It's been a week of typically spring weather, with some nighttime lows below freezing and a forecast for daytime high on Tuesday of 65 degrees. We're all so tired of winter that any warmer temperatures we get are welcome.

Annegret Goehring, along with her son, Peter, has just returned from a three-week vacation with relatives in Germany. Annegret, who came to the United States from Germany shortly after World War II, married the late Gordon Goehring and settled in Hessel. We have been fortunate to have this family in our midst where they have been involved in numerous community activities. Gordon taught school, they opened a unique pottery shop, the Northwind Pottery, and Annegret has held the busy job of curator for our local museum for many years. A vacation was very much in order.

While in Germany, they visited aunts, uncles, and cousins Annegret had not seen for 30 years and whom Peter had never met. They had many fast rides on the Autobahn and toured several museums, including the Pergamon Museum, in the former East Berlin, where there were many Greek antiquities on display. Annegret acted as interpreter for Peter, but he learned many new German words and phrases during this visit.

Congratulations to Audrey Fisher, the lucky $100 April 11th Lions Club raffle winner.

Another story from Bruce Patrick follows and this is a story about A.E. Anderson and the boys who visited during the summer vacations. In Bruce's words:

"There would be as many as 16 college boys at Anderson's each vacation. They named the different boats. A38-foot double cabin cruise was Away-we-go. Dixie was a 42foot sailboat, Me-go-too, Old sail and Old Rabbit, a row boat. These boats got rough use during the summer. Every boat, even the sail boat, were broke down by fall, every summer. And so it went.

"They had a table-model phonograph and one day my dad walked into the living room and saw the cover of the phonograph broke off, lying on the floor. He said, 'What has happened to the phonograph?' Gil, one of the boys, said, 'It hit a rock in Hessel Bay!' This was an example of what went on with the boats, too.

"One windy day, Jim and Gil decided to go with Old Whole to Goose Island. They should never have gone, but they told Mrs. Anderson what and where they were going. She did not know that they should not go on account of the wind, and they went. They anchored the stern of Old Whole off shore, and ran a line to a tree on shore. There were big rocks here and Old Whole moved a bit sideways, hit a rock, and knocked the propeller off, so there they were, they could not run home.

"About 9:30 or 10 p.m., Mr. Anderson asked where Jim and Gil were. Mrs. Anderson told him where they had gone. So, Mr. Anderson right away got in touch with my father. He was told to take the Away-we-go and go look for Old Whole. I went along with Dad. We cruised to Goose Island and it was rough, big waves. We finally got to Goose Island and saw someone flashing a flashlight, so we knew it was Jim and Gil. I forgot to say that we took the Away-we-go and a small dinghy. Dad decided to row to shore in those big waves and see what was wrong.

"He found out, and then he had to row, one at a time, out to Awaywe go and we started for home at 12 p.m. What a trip! The next day we went out and got Old Whole without a propeller and towed her home."

The following memories are from Bruce Patrick of the old Elliot Hotel:

"The Elliot Hotel was built on Big LaSalle Island. She was nearly across from the Islington Hotel. She was built by John Beach and son and his father, Amos Beach. She was up on a hill, just off the beach. This hill was rather steep, from the beach to the site where the hotel was set.

"The dock for the Arnold Transit Company boat, which brought customers to the hotel, had to be built on an angle to the shoreline so Arnold boats could land at the side of the dock. After unloading, or loading, she would have to back around the end of the dock so her bow would be headed out. Then after the customers were unloaded, these people had that long dock ramp to the top of the hill.

"After a few years, John Beach, owner of the hotel, had my father bring his pile driver on the ice in the winter, to drive three rows of piling from the wharf up to where the hotel was.

"They cut cedar piling on their land back of the hotel. Several hundred of them were needed. My father, Bruce K. Patrick, had runners on the pile driver so he could have it towed by a team of horses on ice in the winter. They drove three rows of piling from the wharf to the top of the hill. These pilings were about one foot apart, so there was nearly three solid rows of piling.

"Howard Beach, son of John Beach, went into the woods behind the hotel and cut all of the needed piling. They had Victor Shoberg come over with his team of horses to skid them out to the dock site.

"When three rows of piling were drove in, all were cut off so stringers could be set on top and planking put on, forming a wide walkway up to the hotel porch. There were steps down from this ramp to the shore where the boats were tied to a small dock.

"John Beach had my Uncle Ross Patrick build him a 26-foot double ender launch. He used this to take people out on fishing trips, etc. He also had Ross build a 21-foot launch for many trips to town for numerous items, plus the mail each day. Cedarville was only about a mile from the Elliot Hotel.

"The Beaches were great friends of the Shobergs. They went back and forth on ice to visit in the winter, and by boat in the summer. There were three children in the Beach family, Howard, Adelaide, and Doris. Dave Hudgens married Adelaide. He started the Texaco Gas and Marine station in Cedarville."