Correspondent McNeil Sees Comparison of Gould City and Former Home
By Ryan Schlehuber

This is one in a series of articles to introduce readers to correspondents covering their communities within The St. Ignace News readership area.

As the country breeze sweeps across the open fields surrounding Marilyn McNeil's home in Gould City, she is reminded of days gone by in her home near Detroit, where she lived as a young girl.

"This place is exactly like the area [where] I grew up near Detroit," said Mrs. McNeil, who is the Gould City correspondent for The St. Ignace News. "With the open fields, there is room to breathe."

At age 73, Mrs. McNeil does what she can to volunteer with community events, although the ailments of age keep her close to home, she said, where she is occupied with crocheting, playing solitaire, and gathering news each week for Gould City's 300-plus residents.

As a correspondent, she has been able to create a network of newsworthy sources.

"I have no trouble getting people to talk," she said. "I've been able to create a network where people call me, or we just 'talk on the fence.'"

Marilyn McNeil has been the Gould City correspondent for The St. Ignace News since 1991.

An avid newspaper and magazine reader, she also enjoys researching a subject.

"Many times," she said, "I get hooked on a subject and research it until I'm satisfied. If I can't be at a certain event, I like to imagine myself there and try to feel what it's like to be there."

Mrs. McNeil began writing her column after seeing a flier advertising the position posted at the community hall during a bingo game.

"In high school, writing came so naturally that I really loved it," she said. "So I gave it a try."

She remembers one of her first columns that was published when she began writing for the newspaper in 1991.

"My husband and niece took me smelting for the first time, and I remember that it was one very little fish," she laughed. "I never knew they were that small."

As a teenager, Mrs. McNeil wrote the gossip column for Redford High School's newspaper, the Redford Record, while she attended classes at Detroit Cooley High School.

Looking north along the unpaved Gould City Road in Gould City in 1904, one would find many buildings. The first two buildings on the left, the Tremblay ad Holt houses, are the only ones existing today. Both houses now are owned by Tom and Fred Tremblay, who are no relation to the former Tremblay owners. On the right, one building down, is Hotel May. (Photograph courtesy of Verna Engel)

Her father, Oliver Halterman, worked as a railway express package handler for the Michigan Central Depot Station in Detroit. Her mother, Jennie, tended to responsibilities at home.

She met her husband of more than 50 years, originally from Gould City, at a movie.

"I was at a drive-in movie with a friend in Farmington and his car was right next to us," she said.

She was working for Hurst Publications in Detroit as a circulation director before she and her husband decided to make a home in Gould City in 1988.

The town of Gould City was, at one time, near the shore of Lake Michigan, said Mrs. McNeil. It now lies only a short drive off of US-27, down South Gould City Road. In the community that once thrived on lumbering, residents of Gould City, many of them retired, now enjoy the natural beauty of the area, with hunting and fishing a favorite pastime for many.

"That's what I like about this place; its openness and the friendly people that live here," she said. "Everybody is like family here."

The McNeils, both retired, share their home with their greatgranddaughter, Danielle Chase, 20, who is entering her third year at Big Bay de Noc Community College.

News can be submitted to Mrs. McNeil at (906) 477-6925 or donmar@ lighthouse.net.