Rhonda Silence’s A cruise down memory lane column brought back so many good times. As a young boy, we lived 13 miles east of Grand Marais on the lake. My Dad was a fisherman. In the summers of the early ’50s he fished for Sivertson’s on the Island.
My older brother and I would stay home and take care of things, but a couple of times a summer I would go to the Island to stay with my Mom and Dad for a day or two. Roy Oberg was the captain. He was always so much fun and so nice I always liked him. He was a special man.
Those were the good old days. Everyone in Cook County knew everyone. If one person needed help, all the people were there to help. In the summer, it was helping the farmers get the hay cut and up. For the rest of us it was getting the wood cut and ready for the next winter. In the winter it was getting the ice cut from the lakes and into the icehouse for packing the fish. Many of us had no electric or running water.
I take that back. I was the runner for the water—to the lake with a couple of buckets for the water!
Yes it was a good time. Now that I look back at it, I wish at times we could go back again for a while. But it can’t happen. About eight years ago we came to Grand Marais. It was not home anymore; it was summer and the people were not friendly as in the old days.
The downtown looked about the same but the rest has grown too much.
You made me cry for the good times. On the Island I would play with Stuart (I think that was his name) Sivertson, a red head as I remember. I remember the good times I had with all who lived within 25 miles of us. Wish I could go back for a day or two!
Rhonda, thanks so much. Please keep up some of the good things that us old ones remember.
Jerrold (Butch) Johnson
Colorado Springs, CO
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