PICKEREL RIVER—A Pickerel River couple, long time visitors to western Manitoulin Island, are very grateful for the support and encouragement they received from local residents. Terry and Joan Stuckless were evacuated from their home due to the Parry Sound 33 fire earlier this summer and were happy to report their home had not been damaged and everything was good when they returned. They and their two dogs had been living in their camper-trailer at the home of Chad and Lara Chevrette in Gore Bay while they waited for word that they could return home.
“Everything is great; when we got home, nothing was out of place,” said Ms. Stuckless. “You can still get a smell of smoke every once in a while, but the perimeter is under control.”
“We came back Wednesday (August 15, after having been evacuated from their home for about three weeks) and fortunately it doesn’t even look like the fire took place here,” said Ms. Stuckless.
Mr. Stuckless said, “we cannot express enough our feelings of thanks to the local residents. People were so good to us when we were staying on the Island. During the Harbour Days celebrations in Gore Bay we went to the Ecumenical church service and people were asking about how things were going, was our house okay, and if we had any news when we would be able to go home, and wanting to have a coffee and talk.”
“We were in Silver Water for two days as well, staying at Lara’s father’s place, and we would visit everyone at the coffee club in the morning,” said Mr. Stuckless. “Murray Duncanson was there; I worked for him at Inco, he was my foreman. He and everyone else were so supportive of us.”
“Everywhere we went people were so good and supportive. It was fantastic. The support we received from the local residents was overwhelming,” said Mr. Stuckless.
Mr. Stuckless also had high praise for all the firefighters who helped put out the Parry Sound 33 fire. “All the firefighters went above and beyond the call of duty. They did a fantastic job.”
