Published June 2013
By The Cradle Staff

“I remember being into ballet when I was really little,” Cradle baby Julie Kaczmarek recalls. “Dad sat everyone down in the living room to watch me give a ‘performance,’ and he was the first to clap.”Julie’s brother Andrew golfed with his Dad in the 2011 Cradle Classic.

Nowadays, as a 17-year-old with two younger brothers, Julie appreciates some alone time with her father during the family’s annual summer vacation.

“One of the things I enjoy most is a vacation we take each year to Manitowish Waters in Wisconsin,” she said. “It’s fun to stay in a cabin and be cut off from society. I get to steal Dad from the others to go fishing or to the beach. We talk about some pretty deep things sometimes, but it’s never awkward. We can talk about anything.”

One topic that doesn’t come up frequently between father and daughter is sports, even though Greg – in addition to being a physician and Cradle Dad extraordinaire – has co-chaired or chaired The Cradle Classic golf tournament for the past 8 years.

“I like being the only girl, because he gets to take out his sports frustrations on the boys, not me!” Julie said with a laugh.Julie accompanied her parents, Greg and Sharon Kaczmarek, and her grandmother, Rita Kaczmarek, to the 2012 Cradle Ball.

When asked what quality she values most in her Dad, Julie paused. “That’s hard. There are so many. I think it’s his ability to empathize and to connect with others through humor and commonality of interests. He listens without judging. As a doctor, there’s something settling about him – he puts people at ease. He’s also a goofball who cracks jokes. I love him!”