William ("Bill") George Ehrich, beloved husband, father, grandfather, brother, and friend, passed away peacefully at the Regions Hospital in St. Paul on January 11, 2026, after a fall at his home and short stay in the hospital. Bill was born on February 13, 1936 in Wells, MN at the family home. He was the second of five children born to Marie and Andrew Ehrich. Bill grew up in Wells, MN and graduated from Wells High School in 1955, lettering in football, basketball and track, and was also active in band and choir. After graduation, Bill served in the US Army for 2 years at Ft Lewis in Washington.  After his military service, Bill attended Mankato State College and during his time at college, he met Helen Mihm, also attending Mankato State. They were married on March 20, 1960 at St. Peter and Paul's Catholic Church in Mankato. The young couple settled in Clara City, MN where Bill worked in construction and Helen was a homemaker, preparing for the birth of their first son, Tom.  From Clara City, the family moved to Minneapolis where Bill worked in the vending industry at SirVend. Helen and Bill's second son, Bill was born in Minneapolis in July 1964.  In 1965, the family moved to East Grand Forks, MN for Bill's job at SirVend. In February 1966, Bill and Helen's daughter, Katy was born in Grand Forks, ND, completing the family.  In 1969, the family moved to Apple Valley, MN where Bill and Helen resided for the next 45 years. In 1977, Helen and Bill purchased a cabin on Tulaby Lake north of Park Rapids, MN where they spent many weekends and vacations over the course of their life.  During that time, Bill worked at SirVend, Landshire, and Deli Express in the vending and food industry.  After Bill retired, he worked part time driving vans for Journey, transporting students to substance abuse classes.  He also volunteered for a number of organizations to give back to the community.  Helen passed away in December 2014.

Throughout his life, Bill was surrounded by his family and many friends, new and old, who he kept in contact with regularly and frequently, despite sometimes many miles of separation.  When he was in Apple Valley, he enjoyed his daily morning visits to McDonalds to have a "senior coffee" and socialize with his McDonalds buddies and also his daily workout at the YMCA, up until the day of his fall.  In the spring, summer and fall, Bill would take off on a Thursday or Friday and drive 250 miles to the cabin, enjoy senior lunch at the Elbow Lake Community Center, and on Saturday morning, breakfast with his Tulaby Lake buddies at Pinehurst Resort.  At Tulaby, he liked mowing his large yard and taking care of the cabin.  He also enjoyed fishing for walleye, northern and panfish in Tulaby Lake in earlier years.  On Sunday or Monday, he'd head back to Apple Valley to get the lawn mowed there and start the process over again – he was a road warrior and logged a lot of miles on his Toyota Prius!!

Bill also visited with his brothers and sisters in and around Wells and Albert Lea, and his brother Bob in Baxter, MN and would often meet them for lunch to catch up on events. Bill was able to spend lots of time with his son Bill, daughter-in-law Erika and granddaughter Kami at their homes in New Prague and on Mille Lacs Lake for birthdays, holidays and other events.  Bill also liked to travel and made many trips with Helen to California to visit Tom and his family and her sisters, to Las Vegas and then Omaha to visit Katy and her family, annual winter vacations to warmer states, including Alabama, Florida, and South Padre Island, TX, an Alaska cruise, two trips to Europe with family and friends, and a couple salmon fishing trips with his sons in British Columbia, Canada.

Bill loved sports of any kind, but really liked to watch the Minnesota Vikings, Golden Gophers football and basketball, and Timberwolves basketball.   Bill was an avid bird watcher and feeder and had many bird feeders of different types to attract and feed the birds year round.   Bill enjoyed perusing the treasures at local garage sales and acquired many bargains over the years.  He was a good neighbor and was always willing to pitch in, plowing driveways, helping with drives to the airport and work, sharing the vegetables from his gardens at Apple Valley and Tulaby and keeping his yard tidy.

Though he had many roles in his life, Bill loved being a grandfather and great-grandfather.  He spent lots of time with his granddaughters Kami, Rhiana, and Aubrey and grandsons Ryan and John-John.  Later, he got to know and love his great-grandchildren Katelyn, Abby, Elise, Carson and Cole, and enjoyed his time with them when visiting in California.  Bill is survived by his sons Tom (Lynda) and Bill (Erika), his daughter Katy (John), his grandchildren Kami Ehrich, Aubrey Cervantes, John Cervantes III, Ryan Cole, and Rhiana Limpus (Nathan), his great grandchildren Katelyn Oelrich (Matt), Abigail Halstead, Elise Cole, Carson Limpus, Cole Limpus and his brothers Don (Elaine), Bob (Lorraine), sister Carol, sister-in-law Joyce as well as many nieces and nephews.  Bill is predeceased by his parents Andrew and Marie, his wife Helen, his brother David, his sister Donna who died in infancy, and his brother-in-law Vern.

Interment

Burial services will be held for family members at Fort Snelling National Cemetery on Friday, April 17 at 1:30pm.

Celebration of Life

A Celebration of Life will be held at the Apple Valley Legion Post #1776 on Saturday, April 18 from 11:00am to 3:00pm.  Lunch and beverages will be served.