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Mark C. Johnson

(September 12, 1943 - October 15, 2015)

Mark C. Johnson, 72, of Cushing, WI, died Thursday,

October 15, 2015 at his home after a 15-month battle with

cancer.

Mark was born to Herman and Ruth Johnson

September 12, 1943. The family already included five

brothers, Virgil, Lyle, DeMiles, Roger and Glenn. Six

weeks later his mother died. An agreement was made with

Leander and Pearl Peterson of Cushing to care for Mark,

and he grew up as their son along with their daughter,

Joan. He continued to have two families to add blessings

to his life.

He graduated from St. Croix Falls High School in 1962.

He worked at Hunky Dory Resort, on the Hermstad farm, and over 35 years at UFE

in Dresser. June 24, 1967 was the wedding date for him and Vickie Asper of Frederic.

They lived in Milltown until 1970 when they moved to the Peterson family farm west

of Cushing where he farmed and raised beef cattle. Three wonderful children, Karin,

Jennifer and Bruce made the family complete.

He enjoyed being part of the Chippewa Riders Saddle Club, raising horses, and in

later years activities involving workhorses. Square dancing with the Friendly

Twirlers was enjoyed for many years.

Community involvement included the church council at First Lutheran, Brenholt

Park, Cushing Cemetery, SELHS, and the Luck Museum.

He leaves his love, interests, and examples of kindness and gratitude to his wife,

Vickie; children, Karin Johnson, Jennifer Mishler (Les) and Bruce Johnson. Precious

grandchildren are Curtis Mishler, Chloe Tomesh, Dean Johnson, Erika Johnson and

Caleb Johnson. He is also survived by brother, Glenn (Diania) Johnson; sisters-in-

law, Gloria and Marvel; and nieces, nephews and cousins.

SELHS will miss our president, Mark very much. He made history fun!

SELHS News

Newsletter of the Sterling Eureka and Laketown History Society Volume 9, No.1 Memory Room – Cushing Community Center Jan 2016

Email selhscushing@gmail.com Website http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~wiselhs/

2015 Christmas Party Thursday Jan 21 2016 Wolf Creek Methodist Church Noon Potluck

Speaker: Larry Smedtek ―Who was Caleb Cushing?‖

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The first event of the year for SELHS was helping with Memorial Day at Wolf Creek.

This year we prepared a booklet on the five Lagoo Brothers who were WWII

veterans. You can order one for $4 (includes postage)

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For several years SELHS has been helping

the Sterling Old Settler’s Picnic Committee

with the planning and putting on the picnic.

The two groups maintain separate

organizations but work smoothly together to

continue a picnic that has been ongoing for

the past 77 years. Although attendance was

down a little this year, 55 folks, the quality

was great and we all enjoyed ourselves!

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Jennie Nelson, age

98, in the purple

sweater, was the

oldest person as

the 2015 picnic.

She was a great

supporter of

SELHS. She passed

away in December

2015.

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2015 in Review

2015 started with a January Christmas Party at Mark and Vickie Johnson’s home. We

visited, talked a little about last year and the coming year, but mostly talked about the old

days and our interest in history. Mark had several items on display for us to try to figure

out what they were.

Mark, the 2014-15 president of SELHS had been fighting cancer for sometime, but was

feeling better at year end and active in the history society. He and some helpers brought

his winter horse drawn sleigh and equipment to the Luck Museum as a Christmas display.

But as the year progressed, the cancer advanced and Mark was less able to get out and do

things. The last project he worked on, a month or two before he passed away was with

Gordy Lehman, trying to document and collect photos of a 1950s tornado that swept

through the Cushing area.

Mark was a friend, a local history enthusiast, and one of the sparkplugs that kept our

meetings interesting, always bringing something new (old) along to the meetings to look

at and talk about. He was the vice president of the Luck Area Historical Society too.

One of the projects he pushed to everyone in Polk county, from historical societies to

Scouts and 4-H was to repair the historical markers placed throughout the county in the

1970s and now falling down, missing or needing attention. He got several groups active in

the effort, and we, in SELHS will continue his effort in the future for our corner of the

county.

For the past several years we have been active from April – October helping with local

events and keeping a museum at the Cushing Community Center – two old classrooms

upstairs. One goal we had this year was to be open at least once and hopefully twice each

month during the season. We almost met the goal, opening for several events as well as

for several family reunions held in the big hall downstairs. The reunion events were very

good, as most of the folks had local roots and enjoyed the addition of the museum to their

reunion afternoons. We hope to expand to be open for more reunions and other events.

We are open by appointment otherwise by emailing or calling one of the folks listed in the

newsletter addresses.

A big failing this year was that we sent out no newsletters to members. I, Russ, take the

responsibility for this. I had good intentions, but you know what they say about that. We

did take a different and more active route in reaching the public. We created a Facebook

web page and posted information, old photos and other local history items with a goal of

one per week during our summer season. We did better than that. If you are on Facebook,

you can like our page; if not you can go directly to see it at this link. If you don’t have

internet, ask a friend to show you or drop into the local library and have the librarian show

you how to view the pages. The link https://www.facebook.com/SELHS/

An added attraction this year to the 10th Annual River Road Ramble, steered to the best

ever by Joan Swanson, was a parade float from the Tonnar family of Eureka and our Miss

River Road Ramble Queen. Lots of great publicity and lots of fun in something new.

Thanks to the Tonnar family for the help!

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Elected Officers and Board Members

Sterling Eureka and Laketown Historical

Society from 2013

Chair - (Open)

Vice Chair - Russ Hanson

2558 Evergreen Av, Cushing, WI 54006

(715) 488-2776 (507-356-8877 Jan-Feb)

russhanson@grantsburgtelcom.net

Secretary/Treasurer - Donna Blair

2677 240th Av

St Croix Falls WI 54024

Emeritus Chair – Marcie Marquardt

quietmeadows@lakeland.ws

Executive Board Members !

George Laier, Russ and Dottie Adams,

Marlys Hedberg, Joan Swanson,

Justin Swanson, Marcie Marquardt.

Needed Volunteer to join us!

Meetings are the 3rd Thursday of each

month at 7:00 pm at the Cushing

Community Center Back Entrance

No Meetings December, January and

February, March

The Polk County Genealogical society is at

the Luck Museum Monday of each month

from noon until 3 pm. They will help you do

research on your family history. No charge

and no appointment needed. Email us at

polkgen@gmail.com and check our website at

www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~wipolk/

Order a book from SELHS

Postage included in price $13 A History of Making Maple Syrup

$18 St Croix River Road Ramblings 2010

$18 River Road Ramblings 2011

$18 The St Croix River Road

$18 History of Cushing Wisconsin I

$18 Stories of the Trade River Valley I

$18 Stories of the Trade River Valley II

Check to SELHS, Box 731, Cushing, WI

54006

All profits go to SELHS to preserve local

history. Or go to Amazon.com and order.

.

Do you have an email address? If so, send it

to SELHSCUSHING@GMAIL.COM and we

will keep you up-to-date on what is happening

with regular releases and send our

newsletters directly and in color!

Latest book from

SELHS a picture

book of the 75

years of Sterling

Picnics.

Full Color $23

Black/White $13

Postage included

in price

Check to SELHS

Box 755

Cushing WI

54006

Wonderful

Collection!

Memberships are due each June. We

depend on your membership and

contributions and book sales for our

operating funds, so be generous!

Make a check to SELHS and send it to

SELHS Box 755 Cushing, WI 54006

us at every 3rd

Thursday, 7 pm at the

museum

Check out our Facebook web page at

https://www.facebook.com/SELHS/ Wanted! You as a volunteer for the

Sterling Eureka and Laketown Historical

Society! A little time and a lot of fun!

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Sterling Eureka and Laketown Membership Form

Send completed

form to

SELHS.

P.O. BOX 731

Cushing WI 54006

(LOOK AT THE

DATE AFTER

YOUR NAME

On mailing label

For the last time you

Joined (i.e. 2011)

Annual Membership Levels

Individual Student Life (ind or couple)

$10.00 $5.00 $100.00

All memberships in excess of $10 as well as any additional

donations to the SEL Historical Society are fully deductible.

Name _____________________________

Address____________________________

City _______________State____Zip_____

Phone_____________________________

Email_____________________________

Christmas Party

Pot Luck

Jan 21—Noon

Wolf Creek Methodist

Church

Speaker: Larry Smetak:

Who was Caleb Cushing