By Staff
Years ago after school let out for the summer and the resort season had started big-time out around the lakes, we young bucks used to ply the lakes looking for those out-of-town girl resorters.
One day we spotted a bunch of nice-looking girls at a cottage on Little Twin Lake.
Of course, we had to stop and get acquainted.
Seems these were Chicago gals staying at their aunt's cottage for a week.
Well, we ended up partying with them, but not like what partying is today (no drinking or drugs, just a lot of fun).
We had hot dogs over a bonfire and we even "borrowed" a few ears of field corn from a close farmer's cornfield to roast.
My buddy Jim Luthringer and I took a liking to a couple of these girls and we made a couple of trips to Chicago in my 1941 green Chevy with a vacuum shift on the steering wheel.
I remember this car was once owned by Fred Newhouse who, with his wife, were cooks at the University of Notre Dame.
Old Heinie Springsteen told me this when I bought the car from Springsteen's.
The girls lived on 71st Street, if I recall.
In my old age I can't remember the girl's last name, but the one I liked was Regina. Jim's was Mary. I still have pictures of all of us at the lake and out in the boat having a good time.
The gals took us for our first ride on the "L," the elevated train. I remember we went to the WLS Barn Dance on one of our trips.
One of the girls said it was her grandfather who designed the beautiful fountains in Grant Park. Two of the other boys in our party at the lake were Bob Tinkey and Bob Guntle.
Do you know it was 1970 - 35 years ago - that our beautiful tree-lined Main Street was made history. The highway department decided it had to be widened, as it was part of "old" M-40 that went through Dowagiac back then.
They said it was not up to standards for the traffic volume.
Well, at least the beautiful, picturesque, big old houses are still there. And I, like a lot of other people, still have some of those large bricks they tore up during construction.Another souvenir in old pack-rat Charlie's collection.
When I used to fish the Mill Pond for northern pike, I always wondered what a southern pike would look like.