Born in Door County, Wisconsin, Madden heard tales from his mother about being Indian — more specifically, being a Stockbridge Indian and how they were the people of the water that was never still. Spending time watching Green Bay and Lake Michigan’s constant movement, he realized early he was birthed in the right spot. Logging, subsistence farming, and shipbuilding were his father’s contributions and cherry, apple, and potato picking were annual adventures with his mother and other Indian women, some relatives, some friends. They were poor folks financially but never at the dinner table, where stories and laughter were the fare along with meat and potatoes.
Evenings were filled with Great Lake adventures, logging camp tales and boarding school exploits. This was a time just before television would own and hold everyone’s attention. Madden, grateful for being born into this ole’ timey family, has early memories astride the back of a workhorse collecting maple sap and spending winter days in swamps with the men cutting and skidding cedar for fencepost sales. After graduating from Sevastopol High School in Door County, Madden entered the workforce. With technical school assistance he entered the world of shipbuilding. As a welder and later a pipefitter, these trades would allow Madden to travel, visiting many Indian Nations in the process.
Pursuing research answers to Mohican language questions led him to the College of Menominee Nation, where an Indian-based learning environment allowed some hidden talents to blossom. Madden finds himself as a foundation brick in a new Mohican Language Academy and in the joy of writing. Working for and with the Oneida Arts Board, writing critiques on books, movies, and theatrical events has allowed Madden to expose a poetry venue that resides inside him. Madden strives to balance his RED ROAD journey.