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| 6/19/2006 7:09:00 AM | Email this article • Print this article | Bob Cary completes his life; died Saturday
by Anne Swenson
Bob Cary, 84, died at home on Saturday, June 17, 2006. He was born in Joliet, IL, on Oct. 20, 1921 to Rex and Cornelia Cary.
He attended public schools and graduated from Joliet Community College in 1941. He attended the Chicago Academy of Fine Arts, studying commercial illustration in 1946-47 on the GI Bill. He attended the Ojibwe language school 1988-89.
Cary enlisted in the U.S. Marines, Feb. 1942, served with 2nd Marine Division in combat in Guadalcanal, Tarawa, Saipan and Tinnian, 1942-1944. He became a member of the American Legion and Veterans of Foreign Wars.
He was employed by Illinois Natural History Survey in waterfowl research, 1947-48. He was the outdoor writer for the Joliet Herald News 1948-1955; editor and outdoor writer for Joliet Spectator 1956-57 and the outdoor editor for the Chicago Daily News, 1958-1966.
Cary moved to Ely, MN where he was a canoe outfitter, wilderness guide and founded and ran Canadian Border Outfitters, 1966-1973.
He became the editor of the Ely Echo weekly newspaper in 1974 and continued as the outdoor writer and columnist to the present. He was a guest columnist for the Mesabi Daily News in Virginia, MN and Duluth’s Senior Reporter .
He published books including “The Big Wilderness Canoe Manual,” “Winter Camping,” “Born to Pull,” “Tales of Jackpine Bob,” “Ely Echoes: The Portages Grow Longer,” Bush Pilots: Legends of the Old and Bold,” “Fear Was Never an Option” and illustrated many more. He also wrote “Root Beer Lady,” a biography of legendary Dorothy Molter, the frontier woman who lived 54 years in the wilderness, most of it alone.
He free-lanced articles to Outdoor Life, Sports Afield, Minnesota Sportsman, Travel, Minnesota Monthly, Boundary Waters Journal, Chicago Tribune, Wall Street Journal and other publications.
He was a lifetime angler, hunter, trapper, canoe camper and a cross country ski racer for 30 years.
In conservation efforts, he assisted Illinois Izaak Waltons in getting 3,500 acres of Joliet Arsenal land transferred from federal to state ownership for public recreation area in 1950; organized Will County Clean Streams Committee in the 1950s; coordinating efforts of Izaak Walton League and Wildlife Federation members in an antipollution drive resulting in fish restoration in a number of rivers. He won the Illinois Izaak Walton award for his antipollution articles.
He served on the DNR Advisory Committee for Gov. Wendell Anderson; served on the state committee for the Minnesota Lottery to provide funds for natural resources; served on the committee to establish the International Wolf Center at Ely. He organized and taught in the Wilderness Guide School, held in Ely, Eveleth, Duluth, MN, 1967-1970. In Ely he served on the Advisory Committee for the Northern Tier High Adventure Base, Boy Scouts of America and served on the Nordic Ski Association board.
For two years he was the host of the WELY radio show “Camp Talk,” appeared in numerous outdoor TV shows and was a frequent speaker and lecturer at Elderhostel and public schools.
He ran for President of the United States in 1980 as candidate of the Independent Fisherman’s Party. Lost to Ronald Reagan by 63 million votes.
He was married to wife Lillian for 46 years until parted by her death. He married Edith Sommer in 1998. Both women were excellent anglers, shooters, canoe paddlers, campers. “How lucky can one guy get,” he said.
His favorite avocations were camping, canoeing, fishing, hunting, landscape painting, writing and being the drummer for the Starlighters swing band for the past five years.
He is survived by his wife Edith, daughter Barbara (Stephen) Hall of Duluth, MN; granddaughter Jessica Hall of Duluth; sister Joyce (Howie) Scheidt of Joliet, IL; stepson Jay (Ann) Sommer and their children Alex and Isak Sommer of Walker, MN; stepdaughter Annette (Joe) Baltich of Ely; three nephews and two nieces, many cousins, and a world of friends and fishing buddies.
He was preceded in death by his mother and father Cornelia Heun and Rex Leroy Cary; daughter Marjorie Kavney, and wife , Lillian Kluge Cary in 1993.
Services are slated for Saturday, June 24 at 11 a.m. at St. Anthony’s Catholic Church with Pastor John Fossum of the Grace Lutheran Church officiating.
Memorials are preferred to: Lil Cary Ojibwe Library and Scholarship Fund at Vermilion Community College, Salvation Army or Christian Children’s Fund.
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Reader Comments
Posted: Thursday, July 13, 2006
Article comment by:
Paul J. Reitemeier
I met Bob while guiding at Sommers Canoe Base on Moose Lake in 1970-73 and later guided for him at CBO through the fall season in 1972 while his regular guide Harry Lambert went back to school.
Bob and his wife Lil were among the very best people I ever met and Bob was easily the finest raconteur I have known.
There now will always be a Bob Carey shaped hole in the BWCA environs. He can never be duplicated, replaced or approximated.
Posted: Wednesday, June 28, 2006
Article comment by:
LG. Whitmore (Lodgepole Lar)
Well I always dreded this day would come. My heart is on the ground with sadness. And tears won't wash away the pain. One of America's greatest icons and journalest has closed the last chapter on his life..I was blessed to know Mr. Bob Cary, aka. Jack Pine Bob since 1965, some 41 years. We laughed, fished,and joked everytime,that we could..we fought the good fight, to keep the wood from roughting above are heads. His ledgend will be like stories around the campfire. In the land of the Tall Timbers and his deeds will be clear as the lakes of the north. Bob, took me in when I was cold, he fed and schelterd me. He was truely the Good Smariton. He made all are lives richer. And like the Old Cowboys said: If thier still Talken About You, Ya' Ain't Dead...Great Ride Bob ..Great Ride...See Ya' Dance'n on the Northern Lights.. Keep the Coffee Pot on for your Old Pal'ley..I'll bring the fish"n lure's. JL-6-3048.. out...
Posted: Friday, June 23, 2006
Article comment by:
Dennis and Toni Meinert
We were saddened to hear of the town of Ely's great loss. Every week we would look forward to reading the latest article from Mr. Cary, bringing us closer to the town and life we so desperately reach out to, if only through summer trips and the ECHO. Thank you for the twenty + years of dreams and reflections.
His humor, wisdom and perceptions of the world around us will truely be missed.
God Bless Mr. Cary, his family, and the town and people of Ely. Please know our thoughts and prayers are with you all.
May his canoe continue to glide along the BWCA, unencumbered by deadlines, politics, or enclimate weather, to forever be one with the land he loved and the land he brought to life for so many of us.
Dennis and Toni Meinert
Greenock, PA
Posted: Wednesday, June 21, 2006
Article comment by:
Anders Stacy
As a graduwait of Vermilion C.C. I spent some time reading The Ely Echo. Jackpine Bob will truley be missed
Posted: Tuesday, June 20, 2006
Article comment by:
Richard & Carolyn Brooks
Our family has been coming to Ely for 10 years, so to us Mr. Cary was a celebrity, ours sons have enjoyed all his books. Last year we went to Red Rock, and we got to meet him, signed a picture, niciest down to earth guy and gave some fishing advice. Our regrets to the family.
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