Looking back on personalities from 2022 | News, Sports, Jobs – Evening Observer
Fredonia native Michael J. Hawk is an accomplished baritone opera singer, and
STRONG SHOWING
Going all the way back to when she was a member of a three-time state finalist softball team at Fredonia High School from 2007-09, Julie Arnold has always been a source of athletic pride for Fredonia.
Now more than a decade later, Arnold’s athletic success has changed settings from a softball diamond to a weight room. But one thing remains, her excellence is still well on display.
“Lifting weights has become a passion of mine. It’s just something I do, it’s non-negotiable,” Arnold said.
Fredonia native Julie Arnold Sanders is a successful weightlifter. She began weightlifting in competitions shortly after graduating from college.
Arnold has become one of the top female weightlifters in Western New York. In November, Arnold took first place at the RPS Powerlifting Meet in Hamburg in the Women’s Open Division at 148 pounds. Arnold finished atop the group with her own personal competition records in the deadlift at 305 pounds and squat at 280 pounds; and she tied her personal record in the bench press at 150 pounds.
Arnold, recently married to Zachary Sanders in August, has made stops across the state of New York in her athletic and academic career.
She played softball collegiately at SUNY Brockport before graduating with her degree to become a physical education teacher. Her teaching career began at Brocton, where she was the school’s varsity softball coach and the Athletic Director, including the years of Brocton’s back-to-back state finalist baseball teams. She is now an Assistant Principal and Athletic Director at Williamsville North High School.
Arnold began focusing on weightlifting during her senior year of high school at Darwin’s Health Club in Fredonia. She became interested in weightlifting competitions after her college softball career concluded and has improved her personal bests over the years.
Arnold credits weightlifting and her active lifestyle for the positive things in her life, both personally and professionally.
Donald Bradigan
“Training in the gym and pushing myself has really helped build the confidence I have in myself. It boosts my own confidence mentally, it translates to my personal life, my job … everything,” Arnold said. “It’s really the work you put in that makes the whole process enjoyable. … It feels good to feel good.”
OPERA SINGER FINDS SUCCESS, PASSION
From the small village of Fredonia to major productions in some of the biggest cities across the country, Michael J. Hawk has certainly proven that talent can take you anywhere.
A native of Fredonia, a 2012 Fredonia High School graduate, and an alum of the Fredonia School of Music, Hawk has further put Fredonia on the map in the world of musical theater. Hawk was recently selected as the winner of the Emerging Artist Award by Opera Index this past fall.
In his career to date, Hawk has played the role of Don Giovanni in Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s “Don Giovanni” and also starred in Giuseppe Verdi’s “Falstaff” at the Aspen Opera Theater in Colorado. Hawk has also performed with the Santa Fe Opera in New Mexico, including the role of Demetrius in an adaptation of William Shakespeare’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream.” He often plays a villainous role as a baritone.
“A lot of the roles I play, because I’m a baritone in an opera, the characters are already decided because of my voice type. I play a lot of villains as a baritone, but I want to bring a lot of humanity to those characters,” Hawk said. “I like tapping into those characters because it’s so far from who I am as a person.”
Far from a villain in nature off the stage, Hawk speaks openly about many of the struggles he has faced on his journey to success in life. From his fears of not being accepted as a gay man, to struggles with binge eating followed by starvation, Hawk has fought battles with himself all along his way to glory on stage. Since the pandemic first impacted his career, Hawk has returned home to focus on time with family and friends as he dedicated himself to improving his physical and mental health.
“The pandemic was such a terrible time. But for me it was also an incredibly bright time. It was a time for self-love and reflection,” Hawk said. “I remember thinking this is different. This is something that is a big turning point in the world for a lot of people. … I thought, I can use this as an opportunity to grow. I took a look at how I took care of myself, physically and mentally.”
Hawk has made major strides of improvement in both his physical and mental health in recent years, which he credits journaling, therapy, and work with a trainer all as ways he has been able to improve his everyday life.
Since Hawk’s award this past fall, the accolades have continued to pile up. Hawk finished in second place in the 28th annual Opera Tampa D’Angelo Vocal Competition. Hawk posted news of his victory on his Facebook page, Michael J. Hawk, baritone. “It was such a thrill to sing for the panel, including my idol Sherrill Milnes,” Hawk said.
Hawk also offered thanks to his hometown community for their continued support throughout his career. “I want to thank the community for the outpouring of support I’ve always received. It keeps me going,” he said. “I spend time around people around here and am always reminded that I have so much support. This really is a special community.”
‘HARDEST-WORKING MAN’
Donald Bradigan died on Monday, Jan. 24, at the age of 80. But for many, like his cousin Bret Bradigan, “Donny” will be remembered fondly forever.
Donald Bradigan was a fourth-generation farmer, whose family business began with potatoes and then moved on to dairy farming. Over many years, hundreds of acres gradually accumulated by the family farm business were leased out or reverted to the old hardwood forests. By his 70s, Bradigan was down to about 88 acres of farmland.
Bret Bradigan recalled his cousin Donny “lived a life of routines,” which included waking in the dark to set up the milking machines before eating breakfast, then “endless runs back and forth to check on the hayfields of clover, timothy, alfalfa and rye grasses and the field corn.” According to Bret Bradigan, as far as Donny was concerned, “Always something needed his attention.”
“He was a good, decent man and I will miss him,” Bret Bradigan said.