Fiddler.
Born on a farm in western Manitoba on 6 June 1932 to Helena Cnudde (1901-1992) and Robert Alphonse Michiels (1906-1997), he remained in the Holland community all his life and developed his interest in music by learning to play the fiddle. He earned a membership in the Holland Band, an historical institution that began in the early 1890s. After the band was dissolved in the 1960s, he joined a group called the Moonlighters, a popular dance band in the area. In 2008, he was inducted into the Manitoba Fiddle Association’s Wall of Fame.
With his wife Denise Timmerman, he had three sons. He died at Treherne on 26 May 2009 and was buried in St. John Berchmans Parish Cemetery at Holland.
“The Holland Band,” Holland Manitoba, 1877-1967, Holland history committee, 1967.
“Gerard Joseph ‘Gerry’ Michiels,” Manitoba Fiddle Association Wall of Fame 2008 Inductees.
Gerard Joseph “Gerry” Michiels, Winnipeg Free Press, 28 May 2009.
“Gerard Joseph Michiels,” Rogge Family Tree, Ancestry.
“Bonaparte Crossing the Rhine—365 Days of Fiddle Tunes,” Patti Kusturok, YouTube.
This page was prepared by Lois Braun.
Page revised: 13 July 2025
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