Harold Richard “Hal” Kumbier, 84, died Thursday, Mar. 13, 2008 following complications from heart surgery.

Hal was born on Feb. 2, 1924 in Sheboygan Falls, Wis. to Anton G. and Emma (Zuleger) Kumbier. He was a 1942 graduate of Glenbeulah High School and enlisted in the US Army. He served in the Tenth Mountain Division in the Po Valley Campaign in Italy during WWII. He attended Lakeland College and the University of Wisconsin-Madison, earning a master’s degree in guidance and counseling. He received his lifetime public school teaching license in 1956. Hal taught high school in Baraboo and Port Edwards before becoming a counselor at Sheboygan Falls, Lakeshore Technical Institute and Western Wisconsin Technical Institute in La Crosse. He retired in 1985 from Western Wisconsin Technical Institute as the Supervisor of Admissions.

Hal was married to Helen Marie Hirsch from 1950–1971, and together they had five children. He married Mary (Johnson) Winter on Dec. 12, 1987 and they had three more daughters. Previous to building a home in Onalaska they had lived in Rushford, Minn., Janesville and Beloit, Wis. Hal was a member of Wesley United Methodist Church, the Frontier-Badger 45 F&AM, and life member of the Veterans of Foreign Wars and the Disabled American Veterans. He was a past member of the Janesville Lions Club, Nekoosa Lions Club, Wisconsin Rapids Masonic Lodge, and the Barbershoppers singers. He was also past Treasury of the Wisconsin Personnel and Guidance Association (WPGA). Hal was instrumental in the building of the Educational Wing at the Methodist Church in Port Edwards and also helped create the Port Edwards Cemetery in 1958, where his son Tim was buried.

Hal is survived by his wife Mary, his children: Ted (Mary Gjermo), Cambridge, Wis.; Kay De Horn, New Hampshire; Tom (Andrea), Onalaska; Terry (Wendy), Pleasant Prairie, Wis.; Tammi (Rich) Benson, Bangor, Wis.; Laura (Bob) Gaustad, Houston, Minn.; and Sara (Craig) Conley, Houston; 17 grandchildren; two great-grandchildren; and his older brother Lawrence L. (Dorothy) Kumbier.

He was preceded in death by his son Timothy.

 Funeral services will be held on Sunday, Mar. 16, 2008 at 2 p.m. at Wesley United Methodist Church. Rev. Donald Iliff will officiate. Burial will be in the Mormon Coulee Memorial Park. Friends may call at the church on Sunday from 12:30 p.m. until the time of services. A Masonic Service will be held at 1:30 p.m.

The Schumacher-Kish Funeral Home of La Crosse is in charge of arrangements.