My husband and I have been planning for our retirement for a number of years now. We both arrived at full retirement age and chose to begin the process of selling our funeral home businesses along with downsizing our lives. We had previously made the decision as to who would carry the torch for Brown-VanHemert Funeral Homes. Spring of 2024 we began to sort, sell, save, donate, discard many belongings from over the years. Our home in Addison quickly because a climate controlled storage unit! LOL. Literally. We both were prepared for it and chose to remain as stress free as we could during this process. The FINAL sale of our businesses transpired on October 8, 2024, which ironically is the date of my mother-in-laws passing in 2020. Had to be a God thing!

The first phase of our Hudson business sale finalized on May 22, 2024, but we had some hoops to jump through with title work for our Addison establishment. Something relatively minor, but took some time and research. So we actually have two closing dates. May 22, 2024 and October 8, 2024. I have been working towards moving my office from our Hudson Business into our home. THIS week it arrived. My long anticipated move, which meant I finally reached retirement from the funeral industry!

My true passion is health and fitness. Since the late 80’s. The Healthy Alternative LLC was established in 1986 after my graduation as a Certified Nutritionist. From there I continued to pursue higher education in the field of Holistic Health, with certifications in MRT (Muscle Response Testing), Master Herbalist, Aromatherapy Specialist and at this time I’m currently studying for my Traditional Naturopath designation.

I’m planning on writing and educating, and also teaching classes both in-person and on-line. My health business is on-line at this time, but I hope to be able to start seeing clients in person when the time is right. I meet with clients via zoom and have them fill out a health history form. Additionally I plan to carry more inventory for those who need something urgently, rather than waiting for a shipment to arrive.

That’s the news for now! Keep the faith and stay kind and compassionate to those who are not yet enlightened to the day and age we now live in. God is in control! He always is!

Sheila VanHemert, CN CAS MH

The Healthy Alternative