Folks,

With today’s posting of the Pickup truck breaking thru the ice in the middle of Lake Metigoshe, I have included a lot of my relatives and friends with today’s message that are not normally on our distribution. For you folks, I thought this would be of interest to you as well. Those stories and pictures are near the bottom of this message.

Gary

Dorothy Pritchard’s 97th Birthday:

Previously posted with message 676 on 1/5/10

Note: Folks this is just a reminder of this message that was previously posted. With this being a suprise, again, I will delete this posting with Dorothy’s copy today. Let’s make Dorothy’s day.

Birthday Card shower for Dorothy Pritchard:

Folks,

Dorothy Pritichard will be 97 years young on January 25th. Dorothy has been a resident at Saint Andrews long term for several years now. She’s a little slow moving around, but her mind is sharp as ever. The hospital prints off all of these daily messages for her to read, however the copy they get from me today for Dorothy will not have this posting of her. This card shower will be a surprise for her.

Dorothy and Robert Pritchard and family were our Neighbors to the south up in the hills. Their children John (62), Dale (63), and Carol (67) graduated from Dunseith. Robert was a brother to Corbin Pritchard and Winifred Eurich.

If at all possible, please send Dorothy a card. Your cards will for sure brighten her days.

Gary

Dorothy Pritchard

Room 109

316 Ohmer St

Bottineau, ND 58318

Marie Graber:

Posting from Neola Kofoid Garbe: Bottineau & Minot, ND.

Hi Gary,

I think someone mentioned Marie Graber awhile ago, and I said there was a Mrs. Graber who lived across the hall from Mom. It is Marie. If someone would like to send a note to her, they can send it to this email address. I’ll print it and give it to Marie the next time I visit Mom. I’ll be in Bottineau until about January 25th and then back again about a week later.

Neola

Neola, Marie is a sister to Willie Lafromboise, who recently passed away. Gary

Dunseith Baseball stories from the 60’s:

From Dick Johnson (68): Dunseith, ND.

Gary and Friends,

Larry’s story of the baseball in the park got me thinking of a few
stories from that same field. I remember watching Don Egbert playing in
a game and what happened to him is still real clear in my mind. Don was
up to bat and was wearing the normal batters hardhat for those days. It
was just about like a baseball cap and had no ear and side protection
like the newer ones have. There was a fast pitcher and he whipped one in
that caught Don right on the left temple. Don dropped like he had been
shot! I helped butcher here at the farm and saw how animals drop so this
made me think he was a goner! The coaches game on the run and both teams
ran to the plate but poor Don just laid there for a minute or two.
Pretty soon he started to move and got up and stumbled over to the
bench, much to my relief. In another game a couple years later there was
a car parked directly behind the catcher and a foul ball went over the
back fence and came down on the roof of the car. The guy in the car
backed out of the spot and headed for a safer spot along the west fence.
Ernie Gottbreht came driving in, in his dad’s copper colored ’60 Olds,
and saw the perfect spot to park–right behind the catcher. He hadn’t
even shut the car off when a high foul ball came down over the fence and
landed right in the middle of that big windshield. There was a ‘spider’
from top to bottom and both ways to the side. It seems I didn’t really
understand all the terms Ernie was muttering about the mishap!

There was another time when there were several teams of softball
players made up of local guys who played in the evenings. Lots of us
kids would walk or ride bikes down behind the city park to watch. I
remember a game when Bobby Pigeon was playing in the outfield. He was a
guy who looked like the ‘Fonz’ on the TV show called ‘Happy Days’. He
had his hair combed back and was wearing a white T shirt and we thought
he was cool! Someone hit a high fly over the snow fence and Bobby took
off toward the fence and jumped it and caught the ball. The people were
blowing their car horns like crazy for this amazing feat. A few innings
later there was another high fly over the fence and my old buddy Lowell
Leonard took off to catch it like Bobby Pigeon had done. He jumped the
fence but only got one foot over and landed straddling the fence—not
good! He pulled the fence over and landed on the ground in agony. I
still remember how he pulled his leg off the fence and let the fence
stand back up and then had to lay behind it while all the people were
blowing their horns and laughing! Poor Lowell!

One more memory of baseball. In a Babe Ruth game in the park, Don
Mongeon was pitching for Dunseith. He was a good fast pitcher and put
out lots of batters. He wound up and sent in a fast pitch and the big
guy batting hit a line drive right back to Don’s knee cap! It hurt
everyone that saw it, including Don! Thanks Gary!

Dick

Pickup truck breaks thru the Ice in the middle of Lake Metigoshe:

Folks, I received all of the pictures pasted below of this incident from Neola Kofoid Garbe, Dick Johnson & LeaRae Parrill Espe. When I first saw these pictures I did not think this was for real, but it is and this did happen. What a genius recovery. I’ll have to say the ND folks were pretty cleaver with this rescue. It’s a wonder this did not make national news. I’m curious as to the extent of damage to the pickup? I’m hoping to get that feed back.

I remember back in my days, up in the hills, folks used to drive on the lakes all the time in the winter months. I never remember hearing of any vehicles going through the ice. I know Lester Johnson used to drive the Bottineau School bus across Bergan Lake when he got snowed in to the east. Since he lived right by the lake, I’m sure he did not have any kids on the bus crossing the lake. This has been a cold winter too. The ice should be pretty thick, I’d think.

Gary

From Neola Kofoid Garbe: Bottineau & Minot, ND.

This email was forwarded to me; Chad is not my brother-in-law.  ng

These are pictures from Lake Metigoshe over by
Larson Marine. My brother-in-law Chad dived under the ice
to hook the pickup up to lift it out of the lake.

The pickup fell through the ice about two weeks ago. It was 364 yards off shore

and the ice was too thin to pull it out so we ran ropes under the ice
for over 1000 feet and dragged it to shore and cut a bigger
hole close to shore and pulled it out. I helped cut holes, run
rope and dive under the ice and hook the ropes and straps to
the pickup. What a great day. It went really well, something
that not everyone gets to experience. Hope you enjoy the
pictures.
Chad

Reply from Dick Johnson (68): Dunseith, ND.

Gary,

This pickup went through the ice by Masonic Island. It appears they brought it out in front of Larson Marine, which is next door to our place. They had a diver go down and hook a rope on to it and take it to another hole in the ice near the shore. They pulled it along the bottom and then cut a hole near the shore and lifted it out. I heard about it going in but didn’t hear when they got it out.

I understand it is Chad Driscol from Sherwood. He is married to Dana Feland from that area and is originally from Australia. My brother-in-law knew he was called to dive for the search. This is according to him though so I hope it’s correct.

Dick

Reply from LeaRae Parrill Espe (67): Bottineau, ND

We heard the guy who drove the pickup in the lake works for Larry Tooke. Larry bought Merle Allard’s business which was selling and putting up steel buildings. There was alot of talk about fines for pollution if they left the pickup in the lake. It was supposedly going to be very costly to get it out. No one was hurt.. Maybe the Metigoshe Mirror will have more.

If we get anything else I’ll let you know.

Yes Vickie will know if it is Chad Miller, but he works in Bismarck for the State Health Dept. , Environmental Division and so does my son Brady. Brady is pretty sure the Health Dept was not involved with the incident.

Folks,

Going thru some pictures I noticed this one taken on mothers day 2009 that I thought I’d share with you. It’s a nice picture of Bernadette. I also thought I’d include the one of me so you can see where all these daily messages are originated from.

Gary

Cebu, Philippines – Mothers day 2009

Gary & Bernadette Stokes

Cebu, Philippines – 2009

Gary Stokes