Ann (Stene) Bangen, 87, passed away peacefully on October 22, 2022, at her home with her loving family at her side. Ann was preceded in death by her husband, Duane Bangen, her parents Roy and Gladys Stene and a brother, Leland Stene.
Paul Robert Naland, age 87, passed away peacefully at home on Friday, October 21, 2022. He was born to Harold and Mary Naland in St.
Sandra Kay Sherk, 70, of International Falls, Minnesota, died Wednesday, October, 26, 2022, at the Rainy Lake Medical Center in International Falls. Sandra was born on September 17, 1952 in Nottoway, VA, the daughter of Albert and Judy (Kondo) Jones.
We’re pushing toward November with firearms deer season nearing our Northland. Old adventurer, with a lifetime of outdoor adventuring now well into old age, has some wandering thoughts about beginning and ending those adventures. At age five or so, he got close enough to first-time see and touch a deer, his maternal grandfather’s final deer. It was a basement-hanging buck in that Minnesota River Valley farm home almost 75 years ago. First grandfather annually deer hunted “Up North”--Saginaw/ Grand Lake/Willow River--with a neighbor, some relatives and Savage Model 99’s .300 Savage cartridge. He tried, too soon, explaining bucks and does to this grandson. Taxidermy bucks and a modest arsenal on his enclosed porch were long envied by this young grandson. He encouraged grandson to pretend-hunt on that farm with real rifles after having removed firing pins. Same grandson remembers seeing first live hometown deer and finally getting 12th birthday gift gun; ensuing local adventures confirmed deer had returned locally following near-elimination due to homesteader/ market hunting.
The Rainy Lake Gazette’s Opinion Page offers views of our readers in a venue that offers a place for lively discussion and debate centered around the issues and public affairs of importance All letters should be emailed to lbeager@cherryroad.com or mailed to: RLG Office, Letters, 203 Third St., International Falls, MN, 56649. If letters are handwritten, please print clearly.
Voting, deer hunting, and community – all celebrations of this great democracy we call the United States, and particularly of Borderland. We urge those who can to exercise all and any of these rights and privileges that come with being an American. Already the youth deer hunt has brought people together to experience tradition and respect for our great natural resources, and many have gathered to celebrate as a community at the Rainy Lake Medical Center’s Halloween event Oct. 27 and Birchdale’s Oktoberfest this past weekend.
I am tired. I am tired of our politicians campaigning against something rather than for something.
“Becky,” “Watson,” and “Edmond” have been waiting to go to their forever home since July. Becky is shy until she gets to know you. Watson and Edmond are a little more outgoing. They are all about 1 year old.
Gerald T. Wagness, of International Falls, died today at North Country Regional Hospital in Bemidji. He was 94 years of age. Wagness was born in 1913 in Devil’s Lake, SD, and moved as an infant first to Little Falls, MN, and then to Oak Island on Lake of the Woods, where his family had a homestead. He moved to International Falls in 1923 and graduated from Falls High School. Gerald served in the United States Naval Reserve as a lieutenant commander and was honorably discharged in 1946 after serving in Japan, Manila and the South Pacific. He worked for Major Roberts on Atsokan Island before purchasing the property, and taught in the International Falls Public Schools for more than 20 years. He also was a master of the Koochiching County Lodge No. 270, a member of the Border Chapter of the Royal Arch Masons, the Eveleth Commandery, Aad Temple of the Shrine Duluth, and the Border Shrine Club. He served on the Degree Teams of the Elks and Moose Lodges, was a member of the Veterans of Foreign Wars and was a charter member of the Border Lakes Association.
LIBRARY Last week I shared some of the great non-fiction in the junior room. I want to talk about one more title this week in anticipation of Veterans’ Day next Thursday.