Chad Nelson

My dear friend Chad. I can't believe I'm having to write a tribute to you. You are one of the 1st friends I met when I moved to Madison in 1979. We spent a great deal of time together as youngsters, and have stayed close friends for over 43 years!! All the fun times at your cabin in Hayward, great memories from our summer work camps through church, camping trips in Boy Scouts, and all the fishing and hunting trips spent together during our high school and college years and beyond will live in my memories forever. You were a true friend! I will forever miss your one of a kind chuckle and sense of humor, your classic wit and your huge heart!! Many people go through their lives without having a true friend like you, and I will always cherish that bond. May your days in heaven be filled with all that the Lord has in store for us. Until we meet again dear friend, know that you are loved by many!!- Your Friend Forever, Todd Cole

First of all, my heart goes out to April, Evan, and Wyatt. I'm so sorry you have to deal with this loss. The same condolences go out to Dee and Fred, as well as Cory, Dale, and their families. As for Chad, I'll remember him as a quiet, kind, and friendly cousin who had a surprisingly wicked (in a good way!) sense of humor. I always enjoyed sitting and talking with him at family get-togethers. I'm sad and sorry that I didn't get to know him better, but I'm glad I got to know him as well as I did. Rest in peace, Chad. You will be remembered and missed.

I am so saddened to hear about Chad's passing, and wanted to send my heartfelt condolences to Fred, Dee, Cory, and Dale as well as April and his children. We grew up in the same neighborhood together and I remember the times Chad babysat me and my younger brother. He was always friendly and kind, and I have no doubt that he was greeted with open, loving arms by our Father. I will hold you all in my thoughts & prayers, and hope you will draw on God's strength and love to sustain you during this difficult time.

To Chad, my Monger - I wish I could share this at the service, and I could tell the world what you have meant to me. But I can't. I am a basket case. I am crying as I write this now. The more you love, the more you hurt. So I will put it here. So that all who may read this can see...what you are to me. We grew up together. Back in those days we weren't really friends. We were like brothers. On a sleepover, after a rain....we'd sneak out with flashlights and pluck nightcrawlers out of the yard. Then take them on a bike ride around the lake. Drop 'em in the water and try to catch a fish at all of the spots we could find along the way. We'd play basketball all day long and get in fights with our older siblings. We'd crawl out the window in the middle of a summer night and fire bottle rockets at each other. We were more than friends. We were brothers. We grew up together some more. It was then back in High School I gave you that nickname. How I would forever know you from then on. Monger. Monger was the name. It just fit so well. We would go on trips. To Mongers Lot. Camp out on the sand bar across the river. And up to Monger's cabin. Swim and snorkel in the deep abyss out in the lake. Go fishin'. Sit out on the dock as the sun dipped low. Catching walleyes and telling stories. Trips to Sauk City chasing paddlefish. Trips up north chasing deer with a bow. Every year. And then we were off to college. That was maybe when we were closest of all. My roommate. My best friend. My Monger. You were the one I would seek out and find. When I wanted to escape the stresses and challenges of college life. To just relax and reset. With Monger. Always there. To share a laugh. Have a chuckle. Tell a story. Then our lives changed and we grew apart. I went on to become one thing and you went on to become another. That is the way of life. You find your path and you get on it. This is how so many friendships drift. But ours did not. As time went by, a month, 6 months or 10 months or even a year or 2. I could pick up the phone and talk to you and it was like it had been just yesterday. Like we never missed a moment. Always like old times. Always there. The way we would talk, it was like the years had never gone by. No matter how life went or how much time floated past, whenever I saw you or talked to you ...it was just like it had always been. Like best friends. Like brothers. I wish my memory was stronger and I could remember more. In the end all we really have, any of us...is memories. But yet I do feel blessed to have so many memories. Of you, my beautiful friend. It overflows. And I am so sad you are gone that I can't stop crying...but I am so happy I knew you as I did. My friend. My brother. My Monger. - Al

Chad was a lifelong friend of our son, Alan Hummer, and he will be sorely missed by Al and our entire family. Alan and Chad attended Frank Allis, Sennet and LaFollette together. And their friendship continued after graduation. Al's older brother, Don, has been a friend of Cory as they also attended the same schools. We are keeping you all in our thoughts and prayers during this most difficult time.

I was reflecting recently about visiting during the summer when we were kids, riding our bikes around the lake in Madison and spending as many quarters we could get our hands on at the arcade. You were on my mind while attending an event in Madison just a couple weeks ago, and I did not reach out. In fact, I was at a VFW just down the road from where we would blow a couple dollars’ worth of quarters those 40 short years ago. You were a good man, Chad. Kind hearted and clearly filling your home with love. Patty and I are out of Wisconsin celebrating our 20th wedding anniversary when we received word of this tragedy. May mom and cousin Jon Sykora welcome you at the gates as you enter heaven. With tearful love, Dan & Patty