Andrew H. Creglow "Andy" died peacefully on Friday, Oct. 2, 2015, at the age of 82, at Milestone Senior Living, where he had lived for over a year and had many friends among the other residents and the staff and aides, who cared for him with great compassion, friendship and humor.
He was born in Arlington, Mass. on May 9, 1933. His father, Loran Andrew Creglow, was the youngest of six children who grew up on a farm near Rock Rapids, Iowa. Loran was a graduate of Stanford University and was a scientist/metallurgist. Andy's mother, Ada Hensel Creglow, was a 1920 graduate of Ohio State University with a bachelor's degree in business and later a master's degree at University of Pittsburgh. In the 1920s she created her own successful independent business as a consultant for retail businesses, contracting with department stores in New York City, Washington, D.C. and elsewhere in New England to evaluate their business model and employees and provide training for all. Sadly she died of breast cancer in 1936 when Andy was three years old. His father's sister, Gertrude Creglow, stepped in to make a stable home for the father and son and was Andy's beloved "Auntie" who did the cooking, cleaning, laundry, shopping, taking him to Sunday School, parent-teacher conferences, reading bedtime stories, baking his favorite cookies, and in her own words, spoiled him and expected his father to do the disciplining.
She welcomed Helen into the family and was delighted with the birth of a "grandson," Christopher.
Andy attended elementary and junior high school in Arlington, until Loran was transferred to Salt Lake City. There Andy attended high school, got his first Harley, and later, his first airplane, and had many lifetime friends. Following in his father's footsteps, Andy graduated from Stanford University in 1955 with a bachelor's degree in business economics. Andy was in ROTC and from there into the U.S. Air Force, where he obtained Pilot and Navigator Ratings, and was stationed at various Air Force bases in the United States. He was a captain at the time of his honorable discharge. He returned to Stanford to earn an MBA in 1960 in Management and Finance. His combined education in business and experience in aviation prepared him for his chosen profession in airport management. He was employed as airport manager in Truckee, California, in three small airports in the Lake Tahoe Area, at the Municipal Airport in Pueblo, Colorado, as Airport Properties Manager at Lambert St. Louis International Airport, and at the Rhinelander-Oneida County Airport. While living in St. Louis he earned a master's degree in 1974 in Political Science at the University of Illinois, Edwardsville.
He was a member of the Rhinelander UCC Congregational Church, and in the mid-'80s he accepted a volunteer position to help a rural Congregational Church in Geneva, Iowa, coordinate various kinds of help during the 1980s farm crisis. Andy was the Director of Rural Answers Institute, which helped many farmers find ways to refinance to not lose their farm property, and to meet their immediate household and food needs. He worked with a number of farm families and some became lifelong friends.
Andy liked Mexico, especially in the cold Wisconsin months, and often went there in January/February, to Tuxpan and Jalapa, where he taught business and banking English to English-speaking professionals who wanted to use correct terminology in their business life. He later worked with an export/import business in Mexico City whose owner became a treasured friend.
In 1989 Andy joined the Peace Corps and spent 2 1/2 years in Mao, Dominican Republic, working with a development company called Indenor. His most treasured accomplishment there was securing the successful financing for a reservoir-pipe project high in the mountains, which allowed for the development of a running water system for the homes of residents in and near the village of Cenovi, relieving them of the need to carry large containers of spring water on their heads up a steep mountain trail to their homes. He arranged for his wife, Helen, and his son, Chris, to visit him various times for various adventures in the Dominican Republic and his "family" (at the home in which he lived) welcomed them and remain friends.
His love of adventure to new places, with new cultures, and new food, was well known by family and friends. When son, Chris, was in sixth grade, the two of them took his aging Shell Lake runabout boat on a 10-day odyssey from St. Paul, Minn. down the Mississippi River to St. Louis, up the Illinois River, through downtown Chicago, and north along the Milwaukee lakeshore to Two Rivers. Friends called them Huck Finn and Tom Sawyer.
Perhaps the greatest, bravest adventure of all was when, in his late 50s, Andy took his motorcycle on a trailer to Houston, Texas, there to leave his car and trailer with friends, and to set out alone on the cycle, itinerary unknown, for a trip through Mexico, Belize, and the Atlantic side of Central America to Panama, and back via the Pacific side, through Mexico back to Houston and home. He ate local food and stayed in local hotels who would put his cycle inside for the night. He accomplished all this with no major problems or illness. When asked what made him stop in Panama and turn around, his practical answer, with a big smile, was "When my money was half gone."
Son Chris became a certified aircraft mechanic and moved to Alaska in 1992. He met his future wife, Kelli, shortly after arriving there, and they shared a sense of adventure and love of fishing. They were married on a bridge on a hiking trail in 1993 and that was the first of 17 summer adventures shared by his mom and dad, including river float trips, many fishing adventures in many places, and lots of salmon and halibut brought home in camp chest coolers to be shared with many Rhinelander friends. Best of all was the arrival of two grandchildren, Jacob and Katie, and sharing adventures and beach fires and food with them, as they grew old enough to participate.
Andy and his wife, Helen, are among those who can say they have been north of the Arctic Circle and south of the Antarctic Circle. A week-long adventure through the Elderhostel program took them to a fish camp near Kotzebue, Alaska and one year later they returned, for Andy had made friends with a native (Eskimo) who had invited him to return and go up a river for a few days to stay in his native village. Helen stayed again at the Fish Camp and helped prepare for an upcoming new Elderhostel. In 2003 they took a cruise on a small ship that went from Rio de Janeiro to Montevideo to Buenos Aires to the Falkland Islands to Antarctica, there to walk among the penguins.
Adventures behind, Rhinelander became home for the rest of his life, and he loved becoming a "river rat" and the nickname given him by river friends "Cap'n Andy." He put many miles on the Wisconsin River and the upper end of the Boom Lake Flowage in his Royal Blue Shell Lake runabout. When he could no longer get out on the river, he sold his boat and sat on his deck and waving and chuckling his delight as fishermen and pontoon boats went by with shouts of "Hi, Cap'n Andy!"
Honoring his wishes, his cremated remains were taken to Alaska where his immediate family held a tribute memorial around a beach fire on a rare mild Alaskan October evening. There they shared his family history, his life and adventures, and many humorous incidents. The following day Helen and son Chris, in his small Taylorcraft airplane, flew his remains and over Katchemak Bay to scatter his ashes over the ocean near one of their favorite places to fish and to stay, the village of Seldovia, and there to bid farewell to Andy/Dad/Papa.
Survivors include Helen, his wife of 47 years, son Chris, daughter-in-law and friend,
Kelli, and his two grandchildren, Jacob Andrew and Kathryn Rose (Katie), who live in Soldotna, Alaska. Other survivors are in-laws, Mike and Joan Jessop and their son, Steve (Tisha) Jessop, nieces Jacquie Murray and Beth Starritt, all in Colorado Springs and niece Sydney in Tampa, Florida. Also surviving are special friends, including lifelong friend, David Valdez of Salt Lake City, Javier Melendez of Atlanta and Mexico City, and Jose "Gocha" Torribio of Mao, Dominican Republic.
He was born in Arlington, Mass. on May 9, 1933. His father, Loran Andrew Creglow, was the youngest of six children who grew up on a farm near Rock Rapids, Iowa. Loran was a graduate of Stanford University and was a scientist/metallurgist. Andy's mother, Ada Hensel Creglow, was a 1920 graduate of Ohio State University with a bachelor's degree in business and later a master's degree at University of Pittsburgh. In the 1920s she created her own successful independent business as a consultant for retail businesses, contracting with department stores in New York City, Washington, D.C. and elsewhere in New England to evaluate their business model and employees and provide training for all. Sadly she died of breast cancer in 1936 when Andy was three years old. His father's sister, Gertrude Creglow, stepped in to make a stable home for the father and son and was Andy's beloved "Auntie" who did the cooking, cleaning, laundry, shopping, taking him to Sunday School, parent-teacher conferences, reading bedtime stories, baking his favorite cookies, and in her own words, spoiled him and expected his father to do the disciplining.
She welcomed Helen into the family and was delighted with the birth of a "grandson," Christopher.
Andy attended elementary and junior high school in Arlington, until Loran was transferred to Salt Lake City. There Andy attended high school, got his first Harley, and later, his first airplane, and had many lifetime friends. Following in his father's footsteps, Andy graduated from Stanford University in 1955 with a bachelor's degree in business economics. Andy was in ROTC and from there into the U.S. Air Force, where he obtained Pilot and Navigator Ratings, and was stationed at various Air Force bases in the United States. He was a captain at the time of his honorable discharge. He returned to Stanford to earn an MBA in 1960 in Management and Finance. His combined education in business and experience in aviation prepared him for his chosen profession in airport management. He was employed as airport manager in Truckee, California, in three small airports in the Lake Tahoe Area, at the Municipal Airport in Pueblo, Colorado, as Airport Properties Manager at Lambert St. Louis International Airport, and at the Rhinelander-Oneida County Airport. While living in St. Louis he earned a master's degree in 1974 in Political Science at the University of Illinois, Edwardsville.
He was a member of the Rhinelander UCC Congregational Church, and in the mid-'80s he accepted a volunteer position to help a rural Congregational Church in Geneva, Iowa, coordinate various kinds of help during the 1980s farm crisis. Andy was the Director of Rural Answers Institute, which helped many farmers find ways to refinance to not lose their farm property, and to meet their immediate household and food needs. He worked with a number of farm families and some became lifelong friends.
Andy liked Mexico, especially in the cold Wisconsin months, and often went there in January/February, to Tuxpan and Jalapa, where he taught business and banking English to English-speaking professionals who wanted to use correct terminology in their business life. He later worked with an export/import business in Mexico City whose owner became a treasured friend.
In 1989 Andy joined the Peace Corps and spent 2 1/2 years in Mao, Dominican Republic, working with a development company called Indenor. His most treasured accomplishment there was securing the successful financing for a reservoir-pipe project high in the mountains, which allowed for the development of a running water system for the homes of residents in and near the village of Cenovi, relieving them of the need to carry large containers of spring water on their heads up a steep mountain trail to their homes. He arranged for his wife, Helen, and his son, Chris, to visit him various times for various adventures in the Dominican Republic and his "family" (at the home in which he lived) welcomed them and remain friends.
His love of adventure to new places, with new cultures, and new food, was well known by family and friends. When son, Chris, was in sixth grade, the two of them took his aging Shell Lake runabout boat on a 10-day odyssey from St. Paul, Minn. down the Mississippi River to St. Louis, up the Illinois River, through downtown Chicago, and north along the Milwaukee lakeshore to Two Rivers. Friends called them Huck Finn and Tom Sawyer.
Perhaps the greatest, bravest adventure of all was when, in his late 50s, Andy took his motorcycle on a trailer to Houston, Texas, there to leave his car and trailer with friends, and to set out alone on the cycle, itinerary unknown, for a trip through Mexico, Belize, and the Atlantic side of Central America to Panama, and back via the Pacific side, through Mexico back to Houston and home. He ate local food and stayed in local hotels who would put his cycle inside for the night. He accomplished all this with no major problems or illness. When asked what made him stop in Panama and turn around, his practical answer, with a big smile, was "When my money was half gone."
Son Chris became a certified aircraft mechanic and moved to Alaska in 1992. He met his future wife, Kelli, shortly after arriving there, and they shared a sense of adventure and love of fishing. They were married on a bridge on a hiking trail in 1993 and that was the first of 17 summer adventures shared by his mom and dad, including river float trips, many fishing adventures in many places, and lots of salmon and halibut brought home in camp chest coolers to be shared with many Rhinelander friends. Best of all was the arrival of two grandchildren, Jacob and Katie, and sharing adventures and beach fires and food with them, as they grew old enough to participate.
Andy and his wife, Helen, are among those who can say they have been north of the Arctic Circle and south of the Antarctic Circle. A week-long adventure through the Elderhostel program took them to a fish camp near Kotzebue, Alaska and one year later they returned, for Andy had made friends with a native (Eskimo) who had invited him to return and go up a river for a few days to stay in his native village. Helen stayed again at the Fish Camp and helped prepare for an upcoming new Elderhostel. In 2003 they took a cruise on a small ship that went from Rio de Janeiro to Montevideo to Buenos Aires to the Falkland Islands to Antarctica, there to walk among the penguins.
Adventures behind, Rhinelander became home for the rest of his life, and he loved becoming a "river rat" and the nickname given him by river friends "Cap'n Andy." He put many miles on the Wisconsin River and the upper end of the Boom Lake Flowage in his Royal Blue Shell Lake runabout. When he could no longer get out on the river, he sold his boat and sat on his deck and waving and chuckling his delight as fishermen and pontoon boats went by with shouts of "Hi, Cap'n Andy!"
Honoring his wishes, his cremated remains were taken to Alaska where his immediate family held a tribute memorial around a beach fire on a rare mild Alaskan October evening. There they shared his family history, his life and adventures, and many humorous incidents. The following day Helen and son Chris, in his small Taylorcraft airplane, flew his remains and over Katchemak Bay to scatter his ashes over the ocean near one of their favorite places to fish and to stay, the village of Seldovia, and there to bid farewell to Andy/Dad/Papa.
Survivors include Helen, his wife of 47 years, son Chris, daughter-in-law and friend,
Kelli, and his two grandchildren, Jacob Andrew and Kathryn Rose (Katie), who live in Soldotna, Alaska. Other survivors are in-laws, Mike and Joan Jessop and their son, Steve (Tisha) Jessop, nieces Jacquie Murray and Beth Starritt, all in Colorado Springs and niece Sydney in Tampa, Florida. Also surviving are special friends, including lifelong friend, David Valdez of Salt Lake City, Javier Melendez of Atlanta and Mexico City, and Jose "Gocha" Torribio of Mao, Dominican Republic.
Andrew H. Creglow "Andy" died peacefully on Friday, Oct. 2, 2015, at the age of 82, at Milestone Senior Living, where he had lived for over a year and had many friends among the other residents and the staff and aides, who cared for him with great compassion, friendship and humor.
He was born in Arlington, Mass. on May 9, 1933. His father, Loran Andrew Creglow, was the youngest of six children who grew up on a farm near Rock Rapids, Iowa. Loran was a graduate of Stanford University and was a scientist/metallurgist. Andy's mother, Ada Hensel Creglow, was a 1920 graduate of Ohio State University with a bachelor's degree in business and later a master's degree at University of Pittsburgh. In the 1920s she created her own successful independent business as a consultant for retail businesses, contracting with department stores in New York City, Washington, D.C. and elsewhere in New England to evaluate their business model and employees and provide training for all. Sadly she died of breast cancer in 1936 when Andy was three years old. His father's sister, Gertrude Creglow, stepped in to make a stable home for the father and son and was Andy's beloved "Auntie" who did the cooking, cleaning, laundry, shopping, taking him to Sunday School, parent-teacher conferences, reading bedtime stories, baking his favorite cookies, and in her own words, spoiled him and expected his father to do the disciplining.
She welcomed Helen into the family and was delighted with the birth of a "grandson," Christopher.
Andy attended elementary and junior high school in Arlington, until Loran was transferred to Salt Lake City. There Andy attended high school, got his first Harley, and later, his first airplane, and had many lifetime friends. Following in his father's footsteps, Andy graduated from Stanford University in 1955 with a bachelor's degree in business economics. Andy was in ROTC and from there into the U.S. Air Force, where he obtained Pilot and Navigator Ratings, and was stationed at various Air Force bases in the United States. He was a captain at the time of his honorable discharge. He returned to Stanford to earn an MBA in 1960 in Management and Finance. His combined education in business and experience in aviation prepared him for his chosen profession in airport management. He was employed as airport manager in Truckee, California, in three small airports in the Lake Tahoe Area, at the Municipal Airport in Pueblo, Colorado, as Airport Properties Manager at Lambert St. Louis International Airport, and at the Rhinelander-Oneida County Airport. While living in St. Louis he earned a master's degree in 1974 in Political Science at the University of Illinois, Edwardsville.
He was a member of the Rhinelander UCC Congregational Church, and in the mid-'80s he accepted a volunteer position to help a rural Congregational Church in Geneva, Iowa, coordinate various kinds of help during the 1980s farm crisis. Andy was the Director of Rural Answers Institute, which helped many farmers find ways to refinance to not lose their farm property, and to meet their immediate household and food needs. He worked with a number of farm families and some became lifelong friends.
Andy liked Mexico, especially in the cold Wisconsin months, and often went there in January/February, to Tuxpan and Jalapa, where he taught business and banking English to English-speaking professionals who wanted to use correct terminology in their business life. He later worked with an export/import business in Mexico City whose owner became a treasured friend.
In 1989 Andy joined the Peace Corps and spent 2 1/2 years in Mao, Dominican Republic, working with a development company called Indenor. His most treasured accomplishment there was securing the successful financing for a reservoir-pipe project high in the mountains, which allowed for the development of a running water system for the homes of residents in and near the village of Cenovi, relieving them of the need to carry large containers of spring water on their heads up a steep mountain trail to their homes. He arranged for his wife, Helen, and his son, Chris, to visit him various times for various adventures in the Dominican Republic and his "family" (at the home in which he lived) welcomed them and remain friends.
His love of adventure to new places, with new cultures, and new food, was well known by family and friends. When son, Chris, was in sixth grade, the two of them took his aging Shell Lake runabout boat on a 10-day odyssey from St. Paul, Minn. down the Mississippi River to St. Louis, up the Illinois River, through downtown Chicago, and north along the Milwaukee lakeshore to Two Rivers. Friends called them Huck Finn and Tom Sawyer.
Perhaps the greatest, bravest adventure of all was when, in his late 50s, Andy took his motorcycle on a trailer to Houston, Texas, there to leave his car and trailer with friends, and to set out alone on the cycle, itinerary unknown, for a trip through Mexico, Belize, and the Atlantic side of Central America to Panama, and back via the Pacific side, through Mexico back to Houston and home. He ate local food and stayed in local hotels who would put his cycle inside for the night. He accomplished all this with no major problems or illness. When asked what made him stop in Panama and turn around, his practical answer, with a big smile, was "When my money was half gone."
Son Chris became a certified aircraft mechanic and moved to Alaska in 1992. He met his future wife, Kelli, shortly after arriving there, and they shared a sense of adventure and love of fishing. They were married on a bridge on a hiking trail in 1993 and that was the first of 17 summer adventures shared by his mom and dad, including river float trips, many fishing adventures in many places, and lots of salmon and halibut brought home in camp chest coolers to be shared with many Rhinelander friends. Best of all was the arrival of two grandchildren, Jacob and Katie, and sharing adventures and beach fires and food with them, as they grew old enough to participate.
Andy and his wife, Helen, are among those who can say they have been north of the Arctic Circle and south of the Antarctic Circle. A week-long adventure through the Elderhostel program took them to a fish camp near Kotzebue, Alaska and one year later they returned, for Andy had made friends with a native (Eskimo) who had invited him to return and go up a river for a few days to stay in his native village. Helen stayed again at the Fish Camp and helped prepare for an upcoming new Elderhostel. In 2003 they took a cruise on a small ship that went from Rio de Janeiro to Montevideo to Buenos Aires to the Falkland Islands to Antarctica, there to walk among the penguins.
Adventures behind, Rhinelander became home for the rest of his life, and he loved becoming a "river rat" and the nickname given him by river friends "Cap'n Andy." He put many miles on the Wisconsin River and the upper end of the Boom Lake Flowage in his Royal Blue Shell Lake runabout. When he could no longer get out on the river, he sold his boat and sat on his deck and waving and chuckling his delight as fishermen and pontoon boats went by with shouts of "Hi, Cap'n Andy!"
Honoring his wishes, his cremated remains were taken to Alaska where his immediate family held a tribute memorial around a beach fire on a rare mild Alaskan October evening. There they shared his family history, his life and adventures, and many humorous incidents. The following day Helen and son Chris, in his small Taylorcraft airplane, flew his remains and over Katchemak Bay to scatter his ashes over the ocean near one of their favorite places to fish and to stay, the village of Seldovia, and there to bid farewell to Andy/Dad/Papa.
Survivors include Helen, his wife of 47 years, son Chris, daughter-in-law and friend,
Kelli, and his two grandchildren, Jacob Andrew and Kathryn Rose (Katie), who live in Soldotna, Alaska. Other survivors are in-laws, Mike and Joan Jessop and their son, Steve (Tisha) Jessop, nieces Jacquie Murray and Beth Starritt, all in Colorado Springs and niece Sydney in Tampa, Florida. Also surviving are special friends, including lifelong friend, David Valdez of Salt Lake City, Javier Melendez of Atlanta and Mexico City, and Jose "Gocha" Torribio of Mao, Dominican Republic.
He was born in Arlington, Mass. on May 9, 1933. His father, Loran Andrew Creglow, was the youngest of six children who grew up on a farm near Rock Rapids, Iowa. Loran was a graduate of Stanford University and was a scientist/metallurgist. Andy's mother, Ada Hensel Creglow, was a 1920 graduate of Ohio State University with a bachelor's degree in business and later a master's degree at University of Pittsburgh. In the 1920s she created her own successful independent business as a consultant for retail businesses, contracting with department stores in New York City, Washington, D.C. and elsewhere in New England to evaluate their business model and employees and provide training for all. Sadly she died of breast cancer in 1936 when Andy was three years old. His father's sister, Gertrude Creglow, stepped in to make a stable home for the father and son and was Andy's beloved "Auntie" who did the cooking, cleaning, laundry, shopping, taking him to Sunday School, parent-teacher conferences, reading bedtime stories, baking his favorite cookies, and in her own words, spoiled him and expected his father to do the disciplining.
She welcomed Helen into the family and was delighted with the birth of a "grandson," Christopher.
Andy attended elementary and junior high school in Arlington, until Loran was transferred to Salt Lake City. There Andy attended high school, got his first Harley, and later, his first airplane, and had many lifetime friends. Following in his father's footsteps, Andy graduated from Stanford University in 1955 with a bachelor's degree in business economics. Andy was in ROTC and from there into the U.S. Air Force, where he obtained Pilot and Navigator Ratings, and was stationed at various Air Force bases in the United States. He was a captain at the time of his honorable discharge. He returned to Stanford to earn an MBA in 1960 in Management and Finance. His combined education in business and experience in aviation prepared him for his chosen profession in airport management. He was employed as airport manager in Truckee, California, in three small airports in the Lake Tahoe Area, at the Municipal Airport in Pueblo, Colorado, as Airport Properties Manager at Lambert St. Louis International Airport, and at the Rhinelander-Oneida County Airport. While living in St. Louis he earned a master's degree in 1974 in Political Science at the University of Illinois, Edwardsville.
He was a member of the Rhinelander UCC Congregational Church, and in the mid-'80s he accepted a volunteer position to help a rural Congregational Church in Geneva, Iowa, coordinate various kinds of help during the 1980s farm crisis. Andy was the Director of Rural Answers Institute, which helped many farmers find ways to refinance to not lose their farm property, and to meet their immediate household and food needs. He worked with a number of farm families and some became lifelong friends.
Andy liked Mexico, especially in the cold Wisconsin months, and often went there in January/February, to Tuxpan and Jalapa, where he taught business and banking English to English-speaking professionals who wanted to use correct terminology in their business life. He later worked with an export/import business in Mexico City whose owner became a treasured friend.
In 1989 Andy joined the Peace Corps and spent 2 1/2 years in Mao, Dominican Republic, working with a development company called Indenor. His most treasured accomplishment there was securing the successful financing for a reservoir-pipe project high in the mountains, which allowed for the development of a running water system for the homes of residents in and near the village of Cenovi, relieving them of the need to carry large containers of spring water on their heads up a steep mountain trail to their homes. He arranged for his wife, Helen, and his son, Chris, to visit him various times for various adventures in the Dominican Republic and his "family" (at the home in which he lived) welcomed them and remain friends.
His love of adventure to new places, with new cultures, and new food, was well known by family and friends. When son, Chris, was in sixth grade, the two of them took his aging Shell Lake runabout boat on a 10-day odyssey from St. Paul, Minn. down the Mississippi River to St. Louis, up the Illinois River, through downtown Chicago, and north along the Milwaukee lakeshore to Two Rivers. Friends called them Huck Finn and Tom Sawyer.
Perhaps the greatest, bravest adventure of all was when, in his late 50s, Andy took his motorcycle on a trailer to Houston, Texas, there to leave his car and trailer with friends, and to set out alone on the cycle, itinerary unknown, for a trip through Mexico, Belize, and the Atlantic side of Central America to Panama, and back via the Pacific side, through Mexico back to Houston and home. He ate local food and stayed in local hotels who would put his cycle inside for the night. He accomplished all this with no major problems or illness. When asked what made him stop in Panama and turn around, his practical answer, with a big smile, was "When my money was half gone."
Son Chris became a certified aircraft mechanic and moved to Alaska in 1992. He met his future wife, Kelli, shortly after arriving there, and they shared a sense of adventure and love of fishing. They were married on a bridge on a hiking trail in 1993 and that was the first of 17 summer adventures shared by his mom and dad, including river float trips, many fishing adventures in many places, and lots of salmon and halibut brought home in camp chest coolers to be shared with many Rhinelander friends. Best of all was the arrival of two grandchildren, Jacob and Katie, and sharing adventures and beach fires and food with them, as they grew old enough to participate.
Andy and his wife, Helen, are among those who can say they have been north of the Arctic Circle and south of the Antarctic Circle. A week-long adventure through the Elderhostel program took them to a fish camp near Kotzebue, Alaska and one year later they returned, for Andy had made friends with a native (Eskimo) who had invited him to return and go up a river for a few days to stay in his native village. Helen stayed again at the Fish Camp and helped prepare for an upcoming new Elderhostel. In 2003 they took a cruise on a small ship that went from Rio de Janeiro to Montevideo to Buenos Aires to the Falkland Islands to Antarctica, there to walk among the penguins.
Adventures behind, Rhinelander became home for the rest of his life, and he loved becoming a "river rat" and the nickname given him by river friends "Cap'n Andy." He put many miles on the Wisconsin River and the upper end of the Boom Lake Flowage in his Royal Blue Shell Lake runabout. When he could no longer get out on the river, he sold his boat and sat on his deck and waving and chuckling his delight as fishermen and pontoon boats went by with shouts of "Hi, Cap'n Andy!"
Honoring his wishes, his cremated remains were taken to Alaska where his immediate family held a tribute memorial around a beach fire on a rare mild Alaskan October evening. There they shared his family history, his life and adventures, and many humorous incidents. The following day Helen and son Chris, in his small Taylorcraft airplane, flew his remains and over Katchemak Bay to scatter his ashes over the ocean near one of their favorite places to fish and to stay, the village of Seldovia, and there to bid farewell to Andy/Dad/Papa.
Survivors include Helen, his wife of 47 years, son Chris, daughter-in-law and friend,
Kelli, and his two grandchildren, Jacob Andrew and Kathryn Rose (Katie), who live in Soldotna, Alaska. Other survivors are in-laws, Mike and Joan Jessop and their son, Steve (Tisha) Jessop, nieces Jacquie Murray and Beth Starritt, all in Colorado Springs and niece Sydney in Tampa, Florida. Also surviving are special friends, including lifelong friend, David Valdez of Salt Lake City, Javier Melendez of Atlanta and Mexico City, and Jose "Gocha" Torribio of Mao, Dominican Republic.
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