Ordinary Americans Doing Extraordinary Things
OUR NARRATIVES
Mathilda Burke & Forrest Anderson
East Haddam, CT
Mathilda Burke is an effervescent young woman who loves history and music and the Girl Scouts. Playing the clarinet and supporting her musical parents with their big band gigs….. she’s the sound engineer…. allows her music side to shine. Being a Big Sister in her Girl Scout troop and working on her Gold Award provides the connections she wanted to scouting. But finding ways to be actively engaged in history is a bit more of a challenge, even if you live in a quaint New England community where the town’s roots go back several centuries. She found her town’s Revolutionary War history, especially when it came to honoring its Patriots, was fragmented and inconsistent. Mathilda realized how much work was needed to improve this situation.
Forrest Anderson, a soft-spoken gentleman, is a Vietnam Navy Veteran and although he is originally from Iowa, he visited Connecticut with a Navy buddy from there while they were stationed in Maine. He served on a ship in the Pacific and now is the Commander of the local Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) organization. Besides that leadership role, he works with a volunteer group called the Cemetery Troopers who work to clean & restore veterans’ gravesites in the area. For his community, Forrest has developed a video Wall of Honor including hundreds of the town’s veterans that is displayed in the town office and online at easthaddam.org/wall-of-honor . That effort included tracking where each was buried, something that he was doing using copies of paper documents.
But it wasn’t until Mathilda’s mother’s happenstance of setting her tent next to the VFW one at the town fair that the two became aware of each other’s efforts.
Initially Mathilda lent her computer skills to Forrest’s efforts, moving the data from all those scraps of paper into a database that could be sorted, printed, searched and expanded. That led to both doing further research on who East Haddam’s veterans were and where they were. Researching libraries near and far, including the state of Connecticut's, not only added to the data collected, but highlighted that many of these vets were not being properly honored. Making the data available to others brought about the creation of Mathilda's Gold Award project website (www.revolutionaryheroes-easthaddam.com) that covers the Patriots from East Haddam and the impact of the Revolutionary War on the town.
Mathilda and Forrest together are an indomitable pair! Her energetic manner and his intense expertise combine to create an incredible bond over their love of research, knowledge and passion for sharing. Observing them sharing stories of various vets; telling little historic tidbits of interest; finishing each other’s sentences as in a ping-pong match. Their joint efforts continue to expand and now include placing flags in proper holders at the gravesites, even honoring those that served in other militaries. One can find not only U.S. flags but also Canadian, German and Polish flags honoring veterans buried in East Haddam’s 23 cemeteries. With more folks now aware of their efforts and the rich history their town contains, donated materials and manpower have lent to the restoration of gravestones using a variety of techniques based on the type of stone used. Many of those restorations take some ingenuity as engravings in the brownstone markers tend to disappear with weather erosion. One gravestone was completely blank, but by using the format and font from the veteran’s wife’s marker, and info from their research, the Cemetery Troopers were able to re-engrave his marker properly.
Their research has led to many other discoveries about their community. Nathan Hale, the famous Revolutionary War spy who "Only had one life to give for his country" lived and taught in East Haddam for only six months, yet there are several buildings, schools and businesses named after him. Through their research, they found in addition to not being a very good spy, he didn't like East Haddam at all, so much so that Mathilda and Forrest wonder why other East Haddam Patriots who made more significant contributions were not the ones being honored.
One of East Haddam’s vets served as George Washington’s body guard, a role not only important in allowing the general to survive the war and become our first president, but one that had some very specific requirements. Washington only hired men who had certain skills and certain physical attributes for these key roles. Also East Haddam blacksmiths created links that were used in the West Point chain, creating links that were 140 to 180 pounds each. That 75 ton linkage spanned the Hudson between 1778 and 1782, blocking British ships from advancing further up river.
Mathilda has already received her Gold Award and the Connecticut VFW Scout of the Year Award, thanks to Forrest, but these acknowledgements do not mark the end of either of their efforts to keep Patriots’ and veterans’ memories alive. Both plan to continue to work to honor the East Haddam veterans through their websites, data collection and restoration projects. Their websites will remain, always there to honor East Haddam’s vets as well as a place for folks to submit new info and continue to expand both as valuable resources.
Forrest Anderson & Mathilda Burke
East Haddam, CT
August 2024
Jack Rewey & Lynn Wheat
Adventure Before Dementia
When couples retire, they usually find themselves anchored to their home and their friends and their family. And while the home and a fair portion of their friends may be in the same general location, sometimes their family is spread out across the country, scattered to the four winds as they say. So, the retired couple, being good parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, siblings and in-laws, start traveling to stay connected. Some folks have multiple travel loops they make annually to visit all of their connections across the country from their home. Some relatives get a short visit once every four or five years. But the gaps back at home can be long with little to do except plan for the next sojourn. For Jack Rewey and Lynn Wheat, the answer was obvious – cut out the anchor.
After retiring from a data management job at Exxon, Jack and Lynn, a retired realtor, started out visiting their children and grandchildren in a class A motorhome from their home in Houston, Texas. The trips were great as they took their time, driving just three or four hours a day, and enjoying the ability to visit family without imposing. But the times in-between those adventures grew longer and less interesting due to the familiarity of home and hometown. So rather than limit their travels to their family in Texas, North Carolina and Florida, Jack and Lynn decided to make the whole country their hometown.
They sold their home and took on the task of selling or throwing out all of the stuff folks accumulate over a lifetime. With a 30 day timeframe to clear out the house, basement and crawlspace, they found themselves throwing out some of their own things and some that the original owner had left behind. What would not fit in the RV, an Allegro motorhome purchased years before for those family trips, had to go. To make that a bit less painful, they decided to remodel the inside of the motorhome, completely gutting the inside and putting in more cabinets, closets and space to hold all of the ‘stuff’ they could not part with.
Taking to the road, their destinations expanded and they have found several campgrounds that they favor, spending several weeks to months at some. Because they travel slowly, they are able to enjoy a wide variety of events along the way and spend time during their trip preplanning to attend as many as possible. By staying at their favorite campsites long-term, they are able to become a part of the local community, enjoying the festivals, barbeques, fairs and special events in those areas. And the locals have come to expect to see them at the VFW’s Friday Fish Fry or taking horseback rides at the nearby stable.
By being flexible in their routes and destinations, Jack and Lynn are able to ‘follow the weather’ and avoid harsh conditions that would make being in a motorhome challenging. And they can plan their visits to coincide with different locales’ oyster fest, county fair, car show and other traditional annual occasions. They meet new folks in every campground and through those connections, new destinations, new events, new opportunities and new friends are added to their trips and the planning for the following year.
As travelers, Jack and Lynn see plenty of interesting sites and have new experiences on a regular basis. While there are always challenges, they have positive experiences much more often than one might imagine. And they plan to continue to travel as long as Jack can handle the Allegro. From being remembered at the local grocery store to finding fishing bait offered where customers are trusted to pay, America is opening up to them as they continue their Adventures Before Dementia.
Jack Rewey & Lynn Wheat
On the Road
August 2024
Tonya Poutry
South Hero, VT
‘You can’t do that.’ We all have heard someone tell us that. As a child, you hear that when safety is a concern or the adults in our lives don’t believe you are old enough. When we hear it as an adult, it is most often from someone judging our abilities and determining what they think of our chances of success. Given by someone we trust or respect, that advice is often followed. But not always and if you are Tonya Poutry, used to overcoming life’s obstacles, you take it as yet another challenge to be bested.
Her professional career began at IBM, where her path was leading to management. In reality, with her background in arts and her life-long spirit of creativity, Tonya felt that her IBM job would be only that – a job. After giving her notice and with no plan, she walked away from a safe career into her unknown future.
A random phone call from the former publisher of ‘The Islander’ lit the way for the start of her 20+ year career in media. The weekly serves the communities in Vermont’s Grand Isle County, made up of the three islands in northern Lake Champlain, along the New York and Quebec borders. ‘The Islander’ is also the newspaper of record for the town of Milton, VT, serves the towns of Northwestern New York and is circulated throughout Vermont’s Chittenden and Franklin Counties. With her passion for design, Tonya's first position was designing the ads for the newspaper. As a free publication, advertising income is the only income. Not convinced this was the career path she wanted, after her first day, she said to herself, “This is just for now.”
Just for now resulted in a connection to how small communities operate. The volunteers that serve on boards, committees, emergency departments to support their town and county are, in Tonya’s opinion, the unsung heroes of small town America. Over the years, she dove into serving the community on her personal time through her service on the local rescue squad and the fire department, volunteering with the local sheriff’s department, and assisting in organizing community celebrations such as 4th of July and Christmas Parades. After about five years, the career path that had once been so blurry and uncertain became clear. Tonya’s plan now included some day buying the newspaper and becoming the editor and publisher.
“I remember being at a bonfire and telling some friends that was my plan. And the first comment was, ‘You can’t do that’”, Tonya recalls. “I had such a fire in my soul that it was literally a challenge to me. I spent the next ten years learning every aspect of the newspaper, every facet of our community, awaiting the day that I would be told the newspaper was for sale,”. Tonya smiles every time she recalls the day in April of 2016 she learned that ‘The Islander’ was indeed for sale. And in December of that year, she became a newspaper publisher.
During those years before the sale, Tonya had been a part of the weekly’s expansion as more reporters were added and improvements were made in photography and coverage. While some of the paper’s information became available online through their website, she and her readership still want to pick up a paper to read the latest news. Some of ‘The Islander’s content remains paper-only including the puzzle and some key photos. Continuing to serve as the voice for the islands, ‘The Islander’ has expanded its role as the community watchdog, focused on local issues, local boards and local meetings. The weekly is printed and distributed each week throughout Grand Isle and neighboring Chittenden and Franklin counties in Vermont and Clinton county in New York.
In what Tonya now recalls as ‘a crazy opportunity’, she purchased The Green Frog in 2021, a gift shop in the island, situated on the road to the busiest ferry running between Vermont and New York. “It was another one of those, “You can’t do that” situations.” she explained. “How can you do both (referring to the newspaper and retail operation)? Why would you want to do that?” After a complete remodeling and as part of an answer to those that reminded her of things she supposedly can’t do, Tonya opened the doors to the new Green Frog on Father’s Day weekend, 2022. That date was selected to pay homage to her deceased father who always wanted to “have a cool store featuring Vermont products, great food and unique items.” With the Green Frog, she got to make one of his dreams a reality.
The store provides her with a connection to people and a desk to work on the paper when the retail traffic wanes. Through her expansion of the products being offered in the store, she is making connections that have helped both establishments. Challenged in her thirties with the passing of both parents, she attributes her work ethics and stubbornness to both of them, business owners themselves. Tonya inherited their belongings and their debt, further challenged by folks who tried claiming what was not theirs among those items. “It was a challenging few years, losing Mom at the age of 52 in 2012 and Dad, age 55 in 2017. You’d be amazed at how death can bring out the ugliest of people. I think my grief was suppressed by my determination and my faith that some day, this terrible time would make sense.”
“My life seems to be one experience after another of being told I can’t do something. I’ve felt, especially after losing my dad, I had to prove myself… to whomever made me doubt myself. When the dust finally cleared a few years later, I learned the lesson life was waiting to teach me. I never had to prove anything to anyone but myself,” And with a smile, she said. “It is my one piece of advice for anyone and everyone.”
Finding peace in running the Green Frog and with a very capable Islander staff, Tonya enjoys spending time with her dog, her god-children, live music and traveling. For she is not waiting for some day, but making things happen now, and empowering people and herself to be happy.
But of course, ‘You can’t do that.’
Tonya Poutry
South Hero VT
January 2024
David Foster & the American Cave Museum
Horse Cave, KY
Horse Cave, Kentucky is a small town with a large cave entrance in its center. Originally called Horse Cave, the cave was later renamed Hidden River Cave. The Horse Cave name could have derived from the legend that Native Americans or outlaws hid horses there. Another story claims that a horse drawn carriage fell in the cave entrance. More likely, the 19th century slang uses ‘horse’ to mean something large. The cave contains a river and that source of power helped Horse Cave become one of only a few communities in Kentucky to have electricity in the 1870s. Even the cool cave air was used for the world’s only air-conditioned tennis courts opened during World War I. Unfortunately, Hidden River Cave had to close in the 1940s as sewage dumping made it unusable (and smelly). The cave remained closed for the next fifty years.
Hidden River Cave is now open to the public and the smell that once permeated all of the downtown of Horse Cave is gone. And much of that success story belongs to David Foster and the American Cave Conservation Association.
Born in Virginia, David’s first love was music (his dad was a pianist and barbershop singer). He majored in music at Emory & Henry College and got a minor in geology. While in college, David took up cave exploring as a hobby. Working as a coffeehouse musician in Bristol, Tennessee, he explored caves in the area when not performing. That connected him with Roy Powers, leader of the Mountain Empire Grotto, a local caving club. Roy mentored David’s interest in cave conservation and along with other members of the group they developed an organization called the Cave Conservation Institute (CCI) which later became the American Cave Conservation Association (ACCA). ACCA’s main purpose was the conservation and protection of caves. The ACCA began to take off with the help of John Wilson, a caver and fundraising professional in Richmond, Virginia. John set up a bingo hall to raise funds for several nonprofits and invited the fledgeling American Cave Conservation Association to participate.
Funding from the Bingo operation gave the ACCA a cash start, but David and the ACCA’s first Executive Director, Jer Thornton wanted to do more than just raise money. As ACCA grew beyond their humble beginnings in Virginia, they began working to design what became the nation’s standard protocol for construction of cave gates to protect endangered bat species. Used to control access to caves but not discourage animal use (especially bats), ACCA cave gates are now protecting more than a thousand of the most significant caves across America, including many of the caves in state and national parks.
As ACCA began making a name for themselves, they were invited by Bill Austin to visit Horse Cave. Bill was the owner of the polluted cave in the town of Horse Cave. Bill convinced ACCA to take on the restoration of Hidden River Cave and build a national cave museum at the site. As the ACCA struggled to raise funds to survive and create this vision, Jer Thornton left and the Board asked Dave to help keep the project alive. With no formal fundraising training, David expressed his financial fears to Bill Austin. Bill’s family had operated the cave business in Horse Cave for generations and he had helped start the Horse Cave Theatre, a professional repertory theater which operated for more than 30 years. Bill said to David, “When the theater director asked me how to fundraising … I told him to just start acting like a fundraiser!”
Over the next couple of years, David asked local business for donations to keep the idea alive and successfully applied for nearly half a million dollars from federal and private grants. David was soon appointed the ACCA’s Executive Director where he spearheaded the renovation of three downtown buildings to create the American Cave Museum, joined efforts to get a new regional sewage treatment system built to clean up the sewage in the cave, and began reopening parts of Hidden River Cave.
At the time, ACCA wasn’t sure the cave would ever recover but they felt like a museum at a polluted cave entrance would provide a powerful educational message. As the organization set up shop in Horse Cave they began putting on cave management workshops across the United States, cleaning up dumpsites in caves, and building cave gates to protect endangered species. Hidden River Cave had been a successful show cave back in the 1920s and the hope was that if we could clean up and open the cave, it would help fund the ACCA’s educational and conservation work.
A new sewage treatment system was finally completed in 1989 and the cave’s horrible odors began to abate. In the meantime, Dave and the ACCA set to work acquiring the cave’s historic passageways which were owned by 7 different entities including the CSX Railroad. It took nearly 30 years to acquire all of the cave rights including the gigantic cave room known as Sunset Dome, one of the largest cave rooms in America.
As the project expanded, the ACCA set up a management partnership with the City of Horse Cave. This enabled them to borrow money and acquire federal grants with the backing of the City. From the 1990s until 2020, the ACCA raised more than $5 million to restore Hidden River Cave and build the American Cave Museum. Over the years, additional sections of Hidden River Cave were opened up and the museum expanded its displays, educational offerings and outreach. The pandemic significantly reduced the number of visitors, but since then the cave has experienced some of its best years, averaging more than 25,000 visitors per year.
Today visitors to what was once the most polluted cave in American can now tour a clean cave system featuring the world’s longest underground swinging bridge, a beautiful subterranean river surrounded by rock formations, and some of the largest cave rooms in the world. And the cave still has the potential to be explored for many more miles. Hidden River Cave has much to offer the traveler who finds their way to central Kentucky. David continues to work on fundraising with the help of the ACCA board of directors and is confident about the future, especially having staved off bankruptcy multiple times over the past 30 years.
Hidden RIver Cave now has more than 10 miles of mapped passageways but the potential for another 20 to 50 miles is well within the range of possibility. Visitors can not only explore the museum and the cave’s lighted tours and walkways, but they also have the option to don hardhats and lights, and take an off trail caving adventure deep into the heart of one of America’s longest caves.
Dave’s long term goal is to build an endowment to ensure that both Hidden River Cave, the American Cave Museum and the American Cave Conservation Association will be able to continue their conservation mission long into the future. And as visitation to Hidden River Cave continues to grow, the community of Horse Cave is also seeing success with new industries (thanks to a modern sewage treatment system) and downtown businesses catering to the tourist travelers. Horse Cave truly is a conservation success story worth seeing!
David Foster
Horse Cave, KY
August 2024
Festival of Lights
Centerville, VA
Like most youngsters who grew up in Centreville, Virginia, Megan Schuster had been to Bull Run Regional Park many times. It is a wonderful park, playground and waterpark designed with youngsters in mind and is one of the many local attractions to be found in this part of her state. By high school, she knew the place well and started working there in the summers and on school year weekends. While going to an in-state college to get her Human Psychology degree, Megan was able to continue to work at Bull Run summers and for special events as well. And even though her degree is not what you would first think of when you think of park management, she none the less joined the Bull Run staff full time upon graduation. And by doing so, she has gone from being an awe-inspired youngster or one of the park’s ‘Light Staff’ handling traffic, to being a part of the team that puts on Bull Run’s biggest fundraiser, The Festival of Lights
The Northern Virginia Park Authority (NOVA) manages dozens of parks, trails, gardens, sanctuaries and marinas in three counties around Fairfax, VA. Developed in the late 50s, NOVA provides a wide variety of experiences for young and old alike, using funds from the supporting counties and their larger communities, along with park income and grants. Serving the needs of more than two million visitors every year, NOVA parks include golf courses, campgrounds, pools, trails, and access to waterways all matched up with educational offerings including historic homes, nature centers, botanical gardens, a working farm and Civil War sites. As a buffer against the rapid development of this area, these parks offer not only clean, well-maintained places to play, camp and relax, but preserve the land for future generations. By pooling their resources, NOVA’s member communities can do more as a group than as individual governments and work together to support NOVA’s mission; provide the best of Northern Virginia through nature, history and great family experiences.
To keep the cost of using these facilities inexpensive, or free in many cases, NOVA has several fundraising events each year with the biggest being The Festival of Lights at Bull Run Regional Park. Megan enjoyed going through this event as a youngster, enjoyed staffing it on weekends in high school and college, and is now one of the leadership team that makes it happen for the next generation of kid, including her own. And The Festival of Lights is no small part of her job, taking up much of her efforts for most of the year.
Started thirty years ago, The Festival of Lights was initially put on by an outside company who setup a series of holiday-themed light displays along the long roadways through the park. NOVA staff provided the ticket and traffic personnel to allow carloads of kids (and adults) to drive through a marvel at the twinkling snowflakes, colorful animals and Christmas characters, and storybook presentations. In 2008, NOVA designed that they could do this themselves and purchased the initial set of lights, expanding each year. Now there are over 1,000 lit pieces along a 2.5 mile journey along the park’s roadways. Theme-based sections include Winter Wonderland where the trees come alive filling the view with white, Christmas Village that includes all of the holiday songs come to life along with the big fellow himself, and Storyland, the place that our favorite children book characters abound.
Some of the light structures are several stories tall, setup in the spacious playing fields along the route. Many of the animated lights are on arches that span the roadway signifying the entrance to a new array of figures. Animation is also used in many of the roadside figures, some 10’ tall, including the toy soldiers from The Nutcracker to the characters from Wizard of Oz, Jack and the Beanstalk, and Peter Pan. And at the end, a winter carnival with rides, photo opportunities and fire pits to make S’Mores for the entire family. More than 50,000 carloads enjoy this event each year that runs from mid-November to early January every evening.
For some of the NOVA staff like Megan, The Festival of Lights is their job or a significant portion of it. The event has a full-time, year-round manager who oversees every aspect from setup to operation, storage to repair, and each year’s new additions. The manager has a full-time assistant who like Megan, spends about half of the year’s work calendar supporting this event. The setup crew works for four months to setup each of displays including providing power through a network of power boxes, extension cords and where no electricity is available, generators. To manage the ticket booths and traffic flow requires an additional 30 people each night from a pool of close to 100 seasonal employees. They spend hours throughout the holidays providing the support needed for thousand or so cars that come through each night.
Part of The Festival of Lights crew is responsible for getting the lights on each night, a task that takes three hours (it takes two to turn it all off again). Others are available to do any repairs on displays not working, changing burnt out bulbs (some displays have more than 10,000 of them) or to help viewers who run out of gas during the trip. Megan is there to help with those challenges and remembers several others, such as a car fire or a tree coming down, that required significant manpower to manage.
But she also speaks of how so many remark that they remember coming as a youngster and are now bringing their own (just as she did for the first time last year). Or she hears stories on how some have used the wonderful display to ‘pop the question’ with a special display strategically placed along the route.
As a fundraiser for NOVA, staff from other camps and parks are recruited to help out as their season ends. The funds are spread among all of NOVA’s offerings, many of which are free to the public. And once the last car has gone through on the second Sunday in January, take-down begins along with the plans for next year. Visitors to Bull Run in the fall may not be able to return for the actual show in winter, but simply being able to ride, walk or bike through the park with so many of the displays assembled (or being assembled) is an awesome experience in itself.
Festival of Lights
Centerville, Virginia
October 2023
Patsy & Adam Crawford
Fayetteville, NC
We hear stories of how a person’s career using the skills learned in college does not keep them as busy or as interested as they had hoped or imagined. At some point, they took up a hobby or a task undertaken for a friend or family member. That grew both in the time invested and the enjoyment created and at some point, the side activity replaces the career. This type of change in one’s lifepath is often full of challenges and setbacks, but ultimately rewards those daring to make the change with more of life’s pleasures and enjoyments. One such daring do is Patsy Crawford and her son Adam from Fayetteville, North Carolina. And Patsy has done so twice.
Have graduated with a graphic design degree from the Arts Institute of Fort Lauderdale, Patsy began her career as a fashion illustrator in an ad agency, a career of envy for many. But the work was not interesting enough and during her time away from the office, she began to create artwork of her own. Using pottery and other mediums, Patsy created a wide variety of items and after being asked to sell several of her pieces by admirers, started the JazDesign Art Gallery in an old storefront in Fayetteville’s historic downtown. And in most people’s book, that would make for a remarkable story.
But after making a cake for one of her son’s girlfriends and enjoying the creative release that creating and decorating provided, Patsy started doing cakes for friends and family. Experimenting with recipes and using some tried-and-true family ones, she found the ones that worked. While initially doing large cakes and other pastries, she found it was more fun to decorate single portions. And others agreed. With the renting and eventual purchase of the coffeehouse next door to the gallery, The Sweet Palette was born, albeit now in a bigger space than expected or intended. Patsy’s son Adam joined in and not only learned how to match mom’s culinary quality, but expanded the offerings to include Cake Bites, Cake Pops and Macarons (a French pastry). Clearly creativity runs in the family.
And creativity will not be contained. Now that they owned the building, its side wall that faced the rotary between Persons & Hays Streets in Fayetteville needed something. After three+ years of considering options, Patsy decided to paint a mural there and recruited son Jeremy to join her and Adam in that effort. Getting help from two restoration grants, doodles became drawings became a lady holding a tray of bakery products. But the historic commission balked at using a beautification project as advertising as well as putting other requirements on the project. The start of the CoolSpring Arts District in this part of Fayetteville helped to ease those restrictions and the modified drawings, now with bubbles instead of bakery, passed muster.
But Patsy, Jeremy & Adam still faced challenges to be overcome. Painting in mid-day in the summer months of North Carolina is simply too hot to be outside for both paint and painters. The historic district was still considered by some to be a rough part of town and scheduling Jeremy’s time (he works & lives elsewhere) lead to other delays. The two-story height of the building required equipment they did not own and the surface was inconsistent and needed refurbishing. Despite having to redo a finished portion after a dropped can of paint, the project also drew interesting onlookers, support from passersby, attention to the area, and Patsy’s daily connection to the Lowe’s paint guy.
The mural depicts a young maiden with flowing dress, crown of flowers and a halo that includes flowers, musical notes and paint brushes. And those bubbles. The painting process included 10 different colors from Lowe’s plus others made from mixing those primary shades. And every day as they worked on their creation, Patsy & Adam would chat with folks passing by who all seemed to want to know all about their project. And the number one question: What was her name? After much thought and deliberation, the mural on the side of The Sweet Palette at 101 Person Street in historic Fayetteville, NC is now called Lady Muriel. Make a point to stop by and see her.
Patsy & Adam Crawford
Fayetteville, North Carolina
November 2023
Blind Cat Rescue
St. Paul, NC
‘We do not kill humans because they are blind, why on earth would you kill an animal for the same thing?’
While working at a local animal shelter in 2005, a mother and her daughter agreed to adopt Louie, a blind six-week old cat after the owner was turned away. The shelter did not accept blind cats (or did, but then euthanized them) and the owner said that he was planning on just abandoning the cat at the nearby PetSmart parking lot. Louie had a new home and clearly did not know that he was blind. He did know that he was a cat and thus ran and played and purred just like a ‘normal’ cat. And soon, the mother & daughter took in a second, then third and then fourth blind cat to join Louie in their home. Clearly they needed some help.
They found that there were no resources for blind cats in their area. Because they were considered unadoptable, like other sick or injured animals, blind cats were killed in animal control facilities in North Carolina (and elsewhere). Faced with no alternative, they applied to become a nonprofit, started Blind Cat Rescue and set about to save blind felines from an unnecessary fate. But saving them required not only funding, but volunteers, because the need was far greater than their initial resources. As a sanctuary for these animals (as opposed to an adoption agency), their residents remained for their entire life. Adoptions were not possible for these cats as they had already been through the humane society system and no one wanted them. And they continued to arrive, from societies, families who could not care for them, or simply left in the yard to be found by the staff.
But blind cats were not the only felines in need of help. Cats with two types of viruses were also being euthanized on a daily basis by local vets and shelters. Those viruses cause either feline leukemia (FELV+) or the feline version of HIV (FIV+), both of which can be controlled. Cats can live productive lives for years with these viruses before treatments become ineffective and the cat needs to be humanely let go. Worse is the fact that many cats would get a false positive from the vet’s quick test for FELV / FIV and be doomed for no reason at all. So Blind Cat Rescue began providing a safe sanctuary for infected cats, knowing that it is very hard to spread the virus, especially when the cats are feed and allowed to be cats. The virus only spreads through deep bloody bite fighting, the kind that cats only inflict on each other when fighting for food or security. Blind Cat Director says “Positive and negative FIV cats can live a long happy life together and not spreading the disease so long as they do not fight. Leukemia we still do not know how it is truly spread, but we have found that negative vaccinated cats (for leukemia) have been able to safely live with positive cats. We do revax them yearly for leukemia and test them yearly.”
‘We do not kills humans because they are sick, so why ,……’
Those shared spaces are everything a cat could dream of; room to run, toys to play with, things to scratch, and soft places to sleep. The blind cats use their whiskers to help feel their way around objects and are very good at orienting themselves in a space, learning where the food, water, toys, litterbox, and favorite bed are located. Blind Cat Rescue provides three meals a day, medication as needed, and people to interact with and typically has between 60 & 70 cats under care. All colors, shapes, sizes, ages and dispositions, and all getting the attention and love they need to be a ‘normal’ cat.
Thanks to volunteers and donations of all kinds, Blind Cat Rescue provides the home these felines need. But the need is great and growing as they get requests daily to take in other sick or blind cats. They have been creative in their fundraising, allowing donors to give a single amount, be a monthly sustainer, sponsor a specific cat (for which the sponsor gets updates and photos), or have funds come from purchases on EBay, Amazon and the like. Volunteers are also valued and can help in a wide variety of ways. Just the feeding and medication process will keep three volunteers (using sixty separate dinner bowls) busy for more than an hour, three times a day. Because of their rural location, monthly open houses are advertised on their social media platforms to simply raise awareness of this need and their efforts. From the beginning with Louie and his three roommates, Blind Cat Rescue has made sure that these cats are able to lead the lives they deserve, being a cat.
A blind cat does not know that it is blind, they know they are cats and will act like cats.
“We do not kill humans because they are blind or sick, why on earth would you kill an animal for the same thing?”
Blind Cat Rescue
St. Paul, North Carolina
November 2023
Sophia Summerlin
Caney Creek, Tennessee
“If you are kind, you will receive kindness.” Words for all of us to live by, a promise that if we do for others, good things will happen. Words that teenager Sophia Summerlin of Cosby, Tennessee has taken to heart and then to her church, her friends, her school, her family and her community. Doing for others may have started out as her way to be kind to a small group, using the profits from a lemonade stand to provide items of need for orphaned or foster kids, but it is now so much more. So much that she, still not in high school, has started a small company whose specific purpose is two-fold; to provide creative and colorful items to make her customers happy and to use the monies raised to provide necessary and essential items for those in need.
Busy selling lemonade at her stand at the local Walmart, Sophia heard about Isaiah 117 House being opened in a nearby community. Dedicated to reducing the trauma surrounding foster children and their placement, along with lightening the load on local child welfare services, Isaiah 117 House opened in 2017, started by foster parents Ronda and Corey Paulson. The Paulsons wanted there to be a safe, friendly place for kids to wait while being placed in foster homes, a contrast to the sterile cubicles of the state’s Department of Children’s Services office. Staffed with caring volunteers, Isaiah 117 House provides the waiting child with smiles, books, clean clothes and warm blankets.
Sophia’s church upbringing gives her the compassion to look and her supportive family gives her the opportunity to act. Her creative side plays into not only what she provides for her customers, but also in how she then uses those funds to ‘be kind’ to the children in transition. She imagines herself in their shoes and uses that to guide her in what she provides; coloring books, crayons with sparkles, special toys, plush animals to hold. Sophia is so thankful for all that she has, noting not only her church associations and her great family, but her friends, her school, her teachers, and her community. Being on the receiving end of kindness in so many aspects of her life inspires her to do so for others.
But selling lemonade on hot days at the Walmart was not going to get it done, not going to provide her with the funds she knew would be needed to provide the kindness Sophia had in mind and knew was needed. Other products and other sales opportunities followed. Christmas Bazaars increased her exposure while homemade car fresheners became one of the first products. Word of her efforts to raise needed funds spread among her church community and she was asked to provide snacks for a local retirements home which led to cupcakes for birthdays and other parties, and then to charcutier boards for a wide variety of events. To help keep track of the orders coming in, a system of Post-It notes was used that at times seemed to take over the kitchen in the Summerlin home.
For the young philanthropist, a FaceBook page for her company, Sophia’s Country Creations, increased not only her customer base, but also helped to spread her message that ‘if you are kind, you will receive kindness’. Visitors to her page offered not only orders for her products and services, but donations to support her cause and ideas for where else she could offer her help and funding. An active honor roll student and multiple sport athlete, Sophia is not only sharing kindness, but learning valuable time management and business skills well beyond her years.
Her teachers and community know of Sophia’s efforts and not only support them, but also reach out to her, knowing that the mature teen will do what is needed to help. Teachers often ask her to help with other students, not only academically, but also socially, being the one to sit with student who doesn’t speak in school or otherwise would be all alone. And she spreads her good will outside of her fundraising efforts, providing acts of kindness for her teachers, friends, church community and sports teams. She is constantly looking for other opportunities and is now working with EmPower Tennessee, a program to provide support for independent living for disabled or challenged individuals.
Her mom funnels the feedback she receives from adults affected by her kindness to Sophia and she relishes that connection she has to her customers and supporters. Being an integral part of her small school, she also enjoys the long-lasting connection she has with all of her teachers, past and present. Looking forward to a potential career in psychology where she feels she can help people manage their problems, Sophia hopes to continue to remind all she comes in contact with that ‘if you are kind, you will receive kindness’.
Sophia Summerlin
Caney Creek, Tennessee
October 2023
Peg Pennepacker
Red Hill, PA
Calling herself a child of Title IX, Peg Pennepacker has actually done much to help Title IX itself grow. The landmark 1972 law is thought by most people to simply require that schools provide equivalent athletic opportunities for both boys and girls, males and females. Having competed on girl and female teams in high school and college and then worked as a female in the male dominated arena of athletic administration, Peg faced many of the discriminations that Title IX was designed to eliminate. But the law has a much broader reach than people understand it to have and in addition to her progressing in her career, Peg has become a champion of the law that came into existence the year she entered high school.
During her high school athletic career, Peg witnessed the changes first hand in the sports her school offered. Other small changes occurred over the years, including ones that one might consider such as a change in the scheduling of games. For years, girls varsity games were played at times one would not consider ‘prime time’, late afternoon, Saturday mornings, etc. With Title IX in place, more schools, including Peg’s, began moving the girls varsity games to times where more adult spectators could attend. In her case, that meant that girls varsity basketball games were no longer scheduled right after school and now were highlighted as evening games.
But Title IX did not fix all of the ills that generations of athletes and others had endured. Peg’s college career was a bit better as the women’s basketball team did receive travel and meal per diems, but Title IX was still just something they had heard about, but only started to feel the changes it was making in education. She would feel the discrimination that the law hoped to end as she began her career and life.
Early on, in addition to her teaching duties, she coached several sports including softball. It was clear that baseball received the lion’s share of the attention, support and funding at her school. Peg began to push back and ran into the generational bias that inflicted her small school and rural community. She finished her Masters and started applying for Athletic Director jobs including the one in her current school. That position went to a Social Studies teacher who had no experience instead of Peg. So when he was dismissed three months later, she applied again, but the same principal was still the decision maker and this time, he went with the golf coach, someone in a position to help secure a course for the championship. But Peg’s persistent did cause the principal to hire to her as the Associate AD.
But the school paid the golf coach better. Knowing that a complaint to the principal would fall on deaf ears, Peg approached the Assistant Superintendent, asking for the equity that Title IX guarantees be enforced here. That administrator, a female which was still unusual back then, agreed and Peg got her first true indication of the power of that 1972 law.
Over her career, Peg has served as an Athletic Director and Associate Principal at several schools including returning to her hometown to work in her alma mater. Besides being one of the few females in those roles, she also became the person to ask when Title IX questions arose at schools in her area. Always an advocate for female athletics, Peg served on several local and state committees and boards where Title IX was either the focus or a portion of the group’s discussions. That led to doing workshops at AD conventions and classes for ADs so that they could then make sure their school followed the rules. Often her interpretations of how Title IX would apply to situations was then brought to an attorney for verification. Her reputation grew.
With more and more schools needing guidance in meeting the requirements of the law, Peg started consulting as a job in 2007. Most of her early work came from schools being investigated by the Office of Civil Rights for violations. Along with meeting with school administrations to assist them with their concerns, she also expanded her workshop and class offerings and her reputation grew. Conventions and conferences called asking her to make presentations to their members at their event. And her reputation grew.
Active in her community as a school board member and community band tuba player, Peg is concerned that even after 50 years, Title IX is still not fully understood. It deals with more than athletic balance and is equally important in dealing with any type of discrimination or harassment, for both genders, something that most people do not know. She often works with ADs who knew their school was not in compliance, but made no changes until there was a complaint backed up by legal ramification. Peg continues to have a passion for her work and looks forward to helping school navigate transgender issues through the implementation of Title IX. And her reputation grows.
Peg Pennepacker
with her tuba
Red Hill, Pennsylvania
June 2023
Parrot Hope
Mantua, OH
According to the staff at several of the local nursing and senior living homes near Mantua, Ohio, having these particular visitors is by far the most popular and most engaging activity they provide for their residents. Instead of falling asleep during the presentation, the senior citizens reach out to these visitors, talking to them, complimenting them, interacting with them throughout the visit. They thoroughly enjoy having them come to their residence and look forward to the next time. The visitors seem to enjoy the time there as well, especially getting all of that attention.
Who are these talented and entertaining visitors? The parrots, cockatiels, and macaws from Parrot Hope, a large bird rescue located at a residence on a rural road in Mantua, Ohio. Started in 2005 by Bruce & Tammi Kraymak, they have turned their backyard into a haven for these colorful, loud and long-living birds. Parrot Hope is a nonprofit that serves as a rescue operation and adoption location for parrots and related species. Funded by donations, adoption fees and the sale of parrot-related products in their small but packed pet supply store, Tammi and her nonprofit board work with their residents every day.
Tammi is a retired nurse who had always volunteered with some type of animal rescue while working in her profession. Seeing the need for a large bird rescue, she and her husband began converting their home and backyard into the tropics. Besides the garage being used for storage with an addition to house the pet supply store, the back deck was expanded to include a series of walkways that connect the large, freestanding cages each bird requires. Beyond is a pavilion that they use for meetings and for the educational classes offered to new and long-term bird owners. Given that each of the ten large outdoor habitats contain a large colorful bird surrounded by colorful toys and perches, the area is not only festive, but noisy.
Parrot Hope stresses the importance of their educational classes as the key to happy and healthy birds and owners. Parrots and their related friends live to be 60 to 80 years old, so ownership is often passed down generations. Besides the space needed to support the bird, they are sensitive to a wide variety of everyday products and like child-proofing your home when you bring home your first baby, owners need to do the same for their birds. Besides having to change what products are used for household cleaning and the like, owners need to remove anything with Teflon and certain pot and pans. The educational classes help to assure that each adoption is a life-long success for all involved.
While many of the species they support can tolerate cool temperatures, they need to have indoor shelter during the coldest portion of Ohio’s winters. The Kraymak’s house is partially for humans but mostly for birds with a very large and tall room filled with floor-to-ceiling cages, each with a screeching, talking blindingly colorful bird. Both the indoor and outdoor cages are large enough for the birds to be able to move about and can only be occupied by one bird at a time. Besides being noisy, they are not good roommates
Needing to keep their beaks sharp, they chew on everything in the cage and the cage itself, often appearing as if their beak is stuck in the metal frame. Colorful spirals of soft wood hang in each cage for them to work on and eventually destroy along with large sisal ropes. While some have challenging personalities, most are friendly and gentle, comfortable sitting on your arm, shoulder or the top of your head. Currently there are 75 birds at Parrot Hope with most available for adoption, but a few permanent residents as they become accustomed to one set of owners and do not adopt well.
As a nonprofit, the organization relies on volunteers to help with cleaning, feeding and trips to schools, senior homes and other events. One of her board members, Hope Evans has always also volunteered for various rescues in the past, using her science degree to support rescues for dogs, cats, horses and now birds. She initially wanted to be a vet, but life got in the way and now Hope has a houseful. She shares her home with 24 birds of varying species, ages and of course, colors, still having time to help Tammi and Bruce out with the daily chores the birds at the rescue require.
Purchasing as much as possible from local farmers and growing some in their own garden, each bird gets a cup of nuts, fruits and vegetables each day. Unfortunately their favorites, mangos, papayas and bananas do not grow locally in Ohio, but various wholesale connections make sure that the food is available despite limited funding. With so many birds at Parrot Hope now and 300 adoptions occurring each year, acquiring and storing the required quantity of food is a job in itself.
One might think that a parrot rescue is unusual, but there is actually another in the same part of Ohio, the need is so great. Tammi notes that they also get calls for both rescues and adoptions from all corners of the country. Because of that and the local need, the board is considering ways to expand their offerings, both in physical space and in support opportunities. The need will certainly not lessen thus guaranteeing there will always be 6 to 10 birds available to make the trek in the rescue’s van to visit the local nursing homes again next month. The residents there are excited to see their feathered friends again.
A resident at
Parrot Hope in
Mantua, Ohio
September 2023
Wade Johnson
Brandywine Falls, Ohio
On the Appalachian Trail, Pacific Coast Trail, Vermont’s Long Trail and other long-distance hiking systems, they are called Trail Angels. Volunteers who provide a respite along the way with water, snacks, a place to sit. Many provide these treats every day at the same place during the hiking season while others do so in less formal way. In Brandywine Falls, Ohio, along a stretch of the Hike and Bike Trail that parallels Brandywine Road, it’s called The Oasis. Complete with cold water, fruit-based popsicles, a handmade bench, a place to leave notes for others and even a doggie water bowl, The Oasis is there most weather-appropriate days, thanks to landowner Wade Johnson.
Retired now after a varied career in real estate, communications and even the funeral business, Wade was born in nearby Hudson, but spent a great deal of time on the Brandywine Falls farm he now calls home. Originally his grandparents’ farm, it had a variety of purposes including raising sheep for the former woolen mill powered by the falls themselves. Located right along the border of the Cuyahoga Valley National Park, Wade expanded the original property when he moved there permanently in 1970, adding a barn, garage and an additional house (built by his cousin). And with the park’s opening in 1975 came the opportunity to offer their many visitors a different way to see the park’s featured Cuyahoga River and associated canal; carriage rides.
For thirty years, using the carriages he had or rebuilt and his own horses, Wade provided thousands of folks a very pleasant and peaceful way to enjoy the park. His barn was big enough that it has space for ‘stuff’ and Wade was good at collecting things, mainly thing that had wheels. Over the years, his collecting, added by a Flea Market up the road, included trikes, scooters, roller skates, motorcycles, and all sorts of oddities. Using the barn to display his ‘stuff’ allowed him to add that experience for his visitors which now included children from local schools who came more for the barn museum than the carriage ride through the park.
The stuff took over the barn and the visits became challenging as kids like things with wheels. Always the hands-on designer and innovator, Wade built display cabinets and racks to display his wares, including mounting his extensive collection of trikes on the ceiling and hand scooters along the walls. Part of the space is set aside for his woodworking tools including a reed bender. Wade made a bench for the Oasis from felled trees from his property. Now he does the same for friends and family who provide him with the wood from their property.
The Oasis came about when the Hike & Bike Trail was being connected through his town. Wade served on the committee and agreed to have the trail go across the front of his property paralleling the road. A fair portion of the trail uses his place to connect from the pathways around the falls to the railroad bed used for the next section. Knowing folks would appreciate the opportunity to refresh and relax as they hiked and biked, he developed the Oasis over several years, modifying not only the products provided but the stand itself.
Now it’s a metal framed cart that can be pulled by a garden tractor or ATV that has a canopy on top to keep the products and customers cool. An apartment-sized freezer holds the fruit-based popsicles (Wade ran an underground electrical line to provide an outlet for power). A standard ice chest cooler holds the water bottles with the melting ice flowing to a doggie water bowl attached to the end. A place for trash & recycling, a board (with pen & paper) to leave notes for others, and a set of clips to hold small bags of chips round out the rig. Self-service, there is a place to pay for your purchases and Wade’s cellphone number in case you need change.
Besides the occasional out of stater who drives in to his yard, parks their car, gets out the camera and starts to walk around, Wade has had few problems. One or two of the National Park superintendents pushed back a bit on his using the park for his carriage rides and the health department was not too keen on his having ice cream for sale on the Oasis (thus the change to fruit popsicles), but otherwise no issues. And when it rains and the biking & hiking is poor, he takes the day off
Wade has no idea what he spends on supplies nor what he receives in payment, but he does enjoy meeting folks and inviting some to tour his barn / museum. And in sharing his collection, he not only quizzes visitors on some of the items, but learns more about his items from them as well. He also rents out a portion of his house as an AirBnB and keeps busy between October & April when the Oasis is not available by doing woodworking in his barn. His handmade benches are to be seen to be appreciated.
Wade Johnson
in his barn at
Brandywine Falls, Ohio
September 2023
Olivia Neinaber
Scandia, Minnesota
The town of Scandia, Minnesota has the lovely Gammelgården Museum, drawing visitors to learn about its Swedish heritage, but not much else to entice travelers passing by to leave the main thoroughfares. Olivia Neinaber, a local artist and resident, was drawn to find a way to encourage visitors to explore some of the hidden gems and historic places in her community. This petite young lady with a wide smile and a heart the size of Minnesota was a home-school student searching for a community service project that suited her artistic nature. Upon reading ‘The Quiltmaker’s Gift’ written by Jeff Brumbeau, Olivia, already an avid paint and sketch artist as well as budding quilter, was inspired. She connected the idea of creating art with her understanding of barn quilt trails far from Scandia, and decided that that would be her vehicle for change.
After researching how to create the quilts, geometric patterns painted on water resistant signboard that are then attached to barns, Olivia developed a plan. She first sought out historic and appealing locations to install the quilts along the routes that wind in and through Scandia and its neighboring small communities. To provide the funds needed, she applied for and was given grants to cover the cost of materials. Meanwhile she reached out to the owner of each site for their permission and necessary acceptance. Specific quilt block patterns and colors were created and assigned to each space, with some changes made to please each landowner. After gathering these basics, Olivia assembled an army of volunteers ranging in age from 6-86 from her home-school community, her 4-H club and many other civic and community groups. That first effort produced the original seven quilts, painted and installed. A year later, another eleven were designed, painted and installed by some of the same volunteers and a few new ones. A website was created to help people learn about the project and includes photos of each quilt, gives the address and a route to drive to and see them all. Brief descriptions of the historic sights and a list of some other hidden local gems encouraging visitors to make out of car excursions. Truly Olivia’s Barn Quilt Trail is a benefit to the small communities along its route.
With many hands helping on a precision project, not everything will go as planned. One of the largest quilts, a 7’ X 7’ block entitled ‘King’s Highway’, was in the completion stage after many layers of primer and paint when it was discovered that the design had not been measured correctly and was out of square. Not up to her expectations, Olivia did some troubleshooting and decided to saw the quilt into two pieces and install it on a corner of the barn. With full support and encouragement from the barn owner who was also an artist, the ‘King’s Highway’ now appears perfectly square for all to see.
There are many barn quilts in the area now. Dozens can be seen on businesses throughout the neighboring community of Lindström, but Olivia’s barn quilt trail came first. The many businesses that have added the color adornments to their buildings, including the local Dairy Queen, all saw the value of using their space in an artistic manner. In addition to spearheading this trail, Olivia has entered some of her barn quilts in local and regional art competitions, coming away the winner. Her efforts have also led to her being commissioned to create personalized barn quilts for other properties in the area.
Olivia is now enrolled as an art student at Bethel University in St. Paul, entering her sophomore year for the Fall 2023 semester. She loves drawing and painting, but especially loves photography. Her future dreams include owning her own business, art-based of course, and founding an art based non-profit to serve as a resource for change and growth. There is no doubt that this big-hearted, determined young artist will continue to use her talents and love of art to spread positivity wherever she goes, well into the future.
Olivia Neinaber
at the Gammelgården Museum in Scandia, Minnesota
September 2023
The Promise Scholarship (Janet Beutner)
Michigan City, Indiana
A promise is a promise. Someone guarantees that they will do what they said they will do. They will do their very best to fulfill that promise so it is something you can rely upon. And often those receiving a promise, return a promise. Matching one with a similar gesture or assurance that they will also do what they said they would do. The Michigan City (Indiana) Promise Scholarship is just that, a promise made by the city to the student with the student promising something in return. And those two promises benefit both sides over the long term.
Janet Beutner grew up in Michigan City, Indiana, graduated from the local Catholic high school, and is proud of her community. Her two sons, now both educators, are also local school graduates. She worked in public service for years, primarily in city hall doing work for mayor’s office. She is also an author, having written a children’s book (Zip and Zap; A Zebra Christmas Story) and historical fiction using the house she grew up in there in Michigan City.
That pride in her community and ability to communicate would come in handy when in 2017, the city council started looking for ways to spend some of the city funds. Those funds, now over $3 million, were being added to the city’s coffers by the Blue Chips 2 Casino Boat. In Michigan, you can only have a casino on land if it is run by a Native American tribe. But you can have a casino on a boat, even if that boat never moves. The Blue Chip is permanently anchored in the community’s marina and thus pays the city for that privilege. So when the 2017 mayor needed someone to develop and promote the Promise Scholarship, Janet was ready to help find a great way to do that.
What came out of several council meetings was the Promise Scholarship that Janet now administers full-time. How to use the funds being generated by the use of city property to benefit the citizens of the city was the goal of that initial effort. The scholarship does that while further benefitting the city through the efforts of the recipients. With the substantial funds available, providing for all who are eligible was possible, eliminating the selection process that narrows the impact of similar scholarships.
The Promise Scholarship is available to any Michigan City or Marquette (the city’s Catholic school) High School graduate who has a 2.5 GPA and completes the application process. To help encourage students to apply, Janet spends most of the first semester meeting with students in small groups of 5 or 6 to explain how it all works. The first two requirements; live in a parent-owned or rented house within Michigan City and that GPA narrows the pool from the 470 graduates each year from the two schools to around 120 eligible.
Janet’s discussion with each group centers on how the student can complete the application which includes verification of their attending the two eligible high schools and for how long. Students who have attended either for all of four years are eligible for 100% of the scholarship. That is prorated for those that attended for three, two or just their senior year. A completed FAFSA provides all of the income info needed, but Promise is not based on the student’s financial need.
Promise’s real impact is that it requires the applicant to have completed 40 of community service by the student during their high school career. For most students, this requirement is easily filled by many of the activities they did while being involved in their community those past four years. That service can be for any appropriate organization in Michigan City and can be documented well after the actual activity occurred. Students rarely have any trouble completing this part of the application process.
If they meet all of the requirements, funds are made available to them to attend an Indiana college, university or vocational school. No applicant who submits all of the proper paperwork is refused. The scholarship is $5000 per year for their four years of higher education, a substantial sum that can make a big difference for each student. It could possibly change which school they attend or even if they go to college at all.
That’s the promise that Michigan City makes to the students who meet the application requirements and completes the application in a timely manner. The promise the student makes to Michigan City is two-fold. First, they must be successful in school; attending their classes, remaining registered as a full-time student, and maintaining a 2.0 GPA. All of those benefit the student more than the city.
But the other part of the student’s promise to Michigan City and its citizens is that they will complete 40 hours of community service each year they receive the scholarship. The opportunities for this returned effort are a part of the Promise Scholarship program, but are varied so that every recipient can find something that fits their skills, interests and time availability. They range from working with kids at the Boys & Girls Club to feeding the community’s elderly to working with animals, plants or in the arts. All of these benefit the community.
But they also benefit the student. Doing community service provides them with the opportunity to develop the skills and talents they have, learn new ones, be involved in their community while attending college, honing their people skills, adding to their resumé and of course, improving their time management. An annual report with simple verification is all that is needed to complete this part of their promise. And Janet is always there to help.
Help with finding ways to perform their community service; support completing the verification process; help with managing the time needed to be successful; support when college life gets to be a bit more challenging. While not a mentor perse, Janet has served in that role for dozens of students who just needed someone to say ‘You can do this’ at the right time. That includes the student who could not find a community service project that fit so Janet suggested they help clean up the many city-owned parks. Since there was no one there when the student worked to verify their effort, the student took before and after photos, and emailed them to Janet. The student remained eager and enthusiastic through the effort, using their solid work ethic to complete their community service promise.
Indiana already provides multiple opportunities for students to received financial so many of the eligible do not feel the need to apply. So for those that do and are accepted into the program, the benefit from the Promise Scholarship is much more life-changing. And besides, it’s always nice to have someone on your side, even if they work for the city.
The Promise Scholarship sign outside of
Michigan City, Indiana
September 2023
Captain Joe Diaz
International Falls, Minnesota
After 40+ years in the US Navy, Joe Diaz still had to apply for a captain’s license. He wanted to pilot boats for others and even after serving in six wars, piloting naval vessels from minesweepers to destroyers to LHAs (those flattops that are for helicopters instead of jets), he still had to fill out the paperwork and prove he would not run into the rocks. Luckily experience does count and he was not required to take the ‘road test’, yet his initial application was not approved because they said his past ships were not big enough. For this Command Master Chief, the Navy’s highest enlisted rank, pushing through paperwork had always been a part of his work life.
Born and raised in the farming community of Carleton, Michigan, Joe enlisted in the Navy out of high school to see the world. And that is exactly what he did in the Navy. Along the way, he served on a wide variety of ships in just about every role possible, moved up the ranks, and spent time in just about every corner of the world. Along the way, he made friends, found love, and taught hundreds how to handle the watercraft of their region. And when he retired, he initially returned to Carleton and ran for Mayor, spending $132 on his successful campaign. After years of military service, public service seemed like the right path to take. But politics was not what he expected and he found his values and methods to be contrary to how the town council operated. So Joe went back to working on the water.
During his time in the Navy, he received a degree in Sociology and History, a combination that fit with Joe’s view of how current society needs to not only learn from our history, but cherish it. This, combined with his outgoing personality and love of the water, makes Joe not only a skilled boat driver, but an inspiring resource of knowledge, information and anecdotes. His passengers, regardless of where in the world he is, receive more than just a ride, they receive an education.
Currently, summer will find Captain Joe piloting the Voyageur, the tour boat run by the National Park that takes visitors through the Voyageurs National Park in northern Minnesota. He was offered the job a few years back, but only as the backup captain with limited hours. Then, in 2021 Senior Ranger Erik Ditzler offered him the fulltime job piloting the Voyageur and the park’s smaller boat, the Ne-Zho-Dain, on the Kettle Falls tour. He takes visitors on two or three trips a day through the waters in the park, educating and entertaining as he deftly captains the boat around the islands and sights there. As all captains are, Joe is knowledgeable about his craft, but also about the park, its wildlife, history, people and where all of the special places to see are located, as well as where all the big rocks are hidden.
With the National Park Service only needing his skills and talents during the summer, Joe and his wife Rose are then free to travel, and as one would guess, that would be by boat. At the end of September, they take their small pleasure craft, the Spanish Fly, and head to the Erie Canal where they help with the final tours of the season and closing up for the winter. A trip to Bar Harbor this Fall so Rose can try rock lobster and see that area before they head to Egypt to visit friends there. Joe was stationed there when he met Rose while both were involved in a large military medical research facility.
Rose is Filipino, so a trip to her home to visit relatives and friends will take up part of the late winter, but first, Joe needs to play Santa Claus. And he does this at a remote village in Peru that he become connected to during one of his many overseas deployments, operating passenger river boats moving doctors, scientists, students, and supplies throughout the Amazon River basin. Joe has spent quite a bit of time in Latin America, inspired to do so by a Wake Forest Professor, Dr. Captain John Sanders, who served with Joe in Egypt and Iraq. Besides his connection to the Amazon River and the village in Peru, Joe also piloted river patrol boats in the Panama Canal, and like every deployment, taught others how to drive their crafts.
When late Spring arrives, they’ll return to Northern Minnesota where the apartment they share will be ready (the landlord doesn’t rent it out the other half of the year because she says it’s Joe & Rose’s place) and Rose’s job in the local supermarket deli will be waiting. Meeting people is on the top of the list of things Joe enjoys about his summer job, along with navigating at the helm and being outdoors. But you can’t take the Navy out of him, so he is also proud of bringing some Naval traditions to the Voyageur including a deep restoration of the ship’s bell and its lanyard, woven from colors that represent the area and its Native American heritage. The only thing he’s not looking forward to is hearing the park rangers give their ‘tour talk’ over and over as he takes each new set of visitors around the park.
These repetitive trips do have their special moments. Joe has some great camera images of an immature bald eagle perched on the Voyageur’s railing while in port. Bald eagles are flourishing in the park and visitors get a chance to see several on just about every tour. And then there was the Arizona family, coming from a state that ranks as one of the hottest in the country, that relished sitting on the bench in front of the pilothouse getting drenched on a rough day on the water. The lakes’ water is bone-chilling cold year-round and most folks try to stay inside and dry on such days, but this family truly enjoyed the refreshing cold.
At the end of his agreement with the park service some fall in the future, Joe and Rose will head out on the Spanish Fly, going through the Great Lakes, the Canadian canals, Montreal and then south through Lake Champlain to the Hudson. Much like the Great American Loop, a year-long trip by boat from the north to the south down the east coast and the back up the Mississippi, Joe will take special care to not transport invasive species from one body of water to another. Like boat captains everywhere, Joe is a strong advocate for the proper use and maintenance of our precious waterways. If you take the Voyageur boat tours next summer, you can hear for yourself how Joe the Command Master Chief is also Joe the Advocate, all politics aside.
Captain Joe Diaz
Piloting the Voyageur
Voyageur National Park
September 2023
Konrad Schmidt
St. Paul, Minnesota
Konrad Schmidt loves fish. Yes, fish; not fishing. Growing up in St. Paul, Minnesota, the land of 10,000 lakes, Konrad avidly fished and hunted as a youth and in junior high wanted to be a conservation officer. He also began keeping fish in aquariums at age 11, and his parent’s basement would have 20 aquariums by the time he graduated from high school. In grade school, he worked in a tropical fish store and toyed with the idea of someday owning his own store, but the sales environment was simply not for him. His high school guidance counselor recommended only prestigious and financially rewarding careers in medicine, law, or banking instead of a career in natural resources which pays little and for which there is always keen competition for very few positions. Disillusioned, he decided to take some time off after high school to decide what to do. His mother found an ad in the newspaper for a federally-funded program called the Young Adult Conservation Corps which was modeled very similarly to the Civilian Conservation Corps during the Great Depression of the 1930s. He was hired and this job became one of the most rewarding experiences in his life. He left the job with no doubt that he was going to find a job in the natural resource field. First, he needed a higher education and thus enrolled in a natural resources vocational school which proved to be yet another wonderful and rewarding experience. However, he realized a four-year degree would be the minimum needed for entry level positions, and he graduated with a major in Biology from Bemidji State University. Still interested in fish, he found a variety of jobs with federal agencies from Alaska to Florida that kept him outdoors: wildfire suppression in Minnesota, River Ranger on the upper Missouri River in Montana, wildlife projects in Alaska’s Aleutian Islands, and surveying salmon streams in Oregon. However, he eventually landed his dream job back home with the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (MDNR) working almost exclusively with non-game fish species. Surprisingly, no MDNR biologists at that time were interested, so Konrad won the contest for the job.
Konrad collects fish, not for dinner or display, but to learn more about them, how they interact with their environment, where they are (or aren’t) thriving, and what relationships they have with the other aquatic creatures. Over his years of work in Minnesota, he has compiled a fish distribution database of more than 52,000 records in waters from the top to the bottom of the state. During those surveys, Konrad has identified 152 species in 26 families and has collected 706,000+ individual fish. Some of the species he found were ones that had not been reported in Minnesota for almost a half-century.
Konrad’s initial efforts in these surveys were focused not only on the game fish—the ones that fishermen come to Minnesota to catch—but also on the entire fish community which is informally grouped as rough, commercial, forage, and bait fishes. He worked for a time using a methodology known as the Index of Biotic Integrity. With this methodology, the habitat, fish diversity, and water quality of stream segments can be scored from poor to pristine. Following this work, his responsibilities shifted to what he had always hoped for: determining and monitoring the status of Minnesota’s endangered, threatened, and special concern fishes. However, no funds were available for this work from fishing license revenues, and Konrad’s survey work was always paid through small and infrequent pots of money which would come and go. The lack of reliable funding meant that a very limited amount of time could be spent in a given study area or on target species. Nevertheless, his survey efforts produced stunning numbers of new records for several rare species and provided biologists with the data needed to make science-based decisions for future management.
After 20 years, the funding ran out, and the department cut his position. Konrad retired in 2010. He attempted private consulting, but his specialty—surveys for rare nongame fish species—proved to be too specialized. He decided to fully embrace his retirement but with a twist: doing what he did during his career except now his surveys were solely funded through “OOPS” (out-of-pocket-support). Curious anglers frequently ask him what he’s doing. They are dumbfounded when they learn of his self-funded surveys, and they ask him why he keeps doing this when he’s retired. Konrad flips the question back to them, “Don’t you cherish finally having the time to go fishing whenever you wish?” The answer is always, “YES!” Konrad replies, “Why would I stop doing what I enjoyed doing so much? The only difference between your fishing and my fishing is that my ‘trophies’ are tiny in comparison.”
Konrad has amassed a network of dedicated volunteers who are also retired nongame fish biologists from several states to assist with his rare fish surveys in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness (BWCAW) along the Canadian border south to agricultural and coulee-country streams north of Iowa and east to the beautiful St. Croix National Riverway shared with Wisconsin. He will occasionally go “off-reservation” to assist his buddies with projects in their home states. While still at MDNR, Konrad was unable to find funding to reintroduce rare and sensitive fishes to Twin Cities metro area lakes where they once occurred. These fish populations were lost following WWII when rapid development polluted the lakes with unchecked run-off that either enriched the lakes with nutrients turning them green or turning them brown due to soil erosion. Lakeshed restoration efforts have resulted in many metro area lakes now boasting incredible water clarities of 15 or more feet. The submergent vegetation that the sensitive fishes required for survival also returned after having survived polluted conditions in lakebed seedbanks. However, there was one “small” problem: all the stream connections that these species used for migration routes to and between these lakes have been destroyed, usually being buried under asphalt and concrete. For fishes to return to these lakes, they would need help. Konrad and his local volunteers have supplied that help and have had many successes with reintroductions of sensitive nongame fish species in about 30 metro lakes. These fish may be too small to bite on a hook and are much too small to filet, but their return serves as an environmental indicator and shows that the aquatic habitat and water quality of these metro area lakes are excellent.
With the advances in genetic analyses in recent years, many fishes once lumped under one species have been found to be part of a species complex, genetics has allowed the splitting these species complexes into new species. For several years, Konrad has been preserving tissue samples of Minnesota fishes in museum collections, thus making these tissues available for future research. So far, his tissue samples have not resulted in any new species being found in Minnesota. However, a region wide study on a rare minnow, the Pugnose Shiner, utilized tissues collected by Konrad. This study revealed that one isolated Minnesota population of this species, as well as the only remaining population in Iowa, were extreme outliers genetically. This is important information to biologists managing rare fishes and implementing recovery efforts.
For many years, along with the MDNR, Konrad has worked with Dr. Jay Hatch (University of Minnesota) and with other authors on the Fishes of Minnesota project. The book that results from this project will be the first definitive work on the 164 fish species reported from the state’s lakes and streams. The authors hope the book will be on the bookshelves in late 2025. In retirement, Konrad has continued writing and conducting surveys to answer distribution holes in our knowledge about unique species such as the Deepwater Sculpin which was known only from Lake Superior. Following many expeditions in the BWCAW, Konrad has found this species in about a half-dozen cold and very deep northern Minnesota lakes.
Konrad has been a member of the North American Native Fishes Association (NANFA) almost since its founding in 1972. The organization’s focus is primarily on the little fishes (e.g., minnows and darters), and it advocates for the conservation and enjoyment of these species. NANFA’s members range from academics and biologists to fish hobbyists and aquarists. Konrad has authored over 70 articles for NANFA’s publication American Currents (AC) and has served in many volunteer roles for NANFA with the most recent being an AC editor. He has received the rare honor of being a NANFA Fellow.
His bucket list includes snorkeling with the few native freshwater fishes in Hawaii including some species that scale one-thousand-foot waterfalls using a sucker structure in their belly to reach their spawning habitats. So far, Konrad has only been able to write an article about them for American Currents.
Konrad Schmidt
tagging Slimy Sculpin,
Boundary Waters, MN
Summer 2023
Joanna Fogg
Bar Harbor, Maine
Farmers plant seeds. They use them to grow crops to either sell as produce or use as feed for their animals. Farmers feed us with their crops, whether directly with their tomatoes, corn and wheat, or indirectly with their beef, chicken and milk that is produced from animals that they feed with their crops. Farmers use specialized equipment to work their land, equipment that has no other purpose than to support the planting, growing or harvesting of their crops. Everyone has a mental picture of what a farmer and their farm looks like, even when it is of a rancher and their ranch land. America loves its farms and farmers.
Joanna Fogg is a farmer. She plants her seeds every year and harvests her crop. She sells to her wholesale and retail customers, making sure to match her production with their demand and need. Joanna has employees who work hard on her farm, using the equipment needed to plant, support and gather her crop. Like most farms, the seasons dictate the amount of farm work there is to do. Her employees are not full time year-round, but as her business grows, that may be part of her and their future. Joanna’s farm has some competition, but like so many owner-operated businesses, they all support each other with advice, information and occasionally the sharing of equipment.
Joanna Fogg is an unusual farmer. Joanna grows oysters.
Born and raised on Mt. Desert Island, the home of Bar Harbor and Acadia National Park, Joanna has always been drawn to work on the water. From working on local lobster boats in high school to being a yachtswoman on vessels cruising the Caribbean, she’s always loved being on the water. Following her degree in Human Ecology from the College of the Atlantic (on Mt. Desert Island), her love grew to include concern about how humans were using those precious waters of our planet.
That concern led her to change in three ways; learn more about climate change; get involved at the local level with groups working to save our oceans; and to become an oyster farmer. Becoming an oyster farmer also allowed her to return home, to spend more time with her husband, a marine engineer who previously spent most of the year in Alaska on the Bering Strait, and to start a family. Her research into oyster farming in Maine made her aware that oysters did not grow naturally there, but the state was interested in leasing the rights to support aquaculture, the use of waterways to grow this crop. Oysters are native to Maine but have not been found growing in the wild as far north as Bar Harbor. Rising sea temps are making it more conducive particularly as other native species become affected by climate change.
Filing a permit request with the Maine Department of Marine Resources to secure the use of a plot of water (measured in acres just like land), Joanna began assembling the gear and onshore resources needed to farm oysters. Oyster seeds, the little babies that when nurtured properly grow to be harvested and sold, were purchased by the hundreds of thousands, ready to be planted in special cages that float during the summer and stay on the bottom during the winter. Drawing from the proteins in the water, the seeds will grow and when 3” in length with the proper shape, harvested to be sold. From seed to harvest usually takes three years, so long-range planning is required to match production with demand.
That first permit and set of strings and gear led to more permits, more strings, more employees beyond Joanna and her husband. They operate their business from their home, using a large double-bay garage as the repair shop, gear storehouse and retail store. The Bar Harbor Oyster Company now serves fresh oysters to the restaurants and retailers in the area. Several employees work the company boats and barges to cultivate and harvest the oysters, making local deliveries twice a week in their refrigerated truck and offering 100 count bags for wholesale retail sales. Equipment maintenance and updating fill out a busy workweek.
Harvesting matches the tourist season and while Joanna enjoys the oyster season, she looks forward to November when the tourists are gone, the roads are not blocked with campers, and the strings are lowered to the bottom to wait out the winter. Besides being the boss, Joanna is also the sales manager, the work scheduler and the marketer for Bay Harbor Oyster Company. Decisions about how many seeds to purchase for next year, gear maintenance and upgrading, permits to submit, all go hand in hand with her advocacy for her part of aquaculture. She serves on several local and state committees that work to both slow climate change and plan for the future it will bring, especially the changes it will come to the mainstay of Maine’s marine industries, lobsters.
When speaking about Bar Harbor Oyster Company business and the complete farming process from planting to harvesting, Joanna speaks with full authority on every aspect. But, when she speaks about the health of the environment and its future, her voice and whole demeanor changes and fully reflects the passion she feels for the subject, and her concern. The depth of her knowledge is impressive.
The future includes balancing the size of the business in terms of crop and customers with the needs of the family and maintaining the life she wants for her daughter, now six. Joanna is an active year-round swimmer, a committed environmentalist, proud of her generational connection to the area and that she is providing a product for people to enjoy, not a service to be used. She is eager to share how oysters are a crop that benefits the waters being used, resists the effects of climate change and provides employment for locals through farming, equipment support and local consumption.
With farm lands being used for other human endeavors such as housing, entertainment or tourism, the waters around Mt. Desert Island will continue to be productive ‘farmland’. Joanna is considering adding catering to her company’s offerings. With the purchase of this year’s 600,000 seeds, they are actually at the highest density anticipated for our lease site. The company currently offers 3 kayak tours a week in the summer and shucking services. Such adventures on the water would not only be a great way to see Bar Harbor, but would let her visitors see the environment as she sees it, full of possibilities and worth saving.
Joanna Fogg
in her business / garage,
Bar Harbor, ME
August 2023
Catherine Anne Chase
Ashland, ME
What do you do when there’s no room for you in your college program? What do you do when your resume draws job offers you don’t want? Where do you go when you’ve moved across the country and really don’t like the opportunities there?
If you are Catherine Anne Chase, you find a way to take what you do have going for you and make it work. Anne, as she is known, always wanted to be involved with animals and hoped to be a veterinarian, but even though she had the school success to enter the field of study, that college program had no room for her with limited spaces already filled. A Maine native, she grew up in Aroostock County working on her family Christmas Tree Farm and still lives in the area. So instead of becoming a vet, she used the credits she’d accumulated toward a degree in Animal Science.
As a female in the male dominated world of agriculture, her degree and experience lead to offers as a business manager, farm clerk or sales manager (jobs offers she did not want). Continuing to seek jobs she wanted, she struggled to be accepted and decided to further her education to see if that would improve her employment chances. After experiencing the east coast, she opted to head to California for her masters degree.
But moving across the country did not help as the job opportunities she wanted were not there either, so she returned home and got a job as a herdsman in her home state. Her position at the University of Maine morphed along with the times and included a stint in Animal Necropsy as well as adjunct professor. She left the college system using her teacher license to teach Science in a public school. One year of that was enough, though it wasn’t the teaching nor the subject that she found not to her liking.
So back to college to be a teacher, but this time working in the Tutoring program where she could spend time, one-on-one, with individual students helping them master the sciences. While able to support students working through all subjects in her area, chemistry became the one where her strengths showed through in each of her sessions. Her education and experience made it possible for her to be employed.
While continuing to be involved in the family farm, in tutoring students Anne had finally found her calling. The courses she took to get her initial degree provided the subject knowledge needed to understand the material. The subsequent ones to become a certified teacher gave her the ability to understand the student, a great combination. Initially part of a three person tutoring team (Math, Science & Literature), she became a one person department when the Literature tutor was replaced by the Reading/ Writing Lab and the Math tutor retired. So now, she not only tutors her own students, but supervises student-tutors who work with her in the other subject areas.
Equally important to cultivating her ability to help students seeking tutoring support were a few very poor examples of how not to teach. A particular college professor leading required coursework in special education gave no guidance for supporting students with challenges in the classroom and whose techniques were better suited to elementary students frustrated her want of useful tools. Learning what not to try forced her to develop her own ways to make sure her students were ultimately supported and successful.
Good grades are usually the indication of success in academia, but to Anne, finding ways to support the whole student was more important. When a student told her about his love of history, but his concerns that a degree in that curriculum would not provide the financial gain he hoped to achieve in life, she listened. Anne spoke with him about how money may not be enough of a reward to compensate for how you earn it, something she knew firsthand. She suggested he look for ways to follow his interest in history and how it might intersect in other fields that would provide the financial security he had hoped for. He began working in the medical lab technician program where he now is fully employed in the research of past pandemics to support the needs of the future.
Surprisingly, Anne was inspired to work in education by her school music educator. She considered him a naturally gifted educator who brought enthusiasm with him to every class and practiced his craft outside of the classroom by performing with a local band during evenings and weekends. His students, including Anne, would often go to the local establishment to listen and enjoy their teacher’s music. He showed by example that a successful job is about loving what you do.
Still active in the Scouts almost 60 years after her first summer staffing the National High Adventure Base in Matagamon, Maine, Anne splits her time between her college work, working her farm with a partner, and supporting the alumni efforts at camp. And while not a vet, she does have animals there along with the Christmas Trees.
Catherine Anne Chase at Maine High Adventure Base,
Matagamon, ME
August 2023
DuWayne & Matt Reek
Land O’ Lakes, Wisconsin
What do you do with 215 wooded and pristine acres in Wisconsin when you are a real estate developer in Arizona and a meat department manager in Florida? For father and son DuWayne and Matt Reek, you begin developing a campground that is different from the dozens in that area. The property, last used as a game sanctuary for deer, turkey, pheasant and the like, was purchased in 1989 and outside of a few dirt paths, largely undeveloped. A mix of pines and leaf-bearing trees that line several spring-fed ponds, the real draw of the area is the quiet, as it is far enough off the beaten path to not be affected by the sounds of traffic and other human activity.
So how do you sell quiet? Will the camping public want that in their campground? And how do you maintain that quiet while increasing the number of people who can use the site, working towards financial sustainability? DuWayne and Matt believe that by doing just that, their campground, Nature RV Park, would be the success they hope for. Adults only, full services at every spacious site, good WiFi, free firewood, great scenery and grounds, access to small and large bodies of water, walking trails, and no distractions, their park is just finishing its first full year with just 25 sites. But this is just the beginning.
Dad DuWayne is enthusiastic to say the least. A former real estate developer who bubbles with adjectives about his work in Arizona as well as his customers in Wisconsin (‘the world’s best campers’), he clearly loves this part of Wisconsin and being at his campground. His home, a beautiful log cabin that blends in with the scenery, serves as the office. But don’t expect that to include snacks, food or an ice cream machine. A simple desk, small rack of Nature RV gifts (including the top-of-the-line Yeti mugs) and a huge array of brochures from the many places of interest within an easy drive of their front door. Even those are tailored towards adults, leaving out amusement parks and the like.
Son Matt, like DuWayne, spends half of his year in Florida, working as the manager of large supermarket meat departments. He openly notes how shocked he was the first time he came to the family’s Wisconsin acreage, having never experienced such lush greenery at home. Now he can think of nowhere else he would like to be and is hoping that the near future will afford him the opportunity to stay north year-round. Matt also freely admits that he is not the handyman that most campgrounds rely upon to keep them running. But his cellphone has the number of local plumbers, electricians, loggers and others who respond promptly to his calls for help when their services are needed.
The first year was not without its challenges. Designing sites to be pull-through is one thing, but actually having the various sized travel trailers, fifth wheels, and Class A & B motorhomes fit is another. Their very first guest arrived in August of 2022 with a 44’ fifth wheel. They were able to easily park in their site, but when it came time to leave, Matt and DuWayne quickly realized some trees would need to be removed. Thankfully, their logger was able to come within several hours and remove the trees with a crane so the guests could leave. That site has turned into their most popular site.
Matt is there for the onsite work needed each day and the quality of the property represents his skill and his dedication. After DuWayne has properly and exuberantly welcomed incoming campers, Matt provides the personal touch by fully explaining how Nature RV Resort works, guiding the newcomers to their site and even texting each once they are settled in for the evening. Having that text to contact with questions or requests is a reassuring touch that few campgrounds offer. And to help out, Sister Rachel, who remains in Florida, connects daily to offer her support and suggestions to the two in Wisconsin.
At one point in the past, the family ran a mobile home park and learned the challenges that come with having a broadly based clientele. A series of far too frequent calls to the local sheriff for assistance with interpersonal issues at the park along with the general clutter that long-term residents generate deterred them from continuing in that business. The Wisconsin acres beckoned both, and when mom passed away, it was time to do something they were comfortable doing with the property. Given the number of kid-friendly campgrounds in the area, they decided having an adults-only RV park would be an appropriate use of the land, the office/home was built as a year-round structure and Nature RV was born.
The twenty-five spacious sites centered around Peaceful Lake, the smaller spring-fed body of water, is just the beginning. Future sites are in the works for other sections of the property, each with spacious full-service spaces, beautiful landscaping and no distractions. A balance between long-term and short-term campers will be maintained with clear guidelines for any installations beyond the trailers themselves. Expansion of the walking trails, complete with more observation towers will further enhance the adults-only approach that DuWayne and Matt believe will allow them to stand out among the other local offerings.
Given the transition of the local economy from a (now closed) mill community to a tourist one, there will be seasonal activity to keep all of the parks busy and flourishing. And when the tourists and campers are gone for the winter, Matt & DuWayne can enjoy for themselves the peace and quiet that their campers have the rest of the year.
Matt & DuWayne Reek greeting campers at Nature RV Park,
Land O’ Lakes, WI
September 2023
Ginny Holden
Ellsworth, ME
We all get lost occasionally, especially when traveling to new places. Perhaps your navigation system is confusing, you can’t find your map (or don’t even have one), so you may be willing to suffer the humiliation we associate with asking directions by finding someone to help you out. That someone may be knowledgeable about the area and possibly, your destination or they may not. And even if they do know ‘how to get there’, despite their best efforts they may not be able to share that info with you in a way you can understand it; “Take the right just past Smith’s old barn” often doesn't help.
But, if you are spending time on Mt. Desert Island in Maine, home to Acadia National Park and Bar Harbor, you can get all the info you need for an enjoyable visit to the area by stopping at the Thompson Island Information Center. There you can ask Ginny Holden. Whether it’s about the national park, the lodging or camping in the area, where to get some lobster or clams, or how to find any address, Ginny has the map and the firsthand knowledge to get you there, and you will thoroughly enjoy her presentation.
Located right between the two bridges connecting Route 3 to the island, Thompson Island Information Center is not a part of the National Park Service, but an affiliate, so its array of maps, brochures and the like includes NPS produced documentation along with those from the Mt. Desert Island (pronounced ‘dessert’) Chamber of Commerce and the State of Maine Tourist Bureau. Ginny is part of a team of local folks who not only share the information they have available, but their own personal touch to every question, for every visitor.
Ginny Holden has lived in the area for more than two decades after a full lifetime in her hometown of Wakefield, Massachusetts. There, after a brief time as an office manager for an automotive business, she began working for the town, moving from payroll to the tax office and finally the clerk’s office. Each of those positions brought her in contact with the public, sometimes appreciative of her assistance and sometimes irate at the process and policies she represented. But it allowed her to develop two skills; the ability to be so positive in her presentation that even the most negative person was overwhelmed and her capability to really listen to each person and understand what they truly were saying.
Being so successful in her hometown, why the move to Maine? While vacationing on the island in 1995, she was instantly hooked. She and her husband found a large home in Southwest Harbor -one of several communities on Mt. Desert Island- and built a life there. A job came looking for her when she was encouraged by friends and neighbors to sell her blueberry muffins. Thus her at-home bakery began. First, rolling the sign out in a wheelbarrow every day and selling just muffins from the front porch, then expanding her baked offerings and providing freshly baked breakfast items for a local hotel and creating special event cakes. But, as the family size changed with children growing up and out, the house became too big and retirement beckoned. Ginny & Skip sold their 10 room home on the island and moved to Ellsworth, a larger community ten miles up the road from Thompson Island and Acadia.
Boredom set in quickly on the quiet street there, so Ginny went looking for a job that would use her ‘people’ skills and her intimate knowledge of the park, the people and the places on Mt. Desert Island. The Information center at Thompson Island offered her that position and under the guidance of her boss, Bill (‘a great boss’ she says), Ginny developed her presentation, refined her skills and now provides every visitor and lost traveler with a great introduction to the area and its offerings. She shares her experiences on the island, going from vacationer to resident, and her presentation, map skills and positive demeanor are worth the visit.
And like the town offices where she worked years before in Massachusetts, there are those that stop at the Information center who are not in the best of moods. On at least one occasion, a person waiting in line during the busier summer season, loudly insisted on being provided service promptly. Before Ginny or Bill could respond to the woman, a gentleman ahead of her in the line turned and made it clear that she should patiently wait her turn and appreciate the polite assistance, when it was her turn.
So what’s it like living and working in a tourist mecca? When the information center closes down during the winter off-season, Ginny spends time at home with her husband and two dogs. She avoids Bar Harbor during the tourist season, but does enjoy the special sales that the plethora of stores offer just before shutting down in November. Her home in Ellsworth is on a quiet side street with a strong neighborhood vibe. Shortly after moving in, a neighbor warned Ginny about the Halloween tradition of residents from surrounding neighborhoods coming out by the hundreds to trick-or-treat on their quiet and safe street; that parents and kids alike come dressed in costumes; AND that requires every homeowner to have at least 300 treats available for that special night. Ginny is an enthusiastic participant!
If Acadia National Park is on your list of places to go ,or getting some great lobster or clams makes your palate water, or if shopping at Bar Harbor’s amazing downtown is your thing, make sure to stop at the Thompson Island Information Center on your way onto the island. Ginny will be glad to share her knowledge and love of the area with you.
Ginny Holden at work in the Thompson Island Information Center, Trenton, ME, August 2023
Robert Don Clay
Lenexa, Kansas
A chemical engineer with passport stamps from Japan, Malaysia, Singapore, South Africa, Colombia, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Venezuela, places his career focused on construction and safety has taken him, 85 year old Bob Clay is still being asked to come help plan and design industrial plants around the globe that deal with processing chemicals into products for everyday use. Most recently in 2023 he was working in England. His educational credentials are just as impressive with degrees from Brigham Young University, Cal Berkley and Louisiana State University.
But there are additional stamps on Robert Don Clay’s passport, South Korea being the newest when he ventured there in August 2023 to serve on the staff of the Boy Scout’s World Jamboree. Born in Bountiful, Utah and relocated to Hutchinson, Kansas where his dad was stationed as an IRS agent, Bob has been a part of Scouting for more than fifty years. His Scouting credentials fill a room in his home in Lenexa, Kansas with patches, plaques, award certificates and photos from his experiences at all levels of Scouting and his service in roles from the troop, district and council levels to national and international events.
Bob’s deep devotion as a member of The Church of Jesus Christ Latter-Day Saints has played a prominent role in his life from the very beginning. Being a Mormon has helped not only to shape him as a person, but as an engineer and a Scouter. He notes the parallels in the teachings of his church and the ideals held high by the Boy Scouts as one of several reasons that he puts his energies into both on a steady and regular basis. Admittedly, balancing church and family with the time that Scouting requires of him has, at times, been a concern, but his more recent Scouting commitments having shorter, more intense planning demands such as staffing a two week event in the summer instead of preparing for and attending weekly troop meetings as a Scoutmaster makes it quite a bit easier to accomplish.
While his connection to the LDS has been life-long, not so with Scouting. After doing just about all that any youth could do from being a Cub Scout to earning his Eagle Scout rank at age 15, Bob left Scouting. He had experienced some of Scouting’s high adventure at Philmont Scout Ranch in New Mexico and Region 10 - later named Northern Tier Canoe Base - in Minnesota while in the program, but he decided to concentrate on earning his college degrees, finding employment and starting a family. His first job was secured, but soon lost and he went 82 months without a steady paycheck but, his faith helped him and his family weather that challenge and he resolved to manage life better and to work harder to assure that would not happen again. As his trip to England this year proves, he is still a respected and sought after employee.
Scouting returned to Bob’s life when his son turned 11 and joined the Boy Scouts. With his new approach to life and work, Bob was able to find ways to contribute in a myriad of roles within the organization. The walls of his office in Lenexa attest to his success as a Commissioner, Committee Member, Scoutmaster with two different troops, Unit Commissioner and Trainer for the Scouts. His involvement in Wood Badge, Scouting’s highest level of training for adults covers the complete spectrum from participant to staff to Senior Patrol Leader and the much coveted Course Director. What was it about Scouting that so strongly called to Bob this second time around?
Besides the parallels to his church’s teaching, the enjoyment of the program or getting a chance to meet people of all ages from all over the world, he gets significant personal satisfaction from watching boys progress, turning into young men and some of those adult men reaching out to him to attest to the importance of his contributions in their lives. Satisfaction indeed.
Bob relates his personal growth to his faith and to Scouting, noting that ‘they worked hand and glove’ in shaping the man he is today. He noted that the core values and principles taught by his church often have a parallel aspect in Scouting with both emphasizing that one of the most impactful things that a person can give to another is their time. Proud of the time he has invested in Scouting as well as his Mormon faith, Bob is very proud that his children have all become successful as well, feeling satisfaction in having helped raise the next generation both at home and through his involvement in Scouting.
Eighty-five year old Bob’s advice to his younger self would be good advice for most any of us; to be more sociable when the opportunity arises and to enjoy the journey more than worrying about the destination. We all hope that Bob Clay is able to continue for many more years supporting both his church and his Scouts.
Bob Clay in Class A Boy Scout Uniform at Summit Bechtel Reserve, Glen Jean, WV, July 2021