EDITOR”S NOTE: Mark Wakeman, a 1965 Wayland High School graduate, shares a memory from long ago about Joe’s Grocery, Gun Lake and Cobb Lake in his youth:

That was part of every vacation on Cobb Lake. Nice little walk chatting with friends. Those days at The Lake were the best ever.

When I returned briefly to Michigan with my brand new wife in 1994, I told her we had to go to a magical place. Fortunately, my great and good friend, Duane Wolf, was at his family’s cottage so we could spend two days before continuing our journey.

After catching up with Duane and a few beers, a short nap, we watched the sun set as the water calmed to a glass like appearance. I remembered just in time to spray Raid on the both of us.

After Duane retired, I said let’s go swimming. She said our suits were in the trunk of the car. I just smiled and stripped. Skinny-dipping under a full moon, she said the water felt like silk. I agreed. As dawn commenced, I rowed a boat across the Lake in a fog to a small cove, where we just soaked up the peace until the sun rose and burned off the fog. She was stunned by it all.

Forever after, if we were in the U.S. within a thousand miles, she would start to bounce up and down saying ” I wanna go to the Lake, I wanna go to the Lake!!” like a 5-year-old. A wonderful mixing of old memories and making new ones.

Our classmate Cari O’ Neill Farling grew up there, and agrees it’s a magical place.

(Photo courtesy of Kathy Spillman Kelly)