About Local Folks

The following story from the Bemidji Pioneer is about the sisters of local farmer Wayne Meyers.
At the heart of the story is the death of Voila Meyers. Her premature passing left seven children without a mother, and separated the childhood of 9-month-old Betsy from her siblings. Now retired, Betsy and sister Alice have regained sisterhood in the truest sense, and are running a business together.

Margo Hell is hospitalized in Minneapolis and would appreciate hearing from friends and relatives.
Her address is:
Abbott-Nothwestern Hospital, Cardiovascular, H4200, Intensive Care Unit, Mail Route 94200, 800 East 28th St., Minneapolis, MN 55407-3799.

John Bartkowski, fountain of opportunity and encouragement

Men like the late John Bartkowski are rare, say many Borderland folks.
The entrepreneur, financier, real estate developer, family man and community anchor, died Tuesday at age 93, at the local hospital in the town he helped to fortify.
A quiet man, simple in many respects, the founder of Coca Cola Bottling in the Falls was successful in dozens of endeavors. But it was his need to extend that good fortune and cultivate achievement in others, that really defined the man.

Lee and Carol Grim, of International Falls, were offered the trip to South Africa when a study abroad program was offered by William Bowerman, who studied eagles in Voyageurs National Park.
Bowerman is currently studying fish-eating eagles in South Africa. The Grims recounted their trip for the public with a slide show of pictures in a colloquium April 17 at Rainy River Community College.
The Grims joined 19 people on the 14-day experience that focused primarily on the Kalahari Desert included visits to South Africa, Botswana and Nambia.

His family listened, devastated, as the neurosurgeon explained that one last heroic effort — removing the full frontal flap of Luke Valentine’s skull — might save his life, but only a fraction of the person they knew would remain.
It wasn’t removing his forehead that had Luke’s mother stunned. It was her refusal to process the finality of the verdict. Her 28-year-old son had survived this before.

The first time
Eight years earlier, Paula Valentine picked up the phone and heard her youngest son’s desperate plea. It came in just two words: “Help me.”

When Gracie mutely laid her little hand on her mother’s face and then just went limp in the bathtub, Hallie Swenson knew her 2-year-old daughter was in trouble.
Just after Easter Sunday, Patrick and Hallie Swenson’s middle child lost her appetite, felt warm, and started having diarrhea. They figured she had caught a stomach bug like most kids do in peak seasons of the year.

JR Anderson, of Ray, received the Rookie of the Year award at the Diavik 150/Canadian National Dog Derby Championship.
Anderson placed 10th in the race, which was held March 28-30 in Yellowknife, Northwest Territories, Canada.
He said the race went well, but he hoped to do better. This year’s winner, John Beck, of Yellowknife, ran the race in 9 hours 32 minutes, breaking the record time for the race by an hour, according to Anderson. The previous record was set in the mid-1970s. It was quite a performance, said Anderson.

Lee and Carol Grim are scheduled to discuss their experiences in South Africa with Borderland residents at 7 p.m. Thursday in room H118 at Rainy River Community College. The talk is part of RRCC’s “Let’s Talk Colloquium.”
The Grims spent two weeks in South Africa while auditing a course at Clemson University called “Ecology of South African Savannah.” The Grims knew the instructorof the course, Bill Bowermann, who spends time every year banding eagles in Voyageurs National Park, Carol Grim said.

To him, the sights, sounds and smells of Rainy Lake are as natural as breathing.
Raised on its banks, he still lives on the same patch of shoreline claimed by his forebears who were Rainy Lake pioneers.
Bob Hilke is as familiar as anyone with Rainy Lake’s ancient rocks and carved skylines. He’s navigated its indigo waters since he was a child; explored it — island to island — with Earnest Oberholtzer; and captained cruises through it for 40 years.

Whether its an instant meal to take along camping or a hot breakfast that even the most culinary-challenged member of the family can handle, Barstad’s Buttermilk Pancakes mix just might be the answer.
Two local pastors, Randy and Donna Barstad of the Lindford Christian Fellowship Church in Littlefork, have taken their ‘just add water’ buttermilk pancake mix to the public and report that sales are surpassing their expectations.