I was Blessed to have known Mitch and spend time with him enjoying activities in the outdoors. He volunteered at our Disabled Veterans Hunt at Fort Custer every year he could and also, we spent a few days a year deer hunting with Mitch, Tim, Jake and Phil where he looked forward to my wife Ronda baking and bringing her cookies along. One of my best memories with Mitch is the time we spent together turkey hunting. After a couple of days of missed opportunities and unsuccessful attempts we were able to set up between two different groups of gobbling birds in the dark to try and entice a mature turkey in close enough for Mitch to shoot. Our excitment was growing as the birds gobbled back and forth with increasing intensity as daylight emerged. Mitch and I were sitting shoulder to shoulder and  he was shaking from nervous excitment. I whispered directions to try and calm him as I thought for sure the turkeys would see him or his infectious smile right through his facemask!  The turkeys east of us started flying down in the field to our right and Mitch was positioned for those birds to come close enough for a shot. As a mature tom was chasing the jakes around the field, Mitch asked about the shot and I assured him the tom would come closer as the hen decided to check out our decoy. At that moment three huge tom turkeys flew down to our left in range. Unkown to us, they were roosted in the same fence row we were in and had not made a sound! Immediately, Mitch wanted to move his gun to the left, but I whispered to stay still as I thought it was the best option. The three toms moved off into the woods taking the hen with them. The tom chasing the jakes noticed his hen leaving and came right by our decoy and stopped for a perfect shot. Mitch shot and promptly killed his first tom turkey! At the moment if it was possible I was more excited than Mitch.  I am very proud to have known him and called him a friend. My prayers for all who were blessed enough to have known him.

Sam Giese