Gerhard country   Fargo to Detroit Lakes is 46 miles; to Ponsford, 28 more; to Lake George, 33; to Bemidji, 24; to Tenstrike, 17; and to Blackduck, 9. In 1969, Gerhard put nearly 50,000 miles on his fleet of junkers, mostly the 1964 Ford Fairlane, a gift from Walter H.Deubener.

Estate of Gerhard Mueller

I Timothy 6:7
“For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out.”
Gerhard‘s total estate came to $1,124, nearly all of it junk.

Woods South of Bagley   There is no record of Uncle Boo-Boo owning this particular model, but he did drive several old jalopies for their final mile, abandoning them “in the woods south of Bagley [Minnesota].”

Gerhard Mueller died intestate. His estate, such as it was, was settled in the local courts of Beltrami County, Minnesota. T.W. Blauert was the court-appointed executor of the estate.

An inventory of Gerhard’s earthly possessions by V.M. Duel and John C. Jacoby was completed April 20, 1971. There were some complications: Blauert informed the court on March 15, 1971, that H.D. Sorenson refused to yield possession of the personal property without a court order, which the court provided immediately.

Gerhard left three categories of possessions:

• $200 for two plots of land in Tenstrike Center
• Block Five, Lots 5 and 6, was where the ruined Tenstrike church stood. Gerhard bought the church when the congregation disbanded. The private sale of that parcel to Ray Hansen was entered October 19, 1971.
• $400 for five automobiles, three of which were inoperable junk
• A 1930 Ford sedan
• A 1964 Ford sedan, most likely the car Walter H. Deubener gave him *
• Three junked cars, possibly left in the woods south of Bagley
• $524 worth of personal posssessions:
  • An old cutter sleigh, likely Opa’s, which Gerhard had hauled back from Freedom after Opa’s death ($60)
  • An old reed organ ($10)
  • An ox yoke ($10)
  • A rocker ($10)
  • An old broken rocker ($1)
  • A table ($3)
  • A bed ($10)
  • An old piano ($15)
  • A lectern ($5)

The final hearing on the estate was held at 10 a.m., March 21, 1972, with attorneys Buck and Wilson. A letter from Judge Sigwel Wood of the Beltrami County Court dated January 5, 1973, demanded to know why the estate hadn’t been closed within one year as the law requires.

* Walter H. Deubener (1887–1980), a grocer from St. Paul, made his fortune by inventing the handled paper grocery bag in 1912. He and his wife Lydia owned a large rustic summer estate about a ten-minute walk from Melahn’s Resort on Lake George. Gerhard and Walter Melahn, a fellow Lutheran minister, were good friends and knew Deubener well. Deubner was supportive of Gerhard’s ministry and donated the 1964 Ford.