Onk

ESCANABA — Readers may have noticed in the paper last week an ad for a lost sock monkey. “HAVE YOU SEEN ME?” reads the text next to a photo of the stuffed animal, which was last seen on March 1 during a Special Olympics basketball tournament that was held at the Escanaba High School.

The monkey’s name is “Onk,” and it belongs to Evan Gustafson of Manistique. As of Tuesday, Onk was still missing.

27-year-old Evan, considered developmentally-disabled, participates in the Hiawatha Behavioral Health (HBH) “Options” program, which organizes social activities for people with many types of disabilities. Evan – who lives with his parents, Cory and Tom Gustafson – also works part-time on a cleaning crew at the HBH building. It was with his own hard-earned money that he bought the advertisement when Onk disappeared, hoping that someone would return the cherished plush.

Years ago, Cory said, Evan had another monkey, named “Gordon,” but it became so decrepit and threadbare that Evan now says, “he is in hospice.”

The monkey accompanied him to the hospital for treatments and was also a source of comfort outside of those visits.

Since Gordon was no longer in shape to be a good companion, a family friend – a military veteran – purchased a camouflage-patterned sock monkey as a replacement. This is the one Evan named Onk, and it’s filled the role well, traveling with him for the last couple years.

“Even the hospital staff know about it,” Cory said.

On Saturday, March 1, Evan and others from the HBH Options program went to Escanaba to participate in the Special Olympics basketball tournament for Michigan’s Area 1, which is for Delta, Menominee and Schoolcraft counties. 

The last place Evan saw Onk was in the locker room of the Escanaba Junior/Senior High School.

Cory said that Evan enjoys taking part in many Special Olympics games: track and field, snowshoeing, bowling. The basketball tournament in Esky was exciting, especially with basketball players from Bay College cheering in the stands – but for Evan, it’s now tainted.

After realizing he’d lost Onk, “he was pretty devastated,” Cory said. “His team won silver, so he has this medal, and he says it’s cursed.”

He feels badly that he’s lost a gift from a friend, Cory feels badly that she didn’t hang onto the monkey for him, and the volunteers who were at the tournament feel badly that they didn’t help keep an eye on it, “but it’s not fair to make the staff responsible,” Cory said.

She said that Evan, compassionate and understanding, is resigned to never seeing Onk again.

“He’s learned not to take anything valuable with him to games. He’s learned that, but if anybody comes across him, we could be contacted, or Manistique HBH,” Cory said. 

The number for the HBH clinic at 125 Lake St. is 906-341-2144.

“I did try and tell Evan that Onk is just out on an adventure, and maybe his life’s path is to share himself with other people … to put a positive spin on it,” Cory said. “My real fear is that somebody just dumped him someplace.”

Evan’s father, Tom, is an Escanaba native, so the Gustafsons do have family in the area who could collect the toy if somebody might have picked it up and is interested in getting Onk back to his owner.

Cory and Tom can be contacted at 906-286-0768 and 906-286-1802.