Benedict Francis Schickel was born the seventh of eleven children on the 24th of August, 1959, and died peacefully on May 15, 2023, from ALS-related complicatons.
There are seven strengths that shone out in Ben’s life…
• In the blood and through his own pursuits, he was an artst. He created and was recognized for many beautful works of art.
• In this same vein, Ben was a faithful patron and promoter of local establishments and family artsts. He partcularly loved being part of the efforts of the William Schickel Gallery, enjoying his Dad’s and others’ artwork displayed and housed there, as well as staffing the Gallery during gatherings and shows. Among his favorite Loveland haunts were Paxton’s Grill, Loveland Sweet Shoppe and Mile 42 Coffee. Nearly everyone in downtown Loveland knew him and many loved him. Ben also worked for McDonald’s Corporaiton, Montgomery Inn, Loveland Bike Rental and, most recently, InReturn.
• This next strength certainly grew over time. Ben was very courageous in suffering. His entre life seemed to have more than its fair share of that.
• None-the-less, or maybe because of it, the Lord enabled him to learn extreme resilience. After many, sometmes daily, episodes that would leave others in despair, he would gather himself, regain his strength, get up, and start moving forward again.
• In a related way, he did valiant battle with his own pride and grew into a pure and simple humility. He consistently and loyally made phone calls to his family and friends, was able to receive help from others, and allowed the Lord to work through him to help others. He nurtured relatonship and brought his own family closer together.
• This was especially evident by the success of his life among his beloved AA community where he found and offered true friendship and touched the lives of many. Real success.
• At the root of it all, and definitely growing through time and adversity, Ben had a deep faith and reliance on God. He was brought up in the Catholic faith. In the later years of his life, he was a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Later Day Saints. He was so grateful to the Mormon Missionaries and congregaton who reached out to him with love and support and taught him many important things. He was fortfied by the final Sacraments of the Roman Catholic Church before his death.
Ben graduated from St. Columban Grade School and Moeller High School, and he studied photography at Antonelli College in Cincinnati.
Ben was preceded in death by his parents, William and Mary Schickel, and his brother-in-law, William Haine. He is survived by: his siblings—Anna Haine, Martha and Dan Dorff, Bill and Candi Schickel, John Schickel, Joe and Susie Schickel, John and Elizabeth Robinson, Martin and Kathy Schickel, Jim and Mary Moorman, Jim and Ruth Tabeling, Steve and Joy France; 34 nephews and nieces; 70 grand nephews and nieces; 1 great grand nephew and a second great grand on the way.
The Visitation and Memorial Service will be held at Tufts Schildmeyer Family Funeral Home
129 N. Riverside Drive in Loveland, Ohio, on Tuesday, May 23 10 a.m. to 12:00pm Noon, where a service will be held at 12:00 pm Noon.
The burial will immediately follow at Gate of Heaven Cemetery, 11000 Montgomery Rd., Montgomery, OH 45249. Those who do not wish to go to the burial are invited to go directly to the reception at The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints chapel at 8250 Cornell Rd., Montgomery, OH 45249. Memorial donatons can be made to InReturn at inreturn.org.
Hamilton County, Ohio – Jamie Higley, the Administrator of Food Safety Programs at the Ohio Department of Health and Mike Samet the Public Information Officer for Hamilton County Public Health issued the following FDA Advisory this morning.
FDA advises consumers not to use hand sanitizer products manufactured by Eskbiochem
FDA advises consumers not to use hand sanitizer products manufactured by Eskbiochem
[6/19/2020] FDA advises consumers not to use any hand sanitizer manufactured by Eskbiochem SA de CV in Mexico, due to the potential presence of methanol (wood alcohol), a substance that can be toxic when absorbed through the skin or ingested. FDA has identified the following products manufactured by Eskbiochem:
All-Clean Hand Sanitizer (NDC: 74589-002-01)
Esk Biochem Hand Sanitizer (NDC: 74589-007-01)
CleanCare NoGerm Advanced Hand Sanitizer 75% Alcohol (NDC: 74589-008-04)
Lavar 70 Gel Hand Sanitizer (NDC: 74589-006-01)
The Good Gel Antibacterial Gel Hand Sanitizer (NDC: 74589-010-10)
CleanCare NoGerm Advanced Hand Sanitizer 80% Alcohol (NDC: 74589-005-03)
CleanCare NoGerm Advanced Hand Sanitizer 75% Alcohol (NDC: 74589-009-01)
CleanCare NoGerm Advanced Hand Sanitizer 80% Alcohol (NDC: 74589-003-01)
Saniderm Advanced Hand Sanitizer (NDC: 74589-001-01)
FDA tested samples of Lavar Gel and CleanCare No Germ. Lavar Gel contains 81 percent (v/v) methanol and no ethyl alcohol, and CleanCare No Germ contains 28 percent (v/v) methanol. Methanol is not an acceptable ingredient for hand sanitizers and should not be used due to its toxic effects.
Consumers who have been exposed to hand sanitizer containing methanol should seek immediate treatment, which is critical for potential reversal of toxic effects of methanol poisoning. Substantial methanol exposure can result in nausea, vomiting, headache, blurred vision, permanent blindness, seizures, coma, permanent damage to the nervous system or death. Although all persons using these products on their hands are at risk, young children who accidently ingest these products and adolescents and adults who drink these products as an alcohol (ethanol) substitute, are most at risk for methanol poisoning.
On June 17, 2020, FDA contacted Eskbiochem to recommend the company remove its hand sanitizer products from the market due to the risks associated with methanol poisoning. To date, the company has not taken action to remove these potentially dangerous products from the market. Therefore, FDA recommends consumers stop using these hand sanitizers and dispose of them immediately in appropriate hazardous waste containers. Do not flush or pour these products down the drain.
FDA reminds consumers to wash their hands often with soap and water for at least 20 seconds, especially after going to the bathroom; before eating; and after coughing, sneezing, or blowing one’s nose. If soap and water are not readily available, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommend consumers use an alcohol-based hand sanitizer that contains at least 60 percent ethanol.
FDA remains vigilant and will continue to take action when quality issues arise with hand sanitizers. Additionally, the agency is concerned with false and misleading claims for hand sanitizers, for example that they can provide prolonged protection such as 24-hours against viruses including COVID-19, since there is no evidence to support these claims.
To date, FDA is not aware of any reports of adverse events associated with these hand sanitizer products. FDA encourages health care professionals, consumers and patients to report adverse events or quality problems experienced with the use of hand sanitizers to FDA’s MedWatch Adverse Event Reporting program:
Cincinnati’s Greatest/Bravest Athlete is from Loveland, Ohio
Mt. Everest – Everest has always been the dream for Loveland resident of 26 years, Matt Brennan. He is currently trying for the 2nd time to complete the 80-day climb that has only been completed by about 4,000 people in history. Brennan would be the first in the Cincinnati area to make the trek.
Brennan would be the first in the Cincinnati area to make the trek.
Brennan has a goal of climbing the “Seven Summits” – the tallest mountains on each of the seven continents. He’s conquered Mt. Aconcagua, Mt. McKinley, Mt. Kilimanjaro, Mt. Elbrus, and Denali. Less than 500 people have completed the challenge, and less than 150 Americans have summited all seven. Last December he climbed to the summit of Mt. Vinson in Antartica.
1. Mount Everest
Known as Sagarmatha in Nepal and Chomolungma in Tibet, the western world knows the tallest mountain as Everest. Named after Edmund Hillary – the first confirmed climber to reach the peak in 1953, the mountain used to be called simply Peak XV. Accompanied by a local Sherpa Tenzing Norgay, it took the two men a total of seven weeks to summit.
“I dreamed of this as a kid. I had posters on my wall of Mt. Everest as a kid. I’ve dreamed about it, so the opportunity to climb it is really quite emotional,” Matt Brennan told Loveland Magazine in March of 2018 during his 1st Everest expedition. Brennan explained that if something unfortunate happens above 21,000 feet, it could very well mean death. Something like 1.5% of Everest climbers die. It’s not uncommon to see corpses along a trek.
The thousands of hours of training and years of work lead up to one potential 5.5 mile-high peak.
On March 30 all of Matt’s team of 11 climbers had arrived in Kathmandu to begin their journey to the Everest summit.
On April 8 Brennan arrived at the Everest base camp at Lobuche and moved into his tent – His home for the next 7 weeks. He wrote on Facebook, “We have our Puja ceremony tomorrow asking the mountain for permission to climb and it looks like we will tentatively head up the mountain for our first rotation on April 19. All good. #unfinishedbusiness.” Lobuche (or Lobuje) is a small settlement near Mount Everest in the Khumbu region of Nepal.
May 5, 2019 – Tough post today. I stood about in this spot last year giving a shout out to my niece Janie Bordinhao who was battling cancer. At age 26. On November 1, 2018, Janie was dubbed “cancer free” and we had a ceremony with family and friends to “ring the bell” and celebrate. Sadly the cancer returned aggressively and she lost her battle on January 15, 2019. We lost an angel. I grieve for my sister Ellen, her husband Celso and sons Jansen and Jeff. I will never understand why the good Lord needed her more than the countless people whose life she touched in such a short time and the future generations of children who she looked forward to dedicating her career to. Just like her mom. This shirt is going to the top with me and I plan on kissing the sky. I’ll be there soon Precious Janie. #Janiestrong, #nobodyfightsalone, #likeineededadditionalmotivation#unfinishedbusiness. ??
Hello from basecamp. We have been spending the last few days on acclimatization “hikes” up to Pumori Camp 1 at 18,500’ and enjoying the views of Everest and the Khumbu Valley. We are fairly well rested now and it looks like rotation 2 has been pushed back to May 5 or 6. This is in part due to an impending weather issue but also an attempt to avoid other teams on the mountain. It’s a strategy game right now. The lines have not yet been fixed to the summit so nobody has “summited” Everest this year from the south side. That’s likely to change in the next week to 10 days – at least we hope.
Until then we’re hanging in basecamp, eating 3 meals a day, and spending 4 hours a day hiking/climbing in the worlds greatest mountain range. Not bad. #unfinishedbusiness.
Matt Brennan of Cincinnati and Mount Everest April 20 at 1:05 AM · “Most don’t realize that there are no roads in the Khumbu valley. I haven’t seen a vehicle in three weeks. Supplies are brought here in one of three ways-1) on a yak/donkey 2) on someone’s back or 3) by helicopter. So literally everything you see was brought in the Valley and most likely by a porter. I call the Khumbu the “helicopter highway” because when the skies are clear they are landing helicopters every few minutes right over your head- dropping off base camp supplies, picking up sick or hurt climbers/trekkers, removing refuse, etc. It’s an impressive sight watching the helicopters navigate the Valley.” Matt Brennan of Cincinnati and Mount Everest April 19 at 5:17 PM · “The Khumbu icefall is no joke. It’s 6+ hours of hard work and scary crevasses. I’m not lying when I say that this place makes me nervous. Be glad to get all the way through it and put 1 of 6 times we have to go through this area behind me. #unfinishedbusiness.”
Ben Jones · April 16 · “Final day of ladder practice in the Khumbu today. Warm, sunny weather but looking like snow for a couple days ahead. @alpineascents #everest2019 #everest #nepal #7summits #jacksonhole — in Nepal.”
Read about Brennan’s first attempt to conquer Everest:
Nerf football defeats Loveland Everest climber Matt Brennan
“I WAS IN THE GREATEST CLIMBING ARENA IN THE WORLD. I CLIMBED UP THAT MOUNTAIN, I JUST DIDN’T MAKE IT TO THE TOP”
by Sam Smith
Loveland, OH- For Loveland resident, business owner, and mountaineer Matt Brennan, failure is just another step to greater success. On March 25th, Brennan set out with one goal: to summit the world’s tallest mountain. Through a nearly lifetime of training and months of rigorous preparation, Brennan attempted what no other Cincinnati-area resident had. Although he didn’t reach the top (due to an injury) he plans to utilize his defeat in order to push himself to a new height next year, when he will attempt again. Read on…
They lie frozen in time, thousands of metres above sea level. The grim death toll on Everest is becoming impossible to ignore, says Rachel Nuwer.
“But when I say our sport is a hazardous one, I do not mean that when we climb mountains there is a large chance that we shall be killed, but that we are surrounded by dangers which will kill us if we let them.”
George Mallory, 1924
No one knows exactly how many bodies remain on Mount Everest today, but there are certainly more than 200. Climbers and Sherpas lie tucked into crevasses, buried under avalanche snow and exposed on catchment basin slopes – their limbs sun-bleached and distorted. Most are concealed from view, but some are familiar fixtures on the route to Everest’s summit. Read the full article at BBC Future…
June 20th is the 10-year anniversary of Hope Restored Counseling Services
Loveland, Ohio – Maggie Gehler and Tonya Schaeffer met at graduate school while attending Xavier University. Their first location for Hope Restored Counseling Services was at 420 West Loveland Avenue in the historic church building where they worked out of one room. They both had other jobs at that time at other agencies and in different private-practices. Even though it was during the recession, Schaeffer said they had the idea and decided to run with it – “Why don’t we give it a shot? It really was like we’re going to give this a shot and see what happens.”
Schaeffer said that she was maintaining at least two other jobs; two different jobs at the Children’s Home of Cincinnati doing in-home counseling and going to different school districts such as Sycamore. “I had multiple jobs and Maggie was working full-time at Child Focus at that at that time,” she said.
Tonya Schaeffer, M.Ed., LPCC Licensed Professional Clinical Counselor
New moms said let’s do it!
Schaeffer said, “Maggie had three children and I had two – so we were new moms – but we said let’s do it. We did, and we look back and it’s funny. We are therapist, we know therapy we know counseling but we weren’t sure about business.” They contacted SCORE, a group of expert business mentors that advise start-ups, and met with them briefly to come up with the business plan. They also met with an accountant they knew.
The new businesswomen shared that office in the old church for about two years and then moved to Julie Swain’s building just down the street where they had two separate offices. “At that point, we said OK we’re doing well let’s bring on another therapist and see how that works.” That is when they brought on Clinical Counselor, Beata Bartler to help with their caseload and expand the business.
“We ultimately ended up moving to their present location at 600 West Loveland Avenue, again for more space and have added several other therapists,” said Schaeffer. Clinical Counselor, Elizabeth Greller has been with Restored Hope about 5 years. Licensed Independent Social Workers, Dana Hurd, and Catrina Spicer have also been added to the team. They have been in the West Loveland Historic District amongst other professional businesses since they started.
“We all have kind of our own niche. Maggie works a lot with children who have ADHD or on the autism spectrum. Same with Liz. She does a lot of work with families and children on the spectrum. Beata works a lot with the more mature population and does a lot of couples work. Dana and I work with adolescent teenagers and their families.”
Hope Restored counsels individuals with ADHD or autism, but they also work closely with the family. Schaeffer said, “All of us handle ADHD and what’s interesting is that a lot of times people will come in, and a lot of times adults, or let’s say teenagers, that have made it through school one way or another without being diagnosed and I’m sitting here like – you definitely have ADHD. You have all the markers for it.” Schaeffer said that sometimes they need to be convinced and so they need some more scientific information. “We can use a DSM to diagnose, but sometimes if we want more information we will refer out to have them psychologically evaluated. She said the DSM (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual) is their bible. “We were trained in testing at Xavier, but that’s not something we want to do. I think that’s better for psychology.”
Maggie Gehler, M.A., LPCC Licensed Professional Clinical Counselor
They’ve been able to serve hundreds of people struggling with depression, anxiety, divorce, autism and so much more. “My particular passion is working with families and individuals with autism other special needs. There can be a deficit of resources and services for those families and it is extremely gratifying to be able to help,” said Gehler.
For a lot of families and their children on how to best handle divorce, Schaeffer does grief work as well. “We do get a lot of families who are here to avoid divorce or who want to handle it, hopefully, the best way possible. But we also have clients that come to us over death and loss, as well,” she said.
Families who have lost people to a drug overdose
One thing Schaeffer said she found that she didn’t expect, is that over the last three-years the practice is dealing with a lot of families who have lost people to a drug overdose. She lamented, “It’s obviously an epidemic and it’s all over the place and it seems to be happening more and more. I’m finding almost everyone is affected.” She says that a lot of people will come in who have had someone significant that has died from an overdose. “And it’s a lot of different ages, yes a lot.”
Hope Restored does counseling for dependency and has in the past seen clients who have been referred through a court order for drug and alcohol assessments. “But we don’t do a ton of that where we’re looking to grow,” said Schaeffer.
Beata Bartler, M.A., LPCC Licensed Professional Clinical Counselor
What’s in the Future?
“Where we’re looking to grow is, I want Hope Restored to work with people who are transgender and we are looking at exploring their world. Educating parents and relatives on the terminology that’s used and what a person might be going through,” said Schaeffer. “That’s where we’re definitely looking to expand. We’re getting ready to bring somebody on, so I’m excited about that.”
“We’re just super proud to be celebrating 10 years. We just didn’t know. We just said okay let’s give it a shot,” said Schaeffer. “We’d love to have more clients probably the people that have called me in the last 24 hours are thinking why hasn’t she called me back yet, and it’s because we’re super busy.”
Schaeffer would love to be able to hire more therapist that are independently licensed and have the ability to work with more individuals and families and eventually hopes to find a larger space. “However we don’t want to become ginormous by any means.”
On being a school resource
“Almost 50-percent of the local schools know who we are, but some of the schools don’t and we’re just right down the road,”said Schaeffer. She would like their name on the list of resources available that the school puts out for children with special needs. “They list out all of the bigger agencies and places but we are never included, which I don’t get that – so I’m working so folks know we’re right down the road. We’ve introduced ourselves. We have kids in the district. We have kids in the community. We live in the community and we are Loveland.”
Hope Restored recently had a booth at the Loveland School-sponsored, “Right Under Your Nose” event and are part of the task force.
“You can walk in here and get an appointment and you can’t always do that with the bigger agencies.”
Elizabeth Greller, M.A., LPCC Licensed Professional Clinical Counselor
inspirational people along the 10-year journey
Schaeffer said that there were two people who gave her the confidence to go into business and to go out on her own.
“The first person is my grandma who has passed away. Her name was Birdie and that’s why you see little birds all over my office. I opened up the doors on June 20th which is her birthday so she was definitely the first person. She gave me life lessons in general. She had nine kids and lived on the farm and she just sent me the message that I could do anything and that nothing could stop me. Which, was an amazing message. She was a strong woman.”
Dana Hurd, MSW, LISW Licensed Independent Social Worker
She also mentioned her high school guidance counselor at Franklin Monroe High School in Pitsburg, Ohio, Mr. Phipps, who she remains friends with. He led her to understand what her strengths were when she was considering journalism or counseling.
“Maggie’s dad, Mr. Gehler who just passed last year deserves a lot of credit for our success. He was in our field of private practice but he was also a professor in Chicago. He was definitely someone that Maggie would call often and ask business questions. He was a huge guidance. He was a big influence for her.”
Catrina Spicer, LISW-S
Maggie Gehler added, “I’ve always felt driven to help others, inspired by my dad who was a clinical counselor and director of a community mental health agency outside of Chicago. My dad was passionate about developing new programs that would benefit at-risk individuals.”
Just stay home and make a pie?
Early on, Schaeffer remembers contacting a preacher at her church and asking if he had any names so she could get some business advice. “The man I then contacted said to me that I should not do this and that Maggie and I should not pursue this because we were young mothers and it would be very difficult,” said Schaeffer starting to laugh. Though more laughter she said, “And that just pushed me more. (laughing more) Yep, I’m like, ‘Oh, no way.”
She said she thinks he truly thought that he was being helpful. “He said, I should just stay home and make a pie. He thought it was because we were young mothers that we wouldn’t be able to do this, and we still have young ones, ten years later at our anniversary. I’ll never forget that phone call because the message for me was you can do whatever you want to do if you put your mind to do it and if you work hard you can have kids and have a business.”
Professionals building rapport because they are real people
Schaeffer said, “Our work is interesting because the most important thing, in my opinion, is building rapport with a client of any age. I think it’s why we’ve been doing this for so long.”
She said everyone in the office is real people. “You can’t connect with someone if you are seeming above them. We have problems too and I think we try to connect with our clients. We’re genuine. We have empathy.”
Schaeffer believes there are a lot of “Fly by Night” things popping up all over, people doing different things that look like they’re counseling, “But they’re not and that’s scary for us because we deal with a lot of very serious situations such as daily suicidal clients, weekly suicidal ideation, and you have to know how to deal with that and what steps need to be taken.” She worries about people who are not qualified, yet counseling.”
Friends as business partners and risk-takers
“Some people say, don’t go into business with your friends. But I mean it’s not to say we haven’t had our struggles early on adjusting, figuring out what each of us is better at doing. Maggie’s definitely the numbers person and I’m more going out promoting the business and handling all of our referrals,” said Schaeffer.
“We are looking forward to further expanding our services. We are adding groups to meet the needs of our community and have hired more clinical staff to provide even more individual services,” said Gehler.
“I think we just want people to know that we’re here in the community that you know. We really do provide a lot of different services and if we can’t we definitely will find someone that can, said Schaeffer. “It’s hard to believe it goes fast. It was scary in the beginning, but we just took that leap.”
600 West Loveland Ave, Suite 2A • Loveland, OH 45142
Benedict Francis Schickel was born the seventh of eleven children on the 24th of August, 1959, and died peacefully on May 15, 2023, from ALS-related complicatons.
1. Mount Everest
On April 8 Brennan arrived at the Everest base camp at Lobuche and moved into his tent – His home for the next 7 weeks. He wrote on Facebook, “We have our Puja ceremony tomorrow asking the mountain for permission to climb and it looks like we will tentatively head up the mountain for our first rotation on April 19. All good. 
