A team celebrating at the Mick Nieman Memorial Golf Tournament on Aug. 8. In the photo are Shawn Weiss, Brad Ambrosi, Jarod Sauter and Jordan Fauth.--SUBMITTED PHOTO
gslade@medicinehatnews.com@MHNGillianSlade
The inaugural Mick Nieman Memorial golf tournament was a huge success, with a considerable amount raised for the Alzheimer’s Society.
“It was unbelievable,” said Nicole Ambrose, one of the daughters of Nieman who helped to organize the event that took place on Aug. 8
A total of 111 golfers participated at Cottonwood Golf Course – limited to maintain social distancing during the COVID-19 pandemic – and that evening 165 people attended a celebratory fundraising dinner at Ralph’s Texas Bar & Steak House. Ralph’s was big enough to maintain appropriate distancing for all attendees, said Ambrose.
Expenses from the event are still being processed but Ambrose says they expect to hand over a $35,000 donation to the Alzheimer’s Society.
The News was unable to reach the executive director for the local chapter of the Alzheimer’s Society on Tuesday for comment.
Nieman was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s in May 2011 at the age of 63 and passed away in December 2014 at the age of 66. Ambrose describes her dad as having a huge personality. He’d been a police officer for 25 years and was a rancher.
“He was a very generous man. He would go out of his way to help people … touched so many lives,” said Ambrose.
Wendy Weiss, another daughter who helped arrange the event, has described her father as having an infectious laugh that had others laughing with him.
When someone is diagnosed with Alzheimer’s they and their loved ones can benefit hugely from reaching out to the Alzheimer Society. The illness can be very different for each person and staff at the Alzheimer Society have a wider perspective that can be very helpful.
Ambrose says during the golf tournament she thought of her dad and felt he would have been pleased.
“He would have been in his glory. He would have loved every second of it,” said Ambrose.
The golfing event included those who were experienced, some who had never golfed before and included many light-hearted aspects over about seven hours, said Ambrose, noting how generous everyone was.
“We have booked for Aug. 7 for next year,” she said.
You can follow the Mick Nieman Memorial event on Facebook.
