Fascinating folks 2015

2015 Fascinating Folks of Delavan Lilly Perry

Carrie Schuknecht

Community members who passed honored this Memorial Day Police officer, soccer team, pint-size singer on list of ‘fascinating folks’

SUBMITTED PHOTO Fascinating Folks

Franklin Stoneburner is seen as Uncle Sam during the City of Delavan’s Fourth of July parade in 2010. Stoneburner, a Delavan historian, died Dec. 28 at the age of 82.

On this Memorial Day weekend, the Delavan Enterprise pays homage to four community members who passed away this year – two teachers, Delavan’s “Uncle Sam” and a little girl well known on Delavan’s youth football team.

They are among multiple people considered “fascinating folks” – ordinary people doing extraordinary things.

Also on our list of fascinating folks this year is a student with special needs who sank her first game-time bucket in the last basketball game of her senior year at Delavan-Darien High School. As fascinating as the girl were the coaches and teams on both sides of the court who facilitated her memory-making shot.

Our fascinating folks are rounded out by a little girl who can belt out a tune, a team that demonstrated sportsmanship and athleticism to bring home a state-championship trophy and a retiring police officer with a passion for the children of Haiti.

A Keepsake Edition

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FASCINATING FOLKS OF DELAVAN

May 2015

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FASCINATING FOLKS OF DELAVAN

Page 3

Delavan’s Uncle Sam dies at 82 Stoneburner was founding member of Historical Society, active in Legion

didn’t exist in Delavan.

“It stuck out like a sore thumb, a little black boy in this picture,” Brady said. “That piqued his interest, and he dug and dug until founding member of the Delavan he found out who that was.”

Historical Society and a man Peters often typed up the articles that known for more than a decade as resulted from Stoneburner’s research.

Delavan’s Uncle Sam died late last year.

“He was very humorous in a lot of things Franklin R. Stoneburner, 82, died Dec. but he was a perfectionist,” Peters said. “But 28 at Aurora Lakeland Medical Center in he had the worst handwriting in the world.

Elkhorn.

He’d get mad if I told him I can’t read his He was born in 1932 less than 30 miles writing.” from Delavan in Footville in Rock County.

She described Stoneburner as “oldHe grew up in Allens Grove and attended school” and said he had a way of always grade school in Sharon and high school in making people feel special.

Darien before moving to Delavan when he Stoneburner’s daughter, Beth was 16 years old after his father, Melville Stoneburner, of Crystal Lake, Ill., said her Stoneburner, died. He graduated from father was always happy to see his children Delavan High School in 1950. and other family members and loved to Stoneburner obtained a degree in social work from the University of Wisconsinsocialize, going to parties or out to dinner.

Milwaukee in 1966 and was a social worker “He liked to see people, sit down, talk to with the Walworth County Department of people and swap stories,” she said.

Health and Human Services from 1971 until She said many Delavan residents will his retirement in 1997. remember Stoneburner as Uncle Sam – the He was a member of the National Guard tall man in the red, white and blue top hat for 31 years and served during the Berlin during local parades.

Crisis.

“He loved doing it,” she said. “I He married Suzanne Scheibe in 1968, and remember more than once helping him with they had two children, John and Elizabeth. his costume. He lived for it. He absolutely Friends and family say Stoneburner loved it.” was known for his passion for history and However, Stoneburner said, when she antiques; love of Delavan, its people and and her brother were growing up, John socializing; and advocacy for the elderly.

Featherstone was Uncle Sam. She has “He was involved with a lot,” said more vivid recollections of her father’s Beth Peters, of Delavan, who served with involvement in the American Legion where Stoneburner on the Delavan Historical “I’ve been a member of the auxiliary Society Board and did housekeeping and since birth,” Beth Stoneburner said. secretarial work for him.

She said her father participated in the Stoneburner was a past post commander Legion’s meetings, community events and of the Delavan American Legion and an holiday activities including the Halloween antique dealer, Peters said. He put himself haunted house and Christmas dinner. through college by working weekends at “He always wanted to be active with Lake Lawn Resort, worked at StaRite and whatever the Legion was doing,” she said. worked for a company in Beloit that made Stoneburner was also a supporter of railroad cars. preserving the Israel Stowell Temperance Stoneburner was one of the founders of House, emphasizing the historic significance the Delavan Historical Society and served of the building. on its board from the beginning.

“He was very vocal about saving the When the group’s historian, Gordon temperance hall and trying to get local Yadon, died in 2013, Stoneburner became support for that,” she said. the society’s historian.

In his later years, peripheral neuropathy “He was a great asset as a local historian – damage to peripheral nerves that causes and collector,” said Historical Society President Patti Marsicano. “It is hard to lose numbness and pain in the hands and feet – made it difficult for Stoneburner to get another valuable local historical resource.”

Peggy Rockwell Gleich, also a Historical around.

Society member, recalls being at the group’s “He had been sick for awhile,” Beth Stoneburner said. resource center surrounded by boxes of But, she said, her father never wanted very old photographs when Yadon and anyone to know and tried not to let it slow Stoneburner both walked through the door. him down. She said he bounced back from “I couldn’t take notes or ask questions each bout of pneumonia and infection that fast enough,” she said.

Friends say Stoneburner got most excited resulted from his illness, but suffered two bouts of pneumonia just before Christmas. about researching people.

Stoneburner had spent the past year at Magie Matousek Brady, of Milwaukee, Ridgestone Village and was hospitalized just who grew up in Delavan, recalls when before Christmas Eve. Beth Stoneburner Stoneburner noticed a young black boy in a said the family spent his last Christmas with picture of some Boy Scouts from the early him at the hospital. He died three days later.

1900s – a time when African Americans By

Vicky Wedig EDITOR

A

SUBMITTED PHOTO Fascinating Folks

Franklin Stoneburner is seen as Uncle Sam during the City of Delavan’s Fourth of July parade in 2010. Stoneburner, a Delavan historian, died Dec. 28 at the age of 82.

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FASCINATING FOLKS OF DELAVAN

May 2015

Officer retires after 25 years with department, in schools

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By

Michael S. Hoey CORRESPONDENT

fter serving as a City of Delavan police officer and school liaison officer for 25 years, Officer Thomas Reichert retired May 7. “He has been here a long time,” Police Chief Tim O’Neill said.

“We are going to miss him.”

O’Neill said Reichert always has a smile on his face and is a people person.

“He was very good at encouraging the other officers,” he said.

Reichert said he started with the department as a part-time officer in 1989 and moved up to full-time two years later.

He is proud that he spent his entire career in Delavan.

“Delavan is a wonderful community,” he said. “The people are so caring and giving with great values.”

Reichert also praised the city’s diversity as one of its biggest strengths.

One of the biggest effects O’Neill said Reichert made in the city as an officer was getting the Drug Awareness Resistance Exercise program off the ground in the community.

“He was our first DARE officer and was instrumental in instituting that program,” O’Neill said.

He said Reichert helped get the program going statewide, not just in Delavan.

Reichert said the program has been replaced with alternative programs over the years as federal funding for DARE decreased, but he thinks the program was very successful when it ran.

“I enjoyed working with the youth,” he said. “It was nice to have them still

recognize me and thank me for being a part of their lives six or seven years later.”

Reichert said seeing the great career choices many of those kids made after school is powerful.

Another opportunity to work with the youth presented itself when Reichert was named school liaison officer at DelavanDarien High school from 2006-2013.

Reichert said he enjoyed working with the students and their families and the school’s rough reputation over the years has not at all been deserved.

“They have a great bunch of teachers and awesome students,” he said. “They had some things to iron out, and they are well on their way to doing that.”

Reichert said having a liaison officer at the high school is important for many reasons.

“It shows a whole different side of law enforcement,” he said. “You can work with the kids and their families and get in front of problems.”

Reichert said a liaison officer can interact closely with the kids and reinforce school and society’s rules and values.

“You are never able to adequately measure the deterrent factor of a school resource officer,” O’Neill said. “You certainly know it exists, but it is hard to measure.”

O’Neill said Reichert did an excellent job at the high school and related well with the students, staff and administration.

O’Neill also said Reichert was very community-minded. Reichert is a parent, has been a member of school groups, has served on the fire department and has spent more than 30 years on the rescue squad.

“He has done more than his share of offduty activities,” O’Neill said.

Reichert has done his share outside the community as well making several trips to Haiti. Reichert said he went to Haiti for the first time in 1998 with a group called Friends of the Children-Haiti as they built a large clinic.

Reichert and some friends then established their own chapter called Friends of the Children. They have been going to LaMontagne, Haiti, ever since.

Reichert said he would travel down to Haiti with a group of three to five people the first couple of years and today 12 to 14 volunteers make the trip two and sometimes three times a year for two weeks at a time.

Reichert said he might go more often now that he is retired.

The group’s mission is to provide medical education and training so the people can take care of themselves.

Reichert said being able to help people in a developing country with medical problems like blood pressure issues, basic first aid or training midwives is powerful.

Assistant Police Chief and School Board member Jim Hansen said he has worked with Reichert for 24 years, and he will be missed.

“He has been a great asset to the department and school district,” Hansen said. “He was an advocate for kids.”

Hansen said Reichert did a lot for his own community and the international community with his work in Haiti.

“He is an excellent example of what a police officer should be,” he said. “We should all aspire to be that.”

Reichert said traveling to Haiti and other

places around the world will be the main focus of his life now along with spending more time with his two granddaughters.

Reichert said his son is soon moving from Africa to India, so both of those places will be on his travel itinerary.

“I will take some time off,” he said about the possibility of working again in another capacity. “It will be nice not to live on a clock.”

Reichert said he will miss the department.

SUBMITTED PHOTO Fascinating Folks

Retiring Delavan police officer Thomas Reichert is seen with a child in Haiti where a group of Delavan officials operates a temporary clinic, LaMontage, annually.

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Page 5

Pint-sized powerhouse suits up for God’s team Youth Comets’ No. 2 jersey retired after death of ‘Lightning Lilly’

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By

Vicky Wedig EDITOR

to oblige – coaches had no doubt Lilly would catch up with an opponent if he got past the Comets’ line and little doubt she’d take them down.

“She was our best form tackler,” he said.

“She would take down the biggest of the big

powerhouse” known for her spunk, positive outlook and crazy infectious smile. He said he would tease Lilly about her basketball shoes that were Elkhorn Elks and Minnesota Vikings colors.

“She’d say, ‘I don’t care. I like purple shoes,’” he said.

Family and friends told story after story about the kind-hearted and goofy girl they loved.

Her aunt, Heather Peterson, said Lilly wowed people from the beginning. Born at 3 pounds, 3 ounces with respiratory syncytial virus, commonly called RSV, Heidi Ecklund Lilly Perry said Lilly was her miracle baby. Despite without hesitation.” the challenges, her “peanut” came home 48 Gengler said the looks on opponents’ hours later. At 2 months old, Ecklund said, faces were priceless when coaches would she died and was revived. cheer, “Nice job, Lilly!” after a tackle.

“How does she do that?” Heather Peterson “Lilly? What do you mean, Lilly?” the looks said. “That girl wows me.” on their faces said.

Peterson said Lilly had a soft spot in her Just as priceless, Gengler said, is when heart for the underdog and was often seen the teams would line up at the 50-yard line putting her arm around someone who was after the game and take their helmets off and feeling blue. Peterson recalled a time when opponents saw two pigtails on the head of the she was down. player who’d taken them down.

“She put her arm around me, ‘Oh, Aunty “They knew they got lit up by No. 2,” Heath, it’s going to be OK,’” Peterson said. he said. “She literally wasn’t afraid of “And then licked my face.” anything.”

Lilly’s youngest brother, Isaiah, 15, Gengler said he would inevitably hear the recalled a time when his bed broke. He came same question from Lilly at each practice: home to find a table propping up his bed, and “‘Coach, is today a defensive day?’ Which a note from his little sister that said, “I felt was pretty much code for, ‘Do I get to hit bad your bed broke, so I made you a new somebody today?’” one. I hope you like it.”

Phoenix Middle School Principal Hank Isaiah Perry said the last words he got to Schmelz said Lilly was a “pint-sized hear his sister say were, “I love you, too.”

Lilly’s sister, Keanna, recalls how Lilly would make up her bed so she’d be comfortable when she came home tired after working second shift. She told about another time Lilly was determined to win a huge bear for her cousin at the fair. When she didn’t win it the first day, she went back he next day and spent hours playing a game until she finally won the bear, which Keanna then had to figure out how to fit in her Jeep.

“It’s head wouldn’t even fit through the door,” Keanna said.

Ecklund recalled being sad and teary after Keanna went off to college. One day in the McDonald’s drive-through, Lilly commented, “Mom, you’re crying a lot. Do you need therapy?”

Lilly is also survived by her sisters Iesha Perry, of Burlington, and Natallya Perry, of Delavan.

Family friend Bridget McCarthy, who lost her 11-year-old daughter, Avery, in a car crash two years ago, said she knows the darkness and the pit the Perry family is thrust into. But, she said, she has been on the journey for two years now, and is excited for Lilly, as strange as she said that might sound.

She said Lilly was in training on earth, and is now running the play God called whether it makes sense to people or not.

McCarthy said she can picture the look on Lilly’s face when Jesus said, “Suit up, kid.

We’re putting you in to play.”

And Gengler knows how Lilly responded: “God, are we going to play defense today?”

ith her signature scowl and an appetite for taking down ball carriers – and then offering a hand to help them up, seventh-grader Lilly Perry was already scheming how she’d play a contact position in high school despite rules against it.

If she didn’t have a career in football, she would probably have a cable comedy show, said her football coach Craig Gengler, who said he often had to turn away to mask the laughter he could no longer contain at the things that came out of Lilly’s mouth.

But neither was to be. Lillianna Elizabeth Perry died Dec. 9 at the age of 12 at Mercy Walworth Hospital and Medical Center from complications after an asthma attack.

Hundreds of mourners and well-wishers turned out Dec. 13 at Delavan-Darien High School to celebrate the life of “Delavan’s Lilly” – no last name needed, said friends and family.

A line of family members and friends took to the podium in the overflowing D-DHS auditorium and described Lilly with a string of adjectives that drew knowing nods and smiles – and tears – from people who attended. Good. Silly. Determined.

Crazy. Funny. Insane. Bright. Kindhearted. Courageous. Outgoing. Beautiful.

Spontaneous. Lovable. Spunky.

Lilly was the only girl in the youth tackle football league that Delavan-Darien plays in.

“She was the toughest tackler on our team,” said her sister, Keanna, 19 – one of five siblings Lilly leaves behind.

Her mom, Heidi Ecklund, recalled taking Lilly to sign up for football for the first time.

She said Lilly riled when the woman at the registration table preparing to hand her a form said, “Oh, we have a new cheerleader.”

“She was like, ‘Pfffttt! You can’t pay me a million dollars to get in a skirt, honey. Give me the football one!’” Ecklund said.

And football it was. No. 2. For three years – fifth, sixth and seventh grades at Phoenix Middle School, Lightning Lilly, as she was known, “killed it,” said her brother, Quincy Perry, 18, a defensive end on the DelavanDarien High School football team.

Quincy Perry broke down when he told people at her memorial service that she looked up to him – the oldest male in the household – like a father. “She did awesome” at her last football game, Perry said, and he turned around when he heard a “clunk, clunk, clunk” as they were walking away from the game.

“She was wearing my cleats,” he said.

Comet youth football players gathered on the stage and D-DHS football players stood as Gengler retired Lilly’s jersey – never to be worn again by a Comets youth player.

Gengler said Lilly was the fastest player on the team, earning her the nickname Lightning Lilly.

At defensive back – and other positions VICKY WEDIG Fascinating Folks Lilly was eager to try and Gengler was happy A picture of Lilly Perry with some of her teammates on the Rising Comets football team serves as a backdrop for an invitation for mourners to write down their favorite memories of Lilly.

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FASCINATING FOLKS OF DELAVAN

May 2015

Teacher, wife, mother, daughter dies at 39 Blood clot suspected cause of sudden death By

Vicky Wedig

School in 1992 and went on to the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater where she obtained a degree in operations management. She married Joel Schuknecht in 1995.

“She was a genius,” Sisk said. “People didn’t probably know that, but her IQ was at a genius level and she had a photographic memory.”

Schuknecht had 10 years of higher education under her belt. She worked for Abbot Laboratories and Ecolab early in her career but eventually went back to school and received her teaching certificate in 2010 and began teaching at D-DHS in 2011.

In August 2013, Schuknecht graduated with a Master of Business Education degree.

Sisk said Schuknecht was a beloved teacher who had a special way with “the kids who were considered the roughest around the edges.” He said those students were her biggest supporters. Sisk said Schuknecht would talk and joke with them but at the same time hold them accountable.

Schuknecht was also active in her parents’ church where she served on the Board of Directors and, like her mother, took mission trips to the Soviet Union and other countries.

EDITOR

A

fter two late miscarriages that devastated Carrie Schuknecht, she gave birth to two healthy children when she was in her mid- to late-30s.

Zoe, 1, was just learning to walk – “a brilliant little thing that looks like a carbon copy of her mother,” said Gary Sisk, Schuknecht’s father.

And 5-year-old Xander attended his first day of kindergarten Sept. 2. Sisk said Schuknecht asked her son about his first day of school, and his reply was, “Too much sitting.”

Schuknecht died the next day. She was 39.

The day before her death was also Schuknecht’s first day of the school year with students at DelavanDarien High School where she taught business education for four years.

Upon learning of her death, faculty at D-DHS allowed students to express their grief at the loss of their teacher on the second day of school.

“The school administration was incredibly wise and gracious to allow them to gather together,” Sisk said.

He said students wouldn’t have been able to focus on their studies, and instead gathered around Schuknecht’s classroom where many brought flowers, hung posters and wrote down their thoughts.

Sisk said he was particularly touched by the note of one student who had Schuknecht as a teacher for the first time the previous day. The student wrote: “I only knew you for a day. I’ll remember you forever.”

Students and staff quickly put together a bake sale where they raised $700 to help Schuknecht’s husband of nearly 20 years, Joel Schuknecht, of Darien, offset funeral expenses.

“One young man bought a brownie for $50,” Sisk said.

Students also planned to release balloons in Schuknecht’s memory during homecoming, and dressed up – a practice Schuknecht encouraged in her students – in her honor for school, Sisk said.

Students wrote her death date on the board and didn’t want anyone to take it down, he said.

The flowers students and staff brought for Schuknecht filled several five-gallon buckets, Sisk said. The school made a video with interviews of students and staff that was to be shown during Schuknecht’s memorial service at Harvestpoint Church where her parents are pastors.

“The community at large has been such an incredible support. I think all of us have felt the loss – it’s like every kid is our kid,” Sisk said. “The community feels it. So many people throughout the community that aren’t really part of our church or part of our family walk up to us with tears on their faces. It cut to the heart of the community. What a blessing that it.”

Loss of a child Gary and Shelli Sisk presided over their daughter’s memorial service, and their oldest grandson, Zach Sisk, planned to talk about his aunt as well.

Carrie Schuknecht

“We are her pastors as well as her parents,” Sisk said about the couple’s decision to conduct the service.

“The church is a family as well as our regular family that we live in. It’s something that we share.”

Sisk acknowledged that presiding over his daughter’s funeral is different than other services he conducts but said he finds strength in the multitude of other people who share in his grief.

“There’s a grace and a strength that takes over that we live with and operate on,” he said. “Doing the service is one of the greatest acts of love that we could think of.”

Sisk said people don’t know what to say in the face of the most catastrophic event that a parent can imagine – the loss of a child.

“They can’t find words and yet we see a tear in their eye and we hear a laugh about some great thing they remember about Carrie,” he said.

Sisk agrees that the loss of a child is the most devastating thing that can happen to a parent and the initial instinct is to try not to feel the pain. But, he said, he realized he has to embrace the pain to feel the peace that comes with it.

“The devastation of it is accompanied by this incredible sense of love, and the love is connected with the pain,” he said.

About Carrie Carrie Schuknecht is the oldest child of Gary and Shelli Sisk. She has a brother, Levi Sisk, and a sister, Emily Valadez, both of Delavan. Levi Sisk and his wife, Melissa Sisk, funded and opened the “I Don’t Know Where to Be” Youth Center last year. Emily Valadez is the office administrator at Harvestpoint Church.

Schuknecht graduated from Delavan-Darien High

The last day On Sept. 2, Schuknecht got her oldest son off to his first day of school and began her first day of the 2014-15 school year. On Sept. 3, before school, she was experiencing pain in her leg, Sisk said. She then became short of breath, passed out and never regained consciousness, he said.

“It was sudden. It was unexpected. She was getting ready to go to work and she just collapsed,” he said.

She died at St. Luke’s Hospital in Milwaukee within hours.

Sisk said doctors believe the pain in Schuknecht’s leg was a blood clot that moved into her lung and caused her death. He said an autopsy showed nothing conclusive but that could be because of a clot-busting drug that dissolved any clots. He said the drug was given too late to save her but prevented any clots from being visible during the autopsy.

Doctors’ best guess is the clot was a side effect of birth control pills that have a tendency to produce clots, Sisk said.

Sisk said the future is difficult to imagine without his first-born.

“There’s a great hole in it that I can’t even describe,” he said.

He said 1-year-old Zoe is too little to remember her mother when she’s older.

“We will share with her about her incredible mother as she grows up,” Sisk said.

He said the strength of Schuknecht’s mother, Shelli Sisk, has been tremendous. While Sisk said he and his wife are experiencing incredible pain, they are also feeling love from people around them who are sharing their grief.

“The pain is part of the process,” he said. “It’s the loss and it’s the love, and the peace of God showed up alongside the pain. The peace and pain have to coexist.”

May 2015

FASCINATING FOLKS OF DELAVAN

Page 7

Teacher remembered for passion for healthy lifestyle Former D-DHS coach loses battle with cancer By

Jennifer Cesarz CORRESPONDENT

F

or many students who attended Delavan-Darien School District, Deb Ludlow was that one teacher who made a difference in their lives.

Ludlow taught health and physical education and coached tennis in the district for more than 30 years before retiring in 2012. Ludlow died July 7 from cancer.

“Deb’s death has brought tremendous sadness into my life and to the lives of many,” D-DHS physical education teacher and tennis coach Sandee Ortiz wrote in an email about her friend.

“She was more than just a colleague and mentor, she was a true friend. The lessons she taught me extend beyond the classroom.”

One of Ludlow’s passions was health and keeping kids active and healthy as she felt a healthy student produced more success in the classroom. This is one of the reason’s Ludlow spearheaded a grantwriting committee and was successful in securing the $1 million Carol M. White Physical Education Grant for the district and community in 2009.

“I cannot express to you the full impact of Deb’s work with the PEP grant,” Ortiz wrote. “It transformed the entire culture and climate at D-DHS.” Ortiz said the school lunch program has now incorporated a salad bar, and soda machines have been eliminated from the school.

“The only thing Deb regretted about the grant was that it pulled her out of the classroom,” Ortiz wrote. “The PEP grant covered the cost of hiring a long-term sub to cover her teaching duties while she fully implemented the plan that we presented in our grant proposal.”

D-DHS head volleyball coach and former student Jean Jacobs said Ludlow spent much time and energy in the gym working on the grant.

“I remember … all her attempts to keep students physically and mentally fit,” Jacobs said. “Ms. Ludlow was the rock in the physical education department who would never take any credit.”

D-DHS physical education teacher Hank Johnson was also a former student of Ludlow’s and said she had a strong work ethic, especially when it came to obtaining the grant.

“I would often find her in her office working on the weekends,” Johnson said.

2011 D-DHS graduate Alana Cesarz recalls Ludlow’s efforts as well.

“I was really grateful for the effort I saw her put in to get our high school the grant so other students and I could

Deb Ludlow

experience those fun opportunities most other schools didn’t get.”

Ludlow wasn’t just a great teacher and advocate for a healthy lifestyle, but a caring friend, teacher and mentor.

“The PEP grant was just a small portion of what she did,” Ortiz wrote.

“Deb’s legacy should be remembered for the 32 years of teaching and devotion she gave to the staff at DDHS. “She was great with the kids, especially the at-risk students. She was always a fair and caring teacher and a gracious colleague.”

Jacobs remembers her as a teacher “everybody wanted to be around.”

“She always had an encouraging smile on her face and an energizing step in her walk that I admired and could contribute to her healthy lifestyle,” Jacobs said.

“She always encouraged me to push my limits physically and mentally.”

Cesarz said Ludlow was also very nice and knew she cared about her beyond the classroom.

When Jacobs took over the volleyball program at D-DHS, she said Ludlow was the same as she remembered her to be.

“As an adult she didn’t change her style,” Jacobs said. “She always was truly invested in what I had to say and provided encouraging words to support my activities at the high school.”

Johnson agrees.

“Deb was my physical education teacher, coworker, mentor and friend,” Johnson said. “I was fortunate to work with her for three years while she worked on the grant. I learned how to run a classroom and become the best teacher I could be.”

“I will always think of her as one of

my role models and will cherish knowing her and having her as a friend,” he said.

Outside of school, Ludlow loved the outdoors and animals, specifically her dogs and cats. She also loved to bike, ski and run.

“Deb was always so strong and active; she was usually up at 4 a.m. working out before school,” Ortiz wrote.

Jacobs said she will miss many things about Ludlow.

“I will miss our talks about her dogs, bird watching and where to get running shoes,” she said. “I will also miss her genuine smile when seeing me and her sincere conversations and helpful insight to coaching. She will always have my respect for her dedication and love of her career.”

“I truly miss her,” Ortiz said.

“However, I am relieved that she is no longer suffering and has moved on to a more peaceful place. I am happy that her dreams did come true. She will forever be in my heart and the hearts of many.”

THE PEP GRANT WAS JUST A SMALL PORTION OF WHAT SHE DID. DEB’S LEGACY SHOULD BE REMEMBERED FOR THE 32 YEARS OF TEACHING AND DEVOTION SHE GAVE TO THE STAFF AT DDHS.”

– Sandee Ortiz

SUBMITTED PHOTO Fascinating Folks

Former Delavan-Darien High School physical education teacher and coach Deb Ludlow shows off a catch. Friends say Ludlow, who died July 7, loved the outdoors and animals.

Soccer wins state Comets bring home second WIAA title with win over Mt. Horeb

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FASCINATING FOLKS OF DELAVAN

By

May 2015

Jennifer Cesarz CORRESPONDENT

T

he Delavan-Darien High School boys soccer team won its second state title in school history Nov. 1 with a 3-1 win over Mt. Horeb.

“This was definitely important to our program,” D-DHS head coach Mike Marse said. “We have talked about it for three years while I have been head coach.”

Marse said he is happy to be back on the map as a top team in the state and knows why his team won it this year despite having many years of talented teams.

“It’s all about team chemistry,” Marse said. “I told the boys, ‘You aren’t going to go far unless you really like each other. You have to look out for each other both on and off the field.’”

The Comets finished the year with a 23-2-2 record. Their Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association journey began with a 6-2 win over Rice Lake in the semi-final match-up Thursday. It was the Comets’ seventh trip to state since starting a boys soccer program. They finished as runners up in 2005 and won the state title in 2000.

The team made it to the championship game after defeating Rice

Lake 6-2 in the semi-final Oct. 30.

The Comets faced Mt. Horeb, which won the state title in 2011 and beat Luxemburg-Casco 1-0 in the semi-final game, for the state title.

The Comets started off slow, and Rocha attributed it to the style of play.

“It was hard to score right away because Mt. Horeb was a more defensive team,” Rocha said.

Marse said the Mt. Horeb coach approached him before the game and said it would be Mt. Horeb’s defense against the Comets up-tempo offense.

Marse agreed, but assured his players it would be OK. “I told Chuy and Tigrio that no one can mark you for a whole game,” Marse said, referring to the Mt. Horeb game plan.

The Comets got on the board midway through the first half when Rocha dribbled through three defenders for the goal, putting the Comets up 1-0.

“We managed to score in the 22nd minute, and that got our momentum up, and after that the goals kept coming,” Rocha said.

It was just two minutes later when the Comets fed off that momentum and scored again. A defensive take-away by Luis Villegas set up a penalty kick by Ricardo Nova after a Mt. Horeb hand

ball. Nova tapped it to Saul Rivera, who kicked it half the length of the field, and Huerta headed the ball in for the 2-0 Comet lead.

Controlling the ball on its side most of the first half, the Comet offense scored one more time before the half, with Jose Lemus getting his first goal off the short pass by Jason Cano, and the Comets went up 3-0.

Mt. Horeb was able to find the back of the net with time running out in the half, and the Comets had a 3-1 lead going into halftime.

In the second half, it was a Cometcontrolled game, with no one scoring, but the Comets showing they were the dominant team.

“During the second half, the game was calmer, and we had possession of the ball most of the time, which is why we were victorious,” Rocha said.

Backed by a great defense, the Comets went on for the 3-1 championship win.

Comet goalie, Juan L. Rocha, admitted he was nervous during the game.

“I was pretty nervous,” he said.

“There have been games where I have been more nervous, but it was a good game and they really didn’t have much offense.”

FILE PHOTO Fascinating Folks

Delavan-Darien head soccer coach Mike Marse thrusts the 2014 Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association state championship trophy overhead in celebration after the D-DHS soccer team won the state championship Nov. 1.

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The Comets, who have yet to win a Southern Lakes Conference game, started four-year team manager April Shaffer, a senior at D-DHS in the game against Burlington.

Shaffer, who also plays tennis for the Comets and is a member of the Wisconsin Special Olympics tennis and basketball teams, scored late in the game, and received a standing ovation, from both the Comet and Demon fans and players.

Dry eyes were hard to find in the gym as Shaffer was congratulated by both her teammates and Demon players.

According to a press release from D-DHS interim athletic director and girls basketball coach Hank Johnson, “She (April) truly cares about the team and this program. D-DHS means a lot to her and she means a lot to us. She is a very special young lady.”

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7-year-old performs national anthem at Milwaukee Mile Delavan girl gets noticed singing at local events

School where Josie is a first-grader.

The gigs started rolling in from there.

Bradley’s department store owner Lois Stritt heard Josie sing at the events hen Cathy Mestan heard an and asked her to sing at the store during extraordinary voice coming from the Christmas season. Lake Lawn Resort a tiny girl, her inner publicist personnel also heard Josie sing and asked kicked in. her to perform at the Sky Circus on Ice Josie Picard, 7, stopped in at her dad’s kite show. She also sang at the Delavan Art Cheese and Wine Festival at Brick Street workplace, Medix Ambulance in Delavan, Market. with her mom, and Karen Picard asked “I told everybody, you better grab on Josie to sing “The Star Spangled Banner” while she’s still free, because she is just absolutely phenomenal,” Mestan said.

When Josie sang at the Spartan Spectacular, Dave Brinkmann took note.

Brinkmann’s son, Kyle Brinkmann, has raced with the Automobile Racing Club of America.

Brinkmann asked Josie to sing the national anthem at family day at the ARCA Festival at the Milwaukee Mile on June 8, and the Picards agreed.

Josie’s performance at the event followed last year’s presentation by “The Voice” runner-up Chevonne.

The Picards arrived at State Fair Park on June 6 before the event so Josie could practice. ARCA Vice President Stephen Einhaus, of Williams Bay, said Josie was practicing while the teams practiced, and drivers caught the sound of the young singer during a break.

“It just stopped everyone,” Einhaus said.

“Everyone just stopped what they were doing and watched.”

Einhaus said Josie is the youngest performer the organization has selected to take part in one of its events and her rendition of the national anthem was “unbelievable.”

“We were so proud of her,” he said. “She did a great job.”

The track at the Milwaukee Mile was a vastly different venue than the stage at St. Andrew School.

“For a little gal, 7 years old, to sing with that echo…” Mestan said. “You have to sing and not listen. She did so well. I mean, she got a standing ovation from the crowd.”

Photographers shooting the event for sports magazines and shows hung around to talk to Josie afterward, Mestan said.

An estimated 12,000 people heard her sing at the event – a far cry from the 120 SUBMITTED PHOTO Fascinating Folks students she sang in front of for her first Seven-year-old Josie Picard, of Delavan, takes the stage at State Fair Park “public” performance. during ARCA Fest to sing the national anthem before races begin.

Karen Picard said Josie first sang at St.

W

By

Vicky Wedig EDITOR

for Mestan.

“It made the hairs stand up on my arms,” said Mestan, of Darien, who does public relations for Medix in Walworth, Racine, Kenosh and Rock counties. “I looked at her mom, and I looked at her dad, and I said, ‘Are you kidding me? We gotta get this kid singing.’”

Mestan arranged for Josie to sing the national anthem at Junior Comets football games and the Spartan Spectacular basketball tournament at St. Andrew Parish

VICKY WEDIG Fascinating Folks

Josie Picard, 7, sings “The Star-Spangled Banner” at the Delavan Medix station where her dad works.

Andrew’s Christmas talent show with her rendition of “I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas” when she was in kindergarten.

Picard said Josie was extremely nervous, but her voice was right on.

“When she sang, everybody thought it was a recording of it,” she said.

Josie had no formal training, but her parents knew she had a natural talent. Dad, Matt Picard, supervisor of the Delavan Medix station, has a talent for singing as does sister Lexi, 16.

Her parents began some informal lessons for Josie with Delavan-Darien High School music teacher Jim Larson last year.

“In one year, (it’s amazing) how much she’s grown musically,” Karen Picard said.

Josie says her favorite song to sing is “Let it Go” from the movie “Frozen.”

Students at St. Andrew’s School gather around to listen when Josie sings, she said.

The place she’d most like to sing, Josie said, is at a Green Bay Packers game.

Mestan is working on it. She’s already sent a YouTube video of Josie singing to the Ellen DeGeneres Show.

To hear Josie sing, go to www.youtube. com and search “Josie Picard.” Picard also sang at the City of Delavan’s Fourth of July celebration before the fireworks at Veteran’s Park.

Page 12

FASCINATING FOLKS OF DELAVAN

May 2015

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