The Griggs Ten Mile Family History

The Griggs’ family history actually begins in 1920 when Carole’s Grandfather, Karl August Kilander first visited Ten Mile Lake. Work on the Kilander cabin began in 1924. This part of the history is covered in Fritz Kilander’s family history (Carole’s brother). Carole’s first visit to Ten Mile was in 1936 as a three year old child. She says she still remembers how brutally hot that summer was. I first visited Ten Mile in 1967, as Carole’s guest. At this point our relationship became serious and we were married in late 1967. Thereafter, we would make weekend trips to Ten Mile Lake cabin from St Paul , where we both worked. In 1968, Carole’s dad died and her mother entered a nursing home a few years later. When our children, David and Ann arrived, (1970 and 1973) Carole became a full time homemaker and would spend summers at Ten Mile while I would use up my annual vacation on 4-day weekends at the lake.

During the winter of 1974-5 Fritz and his wife Bernadette lived in the cabin while their house was built on the adjacent lot. That winter was exceptionally cold and snowy, and Fritz and Bernadette went to extremes to make the drafty old cabin warm enough to live in. They moved into their new house in 1975, and the old cabin became ours. In 1980, Fritz and Bernadette sold their house and lot to us and moved up the lake to the Boone Point area, where they now live. From that point on, we knew where we would retire, and the only question was when. In fact it would be another twenty years, during which time we kept the house rented out, fortunately to couples who also loved Ten Mile and took good care of the house. Our children both treasure their memories of summers and falls at Ten Mile, and now their children are experiencing the same.

In late 1999, I retired from 3M and we moved to Ten Mile. We had given our renters (the Strandemos) plenty of warning and they were able to purchase a home near Tianna golf course, which is Guy’s passion. Carole and I became acquainted with many of the local residents and became a member of Union Church in Hackensack . Carole has since indulged her culinary passion by cooking at many and varied Church functions. In 2001, I became treasurer of the Ten Mile Lake Association for two years, then vice president under Tom Cox, and now president. These are challenging times for area lake associations. Land values have skyrocketed and many people continue to move into the area. This, my second life career, is proving to be at least as exciting as my first at 3M.