Kenneth Horsburgh Kenneth Phillip Horsburgh, 88, a summer resident of Cedarville with an avid interest in restoring antique boats, was instrumental in founding the Les Cheneaux Islands Antique Wooden Boat Show and the Ensign racing fleet at Les Cheneaux. He was active in many church and community activities in the Cedarville area. Mr. Horsburgh died in Palm City, Florida, October 19, 2008.

Mr. Horsburgh was born in 1920 in Cleveland, Ohio, and had been a summertime resident of the Les Cheneaux area since he was one year old. He considered it his home. He visited the Les Cheneaux area every summer with his parents and two older brothers, Charles and Don, and later, with his wife and children and grandchildren. In his lifetime, he would only miss two summers of visiting Cedarville, one while serving in the Navy and this past summer, owing to illness.

He was graduated from Case School of Engineering with a mechanical engineering degree in 1943. He served in the U.S. Naval Reserve from 1942 to 1946.

Mr. Horsburgh was associated with The Horsburgh & Scott Company in Cleveland, a manufacturer of gears and speed reducers, for more than 50 years. His professional interest was always on the shop floor, and with the people who worked there, said his son, Kip.

He was active in many civic and community-based activities in Cleveland, Cedarville, and Stuart, Florida.

Religion also provided an opportunity for Mr. Horsburgh to strengthen his ties with the Cedarville community, where he formed lifelong relationships with summer and year-around residents at the First Union Church.

He was also involved with the Les Cheneaux Islands Historical Association, which he always believed played an important role in helping residents understand the unique heritage of the area.

"He was a wonderful man," said longtime friend Marvin Tassier of Cedarville. "He was very generous in town and to his church."

In his younger days, before the Michigan State Highway Department introduced paved roads from St. Ignace to Clark Township and completed the Mackinac Bridge that connected Michigan's peninsulas in 1957, several times a year, Mr. Horsburgh and his family would make the 24-hour, 500-mile trek from Cleveland to Cedarville on the Michigan Central train to Mackinaw City, then on to the passenger ferry Algomah to Mackinac Island, and finally from the Island to the Lakeside Hotel dock on Coryell Island on the steamer Islander. From the hotel dock, it was a short ride on a Truscott gas launch to the family's cottage on the south end of the island.

Boating, particularly wooden boats, was Mr. Horsburgh's most enjoyed hobby.

He and Charles Letts of Coryell Island and Detroit were the founders of the Les Cheneaux Islands Antique Wooden Boat Show in 1978. The ongoing event is in its 32nd year and is one of the biggest events in the area.

His passion for wooden boats began when he was a youth, having been introduced to the family boat Firefly, a 24-foot, three-cockpit Chris Craft speedboat, which was one of the area's most popular wooden boats.

In 1936, after he and his brothers showed an interest in sailing, their father, Robert Horsburgh, ordered a wooden sailboat through the mail for his boys. The three young adventurers sailed the 18- foot Cape Cod Baby Knockabout that they proudly called Hoot Mon. The boat is now displayed in Les Cheneaux Historical Association's Maritime Museum.

While in his late 50s, Mr. Horsburgh single-handedly sailed his 36-foot yawl, Meltemi, through the local channels to Mackinac Island and the North Channel.

In 1964, Mr. Horsburgh was the first member of his extended family to move his summer headquarters to the mainland, building a cottage in Woodland Park on the channel between Cedarville and Hessel. He purchased the area's first Ensign for his family. The boat was a 23-foot long, fiberglass Pearson sloop. The sloop worked so well in the Les Cheneaux waters that its popularity grew and, today, there are 63 similar boats in the area, and their owners have formed a group.

The result was developing perhaps the largest and most active Ensign racing fleet in the country.

In 2007, Mr. Horsburgh received the national Ensign Association's lifetime achievement award for his contributions to the advancement of the class.

When the trend toward fiberglass sailboats was becoming apparent, the love of wooden boats never waned for Mr. Horsburgh.

In the 1970s, he and Mr. Tassier restored a 1906 Truscott gas launch, called the Antiki, that was later featured on the 2006 Wooden Boat Show's official poster.

He would commission Bruce Patrick to build a replica 24-foot launch called the Bonnie Lass, 20 years later.

Both boats are still maintained by his family.

The wood-fired steam launch Puffin, however, was perhaps his most impressive restoration project to local residents. He would motor the channels, offering rides to anyone willing to step into the boat. The boat featured a steam whistle and white puffs of smoke billowed from its stack.

Boating was the foundation of friendship between Mr. Horsburgh and Mr. Tassier, who operates Tassier Boat Works in Cedarville.

"He was the best friend I have had," said Mr. Tassier, who remembers the many boating trips to Canada the two would take, as well as to other areas in Michigan. "We would go all over in our boats, and he'd always pay for gas. He was a real, real good friend. He was one of a kind. I'm really going to miss him."

He often shared his knowledge of boating and safety with younger boaters. Boaters in the area today, like Andy Bohn, Todd Snyder, Scott Graul, and all of Mr. Horsburgh's grandchildren trace their early boating education to his unwavering willingness to spend time with them on the water, said Kip Horsburgh.

Mr. Horsburgh is survived by his wife, Ruth, of 64 years, three children and their families, Kip and Jean Horsburgh, Christopher W. and Chrissy Horsburgh, and Laurie and Tom Herman, 14 grandchildren, and two greatgrandchildren.

A memorial service will be held next summer in Cedarville.

In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be sent to the Les Cheneaux Historical Association, P.O. Box 301, Cedarville, Michigan 49719.