As Memorial Day ceremonies were celebrated throughout Door and Kewaunee counties this past holiday weekend, a 1997 graduate of Luxemburg-Casco High School will be memorialized with a special event this coming weekend. The 14th annual Lance Corporal Dean Opicka Softball Tournament will be held at the Casco Village Park from Thursday through Sunday. The tournament honors the memory of Marine Lance Corporal Dean Opicka of Casco, who died while serving our country. Killed by a roadside bomb in Iraq in 2008 at the age of 29, Opicka was one of three soldiers from the Casco area who died during the second Persian Gulf War. Annie Zelewske, Dean's aunt, says he was always about helping children and his community.
The softball tournament begins right after a military ceremony at 6:15 on Thursday evening at the park. All proceeds from the event benefit the Lance Corporal Dean Opicka Memorial Fund, which has raised over $150,000 for local academic scholarships at all three Kewaunee County high schools and local hardship gifts over the past thirteen years.
(photo submitted)
CORRECTION: The original article mistakenly stated Desert Storm, not the Second Persian Gulf War, Door County Daily News apologizes for this error)
