News

Current Newsletter

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Winter 2010 [4.8 MB]

• “For the Permanent good of the Whole,” by Stewart Brandborg
• From Ernest C. Oberholter
• “In Memoriam: Samuel W. White, 1919 to 2010,” by Jean Sanford Replinger
• “In Sam White’s Words ”
• “Dear Readers,” by Beth Waterhouse
• Words of Howard Zahniser
• 2010: Another Fine Summer on Mallard Isle
• “East and West of Life” (poem), by Stephen Wilbers
• The Flute as Common Ground
• Volunteer Musician / Archivist Needed
• “Outhouse Odors” (poem), by Pam Joern
• From the Treasurer, by Tim Heinle
• A Wish List for Mallard Island
• Ober Island Tour Days to Repeat in 2010

Other Current News

Summer Season Begins on Mallard Island

With Rainy Lake water levels low this year, the summer season opens on Mallard Island. Go see for yourself what the comparative water levels look like by visiting this web site and tracing the red line on the graph:www.boiseinc.com/nContent/lakes/RainyLevel.htm

Low water is almost funny looking when you walk out on Bald Rock and realize that you’ll have to climb DOWN a good three feet to get into your boat! This is a tad easier to handle then high water years, when the underwater dock becomes useless. This year, we do hope for rain... but not before we repair the rock wall on the lower east end of Mallard. Low water levels make it possible to get at some of the underlying island structure. It also reminds us just how much of Mallard island is actually man made – or should we specify made by Charlie Friday!

The summer weeks on Mallard, should they roll out like they are on paper, will tell a grand story. See another part of this web site for the listing week by week. We start the summer with hard work (as always) and we then offer the island to writers and artists, birders and storytellers, flute students and songwriters, and finally a group of children’s book writers. September 4 is the final day of the summer program itself, though the Board of Directors meets there the following day.

Oberholtzer Board members also offer the island in daytime tours on three days in the second week of September: Sept 7 or 8 or 9. There are still some spaces left in those tours; we again enforce the carrying capacity of our tiny rocky isle (12 people max). Call Beth Waterhouse at (952) 607-879 to learn more about the tour days.

This summer, we will be host in mid-August to a group of Rainy Lake chiefs from various first nations groups. This is hosted by Janice Henderson of the Mitaanjigamiing first nation, and it connects us to some who knew Ober and a few children of those who knew him. We are interested in renewing those natural ties-- of Mallard to the Ojibwe – in ways that work for the current programs and peoples.

Another new effort this summer is the renovation of buildings on Gull Island: the Caboose and the Frigate. We will begin to offer them as part of the program next summer. For now there is a lot of carpentry, roofing, window repair and painting that has to happen. Lucky for the islands, there are volunteers willing and skilled enough to complete such work.

Have a great summer!

Beth Waterhouse
(952) 607-6879 ( summer cell phone). No e-mail in the summertime.  

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Frigate Friday donated to the Foundation

On September 6, 2009, the Oberholtzer Foundation Board of Directors voted to accept the donation of the Frigate Friday, a houseboat once owned by Ober and his home on Bancroft Bay, for many years. The Frigate Friday has been recently used by Ted Hall and later his son, Thomas Hall, both of Ranier, Minn., and Thomas chose this summer to donate it to the Foundation. Said Thomas, “I cannot speak for the departed, but I think Ted would be very pleased.” The Foundation now has taken on the maintenance and renovation of this craft, floating on huge, steel tanks and positioned in an exquisite cove on Gull Island. During 2010, the main focus will be renovation of the decking and the boat’s exterior and windows. After that, the Board of Directors will bring it into careful use in a way that blends with and enhances the busy summer programs on Mallard Island. Beth Waterhouse adds, “It is strange, now, to drive the pontoon past this houseboat and think of it as ‘ours.’ It is both a challenge and a great joy to think about adding some good use of the Frigate into our summer programs.”   

New DVD on Mallard Island now available.

“A Week at Ober's Island,” photography by Mark Douglas Stanley ©2008, with original music (“Ode to Ober” 2002) by Glen Helgeson, Gary Schulte, and Barbara McAfee

This is a short and beautiful DVD-video production (5:35 minutes) that takes a viewer through a June week on Mallard Island, Ernest Oberholtzer's former home on Rainy Lake. Other than Barbara's lyrics to the music, this video is without narration. Mark Stanley's beautiful images do much to capture the color, form, and texture of room interiors and building exteriors on the island as well as the natural flora, rocks, and water of one summer week.

The DVD has recently been duplicated and made available for $10 (plus $2 shipping) from the Ernest C. Oberholtzer Foundation. See the Store/Donations page for purchase information.

Mallard Island 2008 Photo Note-cards

How can we capture and share beautiful images of our favorite island with more people?

This past summer an idea was “born” to create photo note-cards. We now have thirty exciting images of Mallard and its buildings, flowers, waters and landscape. Each blank card is handmade and features a 4x6 photo matted inside natural (and recycled) cardstock. The photographer is identified on the back of each card. We will send you five cards in assorted images for $15, plus $2 for shipping, $17 total cost.

Call Beth Waterhouse at (952) 401-0591 to receive a shipment of cards. These cards would make a great gift item!