Topic starter
13/11/2007 3:58 pm
While digging through pictures last night I came across these views of some legendary steamboat historians on the St. Louis levee and thought I'd share them. The first scene is of the late Bert Fenn, of Tell City, Indiana (owner of the Tell City Chair Company) and Capt. Alan Bates (who needs no introduction here!) with the GOLDENROD SHOWBOAT in the background. The second image is of Bert Fenn and Miss Ruth Ferris, curator of the Midship Museum aboard the Str. BECKY THATCHER (formerly the MISSISSIPPI) seen looming behind them.
These photos were taken in October, 1970, when Alan and Bert visited St. Louis after having been to Nebraska as consultants for the project of preserving and displaying the excavated hull and salvaged cargo of the Missouri River steamboat BERTRAND. Both Ruth and Bert passed on in 1993, within a month of each other. Thankfully, Alan shines on and continues to be one of our erudite mentors.
18/11/2007 9:58 am
Yeah, Bert and I sat, semi-nude in a hotel room and watched the ". . . dawn come up like thunder out of East St. Louis across the river." Rudyard Kipling did not write this!
How you bring back memories, Keith! We had been to Missouri Valley, Iowa, Blair and Lincoln, New-braska. Trips with Bert were unforgettable fun and education melded together.