Dee Kempel and her sister, Joan have the distinction of living on their grandfather’s Portage Lakes property he purchased in 1898. A Kempel has consecutively owned and occupied the property since that time. 

Their grandfather, Charles A. Kempel, purchased four lots on Turkeyfoot Lake in 1898 and built a summer cottage on the property shortly thereafter.  Dee recalled helping prepare the cottage for winter by putting tar paper on all the windows.  Other memories she shared were seeing a bakery truck stop at each home to sell fresh baked goods.

An ice man delivered blocks of ice for the refrigerator on the back porch. In the winter, ice was cut from Turkeyfoot Lake to store in a nearby ice house. 

Her father, Karl K. Kempel, was one of the first to build a year-round residence on Point Comfort in the early 1950s. Over the years the house has been remodeled many times.
Numerous summer outings were held at the lake, enjoyed by all family members including Dee’s Aunt Frieda. Aunt Frieda an Immaculate Heart of Mary nun who didn’t let her nun’s (Habit) garments get in the way of canoeing.

If you wanted music to accompany you while canoeing one of the family canoes was outfitted with a wooden stand that held a Victrola record player. But when a wave came along the record would skip a beat and you would have to reset the needle to
continue the music.

Evening was a quiet time on the lake with the silence broken by the sound of taps coming from the boys’ camp across the lake as well as the sounds of music from the dance hall at Kepler’s Landing.