Photograph submitted by Rick Udelhofen
Former UW-Platteville employees Laurel Skrede and Mike Udelhofen were killed in a motorcycle accident in August.

Colleagues had kind words for former UW-Platteville Building and Grounds Superintendent Michael Udelhofen and former Chief of Campus Police Laurel Skrede, who died together in a motorcycle accident Aug. 23.

Steve Cullen, groundskeeper at UW-P and friend of the couple, worked with Udelhofen for almost 25 years. Cullen rode motorcycles with Udelhofen for about 20 years.

“Every time I get on a motorcycle I think of Mike,” Cullen said. “He loved historical monuments. We would be riding side by side and all of the sudden you would look back and he had stopped at a historical monument even if he had read it 10 times.”

Cullen said that Udelhofen was the person who got him interested in the grounds crew. Cullen started as a janitor when Udelhofen told him about an opening. Cullen got the job and has been working there ever since.

“Mike and I were the ones who handled the maintenance of the football field when the Bears came to practice,” Cullen said. “Mike was very diligent and proud of the field.”

Skrede started at UW-P in 1982 as a police officer. She held various positions until 1997, when she was promoted to chief of campus police, where she served until her retirement at the end of 2008. Scott Marquardt was hired as chief of campus police following Skrede’s retirement.

Marquardt worked with Skrede before her retirement. He heard about the accident shortly after it happened.

“It was very sad, I had never seen Laurel happier than after she retired,” Marquardt said. “She was a really great person who had a lot of spunk and fire.”

“Laurel was very good at her job,” Cullen said. “The neatest thing about her was how patient she was.”

Skrede and Udelhofen were engaged, and both retired in 2008.

“Her and Mike were the perfect match. Mike always said what a lucky man he was to have his fiancée, Laurel,” Cullen said.