Russell Ziebell

Rusty passed away suddenly in the early morning of July 31, 2011. He is survived by his loving wife, Susie (Mullins) Ziebell of 22 years and three amazing children: Sarah, 18, Jake, 17, and Brent, 12, of Menomonie, Wisconsin. He is also survived by his father, Russell Ziebell (of Brookfield, WI), and three older brothers, John (Paulette) Ziebell, of Jacksonville,Florida, Kurt Ziebell (Brookfield, WI) and Mark Ziebell (Brookfield, WI) as well as his wonderful mother and father-in-law, Dennis and Barbara Mullins (Noxon, Montana), two sister-in-laws, Cindy (Kent) Compton, (Boise, Idaho) Kathy (Brent) Fitchett (Heron, Montana). He will be missed by his nieces, nephews; Katie, Kelly, Carly, Jolie, Melissa and Jonathan and cousins, Kevin and Brian Woodall, as well as many other family members and friends.
Rusty was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin on April 2, 1958 to Russell and Elizabeth Ziebell. He was active in all sports and became a “letterman” his freshman year of high school for wrestling and was class president his senior year at Wisconsin Lutheran High School.
Rusty graduated from the University of Wisconsin, Stout with a Bachelor of Science in Industrial Education and returned to Stout to complete his Master’s Degree of Science in Management Technology. He married the love of his life, Susie Mullins August 5, 1989. They made a life together and were blessed with three children, Sarah, Jake and Brent.
Rusty worked for many companies such as Texas Instruments, Cray Research, AQS & QAI to name a few. He was an active creator and author in training materials and management policy. He created a company called River Systems, a consulting service that offered training courses for conformance and Business Improvement and traveled the nation as the company’s president.
Rusty has been honored by the Governor of Wisconsin and the Chair of the Council of Workforce Excellence for distinguished service and by the Wisconsin Award Board for Examiners. He also was a past vice-chairman of the ISO-9000 Quality Consortium.
No matter how busy Rusty was, he always made time to be with his loving wife and children. Whether attending wrestling, baseball, football, swimming or a theatre production, he would be there to support his kids and wife. As a loving father, he learned about hunting, because his kids were interested in it, so they were taught safety and respect for the sport. His favorite past-time was fishing with his family.
As a brother, Rusty was always there if you needed to talk or ask advice. He regularly made trips to visit family and friends to stay connected to all.
He was a wonderful neighbor and a great friend, which can be seen in the outpouring of love and compassion by his friends with us at this time. As a son, Rusty was the youngest but knew what he wanted to do in life and went after it. He was always a loving son and his father will always be very proud of all his accomplishments and the love he had for his family.
Rusty will be remembered for his strong convictions and his great integrity. Rusty was always honest and up front. He’d say what he meant and meant what he said. Knowing that, he would always state how he loved his wife and children and whole family and you knew he meant it. He will be greatly missed by all but loved forever.
He left us too soon but we know he is now reunited with his mother, Elizabeth and safe in God’s loving arms.

Funeral services will be held 1:00 p.m. Thursday, August 4, 2011, at Cedarbrook Church in Menomonie, with Pastor Remy Diederich officiating. Visitation will be from 4:00-7:00 p.m. Wednesday, August 3, 2011 at Cedarbrook Church, and also 1 hour prior to the service on Thursday.