before I start this I want to note this is not for sympathy for Jerry,Emily,or me,its just my simple tribute to a guy and gal I will never forget,and will always be indebted to.
Jerry and Emily were my first wifes folks,he was an avid outdoorsman that hunted and fished everything known to man.
I had the pleasure of meeting and getting to know Jerry and Emily shortly after meeting their oldest daughter whom I dated for a year and later married.
I reveled in his stories of hunting and fishing as I was just a youngster then at twenty one years old who had never hunted beyond the state of Iowa,or fished any thing bigger than an old farm pond,or the downstream side of a reservoir here as we never had a boat when I was a kid.
I had read every magazine back then with their stories of huge muskies,northern,walleye,you name it,I dreamed of doing those same things when my meager earnings of six bucks an hour would allow it.
you can imagine my surprise when I was invited half way into my first year of marriage to Kathy to go to Bemidji fishing with them on a trip that had been an annual event since nineteen fifty when a local friend of Jerry’s owned then what was known a pine lane resort.
I did not sleep for the next four months I swear to you,I was that excited!!! dreams of huge pike and muskies,darting walleyes,big bull gills the size of dinner plates circling so wide and far you didnt think you would ever land them on four pound line.
then,the dreams of the ever elusive walleye,so sneaky that you didnt know they had ever chewed on your offerings until it was too late to set the hook,and it didnt help that I had never been taught how to detect the subtle bite they were known for.
but by then my farm boy hands calloused from many years of hard work in the fields and pulling wrenches all day long had lost their sensitivity or very close to it,I was very frustrated as I watched others pull them in hand over fist.
I learned though,through many hours of hard fishing for them with crankbaits,that was the only way I could catch them,and I got very good at it,I bested Jerry several years later landing a thirty incher on a deep diving perch colored rapala on a clear day with no wind,the pride in his eyes said it all,I had done good.
I ended up taking my folks on four trips there with me to show them what real fishing was really like,and I taught them what Jerry taught me.
Jerry also taught me to hunt and fish in ways my own father couldnt,now,dont get me wrong,my father was a man of the land,and he did his very best with what he had,but raising four kids,paying for a farm,cattle,crops,etc didnt leave a lot of time or money for the privilege of hunting and fishing,but he was good enough at it,we didnt have to worry about going hungry if our lives depended on it,that said,thank you dad,I will forever miss you.
my first wife and I divorced in nineteen ninety one but I never lost my respect for Jerry,or Emily,and let me tell you,that gal could cook fish,it took me almost thirty years to figure out how she did it,but I would take hers over mine any day.
Emily passed away almost three weeks ago,Jerry just three days ago,Emily to cancer,Jerry to dementia and complications resulting from it.
you know what?I still visit northern Mn every year and have been doing so since nineteen eighty four,and by the Grace of God,I have never lost that child like wonder of a northern Mn sunset,hope I never will either.
I will end this too long post with this,
thank you Jerry and Emily for what you taught me,and helping this old farm kid to realize a dream of going to the big north woods of Mn,I promise to keep taking my family there and teach them what you taught me.
now and forever know that is appreciated and will be passed on.
I have talked with Jerry and Emily both quite a bit since Kathy and I divorced all those years ago,I was never afraid to make known to them how much I appreciated what they did for me,my point is this,this is not a note born of regret and hoping they can read it now from the great here after.
in my own simple way,I am just bidding farewell and wanting others to know that never knew these two what great folks they were.
sheldon
