Remembering two longtime Carson Valley residents

Two longtime Carson Valley residents, who have graced the front pages of The Record-Courier, are being remembered.

A celebration of Bev Fricke’s life is 1 p.m. today at the Tahoe-Douglas Elks Lodge, 1227 Kimmerling Road in the Gardnerville Ranchos.

Fricke has been in the paper many times. On Oct. 16, 2005, she was on the front page after she bagged a bighorn sheep north of Gerlach at age 62.

Fricke never let age get in the way of something she wanted to do, according to the story written by R-C staffer Sheila Gardner.

She was interviewed for the 1994 edition of the Carson Valley Almanac by Mary Settelmeyer Fair the year before she graduated from the University of Nevada, Reno, in her 50s.

Fricke grew up on the Bordoli Ranch pretty close to halfway between Tonopah and Ely and went to school in a one-room schoolhouse 37 miles from home.

No services are scheduled for Carson Valley’s actual Dutch Uncle, Garry Den Heyer, who died on Flag Day.

Den Heyer and World War II bomber pilot Clarence Godecke were brought together by The Record-Courier for a May 10, 2015, award-winning feature written by reporter Sarah Hauck on Operation Chowhound. Den Heyer was 11 years old, and Godecke flew the mission to drop food to starving residents.

“I still personally feel I can never replace what the U.S. has given me,” Den Heyer said.

Den Heyer was a fixture at the annual Carson Valley Sertoma Oktoberfest, where he took charge of cooking the sauerkraut.

He also served on the Senior Advisory Council, Douglas County Sheriff’s Posse and the East Fork Swimming Pool Board.