Published: June 21, 2018
Wallace Lake residents pay tribute to fallen neighbor
Merlin Waechter died last week in weed-cutting
pontoon crash
By Nicholas Dettmann
ndettmann@conleynet.com 262-306-5043
TOWN OF TRENTON — At Wallace Lake, there is mix
of permanent residents and temporary ones.
But in the days that followed an unthinkable
tragedy that took the life of an 81-year-old man, this community bonded and
paid tribute to a fallen neighbor whether they knew him or not.
On June 14, Merlin Waechter died after the
weed-cutting pontoon he was riding on the lake capsized, trapping him
underneath and underwater.
“It was just so sad, very sad,” resident Robin
Grindrod said. “He was just helping the lake out.”
Thomas Legate, another resident, remembered
Waechter as a good man, one he knew for about 10 years, who also loved brandy.
Legate said Waechter lived in Florida in the winter and was always well stocked
with brandy.
“He’d always take a case with him,” Legate
said, adding he knows Waechter wasn’t drinking on the day of the tragedy.
The Washington County Sheriff’s Office said
Wednesday the investigation regarding how the boat capsized is ongoing and no
timetable was provided. At the scene, Sheriff Dale Schmidt said investigators
hadn’t found anyone who saw the boat capsize and that appears to still be the
case.
Grindrod and Legate weren’t home when the crash
happened and another resident, Janet Kasten, saw Waechter on the lake, but briefly
left the house, which was on the same side of the lake the crash took place.
“On Thursday morning, we were having a cup of
coffee and we were watching him cutting and cutting in front of our property,”
Kasten said. “We saw him for a good amount of time. Then we ran an errand and
then we heard the sirens. It was eerie because we had been watching him.”
No matter how well the residents, especially
the ones on the south side of the lake, knew Waechter, it didn’t matter when it
came time to say they’re thinking of him and his family. On Sunday night, at
about 8:30 p.m., several residents released candles onto the lake. Within
moments, residents stood on their piers in back of their homes and saw at least
25 candles floating on the calm Wallace Lake surface on a humid evening.
“It was nice,” Legate said, adding a toast with
brandy was also made.
Kasten said, “I thought it was very touching
that everybody did that.”
During the school year, Grindrod lived in Saint
Francis because she was a teacher in Milwaukee. She retired after the last
school year. She wasn’t at the Wallace Lake house when the incident took place.
She arrived the next day.
“We saw it on the news,” Grindrod said. “And
everybody called. They’re like, ‘Robin. Where are you?’ I’m like, ‘I’m at the
house.’ And they’re like, ‘Which house?’” Initially, she wasn’t sure where the
boat flipped. Once she got to her Wallace Lake home on Wallace Lake Drive, she
took out her jet ski and toured the lake to see if she could figure it out.
She ultimately did and suddenly the tragedy
became a bit more personal. It was three houses down from hers.
“You could tell something had happened,”
Grindrod said when asked if she could tell if there was
a different aura amongst the residents. “It was
quiet around here.”
On Friday night, after returning home from
dinner, Grindrod said a gold bag and a candle was sitting on her porch. There
was a note, too.
She said the note read, “Please put this out at
8:30 and light it and send it off in his memory. That’s what we did.
“It was very cool to see people were all on
their docks putting all the bags out. ... It was very peaceful and calm. It was
such a nice tribute.”
Grindrod didn’t know Waechter outside of him
being “the weed wacker guy.”
But she was glad to show some kind of support.
“Everybody felt bad for him, they wanted to
show their appreciation for what he did,” Grindrod said.
The fire trucks are long gone, as are the squad
cars from the Washington County Sheriff’s Office and ambulances and other first
responder vehicles from several municipalities that responded to the call.
There is some sense of normalcy coming back to
the community members. However, the shock of what happened still lingers.
“Merlin loved the lake; he loved fishing; he
liked doing his weed eating,” Legate said. “He loved everything about it.”
He added, “It hasn’t gotten easier for me.”
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