Hank Boehmer was looking to remain active after retiring from his paint business in Covington when he first came to HONK in the early 1990’s.

In the 20+ years that he spent volunteering for HONK, Boehmer estimated he may had worked on close to 100 homes, mostly renovations in the Covington area. In addition to applying his skills from his days in the paint business, volunteering enabled Boehmer to pick up a variety of new skills. 

“I’ve become more versatile in terms of carpentry and drywall and some guys get into plumbing too.” He said, “sometimes we teach others and sometimes they teach us.”

Volunteering at HONK also allowed Boehmer to meet new people and make new friends. He and Bart Braden, a retired math professor from Northern Kentucky University, hit it off shortly after they began volunteering together.

Boehmer often expressed that his volunteer work with HONK allowed him to share the good fortune that he had in his life with others.

“For me, I’ve been very blessed in my life. I love to try to improve on things. You can take an older home and restore it and take a person who is struggling and offer a better living condition. It is a spiritual thing.”

Boehmer volunteered at HONK two-to-three days a week for over two decades. Anyone who spent a day or two working alongside Hank Boehmer would come away learning something new.  We were all blessed to have known him. And we are grateful to his wife and family for sharing him with us all these years. He was humble, a true man of God and an inspiration to us all.

We are grieved to say that Hank passed away in 2021.

Because of the amazing work he did, the HONK workshop was dedicated to Hank in his honor.