"The Land They Loved" In the wet fall eve they lost their way And on this place exhausted lay While deaths chill dew upon their brows Turned frost with cold The wild swirling winds their requiem blew Drifting snow flakes their eyelids softly covering They slept together in the land they loved Farther north in the woods of northern Luce County, tragedy struck as the blizzard peaked. The proprietors of Pike Lake Resort had just closed the place down for the winter, as the last of the deer hunters headed south. Faye Leighton had operated the resort since 1941. A widow for over 20 years, she married a longtime family friend, Leslie "Doc" Purman in 1964. As darkness fell that Sunday evening, the couple left isolated Pike Lake and headed toward Newberry on one of the backwoods roads. They became stuck along the way and apparently decided to walk to the Pine Stump Junction Bar for help. The pair struggled through the biting wind and blinding snow for nearly four miles. Exhausted, they probably decided to rest for a while. Their frozen bodies were found cuddled up in a snowdrift beneath a cedar tree on December 1, three days after the storm ended. Ironically, they were less than a half-mile from their destination. A ferocious gale and snowstorm rendered a short hike an insurmountable obstacle that evening in late November 1966. Contributed by Paul Petosky Excerpt from So Cold A Sky" by Karl Bohnak Photo of the plaque which is located near the Junction of County Road 414 & Pine Stump Junction. by: Ben Musielak, May 17, 2007