Wishing you and yours a very happy holiday season. Christmas was Dorothy’s favorite holiday of the year and often left decorations up all year long. She would usually take a long trip down to Chicago to celebrate the season with her family and, in her younger years, work at the hospital to keep current on training and certifications.
If you visited Dorothy’s on Knife Lake or her Winter Cabin at the Museum, you likely noticed dollar bills clipped to the indoor clothesline or tucked around the window. When visitors stopped by her islands during Dorothy’s absence it was not uncommon for them to brew a pot of coffee and warm up by the woodstove before continuing on their snow-machine or dogsled trip. You see, Dorothy left the cabins open when not around just in case… Winter travel could be tricky and a patch of deep slush or thin ice could make a winter fishing trip to Knife Lake treacherous. Isle of Pines was always available in case of emergency to warm up and dry wet clothes.
In return for Dorothy’s thoughtfulness and hospitality, visitors would often leave dollar bills. This generosity is something that extended year-round and in many different forms. Dorothy’s life on the border would have been much harder without these many, many “Angels” giving the gifts of time, effort, skill and money.
We at the Dorothy Molter Museum are grateful for those Angels who helped Dorothy and for those who continue to help the Museum in so many wonderful ways.