Two months of mayhem

Well, dear readers, you may think, "what the heck has happened". In a nutshell, with the sudden but not unexpected, demise of Mabel, Mabel the trunks, boxes, cartons and rooms filled with Rose Lake Park history and memorabilia have remained untouched.

 "What horror", you say, yes indeed it is. Let me explain.

My name is Stanley Stephen Wolf  IV. I am the great grandson of the Major himself. "But how?" you exclaim. "Wasn't the Major a confirmed old bachelor and certainly not a family man in the grand scheme of things?" "Were there not rumors for years about his various dalliance's with questionable gentleman ?" "And certainly his long relationship with Professor Fishington merited some  scrutiny?" "How can you be his relative by blood?"

Yes ,Yes, Yes ,to all of this.

Let's go back to my great grandfathers well spent youth. Certainly to maintain  a career as one of the, if not THE  greatest Gilbert and Sullivan Pattermen in a long line of greats, was an accomplishment indeed. Along with that , designing with his partner Fishington and several other gentleman of dubious heritage and connections, Rose Lake Park. Fishy. as my grandfather affectionately called him, was the rock to my grandfathers zany schemes and outlandish plans. Often putting the brakes on plans for show extravaganzas to be performed in the park and starring himself.(I have in my possession a  rough draft of a show call "Mikado On Ice". Which involved an frozen artificial indoor lake, a snow making machine and a entire chorus ensemble of ice skating samurai)

BUT, I digress...

There was one woman in the Major's life that he was very fond of.

Her name was Alice Dixie. She was Josephine in a HMS Pinafore to his Sir Joseph Porter. A romance was cooked up by the producers to boost tickets sales. But, there was much more to the story. How do I know this? The Major's private journals. Much of which was used for his autobiography.

There was some judicious editing of course, to make the work suitable for the unenlightened masses. No mention is made in it's pages of a child. But there was, born out of wedlock and hidden way from society. A son, born to Alice Dixie. Stanley Stephen Wolf  II. My fraternal grandfather. That one night encounter produced an heir to the Wolf name and the Wolf fortune. Something my great grandfather never was privy too until much later in his life.

But dear readers, that is a story for another time. I have the only complete copy of his book, plus the journals ,of course. So next time, we'll backtrack to about 1910 after the great Rose Lake Fire and show you some of the amazing things the Major and Fishington were able to accomplish in a short 10 years.