Only a few of the fourth-grade students in this photo are known to Janet Schuster Nagy, who shared it with us for this Historical Reflection. Janet recalls that the third girl from the left is Ginger Anderson. Janet is next to the child holding the dog. They were all on stage for an operetta directed by Mrs. Wilcox, the music teacher. Janet said Mrs. Wilcox was originally from New York and she was very talented. The operetta was about gypsies.
Our March 3, 2012 Historical Reflections photo was of an early moose survey. We asked readers if they knew who the pilot inspecting a moose carcass was. We heard from two readers. Barbara Johnson of Tucson, Arizona, contacted the News-Herald to say the pilot was her uncle, Willard Watters. Willard is known to many as the pilot who flew Santa Claus to Grand Marais in 1949, an adventure that ended with his plane hitting the old Norshor Theater. Barbara said Willard lived on Gull Lake, as did his brothers, Clifford and Francis.
We received another call from Rolf Skrien, also in Arizona. He not only confirmed that the pilot was Willard Watters, but he knew that the picture was taken on Brule Lake in the late 1940s. Rolf used to fly with Willard quite frequently. He said Willard kept the plane at Sea Gull River. He used to fly around and he saw a dead moose during one flight. When he flew over the next day, this carcass was all that was left.
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