Name/Title
Canoe, SailingEntry/Object ID
2024.19.1Description
1944-1948 17' Grumman Aircraft Engineering Corp. "A" series canoe with 1965 65 sq. ft. sail kit addition
The Oelberg Family Canoe
Gerald and Sarah Oelberg purchased this canoe in 1961 from a family who had only used it as a sled on their farm in Connecticut. It was with the Oelberg family from 1961 until its donation to ABM in 2024. The Oelbergs were educators with four kids (Brian, David, Joy, and Sylvia) who lived in New Jersey until 1980. During this time, the canoe was carried along on long summer vacations all over the eastern seaboard as far north as Cape Breton, Nova Scotia and south to the Great Smoky Mountains in North Carolina. In 1963, a Grumman sailing kit was installed.
A Well-Travelled Canoe
From 1973-74, the Oelberg family embarked on an extended sabbatical that covered 23 of the 50 United States, Alberta and British Columbia, Canada, and a tour of Mexico going as far south as Oaxaca. The canoe, along with a rowboat, also equipped with a sail and able to fit all six family members) were loaded atop a 1959 GMC school bus that had been converted into a mobile home. An especially memorable excursion during this trip was Waterton/Glacier National Park where, on July 4, 1973, the Oelbergs canoed from the Canadian side where they were camped, back to Montana to have a picnic and a snowball fight on the glacier. They also canoed the Missouri, Klamath, and Colorado Rivers, but preferred the smaller and easier ones they came across, the Buffalo National River in Arkansas being the best example.
New Adventures with the Next Generation
In 1980, the family moved to Iowa and continued to use the canoe on camping trips around the Midwest, though mostly on Storm Lake, where Brian & David went to college. After 1986, Jerry & Sarah took it with them during moves to Minnesota and then Wisconsin. Son David, then an Army Captain, briefly had it while stationed in South Dakota where it was swept away in a flood but returned to him. Later, the Army mistakenly packed it up along with everything else in his storage unit and "helpfully" shipped it to Germany while he was stationed there! Sadly, he wasn't able to make use of it overseas.
Son Brian took ownership in 2014, and he and his wife Rachel have taken it on their camping trips in the states surrounding their home base of Chicago, Illinois. Notable trips included Voyageurs' National Park, Minnesota, in 2023, and just a week prior to donating it, to Algonquin Provincial Park, Ontario, bringing the total number of provinces visited to seven.
The Oldest Surviving Grumman Canoe?
Sarah recalls a contest in the 1970s looking to find the oldest canoe. Whether this was a contest by Grumman or a dealership, the Oelbergs don't remember. Their canoe came in third place. Contact with the Marathon Boat Group, Inc. (nee Grumman) revealed that they do not have records dating back far enough to determine the specific year this one was built. However, if the Oelbergs is not the OLDEST, she is arguably THE MOST TRAVELED.Collection
Boats, Boats-Canoes, Boats-Small CraftAcquisition
Accession
2024.19Source or Donor
Oelberg, BrianAcquisition Method
DonationMade/Created
Manufacturer
GrummanDate made
1945 - 1952Other Names and Numbers
Other Numbers
Number Type
Serial NumberOther Number
1206A-5-17Location
Wall
Rack QBuilding
*Don Doebler Collections Storage FacilityGallery
*Pauline Morgan Dodge GalleryBuilding
*Small Craft Building
