Engagement___________________________________

Conway - Mulligan

James Conway and Mary Flanner of Bayview and Madison, Wisconsin are pleased to announce the engagement of their daughter, Kara Jane Conway of Minneapolis, Minnesota to Mark Patrick Mulligan of Madison, Wisconsin.

The Bride-Elect is a 1998 graduate of the University of Wisconsin with BA in Spanish and a 2006 graduate of the University of Minnesota, with a Master of Business Administration and a Master of Healthcare Administration. She currently is employed as an Administrative Fellow with Park Nicollet Health Services in Minneapolis, MN.
The Groom-to-Be is the son of Angela Mulligan-Pohl and the late John Mulligan. The mother is remarried to Kenneth Pohl of Oakwood.

Mark Patrick Mulligan is a 1991 graduate of the University of Wisconsin with a BS in Mechanical Engineering, a 2000 graduate of the University of Wisconsin with a Master of Science in Business and Master of Science in Biomedical Engineering. He is currently employed as a Project Manager at the Space Science and Engineering Center, University of Wisconsin.

A July 14, 2007 wedding is planned at the St. Maria Goretti Parish Church in Madison, WI.

Barker selected in national design competition

Local resident, Kevin Barker was recently named a winner in the “Future Furniture” Competition sponsored by Interior Design magazine, New York.

The competition was organized to encourage architects, designers and design students to submit their vision for new, innovative forms of furniture and was promoted as “a window on tomorrow’s ideas – today.”  The winning entries were published in the October issue of Interior Design.  

Kevin Barker with "Apogee" Table.

Barker’s entry, the “Apogee” Table, is a multi-purpose table that can function in a variety of ways including a coffee table, desk and conference table. Each of the top segments of the table are adjustable in height and depth to adapt to different uses. The table design has been submitted for a U.S patent.    

Barker started Flying Leap Furniture in 2004 to design and market new product ideas for the office and home furniture industry.  His work has focused on creating furniture products that better accommodate the use of technology in the office and the home.  Barker is currently marketing the design rights for the Apogee Table to companies in the office furniture industry.

Winifred Dynes: Living it up at ‘the last resort’

By Lance Winkler

In the course of working for a newspaper, one has occasion to meet some pretty interesting folks. Such an opportunity presented itself when delivering the weekly bundle of Oakwood Registers to One Lincoln Park (referred to as “the last resort” by some of its residents) last Tuesday. Occupying a rocking chair in what was formerly the location of the newspaper rack was a resident by the name of Winifred S. Dynes, who asked if I was delivering The Jewish Observer. I replied to the contrary and handed her a copy of the Register instead. She started telling me how much she and other former residents of Oakwood liked the paper. Having played her hand that she was former Oakwood resident, I asked where she lived, what she did, and before long, I went to the reception desk, cadged a pen and some paper, and got an exclusive interview with one of Edwin D. Smith Elementary School’s earliest teachers

Winifred S. Dynes

Born May 5, 1909 in Chevy Chase, Maryland, she was named Winifred Simpson. Her father Robert H. Simpson, was a cashier with the Hydraulic Pressed Brick Co. Her mother, Mary (nee Gilliland) was a homemaker and never short of fresh produce as the family raised chickens in their backyard.

Well, if she ever needed eggs or a chicken for the pot, that’s what she did. She went right out back got herself a chicken,” she said. “Can you imagine someone raising chickens in Chevy Chase today?” The Washington. D.C. suburb has grown into quite the tony town nowadays. It would be like raising roosters on Ridgeway Avenue, I had to admit.

Winifred remarked that she had a happy childhood and attended Central High School in Washington, D.C. and rode a streetcar the eight mile trip to-and-from her home most of the time. She graduated and, deciding on a teaching career, attended Wilson Teachers College in Washington D.C. as well.

She married William A. Dynes, who she new from childhood as her husband’s mother was the Sunday School teacher at the Chevy Chase Presbyterian Church which her family attended. Dynes graduated from Yale University with an electrical engineering degree. According to Mrs. Dynes, her husband is credited with installing the first aircraft beacon light atop the Washington Monument in the U.S. Capitol. Her husband received another job offer and the couple moved to Mt. Vernon, New York.

“We didn’t like it at all,” she said. Looking for another place to put down roots, her husband received an offer from Wright Field in Dayton to come work there. With World War II in Europe and war clouds on the horizon, the couple moved here with their two-year-old son, John, to the unassuming suburb of Oakwood in 1940.

The couple also had a daughter, Susan Dynes Cramer, who lives today in Lebanon, Ohio and is married to Dr. Michael Cramer, a pharmacist.

Here they rented a home at 150 Lonsdale for the princely sum of $50 a month. “I thought it was too high,” said Winifred. Nevertheless, the family settled down with husband William driving to Wright Field and working on, among other things, the electrical system of the WWII workhorse B-17 bomber.

Winifred secured a job as a substitute Kindergarten teacher at Harman and Smith elementary schools from 1947 to 1957, serving one year as a full-time teacher. She also taught Kindergarten in the Kettering school system from 1957 to 1967. According to Mrs. Dynes, she would walk two blocks with her children to their home and make them lunch every day and would then walk back with them.

Their son graduated from Oakwood High School in 1956 and “married an Oakwood girl,” the late Elizabeth Greer, the daughter of the late Oakwood Paterfamilias, Rowan Greer. According to Mrs. Dynes, the couple met in English class at OHS. Son John apparently had the gift of gab and his teacher ordered him to sit next to Miss Greer, saying to him. “You sit next to Betsy Greer. She won’t let you talk.”

When Winifred Dynes was asked to what does she attribute her long life, she relied that she started out with a happy childhood, never drank or smoked, lived through the Depression without much want, and lived a productive life as both a teacher and a member of the Oakwood community.

Today, Winifred lives at Lincoln Park Manor where she volunteers as a librarian and reads books and magazines there daily. She is an “avid” bridge player, playing with two separate bridge groups a week and sometimes playing as a substitute three additional times a week if called on to do so.

Her son, John, who resides today in Albequerque, New Mexico, is coming to visit her this month and she is much looking forward to that as he will be bringing his new bride-to-be, whom Winifred has not as yet met.

Through three generations of “begets” Winifred is grandmother to five grandchildren and nine   great grandchildren, with a pair of great grandchildren twins “in the oven” that are due any day now. What a brood! She looks to her family more than ever for company nowadays.

“One of the disadvantages of living so long is all your friends are gone and there’s no one to remember with. But Lincoln Park is a great place to find new friends.

Great Wolf Lodge offers swimming family fun

By Lance Winkler

Great Wolf Lodge, the world’s largest indoor waterpark, is located across from the Kings Island amusement park, has been designated as the official place to stay for Kings Island families in need of accommodations. One wonders what would prompt such a designation. The kids will want to stay in the water park all day. Forget the rides.

We got a chance to visit the park a month ago during its “soft opening” and were quite impressed. First off, it is HUGE. The outside check-in breezeway is large enough to accommodate Paul Bunyan without stooping.  On entering the “Grand Lobby,” one’s attention is arrested by the “Rhythm of Nature” clock tower and the two cavernous stories of rustic wood beam construction framing it. The impression is that A) this place is here to stay and B) the place can accommodate a lot of adult and family activity.

After check-in, we strolled to the rear of the lobby to a gigantic picture window opening out onto the largest indoor waterpark we’d ever seen. It looked like a Hollywood stage set. One gander at the wave pool, the 1,000 gallon tipping bucket and a peek at the waterslide tubes (19 separate rides) snaking around in the upper reaches of the ceiling within the park’s 4-story-tall interior and the kids couldn’t wait to get to the room to change into their bathing suits.

Father and son running down one of the 10 waterslides at Great Wolf Lodge.

Walking down the hallways to one’s room also impresses one with the size of the place. The hallways go on for a good 3000 feet with palisades of doors on either side. In total, there are 401 rooms with 12 different types of suites offered.
We were inexplicably-yet-thankfully upgraded to a three-bed suite with an upstairs loft with bed and half-bath combo (the parentals got dibs on that) and we found the accommodations to be both comfortable and - aside from the occasional yacking brood of urchins running down the hallway - reasonably quiet.

We got changed and went to explore the environs of the water park ourselves. The place has a lot of options packed into it that appeal to adults as well: A lazy river replete with inner tubes to float on; A roomy whirlpool/spa area; A wave pool; A snack bar; lounge chairs and chaises; Oh, and all beer and alcoholic drinks are served in unbreakable plastic bottles and glasses. For the kiddies, it would take two full days to explore all the levels and activities one could enjoy at the place.

The air in the place is warm and moist. According to the brochure, 300,000 gallons of water are heated to 84 degrees, making activity in a bathing suit, in or out of the water, very comfortable.

In addition, the resort also offers a number of amenities: Two restaurants - one called the Camp Critter Bar & Grill which serves up family fare and bar food in equal measure and a buffet-style venue on the other side. A Bear Claw Café down on the first floor serves baked goods, candies and pizza. Across the way is the Buckhorn Exchange gift shop which also serves Starbucks coffee. Then there is the Elements Spa and Salon for the ladies. The Iron Horse Fitness Center offers cardio and assorted fitness machines. Finally, the Northern Lights Arcade is one the likes of which not many kids have seen before. It is guaranteed to keep the kiddies busy for a good part of the evening.

Great Wolf Lodge is offering a special rate of $169.00 to Oakwood families from now until March 22 for weekday stays Sunday through Thursday. Reservations can be made by calling 1-800-913-9653.

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