Everyday Ass Kicker - Dick Lueck

A Guy Who Doesn't Sweat the Small Stuff

My Uncle Dick Lueck married my Aunt Jeanne Hartman in the late 70's.  One of the greatest days of my childhood was when my mom told me Dick and Jeanne would be buying the Hartman house on Hillview Drive in Sussex, WI.  It meant that the house would not be sold outside the family to settle the estate.  Since then, even though it is half his castle, he has generously opened its doors to the Hartman Family, and allowed it to be its central gathering place.

Dick grew up on a dairy farm in Wausau, WI, and after high school, like many boys his age, was sent to Viet Nam.  It was there, he once told me at his basement bar, where he learned not to sweat the small stuff.  He worked a big steel union job at A.O. Smith in Milwaukee until the facility closed.  Today he works full time at Fleet Farm wearing a safety yellow shirt, welcoming customers in to the lumber yard. When he sees kids in the car, Dick talks to them in his famous Donald Duck voice he always used on us as kids.

I believe the one thing friends and family appreciate most about him is his ability to laugh at himself. From tearing up his beer belly sliding down a trunk of a tree attempting to place his deer stand, to the short jokes, and baby face jokes he gets every time he shaves his beard, he can take it.

He and my Aunt Jeanne are two of the most generous people I've ever known.  Time, gifts, parties, food, beer, or whatever it takes to make you feel welcome, they provide it.  And boy is it hard to get them to accept gifts.  When family members or close friends needed a transitional place to live, building houses by hand or starting families; they were welcome to live at Jeanne and Dick's.

When we were kids Dick and Jeanne always bought empty cargo van's and Dick would customize it building benches, carpet, etc.  If he had a van full of kids, when we pulled in to the neighborhood, Dick would swerve and take sharp corners to let us tumble like popcorn in the back.  Sounds danerous, but man it was fun!  He was a Harley guy for a while, and had a bike with a purple gas tank with a black pig.  His biker buddies called him "Purple Dick".

I was 16 in 1985 and thought I knew everything. My mom sent me to Sussex for the summer and Dick got me a second shift job at the local canning factory sorting green beans.  Because of that, I went to college.  When my friends came up to visit, and Dick and Jeanne had to pick us up at Waukesha Park at 1am, busted for drinking. I thought I was a dead man.  When we got to back to his house, Dick took us all downstairs to his bar, lined up shots and beers, and partied with us till 4am.  

Dick has maintained his boyhood friends for 60 years, and extended friends of the Hartman's have become family.  He is Wisconsin to the bone: Hunting, fishing, raw beef on rye, venison sausage, a fifty-fifty sour cream to baked potato ratio, pickled hearing, smoked oysters, sardines, and basically anything you can fit on a cracker.  My cousins and I owe Dick and Jeanne more than we will ever be able to repay. So that is why, Dick Lueck, is the latest member of Gusty Winds' Everyday Ass Kickers.  

Oh Grace Just Hold Me In Your Arms..

Joseph Mary Plunkett and Grace Gifford

A Love Story From the Easter Rising 1916

Grace Gifford married Joseph Mary Plunkett in the early morning hours of May 4, 1916, only hours before Joseph was to face a British firing squad at Kilmainham Gaol for being a leader in the Easter Rising, which sparked the Irish Revolution.  Joseph was a 28-year-old poet, who along with six other revolutionary leaders signed the Proclamation of the Republic, which was read aloud on the steps of the General Post Office, after the revolutionaries had seized strategic points in downtown Dublin.  

The uprising only lasted a week before the Irish were forced to surrender, severely outnumbered by British guns. At the time, the Irish People were not behind the revolution and were angry at the carnage and civilian deaths caused by the fighting. 

But after the rebellion was put down, the seven leaders were imprisoned in Kilmainham Gaol, and summarily tried and executed in the courtyard over the next few weeks. The executions angered the Irish and they soon turned in support of the revolution taking advantage of Britain's preoccupation in WWI.  

Seven hours prior to Joseph's execution Grace was brought to Kilmainham Goal and she and Joseph were married in the prison chapel surrounded by armed guards.  Grace never again married and was a supporter of the revolution, and backed the anti-treaty IRA factions in the Irish Civil War.

She was jailed by Pro-Treaty factions in the same jail in 1923 and painted a famous portrait of the Blessed Virgin Mary on the wall of her cell which can still be seen today.  In the 1980's an Irishman wrote a song titled "Grace", which is now performed most famously by Anthony Kearns of the Irish Tenors.  It is beautiful, moving, sad, and worth watching.  

Everyday Ass Kicker: Jim Harvey

You Can Always Head to Harvey's Garage

I met Jim Harvey back in Jr. High.  He has always been a permanent Elmhurst fixture and well known member of the community.  Jim did not grow up wealthy, but through hard work, a focus on quality in his carpentry business, a willingness to help his neighbors, devotion to his family, and a love of Heineken Beer; Jim is the latest member of Gusty Winds' Every Day Ass Kickers.  

Jim has stamina.  This guy can drink a twelve pack of Heineken, smoke a pack of cigarettes, and get on his bike the next day and ride from Elmhurst to Wheaton and back.  

Jim has impressively made himself independently successful by taking pride in his work, relying on word of mouth to spread his reputation as one of the best contractors in the Chicagoland area.  He married his high school sweetheart Donna, and they have built a great life together.  

Jim coached his son Jimmy all through his childhood which lead him to playing football in college.  You can see the influence and the values Jim instilled in his impressive son. Although he may not always understand it; Jim is a patient husband and father; who just likes to see his wife and daughter Taylor just be girls.

When he's not working you see Jim around the neighborhood lending a helping had to those around him, constantly using his skill to help others.  He is loyal, and non-judgmental.  

But in the neighborhood Jim is most famous for Harvey's Garage.  It's his office and man-cave, and all his friends are welcome.  I don't think I have ever left there sober.  One time I had so much fun I passed out behind the Garage.  Although relaxing to ride the storm out in the cool grass, my fear was someone might come out from the garage and pee on me.

If you don't know what's going on for a Hawks game, Bears game or anything else, you can always head to Harvey's Garage and know you'll find a crowd.  Jim turned me from a pseudo interested hockey fan, in to a full blown Hawks fan.

If I didn't know the game started, I always know to head to the garage when Jim's goal siren blasts throughout the neighborhood.  Took my son Teddy to the garage so he could watch the Hawks win the Cup with Jim's crowd.  They treated him like a king, and he go to hoist the Tupperware Stanley Cup in victory. Thanks man.

Congratulations Jim.  You are and Everyday Ass Kicker.