In this issue
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DCEDC Survey Seeks Input from Business Owners
The Door County Economic Development Corporation (DCEDC) is crafting its strategic plan for 2021 and beyond and seeks input from county business owners about which efforts and services DCEDC could provide that would benefit them the most. The survey will close May 1. To find out more or take the survey, visit livedoorcounty.org.
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On April 23, Southern Door students celebrated Drive Your Tractor to School Day, a Future Farmers of America (FFA) tradition that started in 2016. From left with Katrina Hoesly, Section 9 state FFA officer, are Logan Olsen, Matthew Malvitz, Jorge Gonzales, David Willming and Braden Delveaux. Submitted.
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Gov. Evers Announces Fund for Small Businesses
Gov. Evers has announced a fund for small businesses – including those that started in 2020 – through which they can receive $5,000. Details have not yet been finalized. Learn more at revenue.wi.gov. Eligible businesses can apply to the current COVID-19 recovery programs, PPP2 and EIDL. For arts organizations, there is the Shuttered Venue Operators Grant, and […]
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Peninsula Title Invites Community to Groundbreaking
The staff of Peninsula Title invites the community to the groundbreaking for its new office, 512 S. Lansing Ave. in Sturgeon Bay, on May 4, 11 am. The firm has undergone two additions at its current location, and this new space will accommodate its anticipated growth. Jack and Julie May own Peninsula Title, and their […]
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Glo Door County to Host Grand Opening
Glō Door County (GloDoorCounty.com), 2340 Mill Road in Sister Bay, will host a grand opening May 7, 4-8 pm, to welcome the community to see the new medispa and cosmeceutical and retail store. Glō features professional-grade skin care options selected by owner Dr. Kristina Kleven, a board-certified dermatologist who co-runs a medical and cosmetic dermatology […]
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Door County Historical Museum to Open for Season May 1
The Door County Historical Museum will open for the 2021 season May 1, 10 am – 4:30 pm daily, and curators are working hard to prepare the museum for the summer season. In 2020, the pandemic closed the museum, but it reopened in July by appointment only. Health and safety will still come first: masks and […]
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History Mystery from the Ephraim Historical Foundation
Do you recognize the men in this photo from the mid-20th century? How about the fish? According to DNR fisheries biologist Nick Legler, “The medium-sized lineup of fish on the top are definitely bass. A couple of the fish almost look like largemouth bass, but I’ll guess they’re probably all smallmouth. And, the biggest three […]
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Cocktails Return to Hatch Distilling Co. Hatch Distilling Co., 7740 Hwy 42 in Egg Harbor, has started up its cocktail service again. Tastings are available at the bar. Masks are required. Wickman House Is Back for Its 10th Season Wickman House, 11976 Mink River Road in Ellison Bay, will celebrate the start of its 10th […]
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Land Trust to Give Away Trees, Plants
The Door County Land Trust (DoorCountyLandTrust.org) will be giving away three free native trees or plants to families as part of the county-wide Big Plant initiative. Those who make a donation will receive a complimentary membership through the end of the year. The giveaways will take place May 1, 9 am – 12 pm, at Main […]
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Climate Change Coalition Hosts Clean-Power Talk
Bruce Nilles, executive director of Climate Imperative, will present “The Urgent Need to Stop Burning Gas: Electrify Our Economy with Clean Power Now!” on May 5, 7 pm, as part of the Climate Change Coalition of Door County’s Season of Action. Nilles will focus on how we can and must move away not only from […]
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Education Notes: Board Uncovers Various Teacher Complaints in Gibraltar School District
President draws few conclusions in study of district culture Gibraltar’s school board shared some findings Monday following three months of research into the working conditions of educators. Prompted by two untimely resignations during this school year, including a respected physics teacher’s midterm departure, a board committee conducted more than a dozen interviews of current instructors […]
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WSPRA Honors SD School District for Dedication Video
The Wisconsin School Public Relations Association (WSPRA) has honored the Southern Door (SD) County School District with a Spectrum Award of Excellence – its highest recognition – for its work in school communications. Spectrum Awards celebrate high-quality public-relations efforts in Wisconsin school districts, and this is the district’s second WSPRA award. The district was recognized for the […]
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Kitchen Cabinet Kings Offers Entrepreneur Scholarship
Kitchen Cabinet Kings, an online supplier of kitchen and bathroom cabinets, is offering its fifth annual Entrepreneur Scholarship, which is available to any current or incoming college undergraduate or graduate student enrolled in the spring, summer or fall 2021 semester. The company will award one $5,000 scholarship for the best entry, and it must be […]
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Letter to the Editor: Even with Leaf Blowers, Life Is Good
This is in response to a letter in last week’s Peninsula Pulse about “leaf-blower rage.” If I had a close next-door neighbor who had a loud, irritating leaf blower, I could take out my hearing aids. I would be left with a dull noise and some speech frequencies – not enough to carry on a conversation. […]
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Letter to the Editor: Sharing Our Beautiful County
Door County is a major tourist area. We know this, and most of us embrace and derive our income from it. I do, too, as a contractor who lives in Sevastopol and works on the water-supplying access to that resource, our greatest up here. An evolving trend is Short Term Rentals (STRs), a hospitality concept […]
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Letter to the Editor: Celebrating Staff Appreciation Week, May 3-7
The Southern Door Board of Education would like to extend our gratitude and appreciation to the Southern Door staff members for their dedication and commitment to our students. This year more than ever, we gratefully admire the creative ways in which they have effectively balanced their time, prioritizing academics and social and emotional learning needs, […]
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Letter to the Editor: Giving Credit
I am a firm believer in “giving credit when credit is due.” When it comes to politics, it might take me some time to think things through. As I read what Liz Cheney said this past week, contrasted with what some of the men in her party continue to do, it makes me realize the […]
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Letter to the Editor: Act Now for Fair Maps
Wisconsin citizens want nonpartisan redistricting. In Madison, Wisconsin legislators are busy working on a biennial budget for our state. Please urge them to fund nonpartisan redistricting maps – a far better use of taxpayer money than their February allocation of a million dollars in contracts for lawyers to fight for maps they likely will fashion […]
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It’s a tale of kicking the can down the road: postponing necessary expenditures and claiming you’ve saved taxpayers lots of money. It’s a tale of false claims. Here’s a portion of the summary of the American Society of Civil Engineers’ assessment of Wisconsin’s roads, which it graded D+. “Wisconsin encompasses more than 115,000 miles of […]
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Server of the Week: Tanya Martinez at Door County Coffee & Tea Co.
5773 Hwy 42 in Carlsville There’s nothing better than hitting the drive-through And seeing a friendly person who remembers you. Tanya Martinez is cooking up a storm, and Her coffee and smile are equally warm. When she’s not working, she’s playing with her three boys – Her family, painting and animals all bring her so […]
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Perspective: The Numbers Tell the Story of Our Labor Shortage
One of the favorite parts of my job at Peninsula Publishing & Distribution is meeting with, talking with and – occasionally – debating with business owners, community leaders and others throughout the Door peninsula. I learn all manner of things during these conversations, and more often than not, the things I learn I share with […]
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Poetry Review: ‘Sheltering with Poems’
review by Albert DeGenova The pandemic is now in its second year and all of us are fatigued. Many of us want to put all the sheltering in place, social distancing, and mask wearing behind us. But we cannot. Many of us want to forget and move on. But we cannot. And because we cannot […]
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Trees and Mushrooms Need Each Other
Did you know that a healthy forest can survive only when it has the proper mushroom components? Mushrooms – in the fungus family – can be saprophytes, parasites or mycorrhizas. Many are in the saprophyte group, whose job it is to break down dead plant material and return it to the soil for use by chlorophyll-containing […]
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WILD THINGS: Not All Classrooms Have Walls
Trees have always had a special place in my outdoor adventures. Long before using them as ambush sites in hopes of eventually serving wild game on a dinner plate, trees were for climbing so high that my mother – watching the last of her eight kids throw caution to the wind – might have needed […]
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Much of the action appears to be taking place not where our gaze travels up, but below our feet A March 2018 story in Smithsonian Magazine titled “Do Trees Talk to Each Other?” states that trees, to reach enormousness, “depend on a complicated web of relationships, alliances and kinship networks.” The story featured Peter Wohlleben […]
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Tree Enemies: Pests, disease, changed conditions and invasive species all threaten native forests
A slide shown during a workshop depicted deciduous trees and dense undergrowth contrasted by the greenery of pines. The beauty of the forest image caused naturalist Coggin Heeringa to speak up. “I said, ‘That’s just beautiful; that looks just like Crossroads,’” recalled Heeringa, who works for Crossroads at Big Creek. Botanist Gary Fewless paused and […]
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Driving along the shaded, winding roads at the tip of the Door peninsula, or under the tight canopy near Whitefish Dunes, you can be forgiven if you fail to fully appreciate the deep and complex state and local institutions that help to manage such forests. These important ecosystems feel pressure from many sides – timber harvesting […]
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Planting Primer: How Not to Kill Your New Trees
Jake Schroeder can’t help but notice errors when he drives past newly planted, but dead, trees. Whether looking at large plantings or just a few trees in a lawn, the forestry leader for the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources’ Northeast Region sees a few common problems, as do other experts. Tender Youth “The biggest thing […]
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Conservation Hall of Fame Honors Jens Jensen
Jens Jensen, the founder of The Clearing Folk School in Ellison Bay and an inspirational force behind the creation of The Ridges Sanctuary, will receive a long-overdue honor when he’s inducted into the Wisconsin Conservation Hall of Fame on April 24, 11 am, joining the likes of Aldo Leopold and Gaylord Nelson. The public is […]
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2021 Sustainability Issue: The Power of Trees
Water, sunshine, gravity, soil, biological diversity – these are all necessary to sustain life on Earth as we know it. Trees have their place in this pantheon of vital conditions and resources, but we also love them for their beauty and practical purposes. Surrounded as we are in Door County by a plentiful supply of […]
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Although tens of thousands of people head to Peninsula State Park each year to hike its many trails, far fewer ever notice the park that sits across from the state park’s entrance. Fish Creek Park offers 27 wooded acres, the small creek that gives the village its name and two trail loops: the Butterfly Loop […]
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Wild Ones: Healing the Earth, One Yard at a Time
Wild Ones of the Door Peninsula is a chapter of a national organization that has as its motto, “Healing the Earth, one yard at time.” On Earth Day, we all wish we could heal the Earth. Let’s face it: Its ecosystems are severely compromised, and we are totally dependent on the services provided by our […]
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Our peninsula was lucky. The Paleo-Indians, who first lived here about 2,000 years ago, were primarily hunters and fishers who did little to disturb the primeval forest. That changed beginning in the mid-1800s with settlement and farming, but the forest has since reclaimed Door County. According to Jake Schroeder, a forester with Wisconsin’s Division of […]
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Make a Book For Mother’s Day with Write On
Create an unusual Mother’s Day gift that will be treasured for years to come during one of Write On, Door County’s in-person Make a Book programs. Write On will supply the paper, supplies and writing prompts; you provide the memories and love. A class for adult pairs will be held May 6, 2-4 pm. Create […]
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‘Art of Water’ Exhibition Presented Virtually
The James May Gallery (jamesmaygallery.com) will host Art of Water for the fifth year, May 1 – July 31, on Artsy (artsy.net/james-may-gallery). This online-exclusive, international exhibition of work by more than 100 regional and international artists honors our most vital resource: water. The work depicts serious topics such as water conservation and protection, but it also celebrates […]
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‘Between The Cracks’ Exhibit Explores the Unknown
Through Memorial Day, the Public Arts Initiative of Egg Harbor is hosting the online exhibit Between the Cracks: The Gift of Liminality, featuring 14 pieces that came out of two virtual workshops led by local artist Dawn Patel. Artists were asked to create from the “in-between spaces” of life, where the familiar disappears and we […]
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MAM Exhibit Celebrates Mike Judy and Schomer Lichtner
The Miller Art Museum, 107 S. 4th Ave. in Sturgeon Bay, will unveil a new exhibition in its main galleries April 24. Mike + Schomer: Cows, Color and Camaraderie will celebrate the friendship of Mike Judy and Schomer Lichtner through their colorful and eccentric works. In place of an opening reception, a May 13 program […]
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Meet Brooks (wihumane.org/adopt/animal?id=46964586), a two-year-old pup who’s available for adoption at the Wisconsin Humane Society (WHS) Door County Campus. This handsome fellow was transferred to WHS from an overcrowded shelter in Kentucky. He arrived in desperate need of medical care. His coat was patchy; his skin was inflamed and red; he had an ear infection […]
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Destination Door County Offers CTA Classes In-person and Virtually
On March 30, Destination Door County held its first in-person CTA (Certified Tourism Ambassador) class in a year. Students included Austen Becker, Lakeshore Adventures; Carrie Counihan, Beth Healy and Dave Lloyd, Wisconsin Cheese Masters; Anna Hardy, Jen Jensen and Jennesa Johnston, Landmark Resort; Heather Hegnet, Beach Harbor Resort; Whitney Meza, Destination Door County; Hanna Michalsen, […]
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Community Clinic Recognized in Best of Sister Bay Awards
The Community Clinic-Door County is the winner of the 2021 Best of Sister Bay Awards in the Medical Clinic category. The other award winners will be notified during the coming weeks. The award program honors and generates public recognition of the achievements and contributions of exemplary organizations, businesses and entrepreneurs in and around Sister Bay.
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Community Blood Center Connects Donors and Patients
The Community Blood Center (CBC, communityblood.org) is furthering its mission to “connect lives; share life” by connecting patients to their blood donors anonymously. The Thank the Donor program allows patients who have received a transfusion to send a message of appreciation – with an optional photo or video – to the individual who donated the blood, platelets […]
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Maritime Museum Closed on April 26
The Door County Maritime Museum in Sturgeon Bay will be closed to the public on April 26 for some building-maintenance projects, but it will resume regular hours April 27. Its winter hours are 10 am – 4 pm, seven days a week, January – April. The Jim Kress Maritime Lighthouse Tower will open to the […]
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Destination Door County Launches Sustainability Pledge
Destination Door County (DDC) is asking residents to lead the way on a new initiative: the Door County Pledge. It asks for a commitment to exploring the peninsula’s natural environment and culture with purpose, mindfulness, respect and care. Beginning April 20, DDC asks residents to help kick off the initiative by digitally signing the Door […]
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The Big Plant Takes Root Countywide
Some big ideas grew during a year of pandemic quarantine, and The Big Plant was one that caught on in a big way in Door County for 2021. The volunteer-run Climate Change Coalition (CCC) of Door County rebranded its own tree-planting program and is coordinating and tracking countywide Big Plant efforts from Earth Day, April […]
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Baileys Harbor Residents Say Yes to Buying Waterfront Property
It turned out that the Baileys Harbor Board of Supervisors was very much in tune with residents when it agreed to purchase the former Nelson’s hardware store and motel property for $1.95 million. Town residents overwhelmingly supported the purchase in a 255-32 vote Tuesday evening during the town’s annual meeting at the Baileys Harbor fire […]
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Cost-cutting Measures Sought for Jetty Repair
To hold down costs on repairs to the Anclam Park jetty, Baileys Harbor’s town board suggested a scaled-back project this month. Waves and historically high Lake Michigan water levels during the past two years have damaged the pathway and trail on the jetty, forcing a trail closure. Town engineer Steve Parent recently presented the board […]
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Ellison Bluff County Park Entrance Getting Blacktop
The Door County Board of Supervisors voted to transfer money to cover higher-than-anticipated costs to pave the gravel road leading into Ellison Bluff County Park. The work has been scheduled, but the only bid for the initial plan to double-chip-seal the road came in higher than anticipated, at $101,386.25. Instead, the Door County Highway Department […]
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Hospital Launches Targeted Vaccine Outreach
Door County Medical Center (DCMC) took COVID-19 vaccination clinics to two businesses this week – Fincantieri Bay Shipbuilding and N.E.W. Industries – in hopes of reaching more individuals. DCMC CEO Brian Stephens said the hospital has reached out to several major employers to see whether a clinic would help increase vaccination rates, and those were the […]
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Wild Things: State Natural Resources Board Approves Whitefish Emergency Rule
A seven-year effort led by Northern Door commercial fisherman Charlie Henriksen is finally coming to fruition on Green Bay. Wisconsin’s seven-citizen Natural Resources Board (NRB) unanimously approved an emergency rule allowing an increased quota for whitefish this season in commercial fishing Zone 1 (Lower Green Bay) during an online meeting April 14. Henriksen, president of […]
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Search for new leadership falls short The Haunted Mansion is closing its doors. During the search for new community members to join the core leadership team, a number of people did volunteer, but not enough to fill the vacant core leadership positions. Although the group has the assistance of more than 500 volunteers annually, much […]
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Crossroads Hosts Habitat Healers, Big Creek Watershed Day
Crossroads at Big Creek (crossroadsatbigcreek.org), 2041 Michigan St. in Sturgeon Bay, will host a Habitat Healers cleanup party April 24, 9:30-11:30 am. Volunteers of all ages are welcome, and the specific activity will depend on the need and the weather. Wear clothing and footwear that can get wet and dirty, and supply your own water. […]
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Obituary: Robert Harold Kayser
April 18, 2021 Robert Harold Kayser, 75, beloved son of Arthur and Lillian Kayser, died after a debilitating stroke. Bob was a rugged individual, never married and lived life to the fullest. He was a story teller and collector. While still in his early 20s, he discovered and fell in love with Door County and […]
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Obituary: Jerome “Jerry” T. Young
March 23, 2021 Jerome “Jerry” T. Young of West Hartford, Connecticut, died at the age of 82. He grew up in the greater Chicago area and participated in the Boy Scouts, through which he was inducted into the Order of the Arrow. He always wanted to explore new places and managed to see much of […]
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Oct. 31, 1943 – April 19, 2021 Gary A. Bley, 77, of the Town of Jacksonport, died at his home after an apparent heart attack. He was born in Sturgeon Bay to Wallace and LaVerne (Weitermann) Bley. Gary graduated from Sevastopol High School in 1961. On Sept. 5, 1964, he married Patricia Henschel at St. John Evangelical Lutheran Church […]
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March 18, 1937 – March 24, 2021 Robert Leland Pence died peacefully in San Juan Capistrano, California. He was born in Milwaukee. When he was a child, his family relocated to Door County, where he spent his youth. As a young man, Robert returned to Milwaukee to devote his energy and passion to becoming a painter. In […]
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Obituary: Charles Edward Wilson
Sept. 6, 1930 – April 16, 2021 “Poor Charlie” Wilson died at the age of 90. Ironically, he was the only child of four shipped up north to work on the angus farm in Wilsonville, Canada, and ended up on a piece-of-heaven farm in Door County. Some people know how to live! Dad was a […]
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PODCAST: The 2021 Door County Living Magazine Philanthropy Issue
Andrew Kleidon is joined by Myles Dannhausen Jr. to talk about the 2021 Door County Living Magazine Philanthropy Issue. They discuss how it was put together, unique stories from the past year, a look at several community members who stepped up and lead by example, and the 2021 Philanthropist of the Year: David Eliot.
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June 10, 1941 – April 15, 2021 Mary Schwarz, 79, of Sturgeon Bay, died peacefully at her home. She was born in Sheboygan to Charles and Margaret (Schnorr) Street. On Oct. 1, 1960, she married Wayne Schwarz. He died June 21, 2003. Mary had a heart of gold and a fabulous sense of humor, and she loved life […]
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June 10, 1953 ~ April 12, 2021 John David Crockett, 67, of Carlsville, died on April 12, 2021. He was born June 10, 1953 in Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan to John and Emma (Bonacci) Crockett. On March 3, 2006, he married Linda (Strom) Boeck in Newberry, Michigan. John worked as a mechanical technician for the Sturgeon Bay […]