Man who died in St. Paul house fire had adventurous spirit, ‘huge heart’

Mary Divine, Pioneer Press
·4 min read

Wes Stone believed in caring for others and providing shelter for those who needed it.

The 72-year-old St. Paul man died Sunday morning after a fire at his house in the Merriam Park neighborhood. Two boarders who lived at his home managed to escape; a mother and her young son also lived at the house but were not at home at the time of the fire, neighbors said.

“Wes really taught me the meaning of loving your neighbor like you love yourself,” said Jeremiah Gibbons, a longtime family friend and neighbor. “He treated everyone like they were his best friend.”

Stone was loved by the neighbors in the 1800 block of Carroll Avenue and “by all those who knew him,” said Ferdinand Peters, another longtime friend. “He was a kind and gentle soul. He cared more about others than he cared about himself.”

Stone helped many people avoid homelessness through the years, Peters said. “He was the type of person who would do things quietly,” he said. “He didn’t need praise from others; he just did what he did. He was just a decent human being.”

Stone spoke French, read voraciously, played the flute and loved a good laugh, said Julie Dincau, who met Stone at a poetry reading in 2001.

But Stone’s true passion was history, she said. He worked for years as a part-time interpreter at the Henry Sibley Historic Site in Mendota Heights and at the Alexander Ramsey House in St. Paul.

“He researched every detail and did everything he could possibly do to learn about the history” of the sites, she said. “For instance, there’s a famous painting of the Native Americans who were hung in Mankato, and Wes went in-depth researching that particular painting. He would research and read every document available on the Sibley House or on Mendota Heights. He was just amazing at history.”

Stone’s tours of the sites were a master class in historical research, said his twin brother, Walter Stone. “When he gave a tour, he was not just reciting it from rote memory,” he said. “He did a lot of independent research. He could tailor his talks to the individual audience or answer any off-the-wall questions that anyone in the audience might have because he knew so much more.”

For instance, in 1997, Wes Stone developed a program for children on the astronomical observations of early mapmaker Joseph Nicollet. “Wes always liked maps,” his brother said.

VISITED MINNESOTA AS A SCOUT

Stone grew up in Moberly, Mo., and was active in the Cub Scouts and Boy Scouts. He and his brothers, Walter and Wendell Stone, all became Eagle Scouts, the highest rank a Boy Scout can achieve, Walter Stone said.

The Stone brothers went with the Boy Scouts to Ely, Minn., one summer in the mid-1960s for a two-week canoe trip in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area. Wes loved it. “After that, Wes went up every summer, continuing on as a guide,” Walter Stone said.

In 1969, Wes Stone and three friends spent a month canoeing from the north end of Lake Winnipeg in Manitoba to Hudson Bay. “He always did interesting and adventurous things,” Walter Stone said. “This was long before GPS receivers and satellite phones, so it was quite a gutsy trip to take.”

After graduating from the University of Missouri in 1972 with a bachelor’s degree in history, Wes Stone went to Togo with the Peace Corps. During his three years in West Africa, he supervised the construction of two primary schools, two public latrines, a 10-meter bridge and a well.

“He liked accomplishing something concrete,” Walter Stone said. “When you’re in college, you’re writing papers. Well, he liked doing something and building something – where it results in a real thing.”

After the Peace Corps, Wes Stone moved to Ely to work as an engineering technician for the U.S. Forest Service. He later became a registered land surveyor and taught geomatics at St. Paul College, his brother said.

Wes Stone married Kathlyn Kainz in Ely in 1986 and had one daughter, Welsa Stone; the couple later divorced.

VIGIL PLANNED

The cause of the fire, which is believed to have started in the kitchen, remains under investigation. A cat belonging to one of Stone’s boarders died in the fire; the cat, named Sir Two Sox, was 26 years old, Gibbons said.

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Neighbors are planning a Thursday night vigil. They also are working to raise money and items for his boarders, who are currently being helped by the Red Cross and staying in a hotel in Roseville, said Andrea Plautz, who lives just a few doors down from Stone’s house.

“These people have suffered such a huge shock,” Plautz said. “It’s so overwhelming. But when somebody in this neighborhood needs something, we all pull together and really help one another out. I love this neighborhood. I know that it always has my back.”

Helping those who need help is exactly what Stone would have done, she said. “He had a huge heart and was a very, very kind man.”

Stone is survived by his daughter, Welsa, of St. Paul.

Arrangements have been made with Crescent Tide Cremation Services of St. Paul.