Jeff Alan Chicks, age 52, took the long ride home on Saturday, October 6, 2012, after a devastating, single vehicle motorcycle accident mile from his home in Horicon, WI. His friends and family joined him at the hospital and he passed away in the arms of his life-long love, Beth de Garcia (nee Bachhuber). Jeff was born on December 10, 1959. He was the 2nd of 4 children born to Evelyn Tromp (nee Ost) and Dr. Sheldon Chicks (deceased) in Milwaukee, WI. He was the only boy in the family and a member of the Stockbridge Munsee Band of Mohicans. He grew up hunting and fishing on the reservation during summer vacations, holidays, and weekend trips to his grandparents' farm outside of Gresham. Jeff was a relatively simple but extremely intelligent man who loved to work with his hands. He taught himself to build strip canoes and made several trips to the Boundary Waters - a beautiful place of peace and tranquility. Jeff was very proud to have graduated from Madison College with a certificate in welding and he was even prouder to have reached the pinnacle of his career, holding a full-time position as a welder at internationally renowned, Bucyrus Corporation (now Caterpillar). Most recently, he had taken a position at Helgesen in Hartford to be closer to home so he and Beth could have more time together in the evenings. They had just moved to the Horicon/ Mayville area, the town she grew up in, purchasing an historic farmhouse on an acre of land with a view of the Horicon Marsh. Jeff and Beth began their love story at 15 and 17 years of age when they worked together for the Department of Natural Resources in northern Wisconsin. Lacking the emotional maturity needed to sustain their passionate and sometimes frustrating love for each other, they separated for 27 years while each pursued careers and relationships with others. The spark of their love, however, never died and a decade ago, they found each other again and picked up where they left off, maintaining a deep and abiding love for each other through their remaining years. Together, they finished raising Beth's two sons: Griffin (age 24) and Blake (20), both of whom are profoundly grateful to have had Jeff in their lives. He was so very proud of each of them. A week before his death, Jeff said he had finally achieved the complete happiness he had searched for all his life: his job, his family, the woman he had always loved and the home he had only dreamed of. That makes his death at this time all the more tragic. Jeff is survived by: his mother, Evelyn Tromp; step-father Tom Tromp; and sisters, Dr. Julie Chicks, Cindy Beyer and her husband, Dan, and Kathy Russell and her husband, Everett, all of the Milwaukee area. He is also survived by: 15 nieces and nephews whom he took great joy in; also, numerous cousins; and his beloved cat, Pookie. His cousins, Joe Vetter and John Koeller built Jeff's plain pine casket and he will be buried at Red Springs Cemetery near the farm where he spent so much of his childhood and where many of his ancestors are interred. There will be a funeral service Wednesday morning, October 10 at 11:00 at the old mission, Immanuel-Mohican Church. A wake will be held Tuesday evening, October 9, from 5-8pm at the Swedberg Funeral Home in Gresham followed by a large bonfire and celebration of Jeff's life at Bill and Jeanine Hebert's on Upper Red Lake Road. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made for the purchase of a memorial rock with bronze plaque to commemorate his gravesite: C/O Beth de Garcia, N7479 County Road TW, Horicon, WI 53032. www.swedbergfuneralhome.com