Contact: stan@wiclarkcountyhistory.org
Surnames: Micke
----Source: THORP COURIER (Thorp, Clark County, Wis.) 16 Nov 2016
On Saturday, November 5th, 2016, the Clark County 4-H welcomed Jerry and Jan Mike into the 4-H Hall of Fame. They are the first people to receive this award out of Clark County. The event at the Fall Forum in Green Lake recognized their hard work and community involvement the past 40 years. The Mickes were two of twelve volunteers that were inducted into the Wisconsin 4-H Hall of Fame this year. This Hall of Fame was founded in 2014 to recognize individuals that made major contributions to the 4-H at different levels, helping to mold the communities all across the state.
Jerry has been involved with 4-H since he was a child, and since then he has been able to get his family involved in the 4-H program as weel: "I started in 4-H when I was a kid, showing sheep and dairy cattle. All of my kids showed and now seven out of eight grandchildren are showing in 4-H; one of them is too little yet," Jerry said in an interview with The Country Today.
Jerry and Jan have always gone above and beyond to help aspiring 4-H members, including offering show lambs at a reasonable cost to anyone that couldn't afford to purchase a show lamb on their own, or were not able to raise one at their own home. Jerry also takes time to help students by sharing with them his knowledge of sheep and the fair competition process: "If they get their lamb from me, I always try to help them get ready for the fair and then go to the fair if I can. This year, we had lambs from our flock at five or six different fairs."
It has always been important to Jerry and Jan to help keep kids out of trouble. A friend once asked Jerry why he was willing to spend so much time working with this, especially when he had to drive 40 miles to the fairgrounds, and h etold that friend: "He listen, I have to drive 40 miles to do this, yes, but you know what? If I have to pick them up at the county jail instead, that is also a 40-mile drive, and I prefer my drive."
Beyond mentoring youth with their fari lambs, Jerry Micke also served on the Clark County 4-H livestock Committee, as well as the Clark County Sheep Committee, and he was a crucial part of getting sheep into the Clark County Fair livestock sale.
While their induction into the 4-H Hall of Fame is a great honor, it isn't the first they have received for their hard work. They were awarded the Contributor Award for Clark County; moreover, in 2006 they received the Thorp Senior Farm of the Year Award.
Past awards and achievements aside, Jerry Micke maintains his humility, "I told my oldest daughter that I didn't think I was worthy of it. I was never one to be in the front row. I always wanted to help behind the scenes."
Tragedy struck the Mickes on January 31st, when Jan Micke, after a long battle with illness, passed away, leaving a long and honorable memory with the community at the Clark County 4-H. Jan taught many children over the years about sewing, crochet, planting, and ceramic work, not to mention the 4-H baking contest she organized, and even her unfortunate illness didn't stop her and her husband from finding a new way to give back to the community: "When my wife got sick, we talked about what we could do for the 4-H kids. After she passed, my daughter and I went to the 4-H committee to see if we could donate picnic tables to the Clark County Fairgrounds, and that is what we did, we donated to picnic tables in her memory."
The Mickes were also active leaders in the 4-H community. Jan was the general leader of the North Fork 4-H Club, and Jerry was involved with the Reseburg Ramblers 4-H Club.
The Mickes own a 150-acre farm outside of Thorp (Clark Co., Wis.). Jerry continues to raise Suffolk sheep, as well as annual pumpkin patch with his family. When not working on the family farm, Jan was employed at the Country Today, and Jerry worked as a field technician with the Dairy Herd Improvement Association.
Jan Micke, while no longer with us, lives on in the many lives she touched with her work in the 4-H and the community at large, work that Jerry and his family continue throughout the community.
