Danycka Rose Marie Milis

Danycka was one of my closest friends at school for good reason. From the moment I began to know her at Mrs. Knapp's (I still like to refer to her as Ms. Meidl) debut 1st grade class at H.B Patch, I knew she was going to be someone I could trust. Not only did I think she was pretty with a lovely smile, but she had a cheery, friendly personality that I looked forward to seeing every day. Our friendship was further helped by the fact that she recognized the difficulties I had as someone growing up with autism, like my needs for alone time and helpers like Mrs. Wilson in the room and what I'd describe as an obsession with NASCAR and driver Jeff Gordon back in the day. Furthermore, she would always play Tornado Tag, a tag game I invented where ducking and covering would protect you, with me and some of my (and her) other friends at recess.

After a year away from her, I had the opportunity to choose which 3rd grade class I wanted to take special classes (art, music, gym, and technology with), and I chose Mrs. Dorheim's class purely because she was in her class. (I was in Mrs. Eklund's class normally.) I loved discussing our art projects (though I can't remember what they are), playing a song with the colorful boomwhackers for our spring concert, and playing games.

I had class with her normally for 4th grade with Mrs. Geracie. Mrs. Geracie was one of the first teachers I thought about once I heard about Danycka's passing because she shared Danycka's bubbly, affable personality that I loved. My favorite memory with Danycka from that year was forming a reading group with her and two other friends and calling our group the ironically-named Black Cats because the poster we made for it was colorful. We then read a book called My Louisiana Sky (if I remember right), but I don't remember the story well. I might read it again if I find it for nostalgia's sake.

I shared the room with her again for Mr. Levezow's 5th grade class. That year was unremarkable, but I remember her doing Indiana for the state project because she loved Michael Jackson's music back then and wanted to research his home state.

In middle school and high school, when Danycka and I had fewer classes together, our relationship wavered but we remained friends. From then on, we mostly saw each other as cross-country and track teammates. She brought a stuffed unicorn to nearly every cross-country meet, which is making me smile as I think about it. Running was what kept us close in our teen years even though we saw each other in class less often. Traveling to Terrell's Island for cross-country practice was very special because Danycka and her friends would ride on the bed of Coach Dobberstein's truck while I rode inside with him. I unfortunately don't remember what her favorite meets were. For track, the Deerfield meets were the highlights because everyone loved the meet's atmosphere: more than 15 teams competing until after 11 p.m. on a Friday night; there was no other meet like it.

Danycka supported me when I took on basketball for my junior year. I am sure she was on the bleachers for the JV games and was a part of the crowd that got ecstatic in the few times I scored. Being a basketball player herself, she always traveled to the boys' road games (when the girls didn't play the same night at least) to support the teams.

She was one of the many students who were happy for me when I was crowned prom king. She understood that I wasn't as socially outgoing as she and her friends were and knew that the honor meant a lot to me. When I complained that I wasn't a part of the homecoming court, she reminded me about my achievements from the spring.

Sadly, our time at school for our senior year was cut short due to the pandemic, so I never got to see her again. But she and Dom will always live on in my memory and this retrospective. I know I've rambled on more than Robert Plant here (that probably wasn't a good analogy because as far as I know Dom and Danycka weren't as keen on classic rock as I am), but I wanted to get out as much as I could. Their untimely deaths served as a cruel reminder for me to keep my friends close when I can.

To my fellow Omro Class of 2020 classmates reading this, know that I am thinking of you.

-Camden Retzlaff