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History captured at CHS/SHCHS reunion
By Karin Emond
for Keweenaw Today
7/25/00
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During the recent Calumet all
school reunion, Wil Shapton, right, Fort Wilkins history specialist, interviews Frank Tinetti of Troy, Mich., for an
oral history project of the Keweenaw National Historical Park. Tinetti’Ä™s eldest daughter, Rosemary, captures the
taping with her own video camera.
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In his reunion registration packet, Marvin Paulson, Calumet High School Class of 1951, found a question asking if he was interested in
having an oral history of his life in Laurium videotaped by a historian from the National Park Service.
"I was just a laborer, thereís nothing important in that," he thought.
He didnít check the box.
It was only after meeting the historian daughter of a classmate at the Calumet High
School-Sacred Heart High School all school reunion this weekend in Calumet that he
changed his mind. While talking to her, he was reminded of one incident at the Seneca
Mine in Mohawk, where he worked as a scraper operator. Thinking it historically noteworthy, he decided to sign up for a taping session.
Paulson, now of Eveleth, Minn., was surprised at the types of questions asked by Fort
Wilkins history specialist Wil Shapton during the one-hour videotaped interview. The list
of nine multi-part questions revolved around everyday life: Where were you born? What
can you share with us about your familyís background? What did your father do? What responsibilities or chores did you have at home?
As non-historically significant or unimportant as these questions might seem to some, the
details of everyday life in Calumet, Laurium and the Keweenaw are just what the
Keweenaw National Historical Park is looking for as it moves toward achieving its goal
of developing a museum/archival research center. The oral histories taped during the
recent reunion narrate the story of everyday life in the Keweenaw in the voices of the
people who lived it. They will help document the social history of the area and will be
preserved with the manuscripts and mining and business records KNHP has already collected.
The idea for having the park tape these histories during the reunion came from reunion committee member Gene LaRochelle.
"I thought it was a natural fit with so many of our alumni in the area," said LaRochelle,
who contacted KNHP Superintendent Frank Fiala with the idea.
"Weíve been wanting to do this for a while," Fiala said. "We thought this would be an
excellent time to start. I only lament we havenít been able to do it earlier."
If Paulson was surprised at the mundane nature of the questions asked during the
interview, fellow alumnus Frank Tinetti, Calumet High School class of 1931, was not.
His eldest daughter, Rosemary Tinetti, encouraged him to have his history taped while at the reunion.
"It sounded interesting," said Rosemary. "I thought it was a really worthwhile project and
that Father could make a good contribution."
Frank Tinetti, now residing in Troy, Mich., lived in the Copper Country from 1914 until
1934. Rosemary didnít have to twist his arm too much to convince him to participate in the oral history.
"I think itís great," he said. "If itís going to be of value, thatís great."
Unlike Tinetti, Doug Taipalus, Calumet High School Class of 1942, of Flint, Mich.,
answered yes to the question in the registration form. A Centennial Heights resident from
birth until graduation, Doug knew he had an interesting background. His grandfather,
John Erkkila, was a double agent for the Finnish government in Czarist Russia. When his
activities were discovered by the Russians, Erkkila was sent to Canada by the Finnish
government. He came to the Keweenaw by crossing Lake Superior from Canada in a boat he and his eldest son had built.
"I felt perhaps I could lend something to posterity," Taipalus said of his decision to participate in the project.
Park Ranger Brian Hoduski, acting as gaffer for the taping sessions, said the park
service hoped to collect 10 alumni histories. Both the original tapes and the transcripts
from them will be archived. Time constraints and transcription costs limited the number of people who could be interviewed at this time.
Fiala said KNHP plans to hire a permanent historian who will be able to get out into the
community to collect more personal histories for the archives. Plans also include an
interviewing room complete with audio and video taping capabilities, which will enable
folks to stop in and add the stories of their lives to the archival collection.
"Iím hoping people will see this as an opportunity to share their lives," Fiala said
Reunion chairperson Janet Fredrickson said while work on the next reunion in 2003
hasnít started yet, if the park is willing to do the taping, theyíd be willing to ask returning alumni to participate.
As for Marvin Paulson, Frank Tinetti, Doug Taipalus and the others who told their
stories during this school reunion - they made history, literally.
Editorís note: Karin Emond, of Green Bay, Wis., is a guest writer for Keweenaw Today.A former
reporter and photographer for The Daily Mining Gazette, Karin enjoys returning to the Copper Country to visit her old haunts.
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