My name is Timothy Hollmann. My wife Michelle and I are not military people, but our families have had long and dedicated careers in the military. We actually met at a military ball, where Michelle was a queen candidate. I was the last son of a Command Sergeant Major, William Hollmann.

My father, William Hollmann, was born in 1922, so when WWII broke out, he enlisted and was stationed in the Philippines in 1943 . Initially his MOS was a frontal triage medical unit. But they found that he had a unique talent for a man of that era, he could type. Late in life he would use his skill for helping people becoming an ambulance driver in Wagner. His office skills would resurface when he joined a core of the National Guardsmen and started the original unit in Wagner. He retired in 1979 as a Command Sergeant Major, one of only 2 in SD at the time. To this day, there is an award given to an outstanding enlisted man in his name.

Michelle (Heimes) Hollmann is the biological daughter of Richard T. Heimes. Richard was born in 1946 and, before his 20th birthday, was stationed in country in Vietnam. He requested leave to marry his sweetheart who had given birth to a little girl in October of 1967. Richard was a mechanic and his task was tank repair. At the age of 22, during the TET Offensive in January of 1968, Richard was working on a tank that needed help when a young boy threw a live grenade in the tank he was working on Richard Heimes' name is memorialized on the Vietnam Wall with other fallen comrades.

We know full well the sacrifices made by others to protect our way of life. In fact, Michelle's step-brother, Michael Kotab, has recently returned from a second overseas tour of duty with the SD Nation Guard his first was to Iraq and second to Africa.

Timothy Hollmann was born in Wagner, SD. He started his beekeeping career in high school. After he graduated from the University of South Dakota, he started his own bee business in 1984. He met Michelle Heimes in 1985 and the two were married on 1992. Michelle is a trained engineering technician who worked for the Department of Transportation, Charles Mix County Highway Superintendent (first female in the state of South Dakota) and for Brosz Engineering, in the Civil Engineering industry. Finally turning full time to helping Tim in the bee business in 2020.

We have two sons, Alexander and William, who now work for the company in Dante. We currently have two grandchildren, with another one on the way. All boys!

God Bless our soldiers and their families.

Timothy and Michelle Hollmann.