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Interview & photos by Pam Roberts
Linda Fink: “I’m out for a stroll on a beautiful day. I’m catching some rays on this nice day. Otherwise just living life, I guess. Spending time with grandkids and crafting for Northwoods Partners. I’ve been making items for the Festival of Trees, Christmas and gift related items. Wreaths, ornaments, various things because I like to paint and putz. We spent a month in Florida this year with our grandkids. That was great. And when you had snow here it was 85 there so it was perfect.” (Winter wasn’t too bad here this year.). “Ya, but you had to wait till March for it, that’s when it came. Jerry is monkeying with grapes. We’re going to try grapes this year. Give it a shot.” (Are you going to make wine?) “Possibly. Our son makes wine. We’ll see. I don’t know how long that takes for grapes to be ready. It’s a new adventure.” (Anything special coming up?). “Our youngest granddaughter is going to be a year so we’re heading down to spend her birthday with her. That’s where we’re going tomorrow. Right now I’m just taking a break enjoying the weather. I love to walk.”
Sophie Montana: “I just got done with work and I’m about to go on a run. I work at the Babbitt school as a math tutor. I got my two-year associate degree. Now I am home figuring out what I am doing next. I’ve enjoyed being home. I’ve kind of liked the no snow this winter. The weather is nice out, so ya, I’m having a nice time. I’ve been liking going outside, running. I don’t know, I just kind of work and run. That’s about it honestly. I was thinking about buying skis last winter and then we didn’t get snow so I didn’t buy any. But it is something that I want to maybe get into. I don’t know. I’m not a big winter girl. I’ve been wanting to do an outdoor activity. I think I’ll go home and make dinner after I’m done running. “
Paxton Zupancich, Karter Forsman and Leo Suter: Paxton: “I like snowmobiling and biking around with my friends. We’re going to get parts for my snowmobile right now. School was school today. No favorite subject. I’m probably going to go ride with my water skipper down the alley. It’s like a snowmobile that is used to skip on water. Water cross. That’s what we’re fixing. I got a new gas tank so that’s what we’re fixing. I’ve got to reroute my fuel lines and fuel filter.” Karter: “I just got back from school and we’re going to get parts for the snowmobile. I’m usually up to boating and dirt biking. Soon enough it will be that time of season where you can go waterskiing and salom skiing. One foot waterskiing. It’s where you get the tow rope and put your feet right here and go like this... It’s just waterskiing with one ski and you put your back foot on the wood of the ski.” Leo: “I’m just hanging out with friends. We’re going to go get parts for his snowmobile. And we’re just hanging out for the rest of the day. I play sports: Baseball, hockey and football. Right now I play baseball. I’m on the Yankee’s Little League team. Today I am just going to hang out with friends.”
Rita Jessila and her dog Boo: “You know the song: Me and you and my dog named Boo... I just got home from working at the greenhouse, Ely Flower and Seed. I’m full of dirt. And how are you doing? I haven’t seen you in a long time.” (Not since I did a story on you and the 9/11 path project). Yes, not since 9/11 when I was putting down a path and the gravel truck came with gravel for the path I was making. That’s when the Towers went down. I had the gravel guy come in the house and he saw the second plane hit the Twin Towers. And I never got to work on my path for about a month after that because I was glued to the TV watching the news. And you happened to be in the neighborhood just like today. So ya, I’ve been working at the greenhouse for like 45 years. So thats’ been growing too. They keep adding more greenhouses.” (That’s been a good job for you.) “Yes. There’s a lot of planting to do. We’re almost getting done with that and now a lot of watering. I’m glad to be back there. Just working part time though. You’ll have to take a look at my house. I’ve got too many projects. A lot of hobbies. Woodworking and trim work. I do a lot of collecting, like cobalt blue and tins. I collect a lot of stuff but I kind of have to cut down because no more room. I’m always doing something. Never enough hours in the day. I keep repotting plants in my kitchen. I’d rather be planting than vacuuming the house. I always have pails of dirt in my house. I’m always planting something throughout the winter.” (Do you have a greenhouse?) “Yes. I built it myself. I went to the dump and got windows and people have said it’s like a patchwork quilit and it just all fits together. I built the woodshed too out of pallets. Pretty soon I’ll be mowing. I spray paint flower pots too. I spray them to go with the color of the plants. Can I show you the photo of the article you wrote about me after 9/11? (The article was framed hanging in the house.) “This other photo with 20 greenhouses is where I grew up in Fairmont, MN by the Iowa boarder. ... See the Christmas ornaments hanging up there? Those were Dorothy Molter’s. My ex-husband Jerry Jessila used to work for the Forest Service, retired now, and he used to call Dorothy every day on the radio. We spent our honeymoon up there 45 years ago. One year we went up there in the wintertime and Dorothy was there, and we cut ice chunks out of the lake with these big saws and big tongs and they skidded the ice up on these two logs to the ice house. Between each chunk of ice they put sawdust and that was her ice for the summer months. I was lucky enough to go up there in the winter to see how that was done to keep the root beer cold. And actually Jerry was one of the people who found Dorothy when she had died because she didn’t radio in one day in the wintertime. They went up there by airplane and there was no smoke coming from her cabin. She was inside laying by the woodstove with her gloves on with the stack of wood by her side. So she probably had a heart attack putting wood in, they think. There was a motor ban in the BWCAW but special permission was granted for the snowmobiles to go back to Dorothy’s one last time for her celebration of life. It was so sad to see the line of snowmobiles leave for the last time in honor of Dorothy knowing they would never get to go back up there and no more root beer would be made in the Boundary Waters.”
