These stories can also be heard on Sunday mornings around 10 am on WILD 102’s “Look Back in Time” program. Each week’s radio story will be posted here on our website.
Weekly radio stories are researched, compiled, and read by Sheila Winstead, RCHS Board Member.
April 6, 2025
In June 1956, there were several stories in the Roseau Times-Region about water rescues in the area.
Here’s one of them:
A local man and his son, Glen Wills and Bruce, cheated death by a hairsbreadth Friday night when their
kayak was pulled over the dam at Roseau and capsized into the boiling water and undercurrent below.
Only quick action by bystanders saved Wills from certain death.
As Wills told the Times-Region, “We were fooling around too close to the dam,” and the current pulled
them into the fall. The strong undertow sucked the boat and Wills himself tight to the dam and kept
slamming them back and forth against the concrete. “I didn’t even have time to look for Bruce,” he said.
At one time he got the boy by the shirt but could do nothing to help him. They were battered helplessly
back and forth. By some miracle the boy Bruce was thrown clear of the undertow and began to swim for
a downstream shore. By this time Torliff Tweet and Alfred Vistad had secured a large cedar log and
thrown it to Wills. Meanwhile they raced downstream to pull the bruised and battered boy from the
water. He ran for home immediately where he informed his mother that “Dad is in the river!”
Wills had grabbed the kayak for support before the log was thrown in, but the boat kept rolling in the
undertow, pulling him under and slamming him against the dam, then lifting him out only to roll under
again. He was almost unconscious when the log was thrown in and he grabbed it.
Meanwhile, Mr. and Mrs. Severt Skogstad had heard the commotion and ran to the rescue. They got
another pole and a rope and with all the strength they could muster, hooked the pole Wills held and
dragged it toward shore. They got the rope around his neck and shoulders and pulled him to safety on
the rocks. Mrs. Harry Kjaer had called the fire department, and it was shortly after he had been pulled to
the rocks they arrived. “I was almost out when they got me to the rocks,” Wills said thankfully. He was
wrapped in a warm robe by Highway Patrol Officer Obert Lillo and clothing furnished by others while a
doctor was called. Mrs. Skogstad kept giving him encouragement and rubbing his limbs to restore
circulation. Dr. Jack Delmore took him home where he was put to bed to recuperate.
Wills indicated “I didn’t realize the force the water has over the dam. It shot straight out when it hit the
boat … It was so strong it almost tore my arms off when I tried to hold onto the pole they threw to me,”
he said. His son Bruce suffered a large bump on the back of his head … had the blow knocked him out,
he could not have been saved. Wills himself was bruised and sore the next day. “Without the pole, and I
don’t know how they could handle it so easily, I would never [have] made it,” he said. Wills wore heavy
leather boots which created an added handicap.
The boy’s only concern when pulled from the river was for his father. He had run home to get his
mother who arrived shortly after Wills had been rescued. Thankful he was alright, she told the Times-
Region his brother had drowned in a similar accident only five years ago.
“I hope others will keep away from the dam,” Wills said. “The whole thing was just plain foolishness.”
Another rescue story in that same week’s paper was this one:
Almost certain tragedy was avoided at Warroad Friday afternoon when three bridge crewmen rescued
two boys and a mother from the Warroad River after the mother had leaped into the river to save her
son.
Tommy Heaton and his little playmate, Jerry Moyer, had been playing near the seawall at the Heaton
home when Tommy accidentally fell into the river. Knowing he could not swim, the plucky little Moyer
boy leaped in to help him.
Mrs. Heaton heard the cries of the children and ran to the river where she saw her son going down.
Despite the fact she could not swim she leaped into the deep water in an effort to save the children.
A ham radio report from Warroad by K0AUG, Mrs. Bob Carlson, indicated that Mrs. Heaton tried to push
her son up after she saw him treading water to keep his head above water, but each time she pushed
up, she was forced under.
Three bridge crewmen, Shields, Watson and Woods, working on the CNR railroad bridge there, heard
Mrs. Heaton cry and rushed to the rescue. In short order they had pulled the three from the water to
safety.
Chief worry of little Tommy was the fact he lost a cowboy boot during the incident.
Here’s one more water rescue in that month: Emergency communications, provided by ham radio
operators of the Lake of The Woods Net, were responsible Sunday for the rescue of an injured man from
a boat in Lake of the Woods. The rescue, made by a Canadian airplane, took place only a short time after
hams had battled terrific static crashes in order to establish contact with the airways.
The emergency traffic originated at Oak Island by Lou Hanson, W0HYL. A Canadian man was injured
aboard the Grey Sand II out of Kenora and since the radio was out, they sought the help of Mrs. Hanson.
She contacted W0TYP, Joe Farrell; and K0AFT, Howard Link at Warroad. Tremendous interference by
heavy static crashes made communications difficult but Mrs. Hanson got the traffic through to Baudette
where the Baudette hams got on the telephone. They called Kenora via Thief River Falls on the ‘land line’
(telephone) and asked for a Mr. Plummer at Sioux Airways. Kenora informed them there was no Sioux
Airways there but referred them to Sioux Narrows.
A short time later he found the boat between Monument Bay and American Point. He landed alongside
the craft and transferred the injured man to the airplane. He then flew back to his base where the
emergency aid given the injured man aboard the boat, was implemented by medical examination.
The Lake of The Woods amateurs have been instrumental in handling emergency traffic on the lake
many times before and their services are always ready to aid in time of need. Part of the reason for the
existence of ham radio is in the vital function it serves in time of emergency. Members of the net are all
licensed by the Federal Communications Commission.
There were a lot of good outcomes to these stories thanks to brave and helpful citizens.
Thank you to 
for letting us share our county’s history with your listeners by donating air time, studio time, and production staff every week.