Published: Dec. 26, 2018
With Dad in Kuwait, Hubertus family gets
special visitor
By Nicholas Dettmann
ndettmann@conleynet.com 262-306-5043
HUBERTUS — Julie Wolf knows the challenges and
pressures that come with being a parent.
But for her, she was grateful to have her
husband at her side.
For her niece, Laura Zignego Kusik, the mother
of six children and a seventh due in late February, the story is different.
Kusik’s husband is Sgt. Timothy Kusik of the
Army Reserve. On this Christmas Day, Timothy is serving in his third tour of
duty overseas and is not expected home until late spring or early summer.
Wolf said when her husband traveled for work,
he was gone for only a few days. When he returned, she couldn’t wait to hand
over the kids to get a relief.
Each of Tim’s deployments have been for one
year — 2009-10, 2013-14 and 2018-19. “I can’t imagine
a whole year,” Wolf said. “I’m so proud of her,”
she said of her niece. To temporarily fill the void on Christmas, a special
arrangement was made Tuesday to brighten the holidays for the Kusiks, including
the children — Demetrius (11 years old), Anastasia (9), Philomena (7), Tatiana
(6), Jacinta (3) and Cecili (1).
Carrying a sack full of presents was a man with
a paper-white beard, a red suit and red hat — Santa Claus.
Played by Pat Storrs, Santa visited the Kusik
family and several others throughout the county to help bring extra holiday
cheer.
Pat, along with his wife Nancy, collaborated
with Big Brothers Big Sisters of Washington County as well as the Daily News to
have Santa visit families that needed an extra smile on Christmas.
Pat said it was a wonderful experience to see
the smiling faces on all the children he visited Tuesday.
Wolf nominated her niece for the visit.
“This is a season of love,” she said. “She’s a
trooper. They’re a great example of loving parents.”
To see the joy on her kids’ faces, Laura
couldn’t help but smile.
“It makes you feel the Christmas spirit,” Laura
said.
While there were gifts for the children, there
were also gifts for mom. She received a pair of tickets to see the Milwaukee
Ballet at the Schauer Center in Hartford and got a $100 gift card, good for any
desired service, from Healing Elements Day Spa in West Bend.
When the seventh child is born — the due date
is Feb. 27 — it’ll be the second one Tim won’t be present for. The Kusiks don’t
know if he it’ll be a boy or a girl.
“He sacrifices a lot to be gone,” Laura said of
her husband. “I think it’s harder on him.”
Tim joined the military shortly after 9/11. He
married Laura on Feb. 3, 2007. Two years later — with a toddler son, Demetrius,
and his first daughter, Anastasia, on the way — he was in Afghanistan.
In 2013, now with four children, Tim was
deployed to Kuwait.
The Kusiks met as coworkers at Froedtert in the
radiology department. Tim is an x-ray technician and Laura is a registered
nurse in the oncology department.
Laura is grateful for the love and support her
friends and family continue to offer while Tim is away.
“We’re very blessed,” she said.
Technology has also been a help for the Kusiks.
About once a week, the family can communicate with Tim via Skype. On Christmas
morning, Tim, who in Kuwait is nine hours ahead of his family back home, saw
his children open their presents Tuesday morning via Skype for about 30
minutes.
“It’s very good that he’s able to do that,”
Laura said.
However, especially on family moments such as
Christmas, the void is still tough.
“It’s still hard to miss him,” Laura said of
her children and their dad. “It’s all they know. It’s their normal.”
That is why Wolf wanted to do something special
for her niece and the Storrs and several others were glad to help in any way
they could.
“It feels good,” Pat said.
Pat had been growing out his beard since
February because he wanted to help out with a local Breakfast with Santa event.
But as the holidays approached, they thought they would see how else they could
spread the holiday spirit.
With grown children, the Storrs wanted to do
something.
“We had nothing else to do,” Nancy said.
What they came up with was coordinated visits,
with the help of Big Brothers Big Sisters of Washington County, to families
throughout the county.
“It was beautiful,” Laura said of the visit
from Santa and Mrs. Claus, played by Nancy.
Demetrius, who got Legos from Santa, said his
dad is doing well and he misses his dad.
But, he and his five sisters were glad Santa
paid them a visit.
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