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The Trailways

Bill and Delores (Dee) Nickels of Des Plaines, Illinois, had been vacationing on Lac Courte Oreilles since 1966. In July of 1971, Walter Krueger was a bartender at Moccasin Lodge. He invited the couple to see his home, and, before good-byes were said, the Nickels asked him to call them first if he ever decided to sell. Just a few months later, In January of 1972, the call came, and by March, Bill and Dee owned their own vacation home. In 1975, they moved into the place on Stucky Bay that Dee still calls home in 2002. Bill passed away in 1990.

One year later, in 1976, the couple was remodeling their kitchen and found a "treasure" of sorts in the wall. Rolled up inside a Leinenkugels's Beer bottle was a letter reading:

"A. R. Pritzlaff, owner
H.A. Nelson, carpenter contractor
J. L. Mullaly, the mason
July 15, 1936
And did we have fun.
Wish I was with you."

According to old records, the Pritzlaffs (August and Bertha) had built their summer home in 1936 and enclosed the porch off the kitchen as per note found by the Nickels. In September of 1967, Bernard and Helen Ray purchased the house and added central heat. Krueger bought in March of 1971 and stayed only one year.

Special thanks to Courte Oreilles Lakes Association and
Tom and Sue Burgess for permission to use this excerpt from:
Tales of Lac Courte Oreilles
Recollections from those who settled its shorelines