10/12/2009 | Dunseith Alumni

Joseph Millang’s Obituary

POSTED: October 11, 2009

BOTTINEAU Joseph Kevin Millang, 43, Starkweather, formerly of Bottineau, was dead Thursday, Oct. 8, 2009, on arrival at a Devils Lake hospital.

He was born Sept. 29, 1966, to Curtis and Lorraine Millang in Bottineau.

Survivors: mother, Bottineau; brother, Jamie, Lincoln; sister, Pennie Graham, Cadillac, Mich.

Funeral: Monday, 10 a.m., First Lutheran Church, Bottineau.

Burial: Little Prairie Cemetery, near Dunseith.

Visitation: Today, 1 to 9 p.m., Nero Funeral Home, Bottineau.

Reply from Gary Morgan (54): GARRISON, ND

Gary & All,
In answer to Larry Liere, Mr. Haines was an Immigration Inspector. Actually, Kim was his son. His daughter’s name was Nan. He transferred out of Dunseith in either 1946 or 47 and was replaced by Les Greener. Thus began a string of great independent basketball teams that Dunseith enjoyed in the late 40s.
Greener later transferred to Seattle, WA and was replaced by Findel Helgeson. In the middle 50s Helgeson transferred to Baudette, MN and was replaced by Kenny Shirk.

Gary Morgan

Question from Ivy Eller Robert (74): Everett, WA.

Gary,

I’ve been reading these blogs asking if anyone remembers “so & so”! Well I have one, Does anyone in the class of 74 or any other classes remember a guy named Hal Dupet (I’m not sure of the last name spelling). If I remember correctly, I think his folks or at lease his Mom owned or ran Kalven Klinic Store many years ago! I remember him being in the first grade with us, but not sure any other years. Does anyone know what became of him and his Mother?

Also, there was another guy that was in our class for a few years in grade school. His name was Wendell, but I don’t remember his last name. I remember he had moved to Dunseith from Fairbanks, Alaska. For me, it was fascinating to listen to him talk about living up there! How ironic that I lived in Alaska for almost a year, but I was in Anchorage. That was August of 85 to June of 86. While I was there in Anchorage, I ran into Sam Tooke. Well, he came into the store I was working at and I waited on him. Sam graduated the same year as I did. Sometimes it seems like we live in a very small world.

I’ve wondered for years, what happened to Hal & Wendall? Does anyone know?

Ivy Eller Robert (74)

From Vickie Metcalfe (70): Bottineau, ND.

Gary and folks,

After a little deep cleaning, and crawling down under the house to winterize the vent, a pleasant October Sunday afternoon came to Bottineau. All is calm.

The best part of my afternoon was walking the “furbabies”. Lochbuie and Molly love the Schneiders, “dear hearts” who live across the street. Wes was spied by the two stubborn Westies and they determinedly pulled me up driveway.

Wes and Ovidia keep treats on hand and my dogs know it. They also love getting gentle strokes from Wes. After treating the dogs, Wes and Ovidia treated me to garden delights. Actually, Wes carried over and set two boxes in front of my door. Yum. Red potatoes and red onions straight from fall harvesting of the Schneider garden. I thought I was pretty lucky. Whoa! I hit another Jack pot! I was invited over to pick some apples from Wes’ prize “Sweet Sixteen Tree”. What an afternoon.

I’d purchased an apple peeler/ corer at a rummage sale this summer and was “fixin” to try it out. Isn’t fall the best time for apple crisp? But then, since the juneberry pies turned out in August maybe I’ll try Apple Pie!…………..

Folks,Wes is an original from Dunseith. He often regales me with tales of his youth in Dunseith. He told me once, he graduated from 8th grade but was unable to attend high school as he was needed on the farm. He retired from Bottineau Pride Dairy when he was well into his 80’s. He enjoyed making ice cream there. He and Ovidia are wonderful kind, steady neighbors! And two dogs best neighborhood friends!

Later, Vickie

Vickie, How well I remember Wesley Schneider working at the Creamery from the days that dad hauled cream from the hills. Wesley was married to Evelyn Hiatt (43) until her death in 1963. Evelyn was a sister to Charlotte Lang, Eleanor Fauske, Florence Dahl and Howard Hiatt. Wesley’s step daughter, Ovidaia’s daughter, is the owner of the Spectrum store on Main street there in Bottineau. At the moment I have forgotten her name. Several years after dad’s death when I was in the Spectrum store she said to me “You must be Bob Stokes’ son”. I’m not sure how she figured that out, but she did. I was alone. She then introduced herself as Wesley’s step daughter. She was so friendly and nice. I utilized her professional services having her scan several documents for me and sending them to me via an email attachment. Gary

Message/Picture from Dick Johnson (68): Dunseith, ND.

Gary and Friends,

I found a picture of some of our well known folks (at least to many),
from days gone by. It looks to me that the writing on the back says
1937. Those in the picture appear to be dressed up for a wedding or
something. They are George and Lela Johnson Cota and, I think, Inga and
Ingolf Medlang, who are twins. It is definitely Ingolf but I’m not sure
about the other gal. Inga was always Lela’s best friend even into the
later years. I was wondering if it could have been Lela and George’s
wedding? I don’t know if I ever heard the year but it should be about
right. They are the parents of Gary Cota who graduated from DHS in
1956. Gary is a first cousin to my mom, as their mothers are sisters.
They all grew up in the Willow Lake area. Thanks Gary!

Dick

L to R:– Inga & Ingolf Medlang–Lela & George Cota.

Don’t know the guy in the car.

Folks,

I thought I’d throw in several pictures today to show you our latest project here in the Philippines. These pictures were taken from our upstairs bedroom window. As of yesterday they finished installing the Baluster Railing in the foreground. What I thought to be a 3 day project turned out to be a 2 week project. Thank god for inexpensive labor. These guys did a nice job though. The total labor cost for 3 guys working 11 days was $190. I paid them premium wages too. With Marble Balusters and ceramic tile, this railing is pretty much maintenance fee. That is my work shop in the foreground and our office partially seen on the right. These two buildings are both the same size, 16′ X 24′. For those of you that are Catholic, the monument on the end of the work shop is of Bernadette’s saints, Bernadette and Lourdes. Gary

This picture, taken in 2005, is of the same area as the picture above before developing. We purchased this lot adjacent to our house after our house was built. We had not planned to live in this area when we initially started building our house. It was to be a temporary house. Our plans were to live in a development. In the process of building our house, Bernadette expressed a desire to make this our permanent home next door to her sister and I agreed. This lot adjacent to our house is 70′ X 210′. We have the entire lot enclosed with a combination of buildings and an 8′ high cement fence. This is a very secure area. We have never had any theft problems at all. Our front gate remains unlocked at all times. There were seven homes/houses including the two in this picture that we had to ask to relocate. That was a painful process, but we got them out of here. There’s no doubt that we are different and a contrast to the neighborhood, but they love having us here as much as we like being here. The Filipino’s are super friendly folks.

This picture is looking the other direction from those above. The building in the back is a three unit apartment. Our helpers live in the first unit. Bernadette’s niece lives in the unit partially hidden to the left. Directly under her unit, we have a gust Apartment. The building to the left is our outside Kitchen and Laundry room. Those are only screen windows in this building, no glass. To the left down the hill on the bottom the lot we have a 4 unit apartment that several of Bernadette’s nieces and nephews live in. Our place is located about 300 feet from the road. We have a garage up on the main road where we park our car.