[Patti]

A friend of mine knows Joel Gothard and his family. She sent me the video and I wanted to share it here in case anyone might benefit from it. I had sent her a couple Gordie vids before and this is the first one she sent me.

I'm not from Madison, Jesse Joe. Don't know what made you think I was. I've only been there one time. Back when the Fitzgerald tragedy happened, I did have a friend named Mary whose dad was on the ship. I first met her at a Youth Center dance in '74, or possibly '75. Definately before that song came out, because I remember when she told me about her dad. I lived in Ashland, WI, within walking distance from the Youth Center, and she lived in a little town nearby. Too far to walk for her and she didn't have a way home and I told her that I didn't think my mom would mind if she came over and spent the night. We got to hanging out once in a while even though we went to different schools. I had been at her house before and met her brothers and sisters, but not her dad.

My cousin Eleanore's husband had just been on a trip on the Edmund Fitzgerald around a week or two before that happened.