{"id":101,"date":"2010-03-13T18:21:00","date_gmt":"2010-03-14T00:21:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mikelien.com\/?p=101"},"modified":"2010-03-15T20:52:43","modified_gmt":"2010-03-16T02:52:43","slug":"memories-of-the-wabasi-and-of-grandpa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/mikelien.com\/?p=101","title":{"rendered":"Memories of the Wabasi and of Grandpa"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Michele Vannote (nee Gaffaney\u00a0)<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 My grandfather, J.E. Gaffaney, Sr., was always a formidable figure in the eyes of his grandchildren.\u00a0 He was the founder of our family business, Gaffaney\u2019s Office Specialties, Inc., and our earliest collective memory was of the \u2018uncles\u2019 (his sons and son-in-law) developing that business in the corners of North Dakota.\u00a0 My dad, Paul Gaffaney, was the third son and given the task of building the business \u2018from the ground up\u2019 in Williston, North Dakota.\u00a0 (He was later joined by his brother-in-law, Carold McLaughlin, who was married to dad\u2019s only sister, Beth.)\u00a0 We moved to Williston when I was four years old and our weekly conversations revolved around sales, commissions, and J.E.\u2019s leadership.\u00a0 I got to visit my grandpa at the head office in Fargo at least twice per year and he also visited our home and the Williston operation intermittently.\u00a0 The longest sustained period of time that I spent with my grandfather was a week on Oak Island in about 1950 — when I was 6 and he was 52 years of age.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 My dad, mom, and I drove from Williston to Warroad where we boarded a float plane to go out to Oak Island.\u00a0 It was there that we stayed on grandpa\u2019s floating house and I got my first taste of \u2018the woods\u2019!\u00a0 I can still recall the fear of boarding that plane, since it was inconceivable to me that a plane could actually land on the water.\u00a0 However, we made it and therein began my adventure that was full of playing in the woods, digging for worms, catching frogs, and eating fish \u2013 real fish.\u00a0 However, the flies and mosquitoes were a problem and the best respite was going for boat rides on grandpa\u2019s house.\u00a0 Grandpa had purchased a Pullman train car from the railroad and loaded it onto a barge.\u00a0 For a couple of years he pulled it behind the Wabisi, so that his fishing entourage could go to various islands to find the best fish.\u00a0 (Sometime after I visited, he had had the Pullman installed on Oak Island for his use as a cabin: tucked back in the woods, which was quite cozy: and plush!)\u00a0 This Pullman car had sleeping capacity for 12 and the Wabisi had an additional 3 bedrooms: two smaller ones plus the captain\u2019s quarters.\u00a0 There were also many bathrooms on both vessels.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 My final ride on the Wabisi was on our return to Warroad, and it was a trip I still remember.\u00a0 The water across the \u2018big lake\u2019 was extraordinarily rough, and I spent much of my time below deck: clinging to my bed, utterly green \u2013 until my dad took me topside to try to help me \u2018fix my eyes on the horizon\u2019 (which was nowhere to be seen).\u00a0 In fact, \u201cthe trip across Big Traverse was so rough, I thought I\u2019d die.\u00a0 The sea was high, I heaved a sigh, and fed the fishes too.\u201d\u00a0 To this day, I have not taken any cruises, by my deep love of the woods and the lakes has only deepened with time.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Having now discovered the song \u201cMy, My Lake of the Woods\u201d* \u00a0in the Lake Trails Songbook, I look forward to singing it in future summer family reunions with my Gaffaney\/McLaughlin cousins: as we pay tribute to the man you knew as \u201cMr. Gaffaney, but just plain Jim to you\u201d.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/strong><\/p>\n

* \u00a0From the Song \u201cMy, My, Lake of the Woods\u201d in the Lake Trails Songbook.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Memories of J.E. Gaffaney by Michele Vannote<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[8],"class_list":["post-101","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-familyhistory","tag-memories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/mikelien.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/101","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/mikelien.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/mikelien.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/mikelien.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/mikelien.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=101"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"http:\/\/mikelien.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/101\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":124,"href":"http:\/\/mikelien.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/101\/revisions\/124"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/mikelien.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=101"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/mikelien.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=101"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/mikelien.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=101"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}