Category: People
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Volunteer Highlight: Bobby Deggendorf
“People need personal connections to the natural world if they are going to work to protect it.” Lives in: Jacksonport Profession: Teacher, Sunset Elementary School, Sturgeon Bay Number of years in Door County: 13 Started volunteering: About 10 years ago at Crossroads at Big Creek Areas of interest: Trees, streams and lakes, exploring new areas, […]
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The Master Naturalist: Jane Whitney steps up for citizen science
Jane Whitney dedicates most of her time to conservation service within Door County for a variety of organizations – leading guided hikes, botanizing, teaching classes, studying (she was prepping for The Ridges Sanctuary’s Crane Symposium when we spoke), and giving presentations. She’s also no stranger to a clipboard, gathering data for multiple projects as easily as […]
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The Phragmites Queen: Jo Whalen
Grant-dependent conservation programs rely on volunteers to leverage finances and broaden their network and messaging. Those who come up with a program and then run with it are considered “super volunteers” by Sam Koyen, the Door County Invasive Species Team (DCIST) coordinator for the County of Door Soil and Water Conservation Department (SWCD). The most […]
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Volunteer Highlight: Doug Otopalik
“I believe volunteer work is a civic duty – something that we should all do.” Lives in: Sturgeon Bay Profession: Retired dentist Number of years in Door County: Five Started volunteering: I’ve been a lifelong volunteer. I started volunteering locally as soon as I moved here. Area of interest: Environmental education Volunteer accomplishments: Stream monitoring, invasive-species […]
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Volunteer Highlight: Barb and Doug Henderson
“We meet fun people from different backgrounds, learn from those differences and create closer friendships with experts in the field.” Live in: Sevastopol Professions: We’re both retired, but during our professional lives, Barb focused on art, and Doug worked as an educator and retired as the first executive director of the Door County Maritime Museum. […]
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Volunteer Highlight: Marilyn Hansotia
“Volunteering and learning with like-minded folks has been a privilege and so rewarding.” Lives in: Ellison Bay Profession: Home health nursing, journalist with local radio stations in central Wisconsin Number of years in Door County: 19 Started volunteering: Started in the 1990s with the Rushes Wilderness Foundation as a timeshare owner Area of interest: Bat […]
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Volunteer Highlight: Brian Fitzgerald
“There are things I’m passionate about because they made a difference in my life when I was growing up.” Lives in: Ephraim Profession: Event director, potter Number of years in Door County: 31 Started volunteering: I started with the ice rink in Sister Bay in the mid-1990s, and then began organizing youth skiing and skating […]
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Volunteer Highlight: Ron Fandrei
“I knew it was an area that needed to be preserved and protected.” Lives in: Ellison Bay Profession: Retired, previously delivered gas for Ferrellgas Number of years in Door County: Born and raised in the county, I live on my family farm, which was built in 1870. Started volunteering: Started volunteering with The Nature Conservancy […]
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Dinner Program about 1930s Ephraim
Join the Door County Historical Society for an evening of food and history April 24 at Al Johnson’s. Guests will be treated to a Swedish meal and a program titled “Ephraim Stories from the 1930s.” The doors will open at 5:30 pm; dinner will be served at 6 pm; and the program will follow. Kathleen […]
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Presentation Details Life of Egg Harbor Resident
Weeks before her passing in 2015, longtime Egg Harbor resident Marie Wulf Mikels was interviewed by the Egg Harbor Historical Society about growing up in Egg Harbor. A presentation about her life will take place April 11, 2:30 pm, at the Kress Pavilion, 7845 Church St. in Egg Harbor. Mikels talked about growing up in […]
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Before Books, John Maggitti Helped Disarm Nukes
Sometime in the early 1990s John Maggitti was at a Soviet air base – Sharomy Naval Air Base on the Kamchatka Peninsula – watching several dozen live nuclear weapons from the former Soviet Union get loaded onto a FedEx 747 for a seven-hour flight to Naval Air Station Oakland in California. Maggitti was working as a weapons […]
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Door County is famous for art. Around every curve and corner, you’ll find art fairs, art festivals, art galleries, concert venues, theater spaces – art is everywhere. Sometimes, however, the art is a bit unexpected. Take that six-foot-tall bear or two bald eagles fighting over a fish – eye-catchers for sure. Cody and Ashley Leist […]
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Stories from the Greystone Castle Walls
At the corner of Madison Avenue and Maple Street on Sturgeon Bay’s west side, the Greystone Castle is filled with stories. Greg Ebel bought the bar and eatery in 1978. He was 27, tending bar for Gordy Schumacher at the Scandia Supper Club, and “I was broke,” Greg recalled. “I even borrowed $150 from the […]
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Program tackles the depression, loneliness and anxieties of an aging population “We are here to help people understand that it’s not normal to feel depressed. It’s possible to have quality of life and improve quality of life at any age.” — Lauren Daoust, Director, Senior Life Solutions About 15% of adults older than 60 deal […]
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Wild Things: There’s a New Kid in Town
Stangel takes over at Stephenson Pier by KEVIN NAZE, [email protected], Peninsula Pulse contributor Some of Travis Stangel’s earliest fishing memories involve playing in the snow on the frozen waters of Green Bay and chasing tip-ups whenever a flag popped. “My dad had me out there when I was real young – three extra lines, you […]
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History Keeper: Karen Sohns Ekberg Was Born into Ephraim History
by PATTY WILLIAMSON, PhD Karen Sohns Ekberg was, quite literally, born into history in the living quarters above the little butcher shop that her grandparents, Arnold and Ida Sohns, established in Ephraim in 1917. Arnold became well known as the owner of Door County’s first chicken plucker: a contraption that drew a crowd of onlookers […]
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A legendary coach, beloved teachers, a seminal artist, and a chronicler of local history are just a few of the people we said goodbye to in 2022. Francha Barnard Door County lost a community activist, enthusiastic volunteer and supporter of the arts when Francha Barnard died in July at age 76. She retired to the […]
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Zephyr Ciesar: a singer-songwriter brings her oldies-inspired sound back home
When Zephyr Ciesar was about three years old, she snuck away from her mother at a festival in northern California. Her mother looked everywhere, and when she finally found her daughter, she was onstage with a reggae band. The band had given her a microphone, and she was having the time of her young life […]
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Outstanding Teen Advocates for Dyslexia Awareness
Claire Bohn doesn’t have to look very far to see the effect that dyslexia can have on people. “Dyslexia runs in my family, and my brother has it,” she said. “Growing up watching him struggle with dyslexia, I really wanted to help others who have dyslexia.” Dyslexia is a learning disability that makes reading difficult. […]
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Tins of Light from Door County Candle Company
The New York Times reported last week that generators rattled and roared across Kiev, Ukraine, where officials estimated about half the city’s population of 3 million remained without electricity following Russian missile strikes on power facilities and critical infrastructure. Surrounding the Ukrainian capital in the Kiev region – which does not include the capital and […]