Denny Eckert (Denny’s Decoys)
“Denny Eckert is from Sebeka, Minnesota and as a young man Denny played backyard basketball with my dad. The dust flew over the small town sky, the backboard banged against the wood shed, and sometimes the boys missed supper.
Denny said of my dad, “He’s a good friend, the only friend my fast running and hustling couldn’t stop in basketball, he had too many tricks. When I did beat him shooting hoops, I felt like I accomplished something.”
The boys grew apart, moved away from their home town, and had separate careers. Denny worked in a truck manufacturing plant in St.Paul while Gordy took a teaching job in Detroit Lakes. They both retired. After retirement Denny moved back to the home town and Gordy retired and moved to the next town over. Denny had time to start carving fish decoys. He became interested in carving decoys from helping his cousin, another famous decoy carver.
Denny knew my dad as an auctioneer who is good at acquiring and dispersing treasures so when he had too many fish to keep around the house he called him. “Gordy,” he said, “can you take some of these decoys off my hands? Mavis is getting a little sore at the mess around here.”
Well, Denny and Gordy teamed up again, this time playing on the same team. The sawdust flies over the small town sky while Denny makes fish decoys and Gordy sells them, er… I guess I sell them, but that is a slightly different story. I think I’ll have to talk to my dad about that.”
Webmaster Note: I lost track of the source of the person who wrote this story to me.