Voting Station

Donn Fendler

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Adventurer

The Resume

    (August 29, 1926-October 9, 2016)
    Born in Rye, New York
    Became separated from his family during a camping trip on Mount Katahdin, Maine (July 17, 1939)
    Hundreds of people, including police, forestry officials, National Guardsmen and volunteers, searched for him
    Manhunt was front page news
    Nine days later, stumbled into a hunting camp 35 miles away from where he had disappeared
    With Joseph B. Egan wrote ‘Lost on a Mountain in Maine’ (1939)

Why he might be annoying:

    He and two friends had gone ahead of the main group when a fog descended on the mountain.
    He ignored his companions’ advice to stay put, headed back to find his parents and veered off the trail and became lost.
    He lost his sneakers and pants trying to throw them across a stream.
    He spelled Don with an extra ‘n.’

Why he might not be annoying:

    Remembering his Boy Scout training, he followed a stream downhill in hopes of reaching civilization.
    At night, he slept under moss and, later, a burlap bag he found.
    His weight dropped from 74 to 58 pounds.
    He received a medal from the governor of Maine declaring him ‘the most courageous boy in America.’
    He was invited to the White House where Franklin Delano Roosevelt presented him with the Army & Navy Legion of Valor Medal.
    He joined the Seabees during World War II and later became a Green Beret and served with the 101st Airborne in Vietnam.
    For decades, his book was required reading for Maine schoolchildren.
    He answered every letter that students wrote to him.

Credit: C. Fishel


Featured in the following Annoying Collections:

Year In Review:

    For 2024, as of last weekly ranking, Out of 1 Votes: 0% Annoying
    In 2023, Out of 4 Votes: 25.00% Annoying
    In 2021, Out of 7 Votes: 85.71% Annoying
    In 2020, Out of 3 Votes: 66.67% Annoying
    In 2019, Out of 4 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
    In 2018, Out of 1 Votes: 100% Annoying
    In 2017, Out of 2 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
    In 2016, Out of 68 Votes: 58.82% Annoying