By Joe Wessels
The Cincinnati Enquirer

Mr. Hiltbrand

SHARONVILLE - Lessons learned generations ago stayed with Carl R. Hiltbrand Sr. to the end.

"My dad would go into a restaurant, even up until the day he died, and order something and wouldn't leave one morsel on the plate," said his son, Carl "Bob" Hiltbrand Jr. "He was taught by his dad - and we were taught - not to waste anything. You made the best use of everything you had."

Mr. Hiltbrand married his wife, Pearl, in 1930, just as the Great Depression began. As a young married couple, both from Swiss German families, they knew what it meant to conserve, a lesson passed on to their children.

"He taught the old-time values; he grew up in some hard times," Bob said.

The Sharonville resident died Thursday of complications from multiple illnesses. He was 97.

Mr. Hiltbrand started working as a clerk for R.K. LeBlond Machine Tool Co. in Norwood when he was 18. Meanwhile, the young married man began taking night classes at the University of Cincinnati, said his son.

"It takes you much longer (at night school)," Bob said. "By that time the kids came along and he never got his degree."

Retiring from LeBlond in 1970 after 46 years, Mr. Hiltbrand turned his energies to gardening. Originally a hobby, cultivating rose hybrids became a part-time job, which he did for 31 years.

Neighbors, noticing his meticulously cared-for gardens, began asking for help with their landscaping. He charged them $1 an hour, a bargain even then. He didn't raise his rates for 10 years, and not until his son insisted. When he quit in 2001, he was charging $5 an hour.

"Can you imagine having your landscaping done for $5 an hour?" Bob said. "And that was just two years ago."

Mr. Hiltbrand's wife died in 1982. Besides his son, of Glen Este, he is survived by eight grandchildren.

Visitation will be 10 a.m. to noon Monday at the George H. Rohde & Sons Funeral Home in Mount Lookout.

A service will immediately follow. Burial will be at Highland Cemetery in Fort Mitchell.

E-mail jwessels@enquirer.com