Out of the weeds
By Claudette Ness
Submitted
With limited information other than that of local residents, an interesting story about an old WWI veteran by the name of George Maxwell, born May 4, 1889, was brought to light by the obtaining of his 1923 Continental engine and what remained of his 26 foot IB wooden boat that lay in pieces beside his shack.
The motor, a Continental 6-cylinder engine, withstood the great floods of the Missouri, primarily due to its location on the high banks of the river.
Maxwell served in the Army and according to local resident and former neighbor, Curt Yunker, who remembered Maxwell, said that he had lost a lung while serving in France during the war.
Upon returning home after being discharged from the service, he lived on a small pension and spent summers on his land by the river in Sec. 30-144-83.
Yunker remembered that as a young man, he would shoot a porcupine to bring to Maxwell, who liked to cook and eat wild game. Like Yunker, he enjoyed both hunting and fishing off his land.
