December 2022

Middleton’s boys swimming and diving team cruised to a first place finish at the Beloit Memorial Triangular on Dec. 20.

The Cardinals downed Sun Prairie West, 128-42. And Middleton bested the host Purple Knights, 135-30.

“The meet was a fun one,” Middleton coach Wes Lagerhausen said. “We mixed up our events and relays to try some new things and they raced hard. We had close races in the 200 medley relay, 100 freestyle, and 400 freestyle relay. Many achieved best times for the season and is a great trend going into winter break.”

Middleton’s 200-yard medley relay team of Theo Wolf, Nick Chirafisi, Jack Madoch and Jack Madigan finished first. The Cardinals also got a second place finish from the quartet of Max Carter, Sam Wolf, Caden Van Buren and Ben Cutler Heiderscheit.

Middleton’s foursome of Cowan Vitense, Luke Lamers, Jackson Esteves and Van Buren won the 200-yard freestyle relay.

Middleton’s hockey team entered the Christmas break on a high, rolling to a 4-1 win over Madison West on Dec. 20.

Four different Cardinals scored goals and Cam Haynes made 22 saves to pick up the win in net.

Middleton improved to 7-2 overall and is 4-1 in the Big Eight Conference.

Cam Semrad struck first for the Cardinals, scoring midway through the first period on an assist from Avery Passini to give Middleton a 1-0 lead. Then with just 22 seconds left in the period, Brady Engelkes scored on assists from Wyatt Ehrhardt and Semrad to make it 2-0.

Ehrhardt struck for a goal less than two minutes into the second period to make it 3-0. Both Drew Sjowall and Engelkes assisted on the goal.

Then late in the second period, Eli Covey had a power play goal that both Engelkes and Ehrhardt assisted on to make it 4-0.

West had the lone goal in the third period to round out the scoring.

MIDDLETON–Donald "Don" Edward Lewis, 88, passed away peacefully on Dec. 8, 2022. He was born in Madison on Feb. 16, 1934, the son of Dewey and Clara (Meier) Lewis.

Don graduated from Madison West High School in 1952 and later attended Madison Business College. He volunteered to join the United States Marine Corps from 1954-1957. After basic training in San Diego, CA. Don was stationed at Camp Lejeune in Jacksonville, NC and he also enjoyed his service time in Okinawa, Japan.

He married his High School sweetheart, Betty Jean Pyle on Valentine’s Day, Feb. 14, 1957, at the Memorial Church of Christ in Madison. Don worked at Webcrafters Printing Company in Madison for 39 years as a production manager and volunteered his time to the Meals on Wheels program for many years.

I used to often stop and chat with an elegant woman named Cécile, who worked in an office a few steps from mine in the City of Middleton. I edited the local newspaper (which was essentially just an ongoing saga about how much the community’s leaders at the time loved concrete and development of literally any kind) and she worked at the nearby Chamber of Commerce.

She had red hair and freckles and narrow-framed glasses that sat like windows through which you could catch her eyes’ glint. She was, apparently, middle-aged, but she had the demeanor of someone in the jaunty days of youth, as if she was in on some kind of cosmic joke and recognized how funny the world was, just beneath all the griping and despair. She did not solve all the problems of the world, but you always walked away from a conversation with her a little lighter, a little better and a little less burdened by all that falls upon your shoulders.