Moose full of memories

Mary Roberts couldn’t believe her neighbors’ luck.

Last week the Hellingers won the little birdhouse in a raffle at the neighborhood get-together. Then, on Friday, Greta Hellinger’s ticket was drawn for the EXCEL Foundation’s Rockin’ Raffle Moose.

“They’re lucky,” Roberts said, joining the crowd gathered in front of Hellinger’s home Friday as the big blue moose was delivered and parked in front of a pine tree in the front yard.

Greta Hellinger said she was surprised when she got an early morning call from Oldies 101 radio station. Her ticket was picked from more than 10,000 during a live drawing on the radio.

“I was just in shock,” she said. “I said, ‘What?!’ I thought the whole thing was over with.”

Within a couple of hours of the drawing, representatives from the local education foundation arrived at Greta’s, moose in tow.

When Greta first heard that one of the life-sized moose was going to be raffled, she told her husband to buy her a ticket.

“What are you going to do with it?” Paul Hellinger asked. Then he went and bought a handful of tickets from Medicine Man Pharmacy. He bought a few more at the county fair.

“I had no inkling she would ever win one,” he said.

For now, the moose, emblazoned with caricatures of famous bands and rock stars, is on display in front of their Windy Pines home. The Hellingers aren’t sure where the moose will be permanently displayed.

“I got to get with my homeowners association and see if I can have it,” Paul said.

The two stood by the moose and looked to see if they recognized any of the musicians.

“That’s Little Richard there, isn’t it?” Paul asked.

His wife pointed to five young men carrying a surf board: “Is that the Beach Boys?”

Someone pointed out Jerry Garcia of the Grateful Dead on the moose’s antler.

“That wasn’t one of my favorites,” Greta said.

The Hellingers said they used to listen to rock ‘n’ roll themselves back in the 1950s and into the ‘70s.

Paul was a Patsy Cline fan. “Of course, there was Elvis,” Greta said. “I liked Creedence Clearwater Revival. They were my favorite.”