As Father's Day begins the last week of Spring, we've decided to add an extra photo each day, sharing a plethora of flowers received in our photo inbox during this season. Leslie Saari's Lilly of the Valley starts the series.

The upper photo, another interesting Shoebox Memory came from Don Mongeau, along with the following poem:

Hi Abe,
Wonderful family photo. I bet this was taken close to 1930 or so.In the 1930 census , Henry was 63 living in Copper City, emigrated from Finland in 1886.
His wife Katherine,was 43 and emigrated in 1900.
Children, Russell was 27, William was 16, Roy 14 and Raymond 10.

looks like the famous Model A coupe & another 34 auto on the hill-----& typical Immigrant's family.;like about 75 % of the copper country.

Happy Father's Day to all Dad's and let us remember the Dad's who are deceased. My Dad came to this country from Croatia in I909 at the age of 13 and worked men's jobs to survive. He raised my Mom's three brothers and a sister along with the start of their family of 7. He had an 8th grade education (in his country) and he raised us all with no Gov.help. He like most immigrants had a strong work ethic and I believe it carries thru today in many of us from the U.P. He always said if you do a job do it right!I am proud to have had John Spellich Sr for my Dad. I am number 4 of us 7, Frances

To: Fran,Ga. I know a John Spellich of $Bay. I met a John Spellich at "the Yankee Air Museum" in Ypsilanti, MI, Could the John Spellich I know be a member of your family? I do have some roots to UP, namely, The STEVENS of "WOODSIDE."

I love the looks on these guys faces. Looks like there saying "Ma just take the picture." Nice picture of the lily-of-the-valley one of my favorite.

Gee this stirs up some long forgotten memories. As a boy growing up in Dollar Bay and Woodside in the 40's I seem to remember a Ron Spellich? or was it John? I remember the Stevens, Boatmans, Kieranens, Wenbergs, Nyes, and of course the Wettons. My uncles are Jim & Rick Laplander!

These young Finns & other immigrant boys are who made the UP and US so strong....many served in WW1, WW2 & Korea. Proud to be Americans....they did (&do) have strong ethics of work and honesty and loyalty & sisu...you needed these qualities to survive in this new harsh environment...My husband was so proud of his Finnish (&Cornish) heritage...He told me Finland was the only country to repay it's debt to the US....he loved the courage they showed during Finland's "Winter War"...his family lived in Soumosalmi, on the Russian border and they suffered greatly when the Russians burned the family homestead......they found peace here in the UP.

Russ,
My Dad John SR. and brother John,( $Bay nickname Big Tilly) and brother Norbert(Little Tilly) all lived in town then. WE lived down the hill from Wettons by the RRtracks. I think my sister Lorraine went to school with Jim and we all new Ricky. My Dad knew him pretty well. All the names you mentioned were good people and one or the other of my family was friends with them.Do you remember the little place by Wenbergs that had a spring there.The water was so cold and so good. If I remember right it had some sort of little box to protect it.Remember Gooseneck Falls?
It was a good time to grow up. Who were your parents?

Fran: My mother is Ruth,one of Jims older sisters. My dad was from Detroit. Don't remember the place down by the tracks. My friend down here, Dave H. who is RCWs cousin tells me the little spring is still there, and everytime he goes up he gets some of that water. I remember it well as a kid. We used to drink from it all the time. My grandparents Emil & Mary L. had a spring up behind their place LONG ago like that. I can picture in my minds eye vaguely a Spellich boy I think was in my grade school class at DB in the 40s. ???? I vaguely remember Gooseneck Falls, probably was only there once or twice. I haven't been to the Copper Country since 1985! Jim & Loretta won't let us forget it either!

Lily of the valley isn't native to the UP. Quick! Spray it before it takes over!!!

Hey ABE, er, uh, I mean Dad......I spent hours looking through all of the past pictures of what us southerners call "Gods Country". My oh my are they have some beautiful sunsets! Before I plan my retirement in that beautiful countryside, I have a question or two that were brought on from looking at a few of the pictures....

*Is that snow thermometer thing serious.... 390+ inches?
* How big and abundant are the black flies and how bad do they hurt?
* Can I get Thimbleberry jam year round?
* Is "10 foot" still running?

Love your Son,

Hey everyone!

My name is Kailee, and I live in Dollar Bay. Infact, Russ E, you are my 2nd cousin I believe. Within the last few weeks I have talked to your sister Susie and your mom Ruth. I'd like to get to know you more. My grandparents are Jim and Loretta Laplander, and my dad is their second son, Rick.

I was in a search for family history, when I came across this site. No doubt I had heard of it, but I didn't realize that I would find that people knew my fmaily, and were infact related to them! haha.

Hi Russell (alias Streak)

Greetings from Savannah Georgia, your cousin Jim and Karen. Jim & Loretta (Mom and Dad) are here for a few days. How did you like the spring water from Wenberg's spring?

Remember when your family and ours went to Copper Harbor and the bears started to get at the grills in our trunks (I don't remember)?

How is Alice doing? Tell her I said Hi.

Hi Uncle Jim and Aunt Karen!!

I bet it's warm down there! haha. It's getting cooler up here, there's talk of snow by the weekend. The colors are beautiful! Mom and Dad went up to Mt. Bohemia to look at the colors from the chair lift. I wish I would have been able to go, but my biology lab partner was over finishing a project for class.

Anyways, I hope to talk to you guys soon! Mom and Dad say hi!

Hi Kailee: It is getting cool down here. We were in the Georgia Mountains 2 weeks ago and we could see our breath. It was real nice. Colors hadn't started then but I think they are getting there now. I may be going backpacking in a couple of weeks in the same area.

How do you like biology? What have you been doing in lab?

Tell your Mom and Dad we said hi and tell Jason and Adrian (did I spell her name right?) hi also.

We will be calling you all soon.

Hello Aunt Karen and Uncle Jim!
Besides the snow we had for a few days when Grandma and Grandpa got back, it's been really nice. It rained a lot last night, but it's sunny now!

Biology isn't that great. haha. I guess it's "ok," but it's not really my thing. I love English, and my speech class.

Have Fun Backpacking!

Did you get my e-mail with Jason and Adria's wedding page? I got to go work on some homework. Bye!