Doanld Eddy FEATURED RESIDENT-AUGUST-2009
FEATURED RESIDENT-AUGUST-2009
Picture this. In 1963, a man from St. Paul brings his twelve-year old son up to this area to hunt about one mile from Tamarack Lake. This young lad instantly falls in love with the countryside and from that time on has only one goal in life- to live up here by the time he is fifty years old. That little boy was Cloverton resident Don Eddy.
Donald Keith Eddy was born in November of 1951 to Jack and Gloria Eddy. He lived all of his growing up years in the West 7th Street area of St. Paul. He attended Adams Elementary School, and graduated from Monroe High School in 1970.
Don’s first job was working on the barges on the Mississippi River. He hated the work, but at that time, the $3.40/hour wages were rather enticing. Don was drafted into the army in 1970, spent most of his tour of duty in Germany and was honorably discharged in 1972.
He moved home, went back to work on the river, drove truck for two years, then took the test for the Fire and Police Departments. After passing with flying colors, he started working for the St. Paul Fire Department, holding the job for 27 years.
This was a very interesting job, to say the least. Don was involved in some exciting, high profile rescues. One such event, the rescue of a man from a train wreck on February 14, 1997, was featured on both NBC’s Dateline Show and as an article in Reader’s Digest Magazine. The magazine crew actually came to Cloverton to interview him and took a photo of Don down by the Hay Creek.
Right off the bat into his firefighting career, Don went for paramedics training, then took on a second job. Remember, in his mind,was still the need to accumulate the funds to buy land up here. By the time he was 23 years old, he had purchased land in New Dosey Township. It was 40 acres across from the Tony Fornengo homestead. He eventually found land he liked better- land with a stream. In 1986, he built his dream home off White Tail Lane.
In 1972, at a “social club”, Don met the girl who would become his wife- Jeannie Nash. She had been a longtime friend of one of Don’s neighbors. They were married in 1976. They have two sons- Nick (34) lives in Coon Rapids and works as a CNC programmer, while Jack (29) lives in Eagan and works as a realtor and president of “Wake the World” Records- an environmental music company. Jack has two young sons who are a great joy to grandparents Jeannie and Don.
Don had taken the firefighter job because he liked the fact that he could retire at age 50. However, at age 49, Don fell through the floor at a fire. This accident caused a clot which precipitated a mini-stroke. This effectively ended his career as a firefighter. He took his retirement at age 50 and headed north.
Managing his property for wildlife has been an integral part of Don’s life. He was doing quality land management long before it became popularized. After researching and experimenting on what kinds of grass certain animals liked to eat, Don planted just the right pastures for the deer, turkeys, grouse, etc that roamed his property. It was probably because of this, when, in 1999, then town chair John Fornengo was asked to rename all town roads with “Nature” names, he suggested White Tail Lane for Don’s road.
Another passion of Don’s is wildlife photography. He takes photos of animals on his land- bears, deer, bobcats, wolves, minks and otter have all been beautifully placed on film. Some of his photos are on display at the Hay Creek Outpost.
Kayaking is the third avocation on which Don thrives. He occasionally can be seen”running a fast stream” in his kayak. Hay Creek is his favorite place. For four years now, Don has been a monitor of the Hay Creek for the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency. He measures the water levels for them.
To stay in shape, Don Eddy, like Don Mishler, walks or jogs daily.
Claiming that the last 7 and ½ years have been the happiest of his life, Don says, “ I actually look forward to going to bed at night because I know when I open my eyes there will be a brand new day to live out my childhood dream”.