Big Rick: Act 1

This is it.  The much requested time has come.  Last week I sat down with Big Rick at his house, just the 2 of us, for an interrogation.  The big interview of the Young's Bay Commander in Chief.  It took three and a half hours, some chocolate and 15 pages of notebook paper to get it all down.  He let me ask any question I thought of and answered them all.  We laughed a lot and I cried once.  Truth be told I expected him to be the tearful one-- and not just one cry, but a few.  (On Thanksgiving we were tied at three cries each.)  Some information will make the blog, some will only make the back corners of my mind and be stored away for a little laugh here and there.  I won't be able to fit all the information in one blog post, it will have to be separated out due to length and the time it takes to scan pictures and get all my information formed in to a read that is understandable and makes sense. Plus this always seems to be the time my kids are cranky and need to be cuddled.

So this information that will be posted.  Is it 100% accurate?  Is it written here in the actual order and detail it was told to me? Do you think Big Rick wants you to know every detail of his life? So many questions my dear public.  You know how rumors fly at the Angle and you know how the memory can change things. You also know that we all have our secrets, things we would have changed or not changed, things that we could still be arrested for years later, things we say we can't remember but would never forget.   And maybe even things we hold so dear that we keep them to ourselves.

Rumor has it there was some whiskey involved the night of the interview....maybe a call to the sheriff for mischief......Is there truth to any of that?  I assure you, I do not remember. But I can tell you this night is one of my favorites since moving here, so much fun and so much to learn. I love this man. This is the story as it was told to me and as it was written in my notebook.  I've said it before and I'll say it again: if my facts aren't straight, it's your own fault for checking them or knowing them in their entirety. These are the words of my father-in-law, Big Rick.

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Big Rick was born on Flag Island during a windy snowstorm.  They weren't able to get to a hospital, which would have been by boat to Kenora, Canada. Delivered at home by his aunt, he was a few months old before he saw an actual doctor.  His parents, Charles and Hazel, owned the resort on Flag Island and that is where he spent his childhood with a bunch of sisters.  At 10 years old, he was a fishing guide for $5 a day.  At that age he wasn't strong enough to start the motor on his boat and had to have an adult do it. He was known to put Poison Ivy in the woodpile at school so the teacher would get a rash from stocking the woodstove.  In 1963 he was in the 7th grade and started going in to Warroad for school.  (This is the same year our children will move to the school in town as well.) He was the dude (my term, not his) in high school---prom king, hockey player etc.  He also met Pat in high school.

L: How would you describe Pat back then?
BR:  She was quite spunky in her day.

When it was time for prom, Grandma Norma (Pat's mom) made them sign a contract that they would stay together.  She was trying to sew the dress and they kept breaking up and getting back together.  She wanted written agreement that the dress would be worn!

After he graduated high school, Big Rick thought he would never work the resort life again and attended college in the city, studying Auto Mechanics.  He and Pat were married in 1970 and lived in the city for the first couple of years. He thinks he was 20 years old and she was 18.  "Legal"--he does remember that.

L: What is your favorite memory of Patty?
BR:  There are a lot of them.  I got really lucky.
L:  She's known for being outgoing, though I don't see her as that forward.  Is she?
BR:  She can be quite feisty when she wants to be.
L:  What did she do when you got in trouble?
BR:  She might clatter around in the kitchen when she was mad, bang a few cupboards, but not more than that.
L: Did you ever get your payback?
BR: No, she was never revengeful.
L:  What put you in the doghouse, the worst?
BR: A few things.  One time I came home way too late and when she asked what I'd been doing I said, "I'm really tired.  Can I write it all down and I'll read it out loud to you in the morning?"  It did not go well.
L: Did you come up with that yourself?
BR: No, I heard it from someone.
L:Describe your mother-in-law, Grandma Norma:
BR: Wise, kind, thoughtful, resourceful.
L: Did you feel like you won the lotto as far as mothers-in-law?
BR:  Oh yeah, she always took my side!
L:Did you ever give marriage advice to your sons?
BR: NO.
L: Did you want to and just kept it to yourself?
BR: Yes.  But one thing I always wanted them to know is to think things through.

While living in the cities, Big Rick received a call from Charles saying that there was an opportunity to buy 80 acres at the Angle.  He knew he was tired of living in the city and all the people, so he borrowed the money and purchased the Young's Bay property for $5,000 in the early 70's.

 Young's Bay was homesteaded by Faye Young and had a couple of owners before Rick and Pat bought it. Faye ran the "Resolute", the boat that delivered the mail, passengers and gas on Lake of the Woods.  The boat also went to Kenora once a week.  It was an all day trip and you could get a ticket for $6. ( Today this trip takes about 3 hours if the weather is good.)  It should also be said that not just anyone can drive a boat to Kenora from here.  There are so many islands in between, it has to be memorized.  The Resolute was finally retired when the Coast Guard stopped allowing wooden boats from hauling people. Also, a road had been built in to the Angle by that time.  No one had lived on the Young's Bay property but there was an 18x12 wooden building that sat on it. Grandpa Charles found out that the taxes on the land were $110 a year and called the county to see why they were so high.  When they told him it was because there was a building on it, he said "Well it won't be there by the morning!" and he burned it down.  For those of you who don't know him, Grandpa Charles has a rather colorful way of saying things, so I'm sure that is a very tamed down version of what he said.

         
Rick and Pat's first house being delivered.  There were no roads straight enough to get the house to the Angle.  They had to bring it across the frozen lake. Also there was no road in to Young's Bay, that would come later. Since they had to build the resort from the ground up, Rick and Pat lived and worked at Flag Island Resort.  She worked in the laundry room mainly, but did various other jobs as needed.  Rick started up and ran the Island Passenger Service, hauling people between the mainland and the islands. He did this in the day, and at night he worked on the future Young's Bay Resort. The year was 1974. Stay tuned........