- Dates
- 1999-06-01 – 1999-06-02
- Kind
- Rescue
- Where
- Beaver Island
- Eras
- Modern era
- Concepts
- communitytransportationeducationcommunication
- Within
- Beaver Island
Summary
After fog canceled flights from Beaver Island, islanders coordinated boats and travel so Libby Struik could reach her Grandville high-school graduation on June 1, 1999. The Beacon credits the successful trip to Dan Higdon, Perry Gatliff, John Runberg, Jon Bonadeo, Denise McDonough, and the wider community.
Evidence limits
This is a newspaper human-interest account and does not independently verify the travel times or every participant’s role.
Sources
- Reports fog-canceled flights, failed attempts to locate a boat, Dan Higdon’s eventual boat trip via Charlevoix, and Elizabeth Alice “Libby” Struik arriving at her Grandville graduation at 7 p.m. on time. The holding institution's portal restricts automated access; the archive holds a copy of this issue and can provide it on request.data1 · beaver-island-archive · beaver_beacon · 1999-08_Beaver-Beacon
- The held issue scan confirms the graduation account and continuation.data1 · beaver-island-archive · scans · beaver_beacon · issues · 1999-08_Beaver-Beacon
Added 5 August 2026. Recent changes
Cite this article
Beaver Island Archive, “Beaver Islanders help Libby Struik reach her high-school graduation after fog cancels flights in 1999”, https://beaverislandarchive.org/events/beaver-island-libby-struik-graduation-flight-rescue-1999/, accessed [date], citing Beaver Beacon, August 1999, “A Graduation to Remember” and “Graduation, from page 14.” (and 1 further source listed on the page).
Last revised 2026-08-05. Fill in [date] with the date you read it — this page is static and cannot know that.
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