I was born at seven months, and after spending the first month of my life in an incubator, must have thought, ‘Well, if this is all there is to it, I might as well have been born a goldfish!’ But things got better. I eventually went home, grew up, ran the Boston Marathon, taught and coached at Mukwonago High School for 42 years, wrote a lot of books, and one day found myself in the Oval Office shaking hands with the President, who said he was a Green Bay Packers fan. (But then, Presidents say a lot of things, don’t they?) My dad, Gordon Vick, graduated from MHS in 1940, and he used to tell me a lot of stories about Mukwonago. “I could write a book,” he used to say. He never did, so I guess that’s my job.
Q: Please tell us a little bit about your family.
I met My Lovely Wife Marsha at Holiday Folk Fair on November 19, 1983. She was an experienced folk dancer. I was a guy with two left feet and a severe rhythm deficiency. For me, it was love at first stumble. My son, Josh, is an engineer, married to Nikki. Daughter Haley lives in Austin, Texas where she owns a music studio.
Q: Please tell us about your current, past, or future career. What do you love most about what you do?
• I taught English for 42 years, most of them at Mukwonago High School alongside some of the finest people I’ve ever met. I stole from them constantly. Not money or staplers or anything (all right, ONE stapler, but that was more than twenty years ago), but rather their creative teaching ideas and techniques. I was Wisconsin’s Teacher of the Year in 2000, was the varsity boys’ and girls’ cross country coach for twenty-three years, and was State Coach of the Year in 1994 when we won the state championship. Today, I write books. My newest, The Book of Invasions, is a thriller for an adult audience, but I’ve also written titles for young readers, like Kaylee’s Choice. Whether teaching, coaching or writing, it’s the creative process that keeps my fire lit. Please follow me https://www.facebook.com/Rodvickwrites2000
Q: What are a couple of your favorite restaurants in our community?
• Mukwonago has so many lovely restaurants. We love Antigua Real, Fork in the Road, Badger Burger. But we miss Seifert’s Lincoln Tap which, years ago, had a fish fry that will never be equaled. If you are too young or new to the area to have sampled it, your life will, I’m afraid, be forever diminished.
Q: How long have you lived or worked in our community?
• Although I was away at college for four years, lived in East Troy for a couple, and in Eagle for eight, the rest of my 67 years have been spent in Mukwonago.
Q: Who is the most interesting person you’ve met here in our community?
• Amos Christianson always comes to mind. He used to work at Horn’s Hardware right at the Main Street/Rochester Street intersection in the middle of the village, always wore denim bibs and had a fat, well-chomped cigar in his mouth, rarely lit. The hardware store was one of those old-fashioned places that had EVERYTHING from bicycles to coffee pots to mouse traps to three-penny nails, and it looked to customers as if it had all been organized by violent explosions. But if you walked in and told Amos you needed this tiny, odd-sized screw that hadn’t been manufactured since before the Civil War, he’d lead you right to it. The cigar may have had magical properties for finding things, maybe like a divining rod.
Q: If you could travel anywhere in the world right now, where would it be and why?
• It would be nice to see the Great Pyramids. I did a lot of research on Egypt for my last book. Ireland would also be nice. And anywhere with a beach and cold Coca-cola. I have an addiction.
Q: What is one of your favorite movies? TV shows?
• Only one? Then I’ll go with “Blazing Saddles”. TV Shows? My Lovely Wife Marsha and I never miss “Survivor”.
Q: What advice would you give to people?
• I’m really not licensed to give advice except with respect to writing. So here it is: 1. Don’t just tell us, show us. 2. Writing is rewriting. 3. Use the big box of crayons. (The RIGHT word, not the most convenient.) 4. Get out of the box.
Q: What is something on your bucket list?
• To start drinking. Seriously, I’ve never had a beer or any alcohol, and I want to give it a go so that I can immerse myself more fully into the culture of places that we travel to in retirement. I’ve been thinking of trying to sell my beerginity to one of the major breweries. Might be an interesting advertising angle. Whose beer is good enough after 67 years of temperance?
Q: What is your go to band when you can’t decide what to listen to?
• My musical tastes are pretty eclectic. But I’m still a sucker for the Electric Light Orchestra.
Q: What current or former local business makes you the most nostalgic about our community?
• Mukwonago used to have a go-kart track. Wouldn’t it be nice to have something fun like that again?
Q: If you could choose anyone that is alive today and not a relative; with whom would you love to have lunch? Why? And where locally would y’all meet for this lunch?
• If it would have to be a celebrity, I’d say Neil Gaiman. Love his book, Good Omens, written with Terry Pratchet. But realistically, I’d prefer lunch with the same wonderful lunks I’ve been hanging out with since high school. Dave Boebel, Jerry Anich, Bob Steinke, Mike Bolan, Mike Deck, Roger Sullivan, Kevin Weinkauf, Nick and Bob Movrich. And we’d lunch at Espresso Love, because they carry my books and owner Dave Stockwell is an amazingly nice guy who serves wonderful coffee and food.
Q: What is your favorite thing or something unique about our community?
• Our cemetery sign says the cemetery started in 1816, yet there were no settlers here until 1836. One of Wisconsin’s oldest typos.
Q: Where do you see yourself in 5 to 10 years?
• Dangerous question to ask a senior citizen.
Q: (Even for friends or family), what is something interesting that most people don’t know about you?
• I always treat 13 as a lucky number just to irritate the Fates.
Q: What is the most beautiful place you have ever been?
• Moon Beach Camp near St. Germain, Wisconsin.
Q: Favorite month? favorite holiday? and best single day on the calendar?
• I’ve always enjoyed Halloween. We do a big murder mystery costume party at our house. Although we didn’t do it last year because of COVID, for the previous mystery, we spent weeks turning the entire house into a passenger train.
Q: What would you rate a 10 out of 10?
• Did you mean other than My Lovely Wife Marsha?
Q: Who inspires you to be better?
• A nod here to my parents, Gordon and Beulah Vick.
Q: What is one or two of your favorite smells?
• Summer nights have an aroma that is almost mystic. Also pizza. And pizza on a summer night is pretty much all the world needs to be.
Q: Finally, what 3 words or phrases come to mind when you think of the word HOME?
• Family, fireplace and yardwork.
