15 Things You Might Not Know About Me: Nick Milroy

Note: '15 Things You Might Not Know About Me' is part of DrydenWire’s 2020 election coverage. Each Thursday, we will feature a different candidate for this segment to publish. That candidate will also appear as our guest on Meet The Candidate, a special edition of DrydenWire Live! the following morning (Friday) at 8:30a on our Facebook page.

This week on '15 Things You Might Not Know About Me', we are featuring Nick Milroy. Milroy is the current Representative of Wisconsin's 73rd Assembly District and is running as a democrat against republican challenger Keith Kern in the general election this November.

15 Things You Might Not Know About Me: Nick Milroy

1. Growing up we heated our house with wood. My brothers and I would cut, split, and stack up to 10 logger cord of firewood every summer.
2. I collect firearms and especially love American made pre-’64 Winchesters and historical military weaponry.
3. Hockey has always been a big part of my life. I am a longtime coach, continue to play in a men’s league, and recently joined an all Veterans team.
4. Well before everyone owned cell phones, I spent $4,000 on phone cards over the course of two years. I was stationed in Japan and called my high school sweetheart (and future wife) once a week. It was worth every penny.
5. The first piece of legislation that I had signed into law designated the Totogatic River as a state wild river. It was the first such designation in nearly 50 years and wouldn’t have happened without the legwork of the Washburn County Lakes and Rivers Association.
6. Starting in my early twenties, for nearly a decade I volunteered to sleep outside in the dead of winter to raise money for the homeless.
7. During the Act 10 protests, when Governor Walker locked citizens out of the Wisconsin State Capitol, I moved my desk outside to listen to the people.
8. I married an identical twin. Our families live next door to each other on a gravel road in the country.
9. I come from a large Catholic family, my parents have five children. I also have 26 first cousins and 24 nieces and nephews.
10.  I’ve spent a lot of time on the water. I served in the Navy on an aircraft carrier, worked as a fisheries biologist for nearly a decade, sailed each of the Great Lakes on a research vessel as a scientist, and was the first mate to my father who was a charter captain when I was a teenager. I have also fished on hundreds of different lakes, rivers, and streams in my lifetime.
11. My wife and I planned on having two kids. Tragically, we lost our second son River shortly after childbirth. We had a girl for our third and our youngest boy was a big surprise. We like to think River gave us these two wonderful gifts.
12. I named my daughter Marleigh after one of my favorite artists, my wife vetoed naming my boys Willie and Waylon.
13. Prior to fulfilling my lifelong dream of becoming a fisheries biologist, I taught biology to freshman at UW-Eau Claire.
14. I’m not one to easily get star-struck, however one of my heroes, Rep. John Lewis once sent me a personal and inspirational video message.
15. As a child I was a fierce competitor. Once I broke my nose in a youth wrestling match and wanted to go back in, the referees wouldn’t let me.