A conversation with “Chasing the North Wind” author Kathy Krotz-Finn

Cook County Historical Society has released a new book called “Chasing the North Wind: A Memoir of One Woman’s Lifelong Love Affair Flying a Vintage 1941 Piper J- 3 Cub Aircraft and Growing Up in Minnesota’s Famed Arrowhead Region” by Kathryn Krotz-Finn with Richard Struck.

WTIP’s Chuck Olsen had a conversation about the book with Kathy and her daughter Steina at the book launch event on Saturday, January 27 at the Johnson Heritage Post Art Gallery in Grand Marais. The transcript and audio of the interview are below.

STEINA SOPOCI
My name is Steina Sopoci, and I am the daughter of of Kathryn here. Kathy.

We are here for her book signing, Chasing the North Wind. It wouldn’t have been possible without [co-author] Dick Struck.

CHUCK OLSEN
And so what what inspired you to write this book?

KATHRYN KROTZ-FINN
Dick Struck. (laughter)

STEINA SOPOCI
As it says in the book, Dick came into the bank. My mother was working at the bank here in Grand Marais. And and I believe he was a customer coming in. And they started talking and and brought up the love of aviation. And with that, they just kind of…

KATHRYN KROTZ-FINN
One thing led to another. I said, oh, you should stop up and see our J3. And one thing. Yeah, just snowballed from there.

CHUCK OLSEN
And tell me about the plane. What is your history with that plane?

KATHRYN KROTZ-FINN
We grew up in it, you know. We grew up on floats. And so to this day, if I could still fly, floats would be my favorite.

And I remember my dad saying to us when we were all learning, all three of us learning to fly the J3. Grease it in, hardly make it track on the water.

Oh boy, to get that down pat was – I practiced that all the time. It was fun. It was a real fun.

CHUCK OLSEN
How old were you when you first took a ride in that?

KATHRYN KROTZ-FINN
Little kid. You know, I mean, I didn’t solo it until I was 16 because you got to be 16.

CHUCK OLSEN
We won’t tell if you did it sooner than that.

KATHRYN KROTZ-FINN
As a matter of fact, I was all set up. My dad was terribly disappointed. I was all set up to do it on my 16th birthday. Because I was a June baby. My two sisters were winter babies. So when they turned 16, they had to wait until the summer. So my dad was so excited because it was going to be on the day.

Yeah, right. Rain, fog, three whole days I believe it was before I could solo.

And I remember all the time when I was flying solo, I always check to make sure when I land behind me, I hardly need a trace. Just kind of, as dad said, grease it in.

It was fun.

CHUCK OLSEN
I’m sure he was proud.

KATHRYN KROTZ-FINN
Yeah. Probably not as proud as I was!

CHUCK OLSEN
And what’s your dad’s name?

KATHRYN KROTZ-FINN
Clarence John Krotz.

CHUCK OLSEN
I I’ve heard he’s responsible for bringing aviation to Cook County.

KATHRYN KROTZ-FINN
Most definitely. And he built the first airport. And, you know, we had Skyport Lodge.

When he bought that place, he bought it from Bent. I forget his first name. Do you remember? (No.) And the lodge wasn’t really built. It had two log courses. That’s all it was.

Dad built that. He built a motel unit. We had four cabins which were already there. But we renovated three of them. The two-decker had a windsock on top because it was narrow and tall. The windsock on top for airplanes. And it was full of junk. Oh, it was fun to go through there. You never knew what you were going to find. It was a catch-all place.

We had a good time. You know, it was, we didn’t live there in the winter. We did when we were real little. But you see, school buses wouldn’t go up there. And dad went to work in Chicago in the winter. And so mom wouldn’t have had a car or anything to go get groceries. So that’s when we lived down by the golf course area.

STEINA SOPOCI
Brown Maple North. Yeah. And then the summer would be at the lodge.

KATHRYN KROTZ-FINN
At the lodge. We lived in both places.

STEINA SOPOCI
Yeah. And then when growing up, then I lived at the lodge until you sold it.

KATHRYN KROTZ-FINN
Right. Oh yeah. And these kids, my kids, I mean, they worked around at the lodge as little tiny kids. And going up to clean cabins, they’d help carry down the dirty sheets and all that kind of junk, you know. They worked right alongside with us.

They all did.

CHUCK OLSEN
Lucky you!

STEINA SOPOCI
Yes.

CHUCK OLSEN
And do you fly too?

STEINA SOPOCI
No, I do not fly. No. I enjoy it. I don’t mind going up in it. And I’m lucky to still have it around me. But no, I never did take up on flying.

On flying. No. But my son, he actually went flying for the first time last week. And he enjoyed it and really enjoys doing it. His father flies.

KATHRYN KROTZ-FINN
I’m hoping he’ll go further.

STEINA SOPOCI
Yeah, he just might.

KATHRYN KROTZ-FINN
Somebody’s gotta.

STEINA SOPOCI
Somebody’s gotta, yep.

CHUCK OLSEN
Do you have any other memories of, maybe a close call or bad weather or anything that jumps out as a memory of flying up here?

KATHRYN KROTZ-FINN
Let’s see. I was thinking of something just earlier today.

STEINA SOPOCI
You always talk about, I remember you telling the story of when Grandpa would bring you through the canyons and the wings would be barely touching.

KATHRYN KROTZ-FINN
Oh, that was fun. Yeah, flying down the canyons, Devil’s Track River. And you felt like the wings are touching the walls. And going down and like this all the way down. Oh, that was fun. Did that with Pa quite a few times. Yeah. Things like that.

CHUCK OLSEN
That sounds exciting and a little scary.

KATHRYN KROTZ-FINN
Another thing we used to do as kids, we just loved it. Now, we had a J3, two-seater. But he’d take us for rides and then he’d pull it up into a stall and then when it stalls, it drops like this.

Oh, it tickled! Oh, it was fun. Have a lot of fun with that.

CHUCK OLSEN
Was that something like an exercise? Just for fun?

KATHRYN KROTZ-FINN
No, it was just playing.

STEINA SOPOCI
To her, she thought it was fun. I don’t know if I would think that would be fun.

KATHRYN KROTZ-FINN
Oh, it tickled so much.

STEINA SOPOCI
Yeah, she’s always just like that.

KATHRYN KROTZ-FINN
Like in a J3, wing buoy, if you’re flying solo, you’re supposed to fly from the back seat because of the weight, the heavy engine in the front. That type.

But my dad never flew from the back. He always flew from the front. Even solo.

He didn’t just fly that airplane, he made it talk. You know, it was neat. You were the first grandbaby to take a ride in it.

STEINA SOPOCI
Just a couple days old. There’s a picture of it. Yeah.

KATHRYN KROTZ-FINN
As soon as she came home from the hospital, the first nice day she got to go for her airplane ride. Pa was so excited about that.

CHUCK OLSEN
Well, thanks for talking to us and sharing a couple of stories.

KATHRYN KROTZ-FINN
It’s been a nice ride.

CHUCK OLSEN
Congratulations.

KATHRYN KROTZ-FINN
Thank you. This is awesome.