physically going to look at every job in person to know not just

what the plans indicate, but what is in place on the ground. Competitors, they note, may bid from the Twin Cities without examining the location. The alternative, they said, can be cutting corners to meet the bid or change orders, not from unexpected findings that typically come up during a remodel, but because of taking a more generalized bidding approach. An expansive book, with tidy typed notes in color-coded plastic sheets nestled on top of each other, provides exacting details on how much time each part of a job will need from picking up a part to arriving at the job site to installation.

Those exacting details help the company bid for the work without using computer software that may be more generalized than specific on pipe fittings for a job and in their minds keep them closer to the work at hand.

A lot has changed over the years from the exacting work and plumber’s pride of squaring off metal pipes to working with plastic pipes. Speed has gone from getting a purchase order for a part and expecting it in a week, to needing the part in the same day or potentially losing the job.

Communicating with the office once meant driving back to the shop. That changed to include beepers, where staff had to find a phone. Then came those brick-sized bag phones they carried in the vehicles that would invariably ring when they were buried beneath a sink.

Now the cellphones provide an immediate link and do come in handy for photos of work sites to let crews know just what to look for and make sure they remember every part from the job site.

The company can trace its roots back to Brainerd’s downtown

on South Sixth Street near the former Elf Shelf and on Washington Street where Hardee’s is now located.

After Pike retired, Gruber and a partner, Mike Anderson, purchased the business, later relocating it to a storied building on Brainerd’s southside. The brick building was constructed to serve the Land O’Lakes dry milk production during World War ll with a reinforced city street built to a 10-ton design so the milk could be trucked to railway access.

Now 43, with a newborn son, Schoepf is thinking ahead about what could be in his son’s future. He balances his work hours with time with his child and time he and his wife spend on their other passion, their quarter horses, which they show across the country.

For young people, both men look at their industry as providing

opportunities and being in need of those interested in skilled labor.

Schoepf said it’s a good living for those who are willing to work and provides an early look at what is coming and happening in town. In the next 10-15 years, he noted, it’s going to be even harder to find a plumber, mostly because of a lack of individuals in the workforce as the average age of plumbers is in the mid-50s.

“So if you are looking for a career where you’re guaranteed a job, this is probably a good choice,” Schoepf said.

With an apprenticeship program, Gruber said people are paid while they learn. The industry can provide a good living for those who don’t mind getting their hands a little dirty and who take pride in their work.

Schoepf echoes the sentiment. Going to work Monday mornings is like being with a sec-

ond family, he said.

Gruber would like to see Pike’s continue for another 80 years. He drives around town now and can look at a variety of buildings and know they worked on those. He remembers the sand dune where the former Pamida store stood that is turning into the Shannon’s Auto Body expansion.

“It’s an interesting profession,” Gruber said, adding he would recommend it to anyone with an inkling at all of being a plumber. “It’s not boring. … to me it’s exciting. I still like it.”

Contributed photo

Pike Plumbing and Heating on Front Street in Brainerd was started by Roy Pike in 1940.

Renee Richardson / Brainerd Dispatch

A Pike Plumbing and Heating van allows crews to take the tools they’ll need for the job and provides enough room to stand in the back.