Ralph Heuschele 05/13/2026

Ralph Warren Heuschele, 86, of Weyerhaeuser, Wisconsin, passed away on May 13, 2026 surrounded by family at his son Joel’s home.

Ralph was born on November 28, 1939 to Albert and Esther Zinn Heuschele in Alma, Michigan. Raised alongside his older brother Richard and younger brother Daniel, Ralph worked at the family gas station and enjoyed summer weekends at Bud Lake boating, swimming and water skiing. After graduating from Alma High School in 1956, he attended Michigan Technological University from 1956-1958, then transferred to the University of Michigan where he completed a Chemical Engineering degree in 1960. Following graduation, he spent fourteen years in the oil industry as a process and plant engineer.

While attending the University of Michigan, Ralph met his first wife, Ann Lee Stocking, and they married on August 29, 1964. Ann and Ralph moved to Minnesota for Ann’s PhD studies in Zoology, eventually settling in Bloomington where they raised their two sons, Jared and Joel. While working for the Koch oil refinery in Hastings, Ralph earned his Juris Doctor from the William Mitchell College of Law and was admitted to the Minnesota Bar in 1975. Ralph practiced family and property law for the rest of his career.

After Ann’s death from breast cancer in 2007, Ralph moved to his lake home in Wisconsin to be closer to his sons’ families and his beloved woods and water. He married Barbara Kannel-McKerracher in 2010, and soon became a fixture of the Blue Diamond Lake area resident community and St. Francis Catholic Church.

Throughout his life, Ralph was an avid outdoorsman. He was a Boy Scout and Scout Leader, passing on his love of the wilderness to his sons, his grandchildren, and everyone around him. He loved hiking, biking, camping, swimming, canoeing, sailing, water skiing, downhill skiing, and cross country skiing. He cultivated a deep attachment to the natural world and relished every opportunity to share stories of his many adventures and to advocate for responsible stewardship of our environment.

Ralph was preceded in death by his parents and his first wife Ann Stocking Heuschele. He is survived by his second wife Barbara Heuschele, his brothers Richard and Dan (Pam), his sons Jared (Emily) and Joel (Deborah), his grandchildren Owen, Otto (Audrey), Octavia, Marin, and Opal, and many extended family members.

Burial will take place in Banker Cemetery in Hoxeyville, Michigan in late July. A celebration of life will be held in late summer.