1974 Photos and Memories

Front row (seated): xxx, xxx, xxx, xxx, xxx, xxx

2nd row (kneeling): xxx, xxx, xxx, xxx, Brian Graefe, xxx, xxx, Laura Ventresca, xxx xxx

3rd row: xxx, xxx, xxx, Bob Black, xxx, xxx, xxx, xxx, xxx, xxx, xxx, John French, Omer Runyan

Back row (elevated): xxx, xxx, xxx, xxx, xxx, Larry Brennan, xxx, xxx, Tom Adams, xxx

Lee Roane recalls: "Bill Baar, Bob Marietta and George Keagle posed shortly after they arrived on base to begin the summer of 1974. I snapped this shot in the Voyageur Trainers room in the #2 building and processed the film in the base darkroom. Arrival of staff was a joyous occasion as many summer friendships cooled for nine months only to re-ignite in early June. We had the two docks to put in; canoes to retrieve from the outpost; and green Trainers to break in."

Larry Brennan remembers: "Being cursed with a sense of "humor" (an arguable point to some people, but they don't know nothin' nohow), I have a tendency to make commentary on the events around me. Many will remember the Bicentennial Moments I made to add interest to the announcements at lunch in 1976. Someone requested me to post some of them, and I wish I could- but I usually made them ex tempore, on the spur of the moment, or inspired by some event in the news or that had happened on Base- so I am afraid that they are pretty much lost. Thank goodness- some were probably actionable!

Another thing I enjoyed doing was posting pictures on the bulletin board with a caption affixed. This 1974 picture of Joe Morton at the wheel of the Jeep- the Number Seven- with Mark Decesco's blond head barely visible behind the greenery was a print made from a slide. I had the print made at the Camera Corner in Minocqua because as soon as I saw it, a caption for it popped into my mind. I typed it out and attached it to the board with this picture (which still bears the staple holes) and it read something like this:

"THE NORTHERN WISCONSIN NATIONAL CANOE BASE'S ECOLOGICALLY-MINDED STAFF APPLIES A NEW, ENVIRONMENTALLY-FRIENDLY TECHNIQUE TO REDUCE POLLUTION FROM MOTOR VEHICLES USED ON BASE."

Mark was one of a large group of maintenance assistants Joe had available in 1974. You would see Joe heading off on a project trailed by Don Brick, George Balint, Tom Simpkin and Mark Decesco- usually referred to as Joe and the Boys."