Marilynn Erickson
The second of Marilynn Erickson's three stories about her family history. She wrote each story “to check out the verbal family stories and connect them to documentation and photos.”
This second story is about the Sea Wing disaster.
On July 13, 1890, 15-year-old Phoebe A. Bearson (1875 - 1890) joined her friends and neighbors on a paddle boat cruise down the Mississippi River from Red Wing to Lake City, Minnesota....Returning back up river the Sea Wing entered Lake Pepin at 8 pm...It is uncertain whether the boat was hit by a tornado or straight line winds, but the violent storm caused the shallow-bottomed Sea Wing to flip over.
News
For the 2026 grant year, the UMRA PDGR Committee received eight new applications. The PDGR Committee selected six for funding. See the awardees and grant abstracts on the 2026 PDGR Abstracts page.
UMRA’s 2026 grants for retirees will help to support scholarly and creative projects focused on art, architecture, creativity in children, public humanities, understanding human aggression, and volunteerism.
The University Regents’ meeting on February 13 began with heartfelt remarks from Regent Joel Bergstrom regarding the damage inflicted on Minnesota by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement violence.
The University Retirees Volunteer Center offers a variety of opportunities to be of help. “We all want to help stressed communities during this difficult time in Minnesota,” says Michelle Trudeau-Spanjers, URVC’s liaison to Neighborhood House, which is providing emergency groceries and other necessities to St. Paul families worried about their safety.
Meet UMRA member and stalwart treasurer Kristy Frost-Griep, a Renaissance woman who learned the value of hard work and the importance of customer service as a young teen, working in the family business.
Planning is already well underway for UMRA to host this year’s annual meeting of the Big Ten Retirees Association in late July on the U of M Twin Cities campus in Minneapolis.