Young indeed, he at 75 and she at 68, are great grandparents; Harry and Leona Dickinson of Perham who, right in keeping with the trend of the day, are the newest and probably most enthusiastic members of the Sno-Drifters Club.
For they are a pair who go scooting over snowy fields and deep into white clad woods every time they get the chance; in fact every day, if they can manage it. And 18 miles one way is nothing!
Recently made honorary members of the Caribou snow sled club, the Dickinsons, who observed their 51st wedding anniversary last June, are the parents of a son and three daughters, and also claim 12 grandchildren and 18 great grand-children.
But they made some of their juniors look timid when they unloaded their sled on Route 61, above Madawaska Lake, to ride in a heavy snowstorm eight miles into the woods at Sinclair to attend the club's annual at Pete's Maple Sugar Camp. Many members younger in actual years declined to make the trip by sled in the inclement weather. They chose warm cars. In fact only eight or 10 out of 116 attending rode in by sled.
It's not unusual, either, to meet them 20 miles in the woods at Blackstone Siding on a Sunday, according to club members. and the Dickinsons would be the first to admit that they are disappointed it they can't start out their day with an hour's ride in the morning.
Harry and Leona were sold on snow sledding the first time they ever tried it. Invited by the Sno-Drifters to accompany them on an outing, they borrowed a sled from their son, Marvin, and rode double on the first venture. They liked it so well that within a few days they purchased a sled of their own and two of the shiny warm suits that are the inevitable accessories of the sport. They've been riding ever since.
[March 1969]