A man who left his home in Duluth on Sunday to go ice skating on a bay across the border in Wisconsin was found dead Monday evening, law enforcement said.
Gregory Richard Garmer left his home at 1 p.m. Sunday to go skating, however, he “did not return as scheduled,” according to the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office. Authorities determined he fell through the ice. His body was found at about 4 p.m. Monday.
The office did not specify where Garmer was found, but deputies were originally sent to Woodstock Bay, where Garmer intended to skate on the frozen surface, said Sheriff Matt Izzard.
Garmer was a retired pastor at Gloria Dei Lutheran Church in Duluth, said Dianne Loufman, a pastor at First Lutheran Church in Duluth.
“We all know him ... and are deeply concerned,” Loufman told the Minnesota Star Tribune before Garmer was found. “He is a beloved community member and avid outdoors person — the first and last of the season to be out cross-country skiing.”
Loufman said Garmer also served as an interim pastor at her church and French River Lutheran Church in Duluth.
![Rising above the treeline (Top of this photo), on the shore of Birch Lake, the Twin Metals Copper Nickel Mine Plant site and Tailings Management site is part of the proposed plan. ] In theory, the copper-nickel mine Twin Metals wants to build in the headwaters of the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness is a zero-discharge mine — a closed loop that will endlessly recycle millions of gallons of water, including rainwater and the polluted process water it uses to extract ore and](https://arc.stimg.co/startribunemedia/AWHWWVUU5HGVMX6RUZ4PCKXP6A.jpg?&w=252&ar=3:2&fit=crop)
