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Note: . My mother attended elementary and high school at La Moure. Both Dad and Mother were in the same high school graduating class of four young people. After high school, Mother attended the then Valley City Normal College. After graduating from Valley City, Mother taught school in Forsyth, Montana. After her marriage to F.D. Stone at Stuart Lake in 1917, Mother never again worked for wages.
Dad went from La Moure High School to the U. of Wisconsin. His father had bought farm land and moved to Douglas County, Wisconsin. Hence, the enrollment at Madison. After graduating from the School of Agriculture, Dad returned to Douglas County and became a dairy farmer on the place his father had purchased. My oldest brother, John, was born while Dad and Mother attempted to make the farm go. Mother was fond of saying she absolutely refused to milk cows. I think she figured that decision was partly responsible for a marriage lasting 58 years.
The dairy farm was a losing proposition and Dad decided to quit active farming. He found a job teaching school, I believe under the Smith/High Program, at Cokato, Minnesota, where I was born October 16, 1922, in a blizzard! I believe he taught there two years before being hired as the manager of the Twin Ports Cooperative Dairy Assoc. in South Superior, Wisconsin. While the F.D. Stones were living in South Superior, Paul and David were born.
In 1931 we moved to Shawano, Wisconsin, when Dad became the manager of the Consolidated Badger Coop. Prior to his arrival, it was a new and struggling organization. By 1936, when we moved to Minneapolis, the "Badger" had reached maturity and was a successful concern in spite of what has been termed "The Great Depression." The move to Minneapolis was occasioned by Dad's accepting employment as Director of Sales of Land O'Lake Creameries. He became General manager in 1952 and continued as such until he retired in 1967 at nearly 75 years of age. I can't say positively, but as proud as Dad was of his managership at Land O'Lakes. I have often suspected he considered the years at South Superior and Shawano as his best work. These organizations grew and prospered on a foundation Dad built which has allowed them to be successful to the present day.
Earlier I mentioned the marriage of 1917. As the courtship of Ella Hutchinson and Frank Stone progressed, Mother invited her young man friend to Stuart Lake. This young man stayed at what is now Maple Lane. From the first visit, Dad's appreciation of the "lake" equaled that of my mother and numerous others. The appreciation, however, didn't grow to a steady presence until 1948.
I well recall the evening when Dad and Mother announced they had decided to buy a place on a lake. They were undecided where. At least they said they were, but I suspect they had Stuart Lake in mind from the inception of the idea. Still, some attention was given to places around Minneapolis. It was upon learning that the old Pott's place on Stuart Lake was for sale that visible interest was shown in that direction. Paul and I, of course, had visited the Hutchinson and the Westley place from time to time prior to 1948; so had Jeanette and Frances, with Frances and I taking advantage of Aunt Margaret's generosity and spending our honeymoon inexpensively and remotely at Stuart Lake in 1943. When Mother and Frances reported the findings of their visit to the "Pott's" place in 1948, the decision was made to purchase it. After this, the Stone name was added to the Hutchinson and Westley names as occupants of Stuart Lake. Since then, of course, the Hutchinson and Westley names no longer appear on mail boxes, etc., and Stone has been joined by Buck, Dowen, Small, and Fichtenau-Ely.
A sequel to the above took place in 1967. In the years following 1948, as our family was growing, we spent many, many pleasant hours at "Grandma's" place on the lake. Another foreigner was among us. Frances first visited Clitherall in 1941. As the Hutchinsons, then the Stones had before her, Frances fell in love with the place. When in the mysterious ways which most women have in common, Frances learned the place next to the Buck's was for sale, she managed to convince a reluctant husband that we could afford the purchase price. That was the advent of yet another family. In 1978, we bought Dad's place, and our son, John, bought ours. He, with his family, are another generation descended from the Hutchinson's, and so it goes!
George's cottage has the name FEDAHAGE. This name came from a name that George, Dave, Harold and Fred Stone had when they spent a summer at Balsam Lake when Uncle Nibs and Aunt Dot had a resort there in 1940. Deciphered it is: FE = Fred, DA = Dave, HA = Harold, and GE = George.
George's wife, Frances, has many fond memories of the Hutchinsons and in particular her mother-in-law. The following is her tribute to Ella Hutchinson Stone.
I would like to pay a tribute to a Hutchinson girl, who in my estimation was the greatest! Even when I am no longer around, my children will always remember "Grandma" and mention her everyone once in awhile. The best words to describe Mother was that she was a lady. She was the closest thing to a Mother that I have ever had and I will always remember her for what she was and what she did. She took in a daughter-in-law and taught her more - cooking, baking, how to keep house, tolerance, child care - than any one else in my life.
"Hats off" to Ella Hutchinson Stone!. She did brighten our little corner of the world and because of her, life has more meaning.
Note: George Stone has provided the following information about his parents
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