Introducing the Board Spotlight, a fresh addition to our bi-weekly Insights newsletter. This feature illuminates the trailblazing individuals who are steering the course for OGR with their forward-thinking approach. For more information, click here. 

Jamie L. Wieting is the funeral director and office manager at Wieting Family Funeral Home in Chilton, Wisconsin. She serves on the OGR Board of Directors as Vice President and also has served as a member of the association's Executive Committee, Finance Committee, and the OGR Foundation Board of Directors. The OGR Insights Newsletter caught up with Jamie to talk about outdoor hobbies, her favorite parts of being an OGR member and more!

OGR: Tell us about where you call home as well as your family and pets. 

JW: I married my high school sweetheart, Daniel. We will be married 20 years this October 25. We have four children: Alydia (17), Eliot (15), Iyla (13), and Oriya (12). Our house is always active with kids or animals. We have a Great Dane who thinks she's a person, Kenzie; a polydactyl cat who thinks she's a dog, Bailey; and, believe it or not, a tortoise, Murphy. We live at the funeral home in Chilton, which is a small town in Wisconsin. 

OGR: What do you do for fun or to relax? 

JW: For fun and relaxation, I like to spend time with my family, go camping, and sit by the pool and enjoy the outdoors. Anytime I can get outside to work or play in the summer I am happy. In the winter months, we like to downhill ski and still enjoy the great outdoors even if it's just sitting around a campfire in a snowstorm. 

OGR: How did you first become involved with OGR, and what motivated you to do so? 

JW: Our firm has been involved with OGR for as long as I can remember and since I have taken an active role in the funeral home. My husband, Daniel, is a third-generation funeral director. We have been actively involved with his parents Bud and Barb Wieting who started our firm with OGR. 

I am motivated to be involved in any organization I join, including OGR. I appreciate being able to see what OGR has to offer, how it can help my business and others', how OGR can save me money with its programs, and most importantly, I am motivated to build relationships across the globe with other funeral directors and business owners who have the same passion and drive that we do. The more time I spend actively involved in OGR, the more relationships I build. The ideas others present help us to innovate our own firm. It is just as simple as talking to those other OGR members that we are able to cross paths with. 

OGR: What made you want to join OGR's Board of Directors? 

JW: I was asked to join the OGR's Board of Directors. I don't take that commitment lightly, so when I was first asked, I hesitated and needed a little more time until all my children started school. After my children were all in school, I thought it was a good time to be more actively involved. It was also a few years after my father-in-law, Bud Wieting finished his position with the Board of Directors at OGR. I was interested in learning more about being more involved as we look over more leadership at the funeral home and it all kind of fell into place. 

OGR: What message or advice would you like to share with other members who might be considering getting more involved? 

JW: Getting involved is a great way to learn and better yourself as a person and as a business. No matter what walk of life people are in or age, you add value to our organization as a whole. I love that I can talk to small town people like myself, and also big city firms. At the end of the day, we all have the same goal in mind: serving our families through the most difficult time with the utmost respect and dignity. 

OGR: What other board work, volunteering, or side work do you do? 

JW: I do most of my volunteering through our church and community. I sit on the school board for our church's school, organize fundraisers for our church youth group, school and community organizations. I am actively involved in the Chilton Booster Club, volunteer as a leader for a youth group in our area, actively involved in our Chamber of Commerce and have served on their board of directors. You will also find me participating in our state funeral director association. I also serve as the secretary/treasurer for our local funeral director group. I don't honestly know; the list goes on and on. I don't like to sit for too long and always have my brain looking into the next project I can help with or run. 

OGR: What else should OGR members know about you? 

JW: I truly love life, my husband, my kids and family!!! I am blessed beyond measures and am proud to serve in a great community. When I started with a teaching career, got married and had kids, my plans surely didn't include the funeral industry working alongside my husband. Now, I can't imagine what I would be doing if I wasn't here.