When Eugene Woller began working with honeybees in 1965 while enrolled in the UW agricultural short course, he immediately knew that this was something he wanted to do for the rest of his life. Little did Eugene know then that a life-long, multi-generational passion and business would grow from this! For many years he kept bees as a hobby, always involving his family, and sold his honey products at the newly emerging Dane County Farmer’s Market under the name Gentle Breeze Honey.
In the early 1990s, Eugene took his well-established hobby and local reputation for quality honey and developed it into a business and way of life with the faithful support of his beloved wife, Donna. Willy Street Co-op was one of the first grocers to give him the opportunity to sell his honey on the local retail grocery market and continues to be a wonderful customer to this day!
In 2015, Eugene’s son, Tim retired from the US Air Force, and with his family, returned home to Wisconsin to learn beekeeping and the business of Gentle Breeze Honey, Inc. Tim’s teenage sons and their friends became an immediate source of labor and learned the ecological importance of honeybees. In early December 2022, Tim and Cathy Woller finished purchasing the business from Eugene and Donna. Eugene died just weeks later, having left a wealth of wonderful relationships formed around honey and beekeeping, along with much wisdom, knowledge and memories to sustain the Gentle Breeze Honey community, hopefully for years to come!
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