Welcome to Mackinaw Island Moments, hosted by lifelong islander Jason saint Aje. Through
conversations and interviews with follow island locals and residents, Jason will bring you the
real stories and characters that to find life on the island. Whether you're a
seasoned visitor, new to Mcaina Island, or even an island er yourself,
you'll be sure to learn firsthand about the island with Jason on Macan Island Moments
and welcome Top of the Morning to you of another edition. This is episode
seven of the Lucky Number seven on Saint Patrick's Day of the Mackinaw Island Moments
podcast. Coming to you from Mackinaw Island. I'm Jason saint On's lifelong islander
bringing you the only podcast by a lifelong islander from macin Island. Today's episode
is brought to you by Dowd's Market right there at the corner of Fort and
Maine, America's oldest family run grocery store located right here on Mcan Island.
Thank you Dowd's Market, folks. Today we have one heck of a treat.
This is not to be missed. You know often back in the day
they used three to mac And Island as the Emerald Isle, and that was
because of our strong Irish heritage, which goes back to the eighteen hundreds.
That's waned a little bit, but we're pretty pleased. We're just thrilled actually
today that we have from one of the original Irish families. We have missus
Kay Hoppenrath, maiden named Flanagan, and she's in the studio with us today
to talk all things mackinaw and from the old days in her Irish ancestry.
Kay, welcome and take it away. Thank you. So, Kay,
take us right from the Giggo were you born here? How old were you
when you moved here? Tell us, I was born in Detroit, but
that was because it was just before World War two and my parents were living
in Detroit because my father was working at an automotive company in the winter,
and then they'd come back here in the summer and he would be in the
carriage business. I see, I see. So let me ask you this
question. There's many old Irish families on the island, Dowd, Chambers,
Flannagan and Donnelly. Of course, their numbers may have faded as of late.
But do you still feel that that Irish sentiment and pride as you walk
around the town. Oh, certainly. But there were many Irish families and
very large families. McCarty's, Corrigan's, Donaldy's, Bogan Bogan, Dowd's,
Chambers', McNally, Flannagan, Durkin. My ancestry goes back on six generations
on my mother's side, the Donelly side, and we think five on my
dad's side. Wow. Amazing. Yeah. So the house right over here
on Market Street, just past the Medical Centers called the Donnelly House, was
at your grandparents. My grandfather done is my mother's father, and he built
that and that was a Sears home, Jason, very interesting and the plans
were still up in the attic. Was that right now? As I recall
and correct me if I'm wrong, A Sears home used to go on the
series and Robot catalog and you would literally buy a house. They'd ship you
all the lumber and the shingles, everything you need. Is that how it
works? That's right? Well, I think there's several of them, wasn't
The former Steve dou residence on the Gulpen Street was a Seris home. Yes,
that's kind of amazing. So I don't mean to tip your hat as
to your age, although before we started she said, I don't care.
It's going to be written on my tombstone it is. Folks, let me
tell you something about missus Hoppenrath. She doesn't pull any punches. She's going
to tell you the truth during this podcast, whether you like it or not.
But anyway, so you were born, as you indicated, just before
the war broke out World War two, folks, can you tell us what
you remember about just the post war years for tourism and how things were on
the island. Well, I was born in forty one, and I don't
have a lot of recollection of the war years. After the war, things
were pretty slim for a long time. And that's why I was born in
Detroit, because my parents would go off during the winter, and many people
did, driving truck, working in auto plants. You had to survive because
the tourism as we know it today was just very scant, sure, and
so that that was kind of hand to mouth and there wasn't the money.
That weren't the flow of tourists in those days. Sure, I remember reading
in a book one time, I think it was in forty four or forty
five, the Grand Hotel had something like thirteen paying guests one night in the
middle of July. Yeah, it's sack with about two hundred staff. So
we'll talk about that another day. So in your day, when you were
in your teenage years and your in your twenties, I'm guessing just about everybody
had a horse then or a large dog, and it was it was nothing
to team up the horse to head to the mainland across the ice. Do
you remember those much of those days, not really going across the ice,
but my great aunt, one of my great aunts and my great uncle were
coming from st Agnes across the ice and the horse went through and the cutter
but they got out all right. But there was some risky sure things.
And my grandfather there Downnley used to do logging and he would go across to
a small town called Welcome, between Macino City and Sheboygan, and I don't
think it's there anymore, probably some small summer cottages. So there was a
lot of toing and throwing across the ice, sure, I'll bet yeah.
And obviously you remember life before the Macanam Bridge. I do. Yeah,
I was in high school in Potaski when the bridge was being built. Wow,
a lot of Irish in the local politics for years here and without saying,
without saying too many names, we are our mayors has been the mayor
now for fifty it'll be fifty years on election day. And when you were
a young lady, when you attained the right to vote, the age to
vote, was it pretty well known that you will vote Irish on this island
or was it not that strong? No, not at all. No,
by that time, a lot of the Irish families were gone. You know,
they die out, sure, and move off and developed careers and maybe
come back for a month in the summer. But no, that time has
gone. If it ever happened, right, if it ever existed, it
was probably more lower than yeah, I think, definitely lowre. So some
of our listeners may be surprised to hear of all the Irish references. And
I think a lot of folks when they think of an Irish isole, they
think of Beaver Island, which is you know, as a tremendous Irish sentiment,
as our settlement as well. But you know, in the mid eighteen
hundreds they were kind of being run by a Mormon faction that had kind of
taken over. So we really were the Irish Isle of Mackinawe. There's a
sign that's featured prominantly and a picture of John F. Kennedy when he was
just senator. He'd come to the island. He was campaigning for president,
and the sign said mackinaw welcomes, or the people of mackinaw welcome Senator Kennedy
to the Irish Isle. Do you remember that day when he was here?
It just said welcome to the Irish Isle. And my father d we be
flanning and was holding the sign. You're kidding me, I'm not. I
did not know that. That's that's great. So were you here that day
or No? I was in high school in Potoski. I see. Fortunately,
you know along Lime, I have my father. Actually, John Franks
got his Kennedy's autograph he was then a senator and gave it to my dad
for me. No, Kenny, you still have it. I have it.
Wow. You know a lot of distinguished guests, celebrities, politicians,
et cetera, have called on the island over the years. You don't strike
me as a type of person who was easily impressed by fame. But that's
said. Who was your favorite celebrity sighting or person you got to meet her
or anyone of you know, national notoriety that came down. Do you have
a favorite that you remember? Yes, Betty Ford? Is that right?
Did you get to hang out with her? No? I was very close
in the crowd seeing the walk by President Ford and missus Ford came from Trinity
Church down to May's fud Shop, and that's the corner shop, right,
And the reason that they chose that was that there were two doors and so
if there had been a problem, they could get the president out. And
my husband and I were standing in the crowd. We were just about by
the carriage to her office, and the crowd wasn't all friendly. It was
actually a bit uncomfortable because there were some mutterings, sure, things like that.
But we were thrilled to see a president up close. Sure, but
I always admired missus Ford, and it was she was great and very friendly.
That's great. I was only I think two or three years old,
and that when when the Fords came, So I don't I don't remember any
of it, of course, you know, speaking of the Irish ship at
Beaver Island and the Irish of macn Island. Kay, could you tell me
that story about a couple of your close relatives and how they evaded tragedy.
Oh. Yes, my grandmother Flanagan, she was Sarah Dirkin, and her
good friend and cousin it was Aunt Kate. Early Aunt was a courtesy title.
We're both seamstressed. And in the fall of the year they would go
too and spend the winter sewing for wealthy women and make money and then come
back to the island in the spring. And so they set off for Chicago,
and this would have been, oh, sometime in the eighteen eighties,
eighty six, eighty seven, somewhere in there. And they got to Beaver
Island, and my grandmother had cousins. The family had cousins on the Beavers
and so they stopped there. The ship was taking on cargo and my grandmother
and her friend went up to the house, to the dun Levy house for
dinner while the ship was loading the cargo. And when they went to leave,
her cousin, James Dunleavy told them, well, you can go and
get on the boat, but your luggage is staying here, so they more
or less had to stay, and he had got walked down to the dock
to the pier. He didn't like the looks of the way the cargo was
being loaded and he didn't trust it, so he took their luggage and brought
it up to his house. The ship never made it to Chicago. Wow.
And for about two weeks somewhere in there, the families here thought that
the girls had gone, that they were deceased. That's amazing, until I
could get word to them that they were in fact safe and on their way
to Chicago. Wow. That guy certainly knew his boats and the ships.
Well. He was a native of Beaver Island, so you can imagine they
know their boats. Yeah. Wow. So let's change gears a little bit.
You worked for years at the Maclaland Medical Centers clinic coordinator, so some
of our listeners have probably had exchanges with you through the little glass window as
they're coming in and out of the medical center back in the day. And
because of that, your job is largely included helping the fundraise for the clinic
and then for Straight's Hospital as a whole as they merged with the Synignus hospital.
Some folks will always bring up the Christmas Bazaar and talk about the legend
looms larger than the real deal. Folks. In December they have a weekend
long fundraiser. It's in the community hall. There's some meals and some white
elephants. I think that's what they call them, isn't it. Kay,
White elephant kind of sells a little bit of everything, some raffles. It's
been going on at least throughout my life that I can recall. And Kay,
you were instrumental and starting that, tell us you weren't instrumental. No,
that's Margaret doubt all the way. Oh, I did not know that
Margaret started it. Yeah, it was the benefit only for Saint Anne's Church
because we really desperately needed money, and so she started what was a very
small one day event and then it bloomed into what it is now. Unfortunately
in some ways, Yeah, there is some What Kay's alluding to is it's
it's kind of blown up to the point where it's become a bit of a
tourist attraction very much. You know, in my day, and I'm not
trying to go either way on this, but my day, you'd walk into
the Christmas Bazaar, and you knew everybody there, and not only that,
I knew where Kay was going to be sitting. I knew where Porkylopine and
Caroline are going to be sitting. And Gwenny and Elaine Bunker always sit up
near the front on the right, and everybody always sat in the same spot.
And it was a lot of fun and a lot of nostalgia for those
days. But you know, times change. Yeah, But so the Christmas
Bizarre, let me enlarge a little bit please. That began, as I
said, for Saint Anne's, and then Margaret felt that we should include the
Trinity Church, which was at that time year round also, but some of
the people didn't like the minister at Trinity, so she had a bright idea
and she pulled in the medical Center to kind of neutralize the situation. So
it was St. Anne's, Trinity, and the Medicenter. So what year
do you think the bazaar started? Do you have any idea on that?
Oh, geez, I think probably seventy seven or seventy eight. Oh,
it might have been the first couple of years, so well over forty years
then, oh, yeah, definitely. So let's go back to the island.
What is your favorite season on the island, And let's stop there.
What's your favorite season? What time of year do you like best? Winder?
Me too, me too? Not this winter. This hasn't been much
about, No, no, but winter, because it's just island pretty much,
right. And you know, I think some people take offense when we
say that, but that's not what's intended. I don't think they quite understand
what we mean by we like winter better. It's not that we don't want
anybody here. That's not it at all. No, no, no,
we're just glad to have a little piece in quiet and be able to see
each other. A lot of folks talk about Christmas on the island and how
it's kind of changed as well. Do you have any favorite Christmas memories growing
up here on the island. Absolutely? Can you tell us a few?
Well one in particular, now, my father was in the carriage business for
many, many years, but he didn't keep horses over the winter. But
John Franks always had a horse and a small cutter, a dre But he
lived in the old Davenport House where racis are now in the annex, and
that included the Davenport properties. The old farm. He would hitch his horse
up and come down to Market Street and pick me and my dad up and
we would go out to the Davenport farm looking for Christmas tree and that was
absolutely my favorite memory of Christmas. And they would always make a stop at
the Davis Store down on Main Street where the Big Store is now, folks
where the Big Yeah, And I think that was for maybe a little anti
freeze, but I always got a candy bar out of it, so that
was happy for me. Well, I mean, given the choice today,
would you rather have a candy bar? Some anna freeze the candy bar?
Okay? Sorry what I don't want to get too controversial, but I mean,
you're one of the senior members of this community. What have you seen
that causes anguish? I mean, obviously the big one is development, but
that comes with time. But you know, is there stuff you look at
daily and you just kind of shake your head or do you roll with it?
How does someone like you who've seen it since nineteen forties cope with it?
Jason, you're opening a Pandora's box here. Okay. Over development,
yes, development is natural, but it seems as though we're cramming buildings on
every spare half acre of grass. Yeah, motor vehicles, the congestion on
main Street, And what bothers me about the congestion in the summer is it's
turning people off, turning visitors, guests to the island off. And I've
heard these comments over and over. It's too crowded, you can't get into
a store, this type of thing. And I think it's a mistake that
we're constantly advertising. Now. We know there's been a huge boom in travel
in tourism since the pandemic, so maybe that accounts for some of it.
Right. All that said, has there ever been a time when you said,
I think I'll move away. No, No, this is my home,
and I should mention folks. Missus Hoppinrath was certainly in a position to
retire and buy a condo in Florida and just spend the summer up here,
and that was not in the cards for her. She absolutely said, not
a chance. And she lives here year round as she has for I don't
know how many years now, and she lives up in the Harrisonville section now.
And I'm telling you what I don't want to I don't want to sound
trite, but She's one tough lady h to live a mile uphill and then
still come down and get her mail to her banking and uh and such.
Kay, any memories of Saint Patrick's Day you want to bring up? I
know we have the big Saint Patrick's Day dinner for the church, but any
any fond memories of the old days Saint Patrick's Day? Not really, it
was, you know, just another day, right. I think that Saint
Patrick's Day has kind of evolved like Halloween. Yeah, it's more of a
bar holiday anymore. But I think so, you know, the Irish always
took it and stride. Sure. Sure. So there's an old old saying
that Steve Dowd used to say, and uh, you know I worked for
for Dowd for many years down the at the corner. Uh. Stephen used
to say, you know, if it wasn't for whiskey, the Irish would
rule the world? Is Is that true? K? Of course? Damn
right. You know I didn't know this until recently. Again I'm not Irish,
i am Catholic, but I had to have it explained to me that
bush Mills is is either the it's bush Mills and Jamison one is Protestant whiskey
and one is Catholic whiskey. How does that work? Any idea, no
idea? Okay, someone explained that to me, and I don't care for
either of them, to be honest with you, but that was always explained
to me. But kay, we sure appreciate you coming down at chat with
us. I know people are gonna love hearing this. Is there a chance
you'll come and sit with us again and answer more questions in the future.
Absolutely, it's been great, folks. Once again, this is the Mac
and Island Moments podcast, a special Saint Patrick's Day edition, and we were
brought to you today by Dowd's Market, America's oldest family owned grocery store,
located right here on Mackinaw Island. Top of the morning to your folks,
Good day,