John Kunick’s story begins in Colby, a town where the rhythms of daily life are inscribed by family, tradition, and changing seasons. Born to Melvin Kunick, a diligent meter reader for Northern States Power (NSP), and raised amidst the values of the Beawer and Kunick families, John learned early the importance of memory, record keeping, and respect for the past. His father’s career—a remarkable tenure from 1946 to 1981—meant that Melvin visited nearly every home in the Owen-Withee area, crisscrossing fields and neighborhoods over the decades. The job, humble and essential, demanded both accuracy and a deep familiarity with the families served.
In those days, meter readers like Melvin were the quiet custodians of connection, visiting homes each month to record electric usage, delivering the numbers by hand to the billing department. The work, though routine, offered Melvin a unique window into the evolving life of the region—and for young John, it offered countless lessons on diligence, integrity, and the quiet power of community service.
John’s formal journey into scholarship and history began at Colby High School, from which he graduated with the class of 1965. Those years were marked by a blend of small-town camaraderie and the stirrings of larger change. Across the nation, the 1960s were years of transformation, hope, and upheaval. Yet for John, the halls of Colby High were a place to foster curiosity and develop a love for learning that would shape the rest of his life.
After high school, John enrolled in the University of Wisconsin Extension branch in Marshfield, beginning two years of focused study from 1965 to 1967. It was a transition from the familiar to the new—a step into a broader world of ideas and perspectives. In 1967, John transferred to the University of Wisconsin Madison, a campus alive with the urgent energies of its era. There, amid the passionate debates and activism of the late 1960s—when anti-Vietnam War protests echoed across campus greens—John pursued his studies with quiet determination, ultimately earning a Bachelor of Science degree in 1969.
Though the world around him was loud with protest and change, John’s dedication was rooted in a more contemplative form of activism: the preservation of truth and memory. For John, the history lessons were not only to be debated but to be cherished, recorded, and passed on.
From a young age, John had a passion for service and fellowship with others. After graduating from the University of Wisconsin he moved to Milwaukee and enrolled at UW–Milwaukee and attained a degree in Nursing.
If one seeks to understand the heart of the Kunick legacy, they need look no further than the Beawer Quilt—a hand-sewn, vintage masterpiece whose threads hold more than warmth or beauty. Embroidered upon it is the family’s guiding motto: “History Must Always Be Preserved.” This quilt, lovingly crafted and cared for over generations, became an emblem of the Kunick and Beawer families shared commitment to memory.
In 2022, the quilt found its new home at the Owen-Withee Area Historical Society, a gesture by the Kunick family that spoke more eloquently than any words. With this donation, they entrusted to the community not just as a relic, but a philosophy: that history, in all its humble and grand forms, is to be treasured and protected and shared.
A few years ago, John began to contemplate the future and forever home for his lifetime collection of memories, artifacts and books. With deep roots in Wisconsin and Clark County, he examined his options. By stroke of random chance, and with a tip of the scale by fate, he connected with me, Allan Hodnett. To add further coincidence, both John and Allan were students at UW-Madison during the late 1960s. And further coincidence, both were residents at the same time in the UW “Lakeshore” college dormitories at UW-Madison.
To be continued in a future newspaper edition.