About Us

About Us

Winkel Funeral Home is family-owned and operated, with one location on M-89 in downtown Otsego, Michigan. We have been serving the families of Otsego and the surrounding area since 1956. At Winkel Funeral Home we strive to meet or exceed your expectations by helping you plan a meaningful funeral service. We offer many options and we encourage family involvement to help personalize the service for your loved one. Our directors and staff are available at all times – before, during and after the funeral. Our facility can comfortably accommodate a large visitation and service or offer an intimate space for a smaller group of family and friends.


The caring funeral directors at Winkel Funeral Home provide specialized funeral services designed to meet the needs of each family. The professional, dedicated staff can assist you in making funeral service arrangements. The funeral directors at Winkel Funeral Home will guide you through all aspects of the service; including funeral flowers, casket choices, appropriate music selection, and local accommodations.

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Ben Pobocik grew up in Three Oaks, a little town located in the southwest corner of Michigan. He was a good student, a member of the high school wrestling team, and was active in scouting, earning the rank of Eagle Scout. He was also active in his church where he was an altar boy, reader and served as a religious education instructor. He continues to enjoy many of the same things he enjoyed with his family growing up, including camping, fishing, reading, riding bicycles and spending time with his family.


Ben grew up around funeral service, some of his earliest memories are of living above a funeral home in Cincinnati where his dad worked while attending Mortuary College. From that point on he lived at or next to the funeral home where his father was employed. He began working for his parents in 1995 at Pobocik Funeral Home in Three Oaks. After graduating from high school in 1996, he earned an associate's degree from Holy Cross College in Notre Dame, IN while still working at the family’s funeral home. In 1998 he moved to Northbrook, IL where he worked and lived at Hanecamp Funeral Home while attending Worsham College of Mortuary Science. Ben earned his associate degree from Worsham in 1999 and moved to Cheboygan, MI to serve his apprenticeship at Christian Funeral Home; he continued to work in Cheboygan as a funeral director until 2003 when he moved to Otsego to begin working with Jim and Jo Ann Winkel.


While in Cheboygan, Ben met Amy Maxwell, who he married in 2007. They now work together at Winkel Funeral Home and enjoy spending time with their children: Drew, Emma and Simon.


Ben has appreciated working for Jim and Jo Ann in their family’s funeral home and has brought many new ideas that have been implemented there. The funeral home now has a Funeral Celebrant, Ben is also trained as a Celebrant. Winkel Funeral Home has upgraded their technology and Ben has been instrumental in this process. He appreciates keeping many traditional aspects of the funeral that families have come to want and expect as he continues to keep his ear on the pulse of the future.


With his background in funeral service, he continues to keep an emphasis on keeping his education current. Ben would say that the most rewarding part of his job is knowing he has helped a member of his community during one of the most difficult times of their lives.

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