Fascinating folks 2017

2017 Fascinating Folks of

Delavan

Servicemen, public servants and young people among this year’s ‘fascinating folks’

By Vicky Wedig EDITOR

T

hroughout the year, my colleagues and I have the pleasure of encountering, interviewing and writing stories about the folks among us every day who do fascinating and extraordinary things. We have compiled several of their stories here in this keepsake edition.

Among our “fascinating folks” in 2017 are two servicemen – one wounded in Saudi Arabia 11 years ago and one who came home safely with a special gift for his father. Pictured above is Raymond Hubbard, who lost his leg in an explosion on July 4,

A Keepsake Edition

2006. His story can be found on Page 3.

Three public servicemen are also on our list of fascinating folks – three men with a combined 118 ½ years of service to the Town of Delavan Fire Department, the City of Delavan Police Department and the county’s students with special needs.

Rounding out our fascinating folks are three young people, already doing extraordinary things – two young athletes, one of whom volunteers his time to bring joy to the elderly, and a young woman with a heart defect committed to preventing as many cardiac deaths as possible.

Enjoy their stories, and, if you see them around town this Memorial Day weekend, thank them.

UW-W football team visits Fairhaven D-DHS grad among athletes who make dog treats with seniors Page 2

FASCINATING FOLKS OF DELAVAN 2017

Tom Ganser

by CORRESPONDENT

On Feb. 23, Marcus Hudson, a 2012 graduate of Delavan-Darien High School, joined with his University of Wisconsin-Whitewater Warhawk football teammates in a visit to Fairhaven Senior Services in Whitewater.

The student athletes worked elbow to elbow with Fairhaven residents to make 1,427 dog treats from scratch.

The dog treats were donated to the Humane Society of Jefferson County, Whitewater Veterinary Hospital, and K9 Hair Care in Whitewater.

Hudson, who is majoring in criminology, plays wide receiver for the Warhawks.

While attending Delavan-Darien High School, he participated in the football, wrestling, and track and field programs. As a football player, he was a first-team all-conference defensive back and second team all-conference wide receiver.

Madison NBC 15 (WMTV) anchor and reporter John Stofflet was on hand to capture the efforts of the football players with senior citizens – many their elders by 50 or more years –and to present Brian Robinson, director of leisure services for Fairhaven Senior Services, with the station’s “Making a Difference” award for February.

The 2 ½-minute video can be viewed by visiting www.fairhaven.org and clicking on the picture of the award on the left side of the screen.

TOM GANSER Fascinating Folks

Delavan-Darien High School graduate and University of Wisconsin-Whitewater football player Marcus Hudson makes dog treats with Fairhaven resident Angel Terry.

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Wounded vet marks ‘survival anniversary’ FASCINATING FOLKS OF DELAVAN 2017

Page 3

Delavan man hit by Independence Day blast in 2006 Beginnings

Vicky Wedig

by EDITOR

R

aymond Hubbard considers the day he nearly died – or died and was revived as the case might be – to be one of miracles.

A pessimist might say the opposite.

Hubbard wasn’t even supposed to be there that day in Saudi Arabia when insurgents detonated a bomb that riddled him with holes, blew his leg off below the knee and left him with a traumatic brain injury. He volunteered. The mission that had sent his company to the Middle East to begin with had been suspended. The reason he was there was a formality – he’d been granted a “compassionate reassignment” to Whitewater and was required to return to Saudi Arabia to travel with his militaryissued weapons.

But Hubbard sees miracles – a double supply of donated blood on hand at two locations, without which he wouldn’t have survived; a newly built shanty to house military guards that might have somewhat shielded the blast; and the happenstance that other military personnel typically in the area at that time weren’t there on the day of the explosion.

That day was July 4, 2006. July 4, 2016, marked 10 years since the day of what some would call a tragedy. Hubbard and his military colleagues call it his survival anniversary.

Hubbard, 37, of Delavan, grew up in Darien where he lived until his late teens.

He attended Delavan-Darien and Williams Bay high schools and the Alternative High School in Elkhorn but didn’t graduate when he was 18 years old. He obtained his general education development, or high school equivalency, diploma when he was 21, and joined the military at 23, serving in the Wisconsin National Guard out of the Whitewater armory.

In Hubbard’s first weekend in the Guard, during a pre-basic training tutorial, he tore his rotator cuff and was put on medical leave for a year.

“Too many push-ups, I guess,” he said.

After basic training, Hubbard had been back in Delavan for a month or two when he got a deployment letter saying his company was going to Saudi Arabia to guard a rest-and-relaxation camp where soldiers go for reprieve from battle.

On the group’s flight to Kuwait, its orders got suspended, so the company showed up in theater in November 2005 without a mission, Hubbard said. The group stayed in Kuwait until January 2006 when it was tasked with accompanying special forces in Iraq as an attachment company.

“That was a lot of weight to put on National Guard soldiers, but we did what we were asked to do,” Hubbard said.

News from home

JIM FROST Fascinating Folks

Raymond Hubbard walks his dog Dace. Dace was given to Raymond by the National Education for Assistance Dog Services, a non-profit organization in Worcester, Mass. Hubbard was the second combat veteran in the nation to receive a dog from the organization. Hubbard put Dace down earlier this year when her aging body began to fail.

In June 2006, Hubbard received information that the oldest of his two sons, who was 9 years old at the time, was in a precarious living situation. Hubbard consulted a superior, and his scheduled leave was bumped up by a week to allow him to return to Lake Geneva where his son was and take care of his predicament.

Hubbard said he got his son secured and tended to his needs but wrestled with what he should do at that point. He’d been promoted to a specialist while in training in Mississippi, but his son needed a father at home.

“I see that if I leave again, he’s going to be in endangerment,” Hubbard said. “My thought was, ‘My son needs me.’”

Hubbard asked for what is known as a compassionate reassignment, and his two-week leave was extended by another week while his request was considered.

His captained called and notified him that the request had been approved – Hubbard would work out of the Whitewater armory, but first had to return to Saudi Arabia to travel back to the United States with his sensitive items. The process would take a month at most, the captain assured him, Hubbard said.

Hubbard remembers a phone call from his captain when he was at the airport in Milwaukee waiting to fly back to Kuwait.

He said the captain thanked him for following protocol and returning to get his military-issued belongings.

“He said a lot of guys would have gone AWOL,” Hubbard said. “I said, ‘I wouldn’t think of it.’ I remember that phone call distinctly.”

The conversation was memorable, Hubbard said, because it was the first time the captain talked to him man to man, not

JIM FROST Fascinating Folks

Raymond Hubbard drives into the parking lot at the Paul Lange Arboretum where he gathers with his veteran friends.

superior to subordinate.

Once back in Kuwait, knowing he would be there only a month and others would be there much longer, Hubbard lightened the load as much as he could for his colleagues.

He was cheerful – always singing, even in the morning, earning a reputation as a human juke box, he said.

“I volunteered to take any guys’ shifts I could to give them a break,” he said, “I was still happy because I knew I was going home.”

Independence Day July 4, 2006, was no different. Hubbard’s company was required to supply a man to guard a gate at a facility, the function of which Hubbard said he can’t disclose. The group’s shift started at 4 p.m. after a long day of burning sun, and it got its debriefing from the first-shift crew.

“I see Chad gathering his newspaper to go to the gate, and I said, ‘I’ll go,’” he said.

It was the Fourth of July, and Hubbard stationed himself in a shanty the National Guardsmen had devised to protect them from the sweltering heat. It was wired for electricity, insulated and outfitted with air conditioning and had been operational just a few days, Hubbard said. He settled in reading an article – that he’d later find ironic or foreboding – about an amputee coming back in to the Iraqi campaign. He heard a slight whistle, then a pop, then an implosion – air being sucked in all around him, and then was laying on the ground.

“I remember feeling the inhale of the device, but I don’t remember feeling the exhale,” Hubbard said.

The device was a 122-mm Soviet-built rocket – 6 to 8 feet long and 6 to 8 inches in diameter, and the “exhale” was an explosion that hurled Hubbard head-first into a concrete wall and riddled him with shrapnel. Two insurgents detonated the bomb from the back of a pick-up truck less than 20 feet from where Hubbard was stationed, he said.

Military officers who were typically in the area chipping golf balls into tin cups at that time of the day, inexplicably weren’t there that day – another miracle, said Hubbard, who was the only casualty of the explosion.

“I’m laying there,” he said. “I don’t know what has happened.”

Hubbard said he only knew that he felt dry and itchy. He later learned that feeling was from insulation from the shanty blasted into every wound.

His last recollection – before waking in a Washington D.C. hospital eight or nine days later – was being taken from the scene.

“I don’t remember anything after they put me on a gurney and lifted me in the truck,” he said.

Hubbard awoke July 11 or 12 at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Washington, D.C., a hospital that doesn’t exist anymore but is now the site of the Department of Homeland Security. His mom, stepdad and then-wife were there.

Hubbard couldn’t talk or move his right side (blood clots had caused a stroke), he didn’t remember what had happened, what mission he was on or his kids’ names, he said. He was told he had died and been brought back multiple times.

He looked down at his bed and noticed the lack of shape under the covers below his left knee. He gave his wife an inquisitive look, and she told him his leg was gone.

Hubbard said he merely shrugged, taking the amputation in stride.

Hubbard learned he’d been in hospitals in Balad, Iraq, and Germany and flown back to the United States on a C-130 – essentially a mobile hospital, four or five days after the explosion. And, he learned why he was alive.

Resupply day On the top of a hill that overlooked the area where the explosion occurred was a command center where a medical first-aid truck was stationed, Hubbard said. On that day, the truck was scheduled to resupply its donated blood – dispose of the old blood and replace it with the new blood, he said.

That, he said, was another miracle. The old blood had not yet been disposed of, but the new blood was on hand in the medical truck and at the Diplomatic Hospital of Baghdad International Airport where Hubbard was taken – two double supplies, all of which Hubbard needed.

See WOUNDED VET, Page 4

Page 4

FASCINATING FOLKS OF DELAVAN 2017

• Wounded vet

D-DHS junior makes it her mission to save lives

Student hosted CPR and AED training to mark birthday Delavan-Darien High School “I have worked with Project junior MiKayla Person didn’t ADAM for a little over four years having a party for her recent 17th and have loved every moment of it,” birthday. Instead, she’s used it to Person said. “I have worked my way spread awareness about Project up to being co-chair of the youth ADAM and potentially saving lives. advocacy program where I am able Person was born with a to teach at many different events congenital heart defect called and train new youth advocates.” pulmonary valve atresia. She also In April, Person celebrated her had a ventricular septal defect, 17th birthday. This year, instead which means she was missing a of having a big party, she hosted crucial valve that took blood to her an event to train the community in lungs to be oxygenated and then CPR and AED use. back to the heart.

Her open-house style training “In between the chambers took place at Delavan Christian MiKayla Person of my heart, I had a small hole, School, 838 Oak St., Delavan. The which mixed blood that had been event featured food, training and oxygenated and blood that hadn’t,” she said. activities for all ages.

“All of this means that I was running on an The public was invited to attend, including extremely low amount of oxygen until my young children. Person has trained individuals condition was found. Now, after four surgeries, from 3 to 70 years old. and numerous trips to the hospital, I am as heart Project ADAM is a national, non-profit healthy as they come.” organization committed to saving lives After her final surgery in April 2013, Person through advocacy, education, preparedness and joined forces with the non-profit organization collaboration to prevent sudden cardiac death.

Project ADAM, which works to acquire and It began in 1999 after the death of Adam Lemel, implement automatic external defibrillation a 17-year-old Whitefish Bay High School devices for schools and teaches CPR within student who collapsed and died while playing schools and communities. basketball.

“I used all the blood on the medical truck and at the hospital,” he said.

Hubbard’s left leg suffered what is known as “traumatic amputation” – it was blown off below the knee. On his right leg, 90 percent of his calf muscle was obliterated, but the leg was intact, and doctors were able to save it.

A tuning-fork-shaped laceration to Hubbard’s upper left thigh required 120 stitches to close, five holes the size of baseballs were blasted in the left side of his torso, and his left arm had an open wound. His elbow and his head hit a concrete wall that the gate he was guarding was on.

Hubbard said he was fortunate that shrapnel that tore open his torso in front – leaving a scar the length of his midriff – went in sideways, sparing his internal organs.

Both femoral arteries and his carotid artery were severed.

One doctor at the facility was tasked with keeping his hand in Hubbard’s neck to stop the blood flow from the carotid artery, Hubbard said. He had no pulse, and the doctor made Hubbard keep talking to gauge whether he was alive, he said.

Hubbard recalls the most painful part of his ordeal was the treatment of the open wounds in his torso. Because flesh was missing, the wounds couldn’t

(Continued from page 3) be closed but had to be allowed to heal and treated with wetdry dressings. Even though he was heavily medicated, he said, he would scream in pain when the dressings were changed.

Traumatic brain injury resulted from his head hitting the wall and blood rushing so quickly from his brain, he said.

10 years later

Today, Hubbard is three years clean from opiates – painkillers he became addicted to after his injuries. To combat depression and post-traumatic stress disorder, he does yoga and kept the company of his service dog – the second in the nation to be issued through Canines for Combat Veterans. Hubbard put his service dog, Dace, down earlier this year when age prevented her from doing the things she lived to do.

“My heart would break every time I saw her struggle through pain just to do something for me,” he said.

Hubbard also helps at the Veteran’s Administration Hospital in Milwaukee, has become involved in veterans theater productions and is applying for grants to travel to different cities and offer companionship to other wounded veterans.

“Find guys who are hurting (and) do one-on-one stuff that gets brushed aside a lot,” he said.

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Officer retires after 26 years with department FASCINATING FOLKS OF DELAVAN 2017

Michael S. Hoey

by CORRESPONDENT

T

he Delavan Common Council honored City of Delavan Police Officer Allyn Hackett on Jan. 27 for his 26 years of service to the community. Hackett retired in early January.

Police Chief Tim O’Neill said Hackett dedicated his entire life to law enforcement, serving in Whitewater before coming to Delavan. Hackett also served the Delavan Fire Department and fell off a ladder while on a call resulting in a serious injury. O’Neill said that was an example of the physical dedication to the city Hackett showed, but there were many other ways he showed his dedication as well.

O’Neill said he and Hackett came up together in the department, both working the 3 to 11 p.m. shift at the same time – a shift during which new officers learn a lot.

O’Neill said Hackett spent much of his career patrolling the east side of the city back when the dog track was still open and was drawing thousands of people, and Lake Lawn could have about 1,000 people on its grounds. O’Neill said that area had a lot of activity, but the department knew Hackett could handle it, and he found his niche out there.

“He took care of things and didn’t need supervision,” O’Neill said. “We should have five more just like him.”

O’Neill said Hackett fit well in the Delavan community and his entire family and extended family is dedicated to public service. Hackett was also the type of officer who initiated things.

Hackett volunteered to become a warrant officer and settled hundreds of warrant issues without confrontations.

He also volunteered to work in the ReadAlong program in the elementary schools, particularly Darien Elementary School, where O’Neill joked there should be a bust of him.

Hackett said he appreciated O’Neill and former Police Chief Larry Malsch giving him a chance in 1991. He said over the years, he has been sworn at, kicked, punched, knocked down, had a couch and a table thrown on him and fallen into Lake Comus, and yet he already misses the job and the people he worked with.

“The city should be proud of the police department and every other department in the city,” Hackett said. “I don’t think the citizens realize what they have here since they don’t have to deal with them on a daily basis.”

Hackett said that really hits home when you consider the way the country has been going toward law enforcement in recent years. He said he has not noticed any change in Delavan in his 26 years.

“The public is still very supportive of our department,” he said. “That just shows that we’re doing something right.”

Hackett said the decision to retire was difficult but he knew it was time. He said one of his biggest regrets was not volunteering in the schools sooner in his career.

“That was the best part of my career,” he said.

Hackett said he hopes to continue working in the schools in the future.

O’Neill said he thinks Hackett will remain with the department unofficially even in retirement.

Above: A Turtle Creek Elementary School student hands Delavan Police Officer Allyn Hacket a card during a retirement send-off for the officer, who spent his last official day on duty after 26 years reading to first-graders at the school. At left: Hacket listens to a question from a first-grader at Turtle Creek. Over the last four years of his 26-year career with the Delavan Police Department, Hacket has patrolled inside DelavanDarien elementary schools, building relationships with students and staff, talking to kids, playing on the playground and reading to students.

SUBMITTED PHOTOS Fascinating Folks

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FASCINATING FOLKS OF DELAVAN 2017

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FASCINATING FOLKS OF DELAVAN 2017

Jodi Bronson, school psychologist and director of pupil services at Lakeland School in Elkhorn, holds up a heart on which a student wrote “patient” as a reason to love “Mr. K,” the school’s longtime principal, Greg Kostechka.

VICKY WEDIG Fascinating Folks

Students will ‘moose’ Mr. K

Principal re‘tie’res after more than 42 years at Lakeland School Vicky Wedig

by EDITOR

VICKY WEDIG Fascinating Folks

Principal Greg Kostechka, who has worked at Lakeland School for 42 ½ years, listens to a presentation in honor of his retirement.

Mr. K has left the building.

After 42 ½ years at Lakeland School in Elkhorn, Greg Kostechka, of Delavan, retired earlier this year.

Students celebrated Mr. K’s re“tie”rement with an assembly in the gym riddled with puns centered around neckties and moose – two things Kostechka is known for.

A banner – with painted renderings of moose – in the gym announced, “We will ‘moose’ you,” and staff wore neckties along with the special needs children, some with ties crafted from construction paper clipped to their shirts.

Kostechka started at Lakeland School, when it was a 67,000-square-foot school on Court Street in Elkhorn, more than 42 years ago. He began as the adaptive physical education teacher and moved into a role as aquatics director before becoming the principal, said school administrator Tracy Moate, who has worked with Kostechka 32 ½ of those years.

“He’s a man that’s very humble,” she said. “He has this unique wisdom as far as being able to interact with kids and adults.”

Kostechka’s connection with the school’s students with disabilities was evident on his last day when some students – many of whom attend the school for 18 years – had difficulty emotionally with Kostechka’s departure.

Kostechka said his interest in special education stemmed from having a brother with Down

Syndrome who passed away Feb. 1. He coached Special Olympics for 19 years and moved into the principal’s role at Lakeland after obtained his administration degree and special education license.

Kostechka said he considers himself a support person for the more than 100 teachers and support staff in the building. He is involved in developing students’ individual education plans and knows all the kids by name.

“I’m not one to sit behind my desk,” he said.

Moate said Kostechka always left his ego at the door, which is critical in the special education field, and has an unseen sense of humor, which contributed to his longevity in the field.

She said Kostechka could always be seen doing all the unnoticed things like running the grill at School Fest, manning the waffle iron or opening the school doors for students at the end of the day.

Kostechka said he has no specific plans for retirement but will likely spend more time with his family – wife, Patty, children Carrie, Caleb, Casey and Claire and grandchild in Wisconsin and Oregon.

To send him off, the school’s 204 students gathered in the gym sporting their neckties, and Jodi Bronson, school psychologist and director of pupil services, presented a slide show of scrapbook pages each class made for Mr. K. One slide cited “reasons we love Mr. K.” His kind heart, patience and neckties were among the reasons. One summed it up with this: “Mr. K. always listens when I want to talk.”

Page 7

Local soldier brings home gift for father

Page 8

FASCINATING FOLKS OF DELAVAN 2017

Flag to be displayed at Darien business

Michael S. Hoey

by CORRESPONDENT

Cody Christman, a native of Darien and 2010 graduate of Delavan-Darien High School, came home on leave from the U.S. Navy recently and brought a flag with him that flew over the base he was stationed at in Iraq as a gift for his father.

Christman presented the flag to his father, Russ, at a ceremony at Royal Basket Trucks in Darien, where Russ works, on March 28.

The flag will be displayed in the office of the company where many people will see it.

“It was a dream come true to have a place to display it,” Russ Christman said.

“My thanks to (President) Tom Carney and Royal Basket for allowing me to display it in the office,” Chrisman said. “I am so proud of my son, and I want everyone to know it.”

Christman said Carney had asked him what he intended to do with the flag when he heard about it. Christman said it would probably just be displayed in his home where very few people would see it. Carney suggested displaying it at Royal Basket.

Royal Basket makes the kind of basket carts and laundry carts one would see at hospitals, resorts and other businesses.

“Mr. Carney’s generosity and patriotism are amazing,” Christman said.

“It is not often we get to stop and think about the people who have served or are serving our country,” Carney said during the

presentation. “Thank you to Cody and others who have served.”

Carney took a moment to recognize several workers at the ceremony who have served in their lifetime as well.

Carney said he never served in the military but grew up during the Vietnam conflict and remembers well how terribly returning soldiers were treated and that has made him appreciate anyone who serves in the military. He said it was an honor to display the flag Cody brought home.

“It is pretty awesome he would do that considering it (the certificate that came with the flag) was made out to one of his employees, not the company,” Cody Christman said. “He was kind enough to display it in the office where people will get to see it all the time and that is inspiring.”

Cody said the military has a program in place for those who wish to bring home a flag. A soldier can put in a request, a flag is then flown at the base, and a certificate is printed authenticating it actually flew over a U.S. base. Cody said the flag means everything to him.

“It means pretty much everything to me, everything I grew up around,” he said.

“When I put my life on the line, I want to make sure my kids grow up with the same potential and freedoms I had with nothing hindering their path.”

Cody has two children ages 2 and 8.

Cody said he wanted to do something

MICHAEL S. HOEY Fascinating Folks

Michelle Chinn (from left), Cody Christman, Russ Christman and Royal Basket President Tom Carney show a flag Cody Christman brought back from his U.S. Navy base in Iraq that will be displayed at Royal Basket in Darien.

special for his father because Russ always talked about how proud he was of Cody.

“He inspired me to do something,” Cody said. “It was a small thing, but it had a big effect on him.”

Cody said he did not enter the military immediately after high school. He said he spent some time working at a factory in Darien and just “puttering around.” In May 2011, he enlisted.

“I felt like there was more to do with life,” he said.

Cody said he wanted to join the military, travel and go to college. Now he says he wants to make the Navy his career. His original enlistment was for six years, and he plans to re-enlist when the time comes.

Cody said he originally thought about

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WSD senior named Player of Year FASCINATING FOLKS OF DELAVAN 2017

Jerome Payne, a senior from Wisconsin School for the Deaf was named National Deaf Interscholastic Athletic Association Division II Player of the Year.

Among Payne’s highlights this year were being named the ​National Deaf Interscholastic Athletic Association athlete of the month for December; player of the year and first team Great Plains Schools for the Deaf All Tournament Indian Trails Conference; WSD first- and second-quarter honor roll; and WSD basketball team MVP award.

He broke five new records this year and contributed a lot to the team, Eldred said. He said many opponents doubleteamed Payne, and he played versatile positions to fit the offense based on who was on the floor with him.

“Jerome is a unique and best basketball player I have ever coached,” Eldred said.

Payne’s points per game increased from 21 last year to 27.3 this year.

“Jerome is one of finest talented players in WSD school history,” said Athletic Director Matthew Eby.

(Continued from page 8)

joining the Marines, but chose the Navy after discussing it with his parents. They wanted him to choose what they considered a safer situation. Cody also had a close friend who was joining the Navy at the time.

Russ said Cody’s grandfather served very successfully in the Navy for 14 years, and Cody brought home a flag for him as well.

Russ’ father was in the Army, served in World War II, and was captured during the Battle of the Bulge near the end of the war in Europe. Russ said his father was named Prisoner of War of the Year by the Darien American Legion Hall in about 2000. He said he still flies the POW flag in his father’s SUBMITTED PHOTO Fascinating Folks honor. He also has two brothers who served Wisconsin School for the Deaf se- in Vietnam. nior Jerome Payne was named National “I am so proud of him,” Russ said about Deaf Interscholastic Athletic Associa- Cody. “This is all about him, not me.”

Russ said the flag meant a lot to him. tion Division II Player of the Year.

“It means everything about this country like freedom, the military and my son and his commitment, dedication and devotion,” Russ said.

Cody’s mother, Michelle Chinn, who also works at Royal Basket, said she was apprehensive at first when she found out Cody wanted to join the military, as any mother would be. She said she felt much better about his decision to join the Navy.

“I am extremely proud,” she said. “There are no words for it.”

Chinn said the flag represents something Cody brought home from an experience in his life that he wanted to share with others, and it is wonderful that Carney offered to display it at Royal Basket. Chinn said her son amazes her all the time and a career in the Navy would be the best thing for him.

“He loves what he does,” she said. “It is a

great way for him to go.”

Cody works in communications and is pursuing a bachelor’s degree in business.

He completed two months of basic training at the Great Lakes base in Illinois and then spent nine months in “A” school. After that he has been stationed in Coronado, California, Korea, Guam and other places in the Pacific.

Most recently Cody spent six months in Iraq. He said it is not pretty there right now, but it is nothing like what it was when the United States invaded.

Cody’s two-week leave ended March 30. He said he was headed back to the San Diego area for now. He said it was interesting to see while he was back how much things were the same as when he was here with some small changes. He said it was surreal.

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Payne also broke five school records this season – career points, 1,640 (previous record was 1,275 set in 1974); total three-pointers in a season, 62 (previous was 54 in 2000); career total three-pointers, 161; three-pointers in a game, nine (previous, six; and points in a game, 55 (previous, 46 in 1964).

Payne is one of most talented players WSD had for long time, said Coach Michael Eldred. He demonstrates true athleticism and worked hard on the Firebirds team the past four seasons, he said.

Page 9

FASCINATING FOLKS OF DELAVAN 2017

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Town fire chief retires Edwards was longest-standing chief, spent half century with department FASCINATING FOLKS OF DELAVAN 2017

Page 11

Michael S. Hoey

good committed people who mean business.

Jedlicka said Jarosz inherited a great team.

Jarosz began his career with the Town of The Town of Delavan celebrated the end of an Delavan Fire Department in 1990 and was era and the beginning of a new era marked with promoted to lieutenant in 1995, captain in 1999 family tradition on March 21. and assistant chief in 2001. He also served Fire Chief Jerry Edwards was honored for his as the dive team captain for 10 years and the 18 years of service as fire chief, and Jamie Jarosz department’s training officer for 17 years. was recognized for being promoted to the position Edwards began his career with the Turtle Lake from within the department.

Fire Department in 1967 and came to Delavan in “As one man ends his era in fire service, 1970. In 1981, he was named assistant fire chief another one begins a new chapter and continues a and became fire chief in 1990. He also served as family tradition of public service to the Town of fire inspector for 20 years.

Delavan community,” Supervisor Kim Jedlicka “It’s more than I really expected,” Edwards said. “We are certainly pleased that we were said about being recognized and given a plaque able to promote our new chief from within our by the board. He said he was proud to have been department.” able to provide all of those years of service to the Jedlicka said Jarosz is well qualified and township. has prepared himself well to be the new chief, “This is in appreciation for your commitment, including running around the fire station long hours, and the contributions you have made as a youth. His father, John, was fire chief to the town for over 50 years,” Jedlicka said. before Edwards and his brother also served Town Administrator John Olson said Edwards, the department and retired as a captain. Even who retired in January, was the town’s longestthough both are now deceased, Jarosz said standing chief and spent 50 years with the he is happy to honor his family history in the department. department.

“To serve 50 years total on a volunteer “I think it would have made my dad proud,” department is probably something you won’t find Jarosz said. “It feels good to make it to this anymore,” he said. point.”

Edwards was known as a man who didn’t Jarosz said staying with the department longmince words and, in his role as chief, sometimes term has always been a goal, and he considers the had to give opinions that weren’t always popular, appointment to chief to be a career highlight.

Olson said.

“I am very proud to be chief of this “He was definitely the chief,” Olson said. “I department,” he said. don’t think he left that open to too much debate.”

Jarosz said the fire department has some very Editor Vicky Wedig contributed to this report. by CORRESPONDENT

Willowfield

MICHAEL S. HOEY Fascinating Folks

Delavan Town Board Supervisor Kim Jedlicka presents a plaque to retired Fire Chief Jerry Edwards for his years of service.

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She has seen many residents and co-workers come and go over the years, too many to recount, but wishes now she had kept a story book or a journal capturing the memorable people and events at Willowfield. She really enjoyed the diversity of people and backgrounds.

Julie has always loved sports and the outdoors. She played both softball and basketball in her youth. Currently Julie has a 32 year old son and enjoys getting outdoors and walking her dog, LuLu.

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FASCINATING FOLKS OF DELAVAN 2017

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