Mr. McGuire, I notice that you were born
in Howell, Michigan in 1908 and that you have lived here in Northville for
fifty years. Where did you come from when
you moved into the Northville area?
A: We
were married in 1938. My wife was Elise
Wacker. We started out in Detroit and we
lived on Wildimere; then we moved from there to St. Clair Shores and lived
there for a little while. Then we moved
over into Roseville. Then I had a chance
to work in the dairy in Northville.
Q: Do
you remember approximately when that might have been?
A: That
was May 5th, 1940 was the time that I came to Northville. I started working for John A. Applehoff and
John Livingston. They were partners, and
they had purchased the Red Rose Dairy from Mr. Anger, and the needed somebody
to manage the dairy for them, and so they hired me, and that was the date that
I started, May 5th, 1940. I
ran it for Mr. Applehoff and Mr. Livingston for five years. In 1945 Fred Russell and myself purchased the
dairy from Mr. Applehoff and Mr. Livingston.
Fred and I operated as partners until 1952. In 1952 I bought Fred’s interest. Since 1952, we’ve been operating as
individuals. It’s been my dairy since
1952.
Q: And
several members of your family are also working for you and working with you?
A: Yes. We had fourteen children and each and every
one of them spent their high school days working in the dairy. When they were going to school, they worked
after school, weekends, and they worked all the way through high school. At first we had a popcorn machine and the
popcorn machine used to sit outside in front of the old dairy on 125 S. Center
Street, and they used to operate as an individual business until they could
make a success of that, they were not allowed to come in to the dairy to go to
work. So they had to take care of the
money, keep the popcorn machine clean and they had to buy their bags and buy
their oil, and they had to pay for all this and run it like a business before
they could start working for me. So,
every one of them passed through that stage.
Of course, they wanted to get in and work in the dairy. They couldn’t do it until they were
successful in business for themselves.
Each one of them went through the process.
Q: Let
me back up just a minute because what I want to ask you is where you got your
experience with a dairy. Now, you were
born in Howell and then you eventually moved to Detroit, Detroit to Roseville,
and eventually ended up out here, but somewhere prior to that you must have had
some experience. We need to talk about
that. How did you happen to know
something about running a dairy?
A: Well,
I graduated from high school in 1927. So
then the rest of that year and through ’28 I worked different places, getting a
job here and there. And the along about
1929, I was going to go in partnership with my father. He had a farm in Fowlerville, south of
Fowlerville, four miles west of Fowlerville.
And I was going into business with him.
Well, then in 1929 I think it was about November, the banks closed, and
he had taken all of his money and put it in the banks to make the payment on
the farm and pay the taxes. Well when
the banks closed, he didn’t have any left so he had to sell the cows, he sold
the pigs and he sold the grain and the wheat.
He had to raise the money again to pay the taxes. So he said to me, “You better go out and get
a job we can’t both make it here, and I will try to keep the farm. You go work somewhere else.” So I went to the neighbors and the neighbors
gave me a job for seventy-five cents a day and I cut wood from the crack of
dawn as long as we could see at night. I
cut for seventy-five cents a day. I
saved some money, and I got enough that winter to pay my tuition at Michigan
State College. So then I went up there
and I went to Michigan State College, Agricultural College I should say and I
studied dairy. So after I got through
the dairy course, they gave me a place at Borden’s. I went to work for the Borden Company in
Detroit. That’s what took me to
Detroit. After that I went to McDonald’s
in Flint because they wanted me. And
after I got a little experience, a few people found out I could do a few things
so they hired me away from Borden’s and took me to Flint. And then after I worked about three years in
Flint, and then Harold Coon was the superintendent, and he came to Detroit and
started his own business and he came to me and said I want you to go to Detroit
with me. So he gave me more money than
McDonald’s did so I came to Detroit.
That’s where I met my wife and that was up to 1938 (3) we got married,
and I went to Roseville. I left Slimmy
Dairy and went out and worked in Roseville Dairy, lived in St. Clair Shores and
then we finally moved over to Roseville, close to the Dairy, then all of a
sudden there was a job that popped up in Northville, and those people wanted
somebody with my experience so they hired me and that’s what brought me to
Northville.
Q: Was
your experience primarily management type or you trained as kind of a manager?
A: Yes.
Q: But
I’m assuming that you’d been through all aspects of the dairy business?
A: There
was nothing I didn’t do in the dairy.
Q: As
a matter of fact why don’t you related what you told me before we put the tape
on about milking the cows in the morning, going to school, coming back and
milking them in the late afternoon, tell us about that.
A: Well
we’ll have to back up a little. When I
was going to school, I graduated from Howell High School, and my father had
twenty-five cows. Our barn held
twenty-five cows. And so I got up every
morning and milked twenty-five cows. He
helped me. We’d take care of twenty-five
cows. Then I would drive twelve miles to
school, twelve miles to Howell High School, and then when I’d come home at
night and milk twelve cows again, and then I’d do my homework after that. So the homework was somewhat neglected at
times.
Q: What
time were you having to get up in the morning?
A: Oh,
about five o’clock in the morning to get those cows milked and be dressed and
ready to go to school by eight o’clock.
Have your breakfast and be over in Howell which was twelve mile down a
rough road.
Q: How
did you get to school?
A: We
drove, now a neighbor kid was doing the same thing. His name was Tommy Cain and Irene Cain. They were a brother and sister, and I had a
sister her name was Sara May so the four of us rode in this car. And so the girls would get breakfast for us
so that we could have breakfast as soon as we got in the house from doing the
chores, and we’d swallow a quick breakfast and jump in the car. I think it took us about thirty minutes or so
to get to Howell.
Q: The
Cains had a farm also?
A: They
had a farm also. He was used to doing
the same thing. He was helping milk the
cows and get to school. That’s the way
we got through high school.
Q: Okay,
so like you say you’ve done just about everything there is.
A: I’ve
done everything. And then when I moved
into McDonald’s Dairy, this Harold Koon that later hired me, he schooled me at
McDonald’s. I did everything in the
dairy. I made powdered milk, I’ve run
the condensing fans, I made butter, I run the mix gang for one summer for him,
and I ran the milk department. I did
everything in the dairy.
Q: Okay,
but you never actually had a route of your own where you were delivering milk?
A: Not
at that time. Later on I had five routes
when I started with the Guernsey Farm Dairy with Applehoff and Livingston. I had five retail routes. And then I had two wholesale routes. We built that up back in the 50’s. We were strong in the retail business. We had two routes in Farmington, one in Novi
and one in Plymouth, and one in Northville, that’s five routes.
Q: Okay,
now I assume those were horse drawn?
A: No,
they were a milk truck. When I was with
Borden’s back in the 30’s Borden’s had fifty horses at one time. They had fifty horses for their routes. The milk used to come into Borden’s on a hard
rubber-tired truck, and it was an old Mack tr5uck and it would come in with
chain drive wheels. There were chains on
the back wheels of that truck. 60 years
ago they were coming with hard tires on the truck.
Q: Now
when you went to work here in Northville for the dairy was it called Guernsey
Dairy at that time?
A: Prior
to that, it was Red Rose Dairy, and they purchased the Red Rose Dairy from Mr.
Anger. Frank Anger and he had a farm at
Six Mile and Beck Road. That’s where the
House of Providence is right now. And
then when they bought the dairy from Anger, they called it Guernsey Farm Dairy. Each of them were fellows from Detroit that
were really well off in those days. They
had a little money so they went out and bought farms. Mr. Applehoff was at Ten Mile and Napier
Road. Mr. Livingston was down toward
Saline. And they became kind of
rivals. They wanted to see who could
have the best cows. And so they would go
off to Wisconsin most of the time, and they would buy good cows. And then they would bring them back
here. Mr. Applehoff turned out to be the
victor. He had thirty-five cans, ten
gallon cans of 5-2 milk. That was in
about 1945. And that was the biggest
heard and the most milk, the most 5-2 milk of any farm in Michigan at that
time.
Q: What
do you mean by 5-2 milk?
A: That
was a 5-2 butter fat. 5 and 2/10’Th percentage
of butter fat. So it was good milk, from
good cows and that’s what we were using.
In those days we tried to see how much cream we could get on the milk. The more the cream line, the better it
was. People liked cream in those
days. Today they don’t like it.
Q: I
remember the name Red Rose Dairy. Does
that still exist?
A: No. When Mr. Applehoff and Mr. Livingston
purchased the Red Rose Dairy that was the end of Red Rose. Mr. Anger was a printer in Detroit. He had a printing business. I don’t know what kind of a thing it was, but
he had periodicals that he would print.
He was a printer and the dairy was a sideline for him.
Q: Kind
of an investment?
A: An
investment. People used to do that in
those days.
Q: You
purchased the Guernsey Dairy. You had a
partner, eventually you bought him out and became the sole owner. What about competing dairies out here at the
time? For example, didn’t Twin Pines
Dairy start out in this area somewhere?
A: Twin
Pines started in the 30’s sometime. I
don’t know exactly, but they had a dairy processing plant at Beck Road and
Eight Mile Road. Where Zayti is right
now. And their business was in
Detroit. Everybody in the dairy business
was in home delivery in those days. It
seemed to be the way to go.
Q: Did
they have their farm out here where the raised the cattle?
A: Actually,
I think they did raise some cattle.
That’s where they started, but that soon faded away, and they bought
milk from the Michigan Milk Producers Association which was strong in the area. Michigan Milk Producers is a co-op that
markets milk for all farmers all through the state.
Q: So
then while they were located here, their business actually was in Detroit. Where you were located out here, but your
business was local.
A: Right. We were considered a small dairy. Five routes was a small dairy. I think Twin Pines was up to eight hundred
routes at one time, at their top point.
They covered the whole metropolitan Detroit area.
Q: Were
there other local dairies out here while you were operating Guernsey?
A:
Don Miller was a distributor
for Twin Pines in the Northville area.
Now, he started out as a small individual dairy; then finally he sold
his business out, sold his
equipment and bought milk from Twin Pines and became a distributor for Twin
Pines in the Northville area. Then Lloyd
Morris was an individual processor, and he had his little equipment, and he was
at about Grace and Center Streets is where his dairy was. He was a competitor. Then there was one on Six Mile and Newburgh
that was Red Bell Dairy. And over in
Plymouth we had several dairies over there.
Cheslin Farms was at Six Mile and no, I think it was Five Mile and
Napier.
Q: Okay so this was quite a dairy area.
A: Oh
yes. Every little town would have
several dairies in those days. There
were six hundred dairies in 1951 in Michigan.
Q: Do
you have any idea how many dairies there are now?
A: Nineteen
dairies left in Michigan out of six hundred.
Q: That’s
quite a change.
A: Yes,
quite a change.
Q: Now
is your business still primarily local or have you expanded. We’re going to talk a little later on about
how you happen to get into the ice cream business and eventually in the
restaurant business.
A: We
serve probably about a thirty mile radius.
We go to Ann Arbor, and we go down around the airport, and then we go as
far over as Lake St. Clair, then we go north to about Rochester, and we go up
as far as Grand Blanc. We have a little
business up around Grand Blanc. We have
a little business up around Grand Blanc.
And then around South Lyons and Howell.
We have six routes over the area.
Each driver has two routes. So
they cover quite a bit of area.
Q: So
it’s certainly not strictly a local business any longer?
A: No. We serve more than three hundred accounts.
Q: Well as long as I’ve already led into it, you started off saying your initial store was over on Main Street.
A: Yes. 125 S. Center Street. We had a little store that was about ten feed
wide and probably twenty feet long.
Q: And
what products did you have there?
A: We
used to dip ice cream and make malted milks.
And in those days the races were held in Northville in the daytime in
what is now Northville Downs. And the
people in those days would park up town; there was no parking at the race
track. So they parked up around town,
and then they would walk down past our place and go to the races in the
afternoon. We used to sell a big malted
milk that I think was fifteen cents. And
we would sell as many as four hundred malted milks a day in that little
place. We would have to have five spindles
going all the time as fast as we could put them on and take them off.
Q: How
early in your career when you bought this dairy did you get into the ice cream
business?
A: I
was soon after we purchased the dairy.
We got a little forty quart Emery-Thompson freezer, and we started
making ice cream in the forty quart freezer.
We’d make forty quarts at a time, and it would take about ten or fifteen
minutes to make it then we’d draw it off and put it in cartons. I think we had one child at the time, so we’d
take him down and put him in a little jumper and hang that on the compressor,
and the compressor would vibrate a little bit so it would bounce and pretty
soon the kid would fall asleep and my wife would help me put up the ice
cream. Pints were the only way we sold
it at the time.
Q: Was
this hand packed?
A: It
was free packed, it was kind of soft and we had a little system to get it into
the pints. Now it’s mostly half gallons.
Q: Now
we’re sitting here in your office in your present location. Is all of your milk and ice cream processed
right here, or do you have another facility also?
A: All
of our products are processed here. We
buy our milk from an independent co-op in Grand Rapids. And the milk is picked up around Owasso and
then it comes down. They bring us in a
load of milk and fill our tank, and we buy our heavy cream from Michigan Milk
Producers Association which is in Holden, Michigan. So they bring us down a load of milk and put
it in our tank, and then we put the two products together. We use the heavy cream to increase the
butterfat in the milk, and we pat out a twelve percent butter fat ice cream mix. We make our own mix out of the milk and
cream. We buy sugar from Dot, which is
another family outfit. They are down in
Indiana. They have, I think, ten
children. And they’re all in the
distribution business.
Q: They
are a family business?
A: Family
business. They cover pretty much of the
Eastern part of the United States now.
They distribute sugar and all kinds of products that go into ice cream,
and they come through with a big truck and drop off what we need and move on to
somebody else. It’s a fantastic
business. They are fine people. They serve us well.
Q: One
of the ice creams that has become renowned is your butter pecan. Would you say that butter pecan is probably
the most popular ice cream that you make?
A: Yes. I would say the butter pecan became the most
popular ice cream we produce, and we give a lot of credit to People magazine
which wrote us up on it. They gave us a
nice story on it. They tested the ice
cream. They picked up samples from all
the dairies in Michigan, and they judged us to be the best in Michigan. So then, they called us and told us we had
won Michigan. Now if you’d like to go to
New York and be in the national, you send a sample of your ice cream to New
York. So, the next day I put a sample of
ice cream in the overnight express, and it was in New York the next
morning. They called back and said,
“Yeah, you’ve won fourth place in the United States”. And so, I said what happened to first place. And they said, “You better be happy you even
got mentioned.” So they wrote a nice
story about it, and the butter pecan took off the next day. We had four girls taking orders in our
offices and four girls answered the phone continuously. We couldn’t even get our own orders through
the phones because people couldn’t get to us because the phones were all tied
up. That happened for about three
days. And after that it kind of died
down. We had calls from all over this
United States wanted to know how they could get a hold of this butter pecan.
Q: Well,
I’m sure people drive here from long distances.
A: They
do. We have people come from long
distances. We have people that used to
come into our lobby, and they would pack ice cream and send it to their friends
in California. Over in the State of
Washington we had some over there. We
had them all over the east coast. They
would send a package of ice cream. We
wouldn’t do anything with it. We said
hey, we got the ice cream if you want it.
So they would come and bring their dry ice and pack the ice cream and
send it out. It did make a big
difference.
Q: So
originally when you bought the dairy you had this little outlet where you sold
ice cream and you made malted milks.
Then you also had delivery routes where you were delivering well I
presume all of the products, did you have butter?
A: We
used to try to carry a full line of dairy products.
Q: Would
that include eggs?
A: We
would carry eggs, right. We still carry
a full line of dairy products. We have
just about every container there is going.
We can meet anybody in the business.
Q: Now
eventually you went into the restaurant business. And there’s an interesting story there. Why don’t you tell us about that.
A: Well
in the 50’s the dairy industry was updated.
Everything became Grade A. And so
we had a little antique dairy in town.
It was kind of antiquated and kind of small so I came to 21300 Novi Road
and purchased four acres of ground and decided to build a new dairy so we would
be updated. So we would be modern. So we would be Grade A. So we went through and built the dairy, it
took more than a year, and we opened it in February of 1966, and at that time
there was no food in the north end of Northville. No place you could get a sandwich or get
anything to eat. So the people that I
knew in Northville said if you move out there, that will be the end. You’ll starve to death out there. You’re moving way out of town. You can’t make it. But as people came out this way a little bit,
they wanted someplace to eat. So they
kept asking for it, and we had the little store so we put in coffee and then we
put in sandwiches.
Q: You
had a store here?
A: We
started almost two years after we had started the dairy. Then we put in some booths. Then we put in a counter. Then finally it grew to the point where we
didn’t have room to serve the people anymore because there was nobody else
serving. So then finally the stores
opened up across the street and there were restaurants that came up all around
us, and then we had outgrown our capacity so we decided we’d build a
restaurant. So we now have a hundred
seat restaurant. And that is pretty
small now. On Friday night till Sunday
night, there’s usually a line up to get into the place.
Q: I’ve
been here and stood in the line so I know.
Are you considering expanding?
A: Nobody
wants to carry the ball. Maybe we
will. Some people say that we’re big
enough. But I feel that we should be
about fifty more seats, and maybe we will do that someday. That kind of brings us up to date.
Q: Because
you have fourteen children, and you’ve already mentioned that each one of these
children was expected to become kind of an independent business man or
businesswoman, they had this little popcorn stand in town and once they proved
themselves that they could operate that and were responsible for every aspect of
it ordering and accounting and the finance and everything then they came to
work in the dairy. How many of your
family, that would be both your children and their spouses and maybe even some
of their children, are currently involved in this dairy operation?
A: Well,
I sold the business to five of my sons.
As time went on as each one would get married, I had offered every
member of the family an opportunity to become part of the Guernsey Farm Dairy. Well, all but five chose to go another
route. They went to school some of
them. Tom went into the ministry, he was
a Maryknoll priest, he went off to Maryknoll, New York and he studied in
Maryknoll and he went to Bingham, Massachusetts and he studied up there, and he
became a Maryknoll priest, and they gave him work in the states for a few years
and then he went to Hong Kong. And he
was a priest there for nine years. Then
the church started changing a little bit, the priests started getting married,
and he was one of the ones that got married.
So then he came back here to the states, and we gave him a job right
away. And he thought well maybe this is
for me. But he worked for us for about
two years, and he couldn’t hack it, he was trained to do other things so he got
into campus ministries, and he went to Lansing and he was the campus minister
for the college in Lansing. And then he
had a job offer in Detroit last year, and he moved to Detroit to U of D College
(University of Detroit) and that’s where he is now. Then last year he was elected campus minister
for the United States. So he is over the
United States too. Did you want to go
into all of this?
Q: We
don’t need to talk about them individually, maybe just the ones that are
directly involved in the dairy. Now, for
example, I met your daughter-in-law when we went out to get some
beverages. So she is working as what, a
waitress?
A: Well
yeah, she’s helping out. I’m sorry
you’ll have to cut this out then because we can’t mention one if we don’t
mention the others. I’ve always been
kind of careful on that.
Q: Okay,
why don’t we do this than. At one time
or other, is it fair to say that every one of your children was directly
involved in the operation of this dairy?
A: I
know that everyone of them has been through the dairy. They’ve spent their time here, especially
when they went to school. And some after
school, after they got through with school.
I think there are still three of the girls that are still here and they
are still keeping the books. But they’re
not involved in the dairy, but they are working for the brothers.
Q: And
five your sons you say you sold the business to them. So in effect they run the business and you’re
kind of like the chairman of the board?
A: Yes,
I’m still the president.
Q: President
and chief executive officer. And some of
your grandchildren, are they involved?
A: Yes,
there are a few grandchildren. I would
say maybe five or six. They’re kind of
in and out when they aren’t in school.
Q: And
then some of your sons’ wives or your daughters’ husbands have been involved?
A: I
think there are three daughter-on-laws that are working in the office too. So one of them takes care of the accounts
payable, and one accounts receivable, and one does the payroll.
Q: This
is really a beautiful example of a family business.
A: Well
thank you and I believe we are really happy with it, and they have a nice
business and it’s going very successful.
They’re not setting the world afire, but we do make a living. They’re all buying their houses, and they’ve
all got families. My wife and I are
happy and we have a good life.
Q: I
think one of the best things, that me as a consumer living in the Northville
area, is the quality.
A: We
stressed quality from the beginning. We
try to make the best of everything that we can make. In the restaurant we buy only the best
stuff. We pay top dollar for it. We get the best that we can find in every
line. We work on that all the time.
Q: Well,
I’d kind of like to divert off into some other areas.
A: I’d
like to take a little break.
(Tape turned off.)
Q: Okay,
we’ve been talking a little bit while the recorder was off, and there are some
interesting things that I still want to talk to Mr. McGuire about. One of the things is the fact that he’s lived
in the same house here in Northville for forty-seven years. And that’s the house at 240 Orchard Drive. Now you moved here as a newly married man, or
you were married at the time you moved here?
A: Well,
we were married before we moved to St. Clair Shores. Then we lived out there I guess about three
years I think. Then we got the job in
Northville, so naturally we wanted to live in Northville. When we first came, we were unable to get a
place in Northville because there was not a house in Northville for rent. Anyhow, they said you won’t be here long
enough to rent a house. I remember one
lady said that. She said nobody has
existed down in that dairy yet, and I wouldn’t rent a house to you because you
won’t be here that long. So anyhow we
decided we were going to stick it through and we finally found a house on
Farmington Road where we rented a little house.
So we had to live there I think two years. And then finally we heard of a house in
Northville that was for sale, and so I immediately ran over and bought that
house right away. I bought that little
house for $5,000. I paid fifty dollars a
month in payments. Then we started out
with five rooms and a nice little house, so then as the kids kept coming along,
we just kept expanding the house. We
built on we made a little addition and finally as we had that filled up we made
another one. I think we expanded it four
times.
Q: When
you first moved here did you have children then?
A: We
had one child...I would say two.
Q: So
when you moved to the house on 240 Orchard you had a couple of children
already?
A: Two.
Q: It
was a five room house which was okay then.
A: It
was okay the, but we had to expand later on.
Actually, there was never fourteen home at one time. They might have been home for holidays and
things like that, but for the most part they were away to school somewhere when
the young ones were born. So, I believe
the young ones hardly know the older ones.
Q: Were
they fairly close in age?
A: They
were pretty close but over fourteen years and being away to school, you’re not
really close to them.
Q: Did
you have kind of a dormitory style setting, one for the girls and one for the
boys?
A: At
one time we did. The one addition put
on, we added one big room. So then we
used to put the boys out there, and they had bunk beds, I think we maybe had
three bunk beds all in one room. Then
after that why then you become running into a problem with bathrooms. We finally had to build another
bathroom. So we built a bathroom.
Q: I
forgot to ask you, do you have more boys or girls?
A: There’s
seven boys and seven girls.
Q: Seven
and seven, okay. Girls like to spend
time in the bathroom.
A: And
the boys didn’t like that in the morning.
So we had to get another bathroom.
We added the other bathroom. And
then finally we got the third bathroom.
Q: Right
now you’ve got more space.
A: Right
now we’ve got more space than we need to.
We’re the other way now.
Q: But
you have no intention of moving?
A: No. We just talked about that the other day. We don’t need this space anymore, but when
they come home we’ve got the place for them.
We have finished our garage over; it’s a two car garage. When they do come home we just leave the cars
out, and we use the garage, and we can eat in the garage, and it is close to
the kitchen. We set up 5 tables so we
can all eat in the garage.
Q: Boy,
I bet the holidays are a very busy time with everybody around.
A: They
all try to get home, but now there are two of them in Arizona, and they have a
hard time getting home from Arizona.
Q: How
many of them have stayed in the Northville area?
A: There
are two in Arizona, one in Detroit, one in Rockville, Maryland, and one in
Florida, the rest of them are pretty local.
Q: Well
that’s good, you’ve got a lot of your family still around. Now you are a member of the Our Lady of
Victory parish? Tell me what Our Lady of
Victory was like when you first moved out here.
A: When
we first came there were forty-six families in Our Lady of Victory. At that time it didn’t take long to learn
forty-six people. You knew everybody in
just a little while. Then it grew to
about a hundred and twenty-five. It
seemed to grow pretty fast. And you knew
everybody with one hundred and twenty five.
And then I would , I don’t know what year, maybe along about 1950 I’d
say things started to change and then the people moved into the area and, then
it grew so fast and pretty soon you didn’t know anybody. Then they finally took five hundred families
away, and they moved them over to Holy Family.
Then we kind of dropped back again to only twelve hundred, then it grew
back, and now it’s over seventeen hundred families again.
Q: Well
now the building when there were forty-three families what kind of building was
it.
A: It
was a nice little old building. That was
the enjoyable time of it. It was a
little old wood building, and it seemed like it just fit the people.
Q: Well
if you were a part of that forty-three family parish, and the parish started
growing then I’m sure you were also involved in raising money for additions in
the growth of the parish?
A: Oh
yeah, there was always some fund-raising to be done. So the people had to do it, and the old
timers were elected to do that part of it.
I tried to get money to build a new building.
Q: And
I don’t know exactly right now where the parish is. Is it a pretty comprehensive parish? Do you have a parish hall and sanctuary?
A: Yes. It’s big now, and the hall actually is in the
basement. They have a nice big hall and
a big church, holds about 800.
Q: And
you were very much involved in the growth of that parish?
A: I
was until the last one I think was in 1959 the built a new church; then in
probably ’87 it had to be brought up to date.
So they tore the inside of the church all apart and brought it up to
date. But I didn’t have much to do with
that. I thought well, I built it
once. I didn’t get involved too much
with that.
Q: Well
now also having fourteen children you mentioned to me that there were nine
different schools involved at one time or another. And of course when you’ve got young children
you want to be involved in the activities of the school, and both you and your
wife were involved in the PTA and other parent groups.
A: There
was a time when we had them in nine schools.
We were pretty much occupied all the time. They just kept us going. There wasn’t too much time to get involved with
public affairs.
(End of Side 1.)
Q: We
just turned the tape over and you were telling me about your involvement with
the schools.
A: A
lot of time my wife would go to one PTA meeting and I’d go to another. And to keep up with nine schools we were
pretty busy. We had them in kindergarten
and then we had them in grade school some of them were in high school and some
in college, and they were all going at the same time. So we supported nine schools at one
time. So it went through pretty fast. It was only a few years, and it was over
with. It don’t take long. They grow up pretty fast. Well that’s one thing we should stress on
younger people. It looks a long time off
when they start to school but it’s such a short time. You can’t be far away from them at any one
time. You’ve got to be really close to
them as time goes on. It goes pretty
rapidly.
Q: Okay. Now you are active or a member in other
organizations I see by your biographical statement. You’re a member of the K of C (Knights of
Columbus). Are you still active in K of
C?
A: Not
too much. I’m kind of an old timer there
too. I kind of wore that out I
guess. Let the young take over. Most of the old guys have died off. They’re not around anymore. There’s a few, and I enjoy them. But the new fellows they’re different, so I’m
not too active in that.
Q: How
about the Knights of Equity?
A: That
was great when I was young we had a lot of fun in that organization. That was back in Detroit. That was a fun organization.
Q: I’m
not familiar with Knights of Equity. Is
that something like K of C?
A: Kind
of like it but it’s an Irish organization.
The thing that I was in for was the parties, we had a good time.
Q: Now
you also were involved in the Society of St. Vincent DePaul which is a
charitable organization.
A: I
was involved in that over many years when I was in Northville and we did a lot
of work. You would think there would be
nobody in Northville that had needs, but we used to find a lot of people that
were suffering and needed support and needed many things. Then that was the purpose of St. Vincent
DePaul was to help people in need. So I
did that for many years.
Q: Are
they still out here?
A: I
don’t think they are anymore, not that I know of. It went for many years, and it was a good
organization. But I kind of wore that
out too.
Q: Well,
you’ve done your time so to speak.
A: Maybe
I haven’t, maybe I just think I have.
Q: Well,
here you are still the president and chief executive officer of the dairy.
A: Well,
this is my home, and I like it here and I have a place to go every day. Not that I did very much, but it’s kind of
home.
Q: Keeps
you out of mischief and off the streets.
A: That’s
about what I can say for it.
Q: I
didn’t ask you is your wife still alive?
A: My
wife is still alive. I’ll tell you what
her big thing is now. Maybe we’ll call
her a babysitter. Every once in a while
not regularly and she won’t take them if she has something else to do they come
along and drop off two or three kids at our house and they go shopping or
somewhere and she watches the kids and she enjoys it. She’s in good health. You can’t hardly get her out of the
house. She’d rather stay in her own
little domicile.
Q: Well,
it certainly has been a pleasure meeting you.
A: It’s
been a pleasure meeting you and I’ve enjoyed talking to you. Hope you can edit the mistakes out.
Q: Oh,
yes, we’re going to have this tape reproduced and bring it back for you to
listen to. And thank you very much.
This is wonderful.
ReplyDeleteDad loved to tell stories; we loved to listen.
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