Glen Arbor remembers World War II pilot, best-selling author

By Fred Tasker Sun contributor In a study overlooking the peaceful Crystal River in Glen Arbor, Frank Robert Westie sat for five years writing some of the most horrific air combat scenes of World War II — as part of a searing, anti-war novel called Ash Wednesday ’45. The best-selling novel, built around the firebombing […]

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Suzanne’s van: the gift that keeps on giving

By Jacob R. Wheeler Sun editor It began with a simple proposition: “If you can get her running, she’s yours,” were the words the late Suzanne Wilson offered Crispin Campbell, setting the stage for his memorable west coast road trip 11 years ago in her 1979 Dodge Extended MaxiVan — affectionately known around northern Michigan […]

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State of the Arts: Suzanne Wilson was a visionary and pioneer

By Jacob R. Wheeler Sun editor Taped to my refrigerator, in an apartment far from northern Michigan, is a postcard-sized Suzanne Wilson watercolor of the lighthouse on South Manitou Island. The old white tower looks down on a serene beach setting. Spruce trees creep up to the water’s edge, and I can almost visualize Suzanne […]

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Living up to her name: Grace Cochran was a pillar of the church

By Jacob R. Wheeler Sun editor As the sparkplug behind community events, the eternal optimist and the spiritual aid at any time of day or night, Grace Cochran left an indelible mark on the local community as well as on Christian Scientists all over the country. Grace passed away on December 29 in her home […]

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Sabine’s bowls – a chance encounter of the Glen Arbor kind

By Joanne Bender Sun contributor It was serendipity. And also fortuitous, that I should meet Raku ceramic artist Sabine Rodatz just as I was reading Sue Bender’s Everyday Sacred, A Woman’s Journey Home.

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Local wild man raises Santa Claus’ helpers

By Forest Mullins Sun investigative reporter Can Reindeer fly? “Well Duh. That’s why we live so close to the Empire Airport,” says Kevin Kelly, who shakes his head in disbelief at my foolish question. “You skeptics. We have to cover the local district for the Big Man (i.e. Santa Claus).”

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Heart of a hobo beats inside 90 year-old Honor Man

By Jane Greiner Sun staff writer Almost as soon as I met Clive Haswell, 90, of Honor, he quoted a little poem. I had asked him about his hobo days and he said it brought this to mind: The skunks they have in Wyoming Smell just as bad as ours. The odor sneaks into the […]

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Portrait of An Artist: Greg Sobran

By M. Leth-Soerensen Sun staff writer Entering the Sobran gallery on the west side of Glen Arbor one is offered a feast for the eye. There one comes face to face with impressionistic paintings of local scenery marked by their brilliant colors. Tropical Key West and images from France and Italy also adorn the walls […]

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Greg Brown gives folk music a face and a name

By Jacob R. Wheeler Sun editor INTERLOCHEN — His baritone voice still sounds like a mellow bullfrog’s croak resonating from some swamp, and his head swings back and forth like a bobblehead doll grinning like a child when he sings lyrics that border on the naughty, like “Everything with you is sex”. But Greg Brown […]

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Linus the deer-licked cat

By Jane Greiner Sun staff writer An Empire cat named Linus has developed an unusual relationship with the deer that visit the back yards of the homes on La Core Street. On a number of occasions Linus has been sleeping in the yard only to be approached by a doe from the herd that carefully, […]

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