An Outdoorsman‛s Journal: A lady named Michelle

Hello friends, One year ago today, I lost my best friend and future wife as well as fishing, gardening and hunting partner Michelle Chiaro to a sepsis infection which was undiagnosed and took her in five days. Over the last 365 days, I have pretty much felt like I have been punched in the gut on a daily basis. I knew when Michelle was in her last hours of life that I would never fully recover. I will say this: I do not dwell on the negative, I place no blame and I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that she is with me now and I will see her again.

The rest of this week’s column will hopefully help you understand what an incredible woman Michelle Chiaro was. Michelle was an ICU nurse for 26 years, always quiet about her accomplishments, and at two of her three celebrations of life, doctors and nurses spoke about what a leader she was in even the worst of situations.

I have run bear baits for the last 13 years and Michelle, who was a horse woman and owned a 40-acre farmette near Horicon (until she moved to Necedah), became addicted to anything to do with bear baiting and hunting. Michelle started applying for a tag and evenly split the work and investments for five years in a row with our other bear hunting partner, Doug Cibulka. We had the perfect plan where one of us would get a tag every three years so someone was always hunting. At first Michelle hated mosquitoes and deer flies. I told her she needed to deal with it; she purchased a body suit and bugs were no longer an issue.

Michelle was a redneck and the most beautiful one that God ever placed on this earth. Neither of us owned a pistol, but she insisted on carrying her .30-06 when baiting alone, which in a day was multi-mile walks. Michelle was my bear hunting partner. Michelle had a bit of arthritis in her hands so she could not pull a bow back, and a reader of this column gave her a crossbow. I built a really nice shooting range on my property, and she shot with great regularity and very well. Knowing that Michelle’s time was limited as she had three children at home (Michelle was 50), I created with her help an incredible food plot in the forest behind my house. This was an epic job, done with a chainsaw, axe and rototiller. I seldom hunted it and after Michelle’s passing was not able to go back there until this spring. The experiences that we shared on that plot – building, planting, hunting and sitting by a campfire – made me realize what an incredible woman she was.

I am writing my column in what is a massive garden and I am looking at three young calves in a small pasture next to it. Michelle loved anything to do with farming and putting up food; she especially loved the calves and chickens.

Fishing and camping were a total addiction for her, and I think she enjoyed winter camping and ice fishing the most. No matter how cold it was or what time of the day, Michelle would brave the cold and always smile.

Every Tuesday night was date night for our time together and it was epic. One of our big thrills was long ATV rides, as in 20 miles in deep forest and marsh country. A long ride and then a campfire and cooking good food together were a typical date.

I am doing my best to work my way through this period of my life and to this minute simply cannot believe she is gone.

Michelle was a one-in-a-billion kind of a person! Sunset

Mark Walters