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Welcome to Mackinaw Island Moments, hosted
by lifelong islander Jason saint Aje. Through

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conversations and interviews with follow island locals
and residents, Jason will bring you the

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real stories and characters that to find
life on the island. Whether you're a

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seasoned visitor, new to Mcaina Island, or even an island er yourself,

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you'll be sure to learn firsthand about
the island with Jason on Macan Island Moments

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and welcome Top of the Morning to
you of another edition. This is episode

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seven of the Lucky Number seven on
Saint Patrick's Day of the Mackinaw Island Moments

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podcast. Coming to you from Mackinaw
Island. I'm Jason saint On's lifelong islander

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bringing you the only podcast by a
lifelong islander from macin Island. Today's episode

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is brought to you by Dowd's Market
right there at the corner of Fort and

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Maine, America's oldest family run grocery
store located right here on Mcan Island.

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Thank you Dowd's Market, folks.
Today we have one heck of a treat.

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This is not to be missed.
You know often back in the day

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they used three to mac And Island
as the Emerald Isle, and that was

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because of our strong Irish heritage,
which goes back to the eighteen hundreds.

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That's waned a little bit, but
we're pretty pleased. We're just thrilled actually

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today that we have from one of
the original Irish families. We have missus

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Kay Hoppenrath, maiden named Flanagan,
and she's in the studio with us today

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to talk all things mackinaw and from
the old days in her Irish ancestry.

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Kay, welcome and take it away. Thank you. So, Kay,

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take us right from the Giggo were
you born here? How old were you

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when you moved here? Tell us, I was born in Detroit, but

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that was because it was just before
World War two and my parents were living

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in Detroit because my father was working
at an automotive company in the winter,

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and then they'd come back here in
the summer and he would be in the

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carriage business. I see, I
see. So let me ask you this

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question. There's many old Irish families
on the island, Dowd, Chambers,

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Flannagan and Donnelly. Of course,
their numbers may have faded as of late.

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But do you still feel that that
Irish sentiment and pride as you walk

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around the town. Oh, certainly. But there were many Irish families and

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very large families. McCarty's, Corrigan's, Donaldy's, Bogan Bogan, Dowd's,

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Chambers', McNally, Flannagan, Durkin. My ancestry goes back on six generations

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on my mother's side, the Donelly
side, and we think five on my

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dad's side. Wow. Amazing.
Yeah. So the house right over here

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on Market Street, just past the
Medical Centers called the Donnelly House, was

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at your grandparents. My grandfather done
is my mother's father, and he built

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that and that was a Sears home, Jason, very interesting and the plans

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were still up in the attic.
Was that right now? As I recall

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and correct me if I'm wrong,
A Sears home used to go on the

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series and Robot catalog and you would
literally buy a house. They'd ship you

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all the lumber and the shingles,
everything you need. Is that how it

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works? That's right? Well,
I think there's several of them, wasn't

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The former Steve dou residence on the
Gulpen Street was a Seris home. Yes,

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that's kind of amazing. So I
don't mean to tip your hat as

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to your age, although before we
started she said, I don't care.

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It's going to be written on my
tombstone it is. Folks, let me

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tell you something about missus Hoppenrath.
She doesn't pull any punches. She's going

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to tell you the truth during this
podcast, whether you like it or not.

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But anyway, so you were born, as you indicated, just before

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the war broke out World War two, folks, can you tell us what

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you remember about just the post war
years for tourism and how things were on

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the island. Well, I was
born in forty one, and I don't

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have a lot of recollection of the
war years. After the war, things

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were pretty slim for a long time. And that's why I was born in

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Detroit, because my parents would go
off during the winter, and many people

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did, driving truck, working in
auto plants. You had to survive because

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the tourism as we know it today
was just very scant, sure, and

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so that that was kind of hand
to mouth and there wasn't the money.

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That weren't the flow of tourists in
those days. Sure, I remember reading

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in a book one time, I
think it was in forty four or forty

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five, the Grand Hotel had something
like thirteen paying guests one night in the

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middle of July. Yeah, it's
sack with about two hundred staff. So

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we'll talk about that another day.
So in your day, when you were

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in your teenage years and your in
your twenties, I'm guessing just about everybody

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had a horse then or a large
dog, and it was it was nothing

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to team up the horse to head
to the mainland across the ice. Do

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you remember those much of those days, not really going across the ice,

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but my great aunt, one of
my great aunts and my great uncle were

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coming from st Agnes across the ice
and the horse went through and the cutter

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but they got out all right.
But there was some risky sure things.

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And my grandfather there Downnley used to
do logging and he would go across to

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a small town called Welcome, between
Macino City and Sheboygan, and I don't

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think it's there anymore, probably some
small summer cottages. So there was a

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lot of toing and throwing across the
ice, sure, I'll bet yeah.

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And obviously you remember life before the
Macanam Bridge. I do. Yeah,

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I was in high school in Potaski
when the bridge was being built. Wow,

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a lot of Irish in the local
politics for years here and without saying,

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without saying too many names, we
are our mayors has been the mayor

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now for fifty it'll be fifty years
on election day. And when you were

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a young lady, when you attained
the right to vote, the age to

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vote, was it pretty well known
that you will vote Irish on this island

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or was it not that strong?
No, not at all. No,

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by that time, a lot of
the Irish families were gone. You know,

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they die out, sure, and
move off and developed careers and maybe

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come back for a month in the
summer. But no, that time has

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gone. If it ever happened,
right, if it ever existed, it

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was probably more lower than yeah,
I think, definitely lowre. So some

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of our listeners may be surprised to
hear of all the Irish references. And

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I think a lot of folks when
they think of an Irish isole, they

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think of Beaver Island, which is
you know, as a tremendous Irish sentiment,

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as our settlement as well. But
you know, in the mid eighteen

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hundreds they were kind of being run
by a Mormon faction that had kind of

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taken over. So we really were
the Irish Isle of Mackinawe. There's a

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sign that's featured prominantly and a picture
of John F. Kennedy when he was

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just senator. He'd come to the
island. He was campaigning for president,

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and the sign said mackinaw welcomes,
or the people of mackinaw welcome Senator Kennedy

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to the Irish Isle. Do you
remember that day when he was here?

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It just said welcome to the Irish
Isle. And my father d we be

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flanning and was holding the sign.
You're kidding me, I'm not. I

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did not know that. That's that's
great. So were you here that day

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or No? I was in high
school in Potoski. I see. Fortunately,

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you know along Lime, I have
my father. Actually, John Franks

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got his Kennedy's autograph he was then
a senator and gave it to my dad

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for me. No, Kenny,
you still have it. I have it.

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Wow. You know a lot of
distinguished guests, celebrities, politicians,

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et cetera, have called on the
island over the years. You don't strike

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me as a type of person who
was easily impressed by fame. But that's

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said. Who was your favorite celebrity
sighting or person you got to meet her

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or anyone of you know, national
notoriety that came down. Do you have

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a favorite that you remember? Yes, Betty Ford? Is that right?

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Did you get to hang out with
her? No? I was very close

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in the crowd seeing the walk by
President Ford and missus Ford came from Trinity

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Church down to May's fud Shop,
and that's the corner shop, right,

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And the reason that they chose that
was that there were two doors and so

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if there had been a problem,
they could get the president out. And

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my husband and I were standing in
the crowd. We were just about by

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the carriage to her office, and
the crowd wasn't all friendly. It was

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actually a bit uncomfortable because there were
some mutterings, sure, things like that.

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But we were thrilled to see a
president up close. Sure, but

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I always admired missus Ford, and
it was she was great and very friendly.

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That's great. I was only I
think two or three years old,

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and that when when the Fords came, So I don't I don't remember any

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of it, of course, you
know, speaking of the Irish ship at

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Beaver Island and the Irish of macn
Island. Kay, could you tell me

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that story about a couple of your
close relatives and how they evaded tragedy.

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Oh. Yes, my grandmother Flanagan, she was Sarah Dirkin, and her

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good friend and cousin it was Aunt
Kate. Early Aunt was a courtesy title.

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We're both seamstressed. And in the
fall of the year they would go

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too and spend the winter sewing for
wealthy women and make money and then come

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back to the island in the spring. And so they set off for Chicago,

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and this would have been, oh, sometime in the eighteen eighties,

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eighty six, eighty seven, somewhere
in there. And they got to Beaver

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Island, and my grandmother had cousins. The family had cousins on the Beavers

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and so they stopped there. The
ship was taking on cargo and my grandmother

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and her friend went up to the
house, to the dun Levy house for

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dinner while the ship was loading the
cargo. And when they went to leave,

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her cousin, James Dunleavy told them, well, you can go and

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get on the boat, but your
luggage is staying here, so they more

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or less had to stay, and
he had got walked down to the dock

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to the pier. He didn't like
the looks of the way the cargo was

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being loaded and he didn't trust it, so he took their luggage and brought

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it up to his house. The
ship never made it to Chicago. Wow.

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And for about two weeks somewhere in
there, the families here thought that

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the girls had gone, that they
were deceased. That's amazing, until I

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could get word to them that they
were in fact safe and on their way

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to Chicago. Wow. That guy
certainly knew his boats and the ships.

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Well. He was a native of
Beaver Island, so you can imagine they

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know their boats. Yeah. Wow. So let's change gears a little bit.

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You worked for years at the Maclaland
Medical Centers clinic coordinator, so some

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of our listeners have probably had exchanges
with you through the little glass window as

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they're coming in and out of the
medical center back in the day. And

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because of that, your job is
largely included helping the fundraise for the clinic

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and then for Straight's Hospital as a
whole as they merged with the Synignus hospital.

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Some folks will always bring up the
Christmas Bazaar and talk about the legend

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looms larger than the real deal.
Folks. In December they have a weekend

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long fundraiser. It's in the community
hall. There's some meals and some white

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elephants. I think that's what they
call them, isn't it. Kay,

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White elephant kind of sells a little
bit of everything, some raffles. It's

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been going on at least throughout my
life that I can recall. And Kay,

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you were instrumental and starting that,
tell us you weren't instrumental. No,

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that's Margaret doubt all the way.
Oh, I did not know that

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Margaret started it. Yeah, it
was the benefit only for Saint Anne's Church

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because we really desperately needed money,
and so she started what was a very

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small one day event and then it
bloomed into what it is now. Unfortunately

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in some ways, Yeah, there
is some What Kay's alluding to is it's

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it's kind of blown up to the
point where it's become a bit of a

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tourist attraction very much. You know, in my day, and I'm not

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trying to go either way on this, but my day, you'd walk into

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the Christmas Bazaar, and you knew
everybody there, and not only that,

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I knew where Kay was going to
be sitting. I knew where Porkylopine and

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Caroline are going to be sitting.
And Gwenny and Elaine Bunker always sit up

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near the front on the right,
and everybody always sat in the same spot.

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And it was a lot of fun
and a lot of nostalgia for those

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days. But you know, times
change. Yeah, But so the Christmas

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Bizarre, let me enlarge a little
bit please. That began, as I

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said, for Saint Anne's, and
then Margaret felt that we should include the

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Trinity Church, which was at that
time year round also, but some of

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the people didn't like the minister at
Trinity, so she had a bright idea

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and she pulled in the medical Center
to kind of neutralize the situation. So

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it was St. Anne's, Trinity, and the Medicenter. So what year

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do you think the bazaar started?
Do you have any idea on that?

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Oh, geez, I think probably
seventy seven or seventy eight. Oh,

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it might have been the first couple
of years, so well over forty years

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then, oh, yeah, definitely. So let's go back to the island.

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What is your favorite season on the
island, And let's stop there.

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What's your favorite season? What time
of year do you like best? Winder?

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Me too, me too? Not
this winter. This hasn't been much

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about, No, no, but
winter, because it's just island pretty much,

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right. And you know, I
think some people take offense when we

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say that, but that's not what's
intended. I don't think they quite understand

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what we mean by we like winter
better. It's not that we don't want

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anybody here. That's not it at
all. No, no, no,

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we're just glad to have a little
piece in quiet and be able to see

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each other. A lot of folks
talk about Christmas on the island and how

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it's kind of changed as well.
Do you have any favorite Christmas memories growing

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up here on the island. Absolutely? Can you tell us a few?

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Well one in particular, now,
my father was in the carriage business for

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many, many years, but he
didn't keep horses over the winter. But

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John Franks always had a horse and
a small cutter, a dre But he

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lived in the old Davenport House where
racis are now in the annex, and

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that included the Davenport properties. The
old farm. He would hitch his horse

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up and come down to Market Street
and pick me and my dad up and

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we would go out to the Davenport
farm looking for Christmas tree and that was

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absolutely my favorite memory of Christmas.
And they would always make a stop at

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the Davis Store down on Main Street
where the Big Store is now, folks

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where the Big Yeah, And I
think that was for maybe a little anti

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freeze, but I always got a
candy bar out of it, so that

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was happy for me. Well,
I mean, given the choice today,

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would you rather have a candy bar? Some anna freeze the candy bar?

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Okay? Sorry what I don't want
to get too controversial, but I mean,

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you're one of the senior members of
this community. What have you seen

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that causes anguish? I mean,
obviously the big one is development, but

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that comes with time. But you
know, is there stuff you look at

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daily and you just kind of shake
your head or do you roll with it?

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How does someone like you who've seen
it since nineteen forties cope with it?

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Jason, you're opening a Pandora's box
here. Okay. Over development,

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yes, development is natural, but
it seems as though we're cramming buildings on

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every spare half acre of grass.
Yeah, motor vehicles, the congestion on

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main Street, And what bothers me
about the congestion in the summer is it's

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turning people off, turning visitors,
guests to the island off. And I've

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heard these comments over and over.
It's too crowded, you can't get into

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a store, this type of thing. And I think it's a mistake that

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we're constantly advertising. Now. We
know there's been a huge boom in travel

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in tourism since the pandemic, so
maybe that accounts for some of it.

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Right. All that said, has
there ever been a time when you said,

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I think I'll move away. No, No, this is my home,

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and I should mention folks. Missus
Hoppinrath was certainly in a position to

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retire and buy a condo in Florida
and just spend the summer up here,

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and that was not in the cards
for her. She absolutely said, not

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a chance. And she lives here
year round as she has for I don't

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know how many years now, and
she lives up in the Harrisonville section now.

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And I'm telling you what I don't
want to I don't want to sound

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trite, but She's one tough lady
h to live a mile uphill and then

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still come down and get her mail
to her banking and uh and such.

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Kay, any memories of Saint Patrick's
Day you want to bring up? I

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know we have the big Saint Patrick's
Day dinner for the church, but any

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any fond memories of the old days
Saint Patrick's Day? Not really, it

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was, you know, just another
day, right. I think that Saint

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Patrick's Day has kind of evolved like
Halloween. Yeah, it's more of a

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bar holiday anymore. But I think
so, you know, the Irish always

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took it and stride. Sure.
Sure. So there's an old old saying

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that Steve Dowd used to say,
and uh, you know I worked for

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for Dowd for many years down the
at the corner. Uh. Stephen used

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to say, you know, if
it wasn't for whiskey, the Irish would

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rule the world? Is Is that
true? K? Of course? Damn

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right. You know I didn't know
this until recently. Again I'm not Irish,

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i am Catholic, but I had
to have it explained to me that

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bush Mills is is either the it's
bush Mills and Jamison one is Protestant whiskey

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and one is Catholic whiskey. How
does that work? Any idea, no

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idea? Okay, someone explained that
to me, and I don't care for

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either of them, to be honest
with you, but that was always explained

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to me. But kay, we
sure appreciate you coming down at chat with

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us. I know people are gonna
love hearing this. Is there a chance

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you'll come and sit with us again
and answer more questions in the future.

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Absolutely, it's been great, folks. Once again, this is the Mac

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and Island Moments podcast, a special
Saint Patrick's Day edition, and we were

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brought to you today by Dowd's Market, America's oldest family owned grocery store,

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located right here on Mackinaw Island.
Top of the morning to your folks,

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Good day,