Joe

Joe Fassbender has the lodge named for him. This all started when
Joe wanted to hunt with his cousins. His uncle Ed and the gang pulled
an old lean-to milk house down in the woods and put a ramp on it so
Joe could be part of the hunt. They even had a stove in it to keep Joe
warm. He loved it out here. They made him feel like he belonged.
They did all the special drives - the cousins, his brothers, friends,
neighbors, whoever happened to be out at the lodge - but Joe never
got a deer. That didn’t matter so much to Joe. He saw lots of them
and had a lot of fun trying to get one. Joe died on October 25, 2002,
the same day and within minutes of the death of Russ Mielke. They
were in the same hospital, same unit and had the same doctor. Joe
had muscular dystrophy and lived much longer than anyone ever
expected that he would and we were grateful to have him as long as
we did.