Those Whom We Will Miss
 
 

 
Ethel Rose Furst, age 82, formerly of Jagger Road, died Tuesday Jan 2,2001 at the home of her daughter in Muskegon.
 
Ethel Rose Noonan was born March 23, 1918, in Maple City, the daughter of Charles S. and Lula F. (Ashmore) Noonan. She was married Feb. 24, 1936, in Traverse City to Glenn C. Furst and he preceded her in death Dec. 12, 1995. The couple had resided in Ludington since 1959, spending winter in Zephyrhills, Fla. She was a member of the Calvary Baptist Church of Ludington and the Faith Baptist Church in Florida.
 
She was a member of the Michigan Botanical Club, Ludington Child Study Club, the Great Lakes Lighthouse Keepers Association, the South Manitou Memorial Society and the Mycophile Club. Mrs. Furst also taught the "Precious Moments" Sunday school class in Florida and had worked as a nurse's aide at Oakview Medical Facility for 10 years, retiring in 1978.
 
In her free time she very much enjoyed playing shuffleboard, swimming, walking in the woods, gardening, her church activities and special times shared with her family and friends.
 
Surviving are two daughters. Glenda Schilzzi of Bay Village Ohio, and Sherry (and William) Shoup of Muskegon; two sons, Charles (and Sharon) Furst of Grandville, and Gene (and Patricia) Furst of Allegan; three sisters, Muriel Baetz of Little Traverse Lake, Lucy Petelle of Springfield, Mass.; Cynthia Monroe of Traverse City, one brother, Glen (and Ella) Noonan of Empire; 12 grandchildren; 19 great-grandchildren; many nieces and nephews. She is also survived by her sister-in-law Ethel Stormer of Benzonia; and brothers-in-law, Dale (and Ann) Hutzler of Boyne City, and George Hutzler of Petoskey.
 
In addition to her parents and husband she was preceded in death by two sisters, Erma and Doris; three brothers, Charles, Franklin, and Carl, and one great-granddaughter, Sarah Welch.
 
Services for Ethel were held Jan 5 at the Dorell Funeral Home with Pastor Tim Yankee and Pastor Joe Hilyard officiating. Interment followed in Lakeview Cemetery. The family received friends at the funeral home on Thursday Jan. 4.
 

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Iola V. Cameron passed away on June 17 of 1998. She was born Feb. 8, 1909, in Maple City, Michigan, the daughter of Harvey and Julia (Christiansen) Ruegsegger.
 
Iola Ruegsegger came to South Manitou Island at age 19, after graduating from County Normal School, in Northport, Michigan. She was to be the school teacher on South Manitou. It would be her first teaching position and one she would hold on and off for 11 years. She was the last teacher to hold class in the South Manitou Schoolhouse in 1946. She was dearly loved by so many students and children on the island.

 
    Mom and Dad (Iola and Ed Tobin) were married in 1932, and two years later I was born on March 19, 1934. We lived in the home Dad built behind the Post Office / General Store. She was pregnant with Keith when Dad died in a car accident in Sleeping Bear, October 1938. Keith was born February 28, 1939.
 
    Mom was a very quiet person and never complained about her circumstances back then. There wasn't a pay check in the summer so she picked cherries in Traverse City at her Uncles for money to get us through until school began in the fall.
 
    She loved the island so much that when she would get a chance to teach there it was an exciting time for her. She always wondered what people would be like that lived on the island.
 
    She taught me my first six years of school and I can remember trying to keep up with her in the morning, especially in the winter time. There was a cut across behind Grandma Tobin's house to the main road and then another one across the field and through the woods to school off the main road, cutting off quite a bit. But in those days no snow plows or cars to make a way for us, we made our own, and sometimes the snow was really deep! But she always led the way for all of us coming to school from the Point, and she was always in a hurry to get the fire built to warm the school for us. So many times we would have wet and cold feet when we arrived, so she would put the big recitation bench up close to the big furnace type stove and read to us all while the school warmed and we dried, so we could go to our seats.
 
    She always could find good stories for us to listen to. She was very active and was out doors at recesses and noon, playing ball in the summer or fox and geese in the winter, with all of us. Also on weekends if we went sledding or tobogganing at night on the bluffs on the other side of Grandma Tobin's, she would come along. Our house was a gathering place for popcorn or homemade fudge or something hot to drink afterwards.
 
    There are so many memories I have as a child, of being iced in for 32 days, and having the mail dropped by air plane, because the lake was completely frozen over. Of course because everyone canned veggies and meat and baked their own bread, none seemed to worry to much about it, except maybe the Coast Guard people coming and going on leave.
 
    Thinking about winters there, never have we had winters like that here. And at night while sledding, laying on our backs on our sleds and looking up at the sky, never were the stars so bright or close as then.
 
    The summers were hot and we spent a good part of the time in the lake, cold or not. Mom, Aunt Shirley, and Aunt Mae were usually with us, we were all brown like indians.
 
    Some Sunday afternoon's after Sunday School, which was held at a different home each week. There we would sing all the old hymns, and one of the adult women would have a lesson from the Bible, of course we would all wear our good dresses. We would walk up to Humphrie's to visit, she was a terrific baker and always

had wonderful breads and cookies to eat. We would ride horses and everyone had a great time. We rode bare back, no saddle, just a halter, so needless to say sometimes the walk home was painful! We picked wild strawberries in the summer for short cake and mayflowers in the spring on the hills on the old farm back by the cemetery. Never any flowers here like those and the smells were wonderful.
 
    Mom, Dad and I lived on that farm when I was a baby, they would put me in a box with blankets in a sled and pull me down to Grandma's at the Point. I have a picture they took of me. There are many memories, I wanted Mom to write a journal but she never did.
 
    Mother married Albert Cameron in 1944. We moved off the island in 1946, I was 10, and we settled in Big Rapids because Mother was going to Ferris State College for her degree. I can't begin to tell you how moving from the island and coming to Big Rapids to go to school changed my life so much. I had never had another teacher but Mom, and always in a one-room school house. I was terrified! And it took a few years before I got good grades because I was afraid to speak up in class, give reports, etc. Also I loved singing and to sing in front of school or a play or at a wedding scared me to death! Mother always encouraged me so I kept singing, but it never was a good experience for me.
 
    Years later my sister-in-law and I took our kids back and stayed with Marie in the Ben Johnson place for a week, they just couldn't believe how dark it was at night. Here at home, we have street lights and electricity. It even surprised me because there was no light in the lighthouse, and as a child it was practically like day all night because of the light. Another thing that surprised me was how close all the houses were built together. No wonder our Moms never worried what we were doing outside, all they had to do was look out the windows and someone could see us. As a child everything seemed so far apart.
 
    I will always have fond memories of the island, the sound of the lake, the smells of the trees, flowers, and earth in the summer time. The smell of Grandma's fried potatoes at supper time. There was always room for me at the table if Mom would let me stay. How blessed I was to be so loved by so many!
 
    Mom is gone now, 3 years come June, she and I spent our lives within 5 minutes apart her whole life, always a phone call away. I miss her dearly, and like so many others we had bad times and good times in our lives, but grew closer as the years went by. And our memories of the island always in our hearts, gave us many wonderful hours of conversation as the years went by.
 
    My brother now lives in Texas. He and I took Mom back to the Island several years before she died and we took the trip around the island so she could see the little school she taught in and to see Dad's grave once more. She was saddened to see how things had changed, but as we know nothing stays the same, except for the sights, smells, and sounds of the lake that will forever stay the same.
 
Maureen Tobin Cameron Albright

(Editor's Note: We print this tribute to Iola at this date because we never honored her in our Newsletter at the time of her passing, and we regret that. Iola was one of South Manitou's finest teachers and resident islander's! We apologize for the delay.)
 

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It has been reported in the Traverse City and Leelanau County media in early February that Ivan D. Miller, Superintendent of Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore will leave on April 1, 2001 for a similar responsibility at the Buffalo Natural River in Arkansas. Miller has been at Sleeping Bear since August, 1990. His responsibilities in Michigan have included both South and North Manitou Islands. It was in this area that Society members had the most interaction with Miller.
 
The Park Service has named Administrative Officer Dan Krieber as Acting Superintendent. When a regular replacement will be named is in limbo as the Bush Administration has imposed a hiring freeze.
 
On a personal note, I always found that Ivan Miller was accessible by telephone or in his office. The later, visits were often with both Joe Orbeck, Society Treasurer, and myself. Ivan and I share a mutual appreciation with the comedy of Jonathan Winters. For several years the answering machine at our homes in Glen Lake and Tucson had the "voice" of Winters best known character, Maude Frickert, who promised to pass along the callers message as long as the caller was "not trying to sell something". Ivan would call our houses in the winter, when we were not there, Just to hear "Maude's" message.
 
There were times when Joe Orbeck and I did not have very much appreciation for some of Ivan's associates, but we always got straight answers from Ivan himself. He will be missed!
 
Don Morris
President
 

 
Robert A. Oberst is looking for some genealogy assistance. His Great-grandparents were Charlie and Sophia Oberst, who moved to the "Manitou's" in the early 1950's, then moving to Northport in until 1910. Sophia's maiden name was Beck. He thinks that August may have been a brother or Uncle to Sophia.? If anyone would be interested in communicating with Mr. Oberst, he would greatly appreciate it. Please contact him at: Robert A. Oberst. 3812 Cardinal Dr. Stevens Point, WI 54481-9709. (715) 341-1037. email oberstr@webtv.net
 

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