Island life left pioneer family with fond memories

(The Wendle family first came to Bonner County in the spring of 1916. Dr. F.G. Wendle purchased Memaloose Island and it became home to his family. I recently had the opportunity to boat around the island with two of his grandchildren, Bruce and Mark Wendle. Both of them spent much of their early youth on the island and I felt fortunate to hear them share family memories. Today, Bruce continues sharing some of the family history that he gathered from the notes of his grandfather, and this, coupled with the recollections of Mark and Bruce, gives an interesting history of this pioneer family in Bonner County.)

"One of the ways the family entertained itself was to look for arrowheads and other artifacts found on the old Indian burial ground on Memaloose. Susie, my grandmother, had a large collection in several quart jars. Cutting wood was a major undertaking. The wood had to be floated to the island and was cut using an old Model T hooked to a rotating saw.

"A series of rafts and barges were used to transport people across to the island from the mainland. The signal was a long and two shorts blown on a car horn and this would bring F.G. across to get the new arrivals.

"One of my scariest recollections was when F.G. thought I had gone too long without knowing how to swim. Since I played constantly on the docks, and in a small rowboat, a boy who could not swim was a real liability. He picked me up by the arm and leg and threw me off the end of the dock - I learned fast.

"Neal Wendle, my Dad, for years had his old cabin cruiser pulled up behind the warehouse on the island. Known as the H20K9, it was left to rot on the beach and was finally burned. Dad tells the tale that when he and his brother Rex were boys, they were asked by the local sheriff to proceed by boat to the town of Hope. There they were to pick up two men who were coming into Hope by train and take them over to the Green Monarch Mountains. They were to pretend that they were fishing and camping. The two guys were very interested in a man who would put his boat in the water near their camp location and pretend he was fishing.

"One day they witnessed several men coming from a mine near shore and they all took off in boats. It was later learned the two men Dad and Rex were with, were "G" men (government men) and the gang of men coming from the mine were counterfeiters printing money in the mine. The "G" men left on the train after the gang dispersed and that was the last they saw of them.

"Dr. Floyd Wendle's parents, the Rev. Cornelius and Mariatta Wendle, came west and are buried in the Hope Cemetery. He died in 1918, she in 1922. F.G.'s four children were raised on Memaloos Island. They all graduated from Sandpoint High School and later graduated from the University of Idaho before starting their separate careers.

"Dr. C.C. (Neal) Wendle, F.G.'s oldest son, was in the first class to graduate from the then new Sandpoint High School on Euclid. He went on the University of Idaho where he graduated in 1928. Without funds, Neal made his way to Chicago by working on a sheep train. He graduated from Northwestern University of Medicine in 1934 and returned to Sandpoint to set up a medical practice. He served in the Army Reserve and was called into the U.S. Army in 1941, shortly before Pearl Harbor.

"Neal Wendle was sent overseas to the China-Burma-India Theater where he served as a medical officer. He spent several years training the Chinese military in medical procedures and took part in several tank battles between the Imperial Japanese Army and the Chinese forces under Chiang Kai-shek. He served for five years. He returned to his former medical practice in Sandpoint in 1946. I remember my Dad taking care of the Sandpoint High School's football team for several years. He also let me witness several medical operations he performed and he was constantly being called out at night to make house calls or for a trip to the hospital.

"Neal married Gladys Cora Brower of Sheffield, Iowa, in 1933. They had four children. Rilla Sue, a daughter, died in 1937. All three boys graduated from SHS and later the University of Idaho. Bruce Wendle retired from the plastics industry in 1999. Mark retired from teaching in 2000, and Jan works as an electrical engineer for the Cascade Gas Company in Seattle.

"Dr. Neal Wendle later worked for Morris Knudson Company and served as the company doctor for both Yellow Tail Dam in Montana and Cabinet Gorge Dam on the Idaho Montana border. Gladys, Neal's wife, died in 1954 and he later married Susie Huss. He retired from medicine in 1966 and moved to Sun City, Ariz., where he passed away in 1984.

"Chud Wendle worked many years for Boeing in Seattle. He later came to Spokane where he founded Stoddard-Wendle Motors, which later became Wendle Motors. Rex Wendle, F.G.'s second son, worked for the Forest Service and later for Stoddard Wendle Motors. Francis Miller taught school in Sandpoint.

"Several of the Wendle family still call Bonner County home. Most of the surviving family continues to come here for vacations and family get-togethers."