Jeff Gamble of St. Ignace suffered a 45-foot fall from the deck into the empty cargo hold while working on the freighter Wilfred Sykes Wednesday, December 16, near Escanaba, and is a patient at Marquette General Hospital with head and facial injuries. Many members of his family are with him in Marquette.

Cards may be sent to Mr. Gamble at the following address: Jeff Gamble, Intensive Care Unit, Marquette General Hospital, 580 West College Avenue, Marquette Michigan 49855-2705.

When the family had arrived there, his daughter, Misti Gamble, went into labor and delivered a healthy baby girl Friday, December 18.

I had a nice visit with Paul and Judi Sved last week. They were enjoying dinner at a local restaurant.

Wanda Paquin traveled to Detroit last weekend on business.

Frank and Debbie Dumas traveled to Saginaw to visit relatives last week. Their next stop was Detroit Metro Airport, where their son, Josh, and daughter, Alex, greeted them. They will be home for 10 days.

Lilyan Stenson (at left) takes a quick breather after pushing Ellie Colegrove around on the ice Tuesday, December 15, at the Little Bear East Arena. Both are kindergarten students at Gros Cap School. Delia Bickham celebrated her 98th birthday with a surprise party December 17 at the home of Keith and Donna Grogan in St. Ignace. Family and friends attended.

Tina Peters of Chicago is in St. Ignace for a few days. She is excited about meeting up with former classmates.

Belated birthday greetings to Wanda Paquin December 20.

Julie Warden reports that her mother, Diana (nee Beeck) Crandall, was a surgical patient last week at Northern Michigan Regional Hospital in Petoskey. Get well wishes to Diana.

It was nice to meet up with Hilda Ryerse one day last week. She will retire from the Mackinac Bridge Authority the end of December. She seemed very cheerful and is making plans for the future.

Sisters Jayde (left) and Jillian Fraser visit Santa and Mrs. Claus Wednesday, December 16, during the St. Ignace Parent Teacher Organization (PTO) pancake dinner fundraiser. The girls are the daughters of Bill and Angie Fraser of St. Ignace. The PTO charged $5 for the dinner and Girl Scout Troop 5072 offered photographs with Santa for a $5 donation to the troop. The last day of school for Gros Cap students before starting their Christmas break was Friday, December 18. St. Ignace Area Schools last day was Tuesday, December 22. School will resume Monday, January 4, for both schools.

Fifty years ago this Christmas, Santa brought me my 1959 Barbie doll, which I still cherish. She came dressed in a black and white bathing suit, pearl earrings, and heels.

Waylon Gillmore (from left), Tristin Misner, and Skyler Musick of a Gros Cap School kindergarten class enjoy a round of ice skating at Little Bear East Arena Tuesday, December 15. The children used chairs and other items to help steady themselves as they skidded across the ice. Depending on weather conditions, Silver Mountain tubing and skiing area is expected to open Saturday, December 26.

A reminder to anyone who would like to play steel drums, they meet Tuesdays from 6 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. at the LaSalle Music Department.

Mike and Rebecca Smith, with children Michael and Morgan, of Grand Rapids, will spend Christmas in St. Ignace with Mike’s parents, Denise Smith and Henry Smith. Mike is excited to return here Saturday, January 9, when his band will play in St. Ignace.

A telephone call from Valerie Brown of Macomb says her brother, Greg Brown, Jr., has been deployed to Iraq for nine months.

Volunteers (from left) Elaine MacDonald and Lil McDonald accept the $5 fee for dinner from student Trevor Metz at the St. Ignace Parent Teacher Organization pancake fundraiser Wednesday night, December 16, at McDonald's restaurant. Please keep all these service people in our prayers.

Happiness is receiving a handmade Christmas ornament from a special person.

Betty Springsteen of Moran reported an incident involving her horse. Will Springsteen discovered one of the family horses, Hazel, had fallen through the ice on the pond toward the back of the pasture. She had fallen through about six feet from the shore and was standing in about three to four feet of freezing water. The ice was five inches thick, too thick for the horse to break with her legs.

Will reported the matter to his mother, Betty, who was at home, just as David Brown and Tom Eisler of Mackinac Plumbing had arrived to work on the boiler system. They grabbed mauls, axes, pry bars, and some strong rope and broke a channel through the ice to the horse, which had been in the water about an hour. Betty and Will attached a halter, turned the horse toward the channel, and ran a rope back to the shore crew.

The horse had trouble getting up on the shore after being in the cold water and she couldn’t get a grip with her front hooves. After a few tries, she sat back on haunches, but with a few more tries and encouragement, Hazel finally gave a big jump with her back legs and hopped up on the shore.

Mike and Will set up heaters in the shed to help dry and warm the horse, while Betty used a hairdryer. Hazel suffered a scrape on her back leg, and they continue to watch her for lameness, fever, or chills and her condition is being monitored by a veterinarian.

Hazel is doing fine and the pond has been fenced off.

The Mackinac Bridge has been selected to be featured on a new $4.90 Priority Mail stamp by the U.S. Post Office. The stamp will be released February 3. A picture of the stamp featuring artwork by Dan Cosgrove of Clarendon Hills, Illinois, will be printed in the December 31 issue of The St. Ignace News.