Set at the bottom of a boggy swale that eventually broadens to become the great Petobego Marsh, it was once home to a bustling sawmill operation, and later became a depot for potatoes and other local crops. The Boalses also own a fair amount of the swampland to the north and west of their place, home to innumerable birds, reptiles and small mammals. Though the Boalses aren't native Angelites, they've lived here since 1965 and both of their families have deep roots in nearby Elk Rapids. It was hard work making a living back then.
People complain about working hard now, but back then they knew how to work.
His own working days are mostly over. After a lifetime spent toiling in the fruit processing plants and machine shops of Acme, Traverse City, Elk Rapids and Kalkaska, he retired in 1994. Now she's riding herd on the children of people who used to give her trouble when they were kids. The biggest hell-raisers then are the strictest parents now. Clarence and Nola grew up within a few houses of each other in the Elk Rapids of the 1940s.