Replies to the Ed Milligan Peace Garden Photo:
From Kay Hosmer (77): Crown Point, Ind.
Gary, Apparently my dad, Don Hosmer, remembers that he was president of the business association or chamber of commerce or whatever the correct title of it was at the time in Dunseith & he took these gentlemen up to the Peace Gardens. He recalls that they may have been from a Pacific island nation – Kay
From Virgil Rude (Col ND NG Retired): Minot, ND
Hi Gary,
The fellow is indeed LTC Gagnon. He worked full time at Fraine Barracks in Bismarck. He spent most of his time in the operation section (S3) He has since passed away several years ago. Virgil
Thank you Virgil for this reply.
Would it be safe to say that the guy sanding in-between Ed Milligan and LTC Gagnon accompanied LTC Gagnon for this event or is he by chance a visitor too?
Gary
Simeon Grenier, Ed Milligan, ??, LTC Woody Gagnon, Henry Sunderland, Visitor, Visitor, Don Hosmer
Reply from Margaret Metcalfe Leonard (65): Rolette, ND
Hey Gary,
Your grandson Tyler is such a nice looking boy; 13 is a fun age. Yesterday I subbed in Rolla and had a group of 7th graders. They were appropriately talkative and so eager to share. One young boy, Paul Kurtie, gave me a Lai when he found out I was going to Hawaii……I thought that was really sweet.
We must enjoy kids at every age; they grow up so fast, right?
Margaret
Margaret,
You mention going to Hawaii. When and for how long will you be visiting Hawaii?
Gary
Reply from Gary Metcalfe (57): Forsyth, MO
Hi Gary and all, just a note to let you know we are still kicking. We just came back from a week on the NCL Spirit, also did a cruise on NCL Pearl earlier. The Caribbean is beautiful and the NCL cruise is just better than ever.
After a long absence I was happy to see the blog loaded with horse stories. I can still see the look on Dale Gottbrecht’s face when Dad hooked ole Jim and Dewey on his four wheel drive International pickup and snaked him out of the Canadian Reserve backwards. I don’t think Dale had Betsy in gear yet.
My Dad found his saddle horse one day on the Reservation, I think his ole pal, Harold Kelley put him onto that half Arab gelding.. The Davis’s maybe Russel, had him on the race track. It took all of a year to take the race out of him, but he was surely worth it. Scotty could carry my dad over to the Johnson pasture to check his cows and be back pronto. Especially difficult when the border gumbo was wet and unforgiving. I guess you could say we depended on those horses, why not have good ones.
I picked up this pen to thank all the story tellers and especially Larry Hackman. Larry, after seeing New Haven, Mo. on the great Missouri River I wondered why such an event would happen that the Hackman’s would come to the end of the world. Most pioneers came from Canada or East Coast, not so much to lose. They surely did not come in the fall. lol Now it is clear to me that with your ability to write with the best of them, it would be a travesty for you not to write a grand book about the valor of an intrepid people transplanted to such foreign ways and means. I have the stories my dad told me about Gus and Bill, as well as some of my own. You question why the uncles never married, I have my ideas why Frank and Gus never married, but Bill assured me and Doug Striker one -20 degree winter night why he lost interest in the gals. It seems that his dad used the willow switch to get his point across about that business. Doug and I had stopped in our way home from St. John about midnight. Now Doug had a way of getting old Bill to talking. At about the time we thought Gus was going to stay in bed upstairs, the door opened and in walked Gus. When he saw who it was he went out and brought his rifle in out of the cold. I guess Gus was a midnight man alright. By the way, some of the rest of us went hunting at night in days long gone by! Thanks to all for the stories. Gary Metcalfe
Ol’ Lightening Horse Story
From Kenny Nerpel (65): Rugby, ND
Gary
One more horse story: Ol’ Lightening
I’m not real sure of my age at the time this incident took place. I do know that my family was living at the lake home at this time, so I would estimate that I was probably about fourteen. It would have been my freshman year in high school at the latest, as we moved into Dunseith for the remainder of my high school years. The lake home was located on the northwest side of Lyde Lake and was actually visible from highway 3 just south of Kelvin. In order to access the property you would turn south on the first turn after exiting highway 3 onto highway 43 north of Kelvin Store. Also living along this road were the Elmer Espe and Clifford Millang families. It was a gravel road for a short distance and then became one of the dirt roads that so many of us from the area are familiar with. The house was located to the east of this dirt road, down a steep hill on another dirt trail. Rumor has it that there had been some type of conflict between the landowners that would not allow for a cordial agreement to permit the construction of a gravel access to the home site, so we continued the, moving out for the winter and moving in for the summer, ritual until the situation was finally resolved by my father purchasing the adjoining property.
My father was a horse lover and the country home was an ideal place to keep a few horses. He purchased a quarter horse from Dennis Brennen and he thought that it would be a great idea if I would learn to ride this horse that he had named Lightening. Up to that point I had had very little interest in horses, and riding in particular. At that time there were a number of avid horsemen in the area and I always admired and envied them and the idea began to appeal to me. You could see them in the ditches on almost any excursion to Dunseith. The grace of these animals and the apparent ease that the riders had in handling them appealed to me. I started on the quest to become a horseman by practicing on these dirt trails. I would start up the trail from the house and turn south continuing on past the Dave Eurich farm and then onto the property owned by my Grandfather, Billy Metcalfe. On this particular day I noticed that Lightening, after reaching the turning point of the trek, was in a great hurry to get back home. The more I tried to get him to slow down the more he insisted on increasing his speed.On this instance I had chosen not to use a saddle, which in the end was the determining factor in my demise.The trail stretches about 3 miles between what was then Billy Metcalfe’s place and the lake house.By the time we reached the point about half way, Lightening was at a full gallop and I was having extreme difficulty remaining mounted.I had started sliding off the horse to the right side and we were no longer in unison.As he was going down I was going up and we were slapping together in a very painful manner.To make a long story short we continued in this mode until I was hanging on for dear life under Ol’ Lightning’s neck.I decided to push myself away from the horse and was successful in doing this; I’m sure looking much like a tumbler doing a forward roll.
After the rolling was complete and I had regained some composure I looked up and was surprised to see Lightening standing there looking at me with what I perceived to be an apologetic stare.So I grabbed the reins and being in a forgiving mood decided I would just remount and continue the ride home with no more thought given to the incident.Immediately after remounting, Lightening, apparently deciding that he much preferred to be without a rider, began to buck.It wasn’t long before I was learning what it was like to be thrown from the back of an angry horse.The horizon lowers somewhat slowly; you reach the peak and then begin the rapid descent towards the ground.As I’ve heard on many occasions, it’s not the fall that gets you but the rapid stop.I laid there for some time before finally looking up and to my amazement there was the horse again with the same look in his eyes.Thinking back it may have been more of a look of amusement this time, but nevertheless there he was and there was the challenge. Not wanting to be a quitter and losing my chance of ever being able to master this horse I accepted the challenge and remounted.Much to my dismay the same procedure commenced.I’m sure that many folks reading this, including cousin Lyle and cousin Lola have been down this particular trail.In the area where this occurred to the east it is thick with trees and they obscure the horizon, but on this day while at the maximum height of being thrown I swear I could see Lyde Lake and highway 3 before crashing onto the ground.
And again the horse returned.I’ve never been accused of possessing great intelligence and based upon my next decision I understand why.For the third time I chose to remount, not surprisingly with the same result.This time I had had enough and it finally dawned on me that this animal was just messing with me.When the horse returned again with what I’m now sure was a look of amusement, I clenched my fist and hit him square in the nose with all the force I could muster.This time he wheeled, galloped off, and did not return.
I walked home, entered the house and asked my mother if Ol’ Lightening had come home.She was quite upset and after asking me if I was alright, she informed me that the horse had come down the hill at full speed, galloped past the house, cleared the fence that separated the yard from the pasture and continued at full speed until he disappeared from sight.
I am happy to say that I gave up my desire to be a horseman at that time and have been horse free to this day.
kenny
Reply from Mark Schmitz (70): Rolette, ND
Reply to Dick Johnson. The last I saw that Green Tank was along side the North Wall of the stucco log side of the house. I am now not sure if it is there, out back by the remains of the porch of our old house in town, or if it was used for filling in the basement under the lean to the log part of the house. Too much snow to get there now, and too much hidden debris, wait until the spring and give me a call, to remind me of it. There were 3 fuel tanks out there. Have a good day!
Posted by Neola Kofoid Garbe: Bottineau & Minot, ND
Darlene Crum
Aug. 20, 1948-Jan. 17, 2011
January 22, 2011
DUNSEITHDarlene Ann Crum, 48, Langdon, died Monday, Jan. 17, 2011, in Wichita Falls, Texas.
She was born Aug. 20, 1948, to Melvin and Marlene Schroeder, in Belcourt. She married Ronald Crum on July 19, 1997, in Dunseith.
Survivors: husband; son, Billy, Belcourt; daughter, Jaylene Crum, Langdon, stepsons, Jonathan Crum, Amarillo, Texas, Larry Crum, Maxbass; five grandchildren; father, of Dunseith; brothers, Clarence, Rodney and Kevin, all Dunseith, Marlin, St. John, Chris, Belcourt; sister, Loretta Lafloe, Dunseith.
Funeral: Monday, 10 a.m., St. Michael’s Catholic Church, Dunseith.
Burial: In the spring in St. Mary’s Cemetery, rural Dunseith.
Wake and prayer service: Wake Sunday, 4 p.m., prayer service Sunday, 7 p.m., both in the church.
(Nero Funeral Home, Bottineau)
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