This family snapshot was taken by Grandma (Erna) Wunker in December of 1956.

It shows the 1953 MBL Ford Pick-up truck that is loaded with just-cut spruce that will become Christmas trees. They will be distributed to the Winter House (Grandma and Grandpa), Bob and Mary’s, the Apartment (Bill and Anna’s), and Cabin # 19 (Don and Audrey and family).

Don and family had gone as missionaries to the Dominican Republic in 1953. When home on furlough, they lived in Cabin # 19 which had one of the bed rooms converted to a kitchen for the winter of 1956-1957.

These trees were cut on a 100 acre wood lot up the Davis Lake road that MBL then owned. While it is late December, there is little snow at Miners’ Bay. Obviously, there has been strong sunshine, as the Lodge kitchen roof is bare, and slush and melted snow are visible.

Visible in the truck (left to right) are Barb, Randy, David, unidentified, (but likely Kathy, and possibly Mary Lou), and Russ.

Note the tiny cedar trees along the drive, and the root cellar in the left of the picture. The root cellar held vegetables in the early days at MBL, but by this time it was basically just a storage area.

Traditionally Christmas Eve was spent at the Winter House. The front part of the present Gift Shop was the family living room, complete with a fireplace and piano. After exchanging family presents, a “midnight feast” of cold cut, salads and cookies was consumed in the dining room – now the MBL office.

Christmas morning was spent in individual homes, opening gifts from the immediate family. After a Christmas morning church service (usually in Minden), everyone got back together for a traditional turkey dinner at Grandma and Grandpa’s in the mid afternoon.

Russ Wunker

September 2019

“We can never repay our debt to the past, nor neglect our obligation to the future. Truly, ‘we go out of history, into history, and the awful responsibility of time’”~Russ Wunker