I spent the better part of yesterday afternoon with Lois and Gary Dawson and heard so many good stories I don’t know how I’ll even remember them all, let alone make them into posts. Why the road to Ellsworth bends. The adventurous life of Jeanie Sage of Shady Nook. Taking the train to Petoskey. The Grandmothers Club.
Lois gave me copies of a whole lot of research from the Knowles House museum in Central Lake, including the full list of members of GAR Post 227 in Eastport, and then conned me into helping her with a Central Lake Historical Society fundraiser on May 26. I figure it’s the least I can do. She also made me promise to credit Beverly Johnson with digging out the references. Done. [Ed. update: OK, as you can see from Lois’s comment below, I had it wrong. The GAR list was not copied from Knowles House files but was given to to Lois by Ms. Johnson, whose first name is spelled Beavery. I imagine she is quite weary of having her name misspelled, and I apologize for doing it here.]
Lois and Gary know stuff. Where the old log schools were. Who owned what land in 1898. How the Dawsons are related to–well, OK, the Dawsons are related to practically everyone in Central Lake Township, including Morses and Bennetts and Daniel Webster Sage himself. [Ed. update: Sigh. Wrong again. The Sage connection is that Gary’s dad bought the Sage house.] This cupboard in their house came from the old Sage farmhouse.
Gary and Lois know the old names for things. The Flat Road. Larabee Corners. The Indian gardens. They love the old stories and honor the past, but they don’t live there. Orange kayaks are bungeed to the garage wall. Birds flock to their feeders. Clouds of wildflowers border the property. Grandchildren visit. There are always new adventures.
Lois is writing a book and making jewelry and growing herbs and cooking up a storm. This is because she’s relaxing to give a blown tendon time to heal. She and Gary are going to Mike Berst’s concert at The Back Porch tonight. Life, they agree, includes a great deal of fun.
Torch Lake Views 
Anna Surface
May 15, 2010
Wow! Lois is a busy-bee with a lot of projects and sounds wonderful, too! I just love that cupboard. Life should be fun doing the things you truly enjoy and love. 🙂
Gerry
May 15, 2010
Lois is the kind of person who makes a lot of fun and liveliness for everyone around her. Gary is the perfect foil for her, with a gift for storytelling and a quietly wicked sense of humor. Spending time with them is good medicine.
Cindy Lou
May 16, 2010
Beautiful old pie safe! You are blessed indeed to have friends like this in your life!
Cindy Lou
May 16, 2010
Forgot to tell you – I liked your idea of a “Gone Fishin'” sign for your blog. I’d surely miss you, but taking a break is good for the soul.
Lois
May 17, 2010
Hi Gerry, We missed you in Ellsworth Sat. evening. But never fear. You will still be able to hear Mike play his dulcimer for he will be our intertainment on the 26th at the Knowles Museum fund raiser “Spring Picnic”.
I know there was a lot of history flung at you Saturday. I wanted to let you know that the Dawsons actually are not related to the Sages, as far as we know. Gary’s Dad had purchased the Sage home.
Also the history I had on the GAR was not that of the Knowles Museum but information given to me by Beavery Johnson when I was working on the history of Bay View. She is a descendant of the Kings and Hadcocks.
Gerry
May 17, 2010
GACK! It’s appalling that I could make so many mistakes in such a short post. I will put in the edits. I will work hard on the May 26 fund raiser for the Knowles House. Thank goodness I didn’t try to repeat the story about Bill’s pants, or I’d have gotten myself into big trouble.
Yesterday I was over at Lakeview Cemetery with Louan Lechler and visited the Grandmothers Garden. I really want to do a story about that–and, um, I really want to get it right, too, the first time.