A story of family and tradition presented as a holiday season special feature by Westside News Inc. The former home of Wilbur and Joan Gruendike at 4223 Buffalo Road, North Chili, was demolished on October 21, 2003. Built by Wilbur, the house was first occupied by the family on October 27, 1943, their oldest daughter Jean’s birthday. Jean was joined by her sister, Joyce, and brother, Larry, in a home that would host the celebrations and sorrows of seven generations of the Gruendike family. At the time of her death in 2002, Joan Gruendike was the matriarch of the family of three children and their spouses, 11 grandchildren, 21 great-grandchildren and two great-great grandchildren. Wilbur’s Gruendike and Sheldon ancestors were among the first settlers in the Town of Chili. Joan’s family immigrated from Holland in 1912 and settled in Chili in 1921. Wilbur established one of the first auto garages in North Chili at a time when Buffalo Road was still unpaved. The garage evolved into a well-known machine shop. The house itself was built from plans marketed by “Better Homes and Gardens,” and despite its size, was listed as a “cottage.” Wilbur framed the home with used lumber from a building on Manitou Road. The first floor offered a large living room, welcoming foyer, spacious dining room with access to a front side porch, breakfast nook with bay window, large kitchen, small office and powder room. The upstairs consisted of three bedrooms, a full bath and a small alcove adjacent to one bedroom. Wilbur lined all the closets in the house with cedar and installed a laundry chute in the coat closet downstairs. Unusual for the era, there was a fireplace in the basement. Former neighbor Althea Morey Lawrence shared memories of a Halloween party for which she and Jean decorated this room and toasted marshmallows in the fireplace. The mantel in the living room and the newel post on the stairs were created by the Worboys family, well known craftsmen in North Chili. Daughter Joyce and her first husband, Robert Tyner, were married in front of the fireplace in 1952. Over the years, porches at the front and back of the house were enclosed and a deck built. In the late 1960s, a master bedroom/bath was added downstairs. Situated on the south side of Buffalo Road near Miller Drive and Pleasant Street, the house was one of the first homes travelers saw as they entered North Chili. Joan loved flowers and her tulip bed was a highlight of any spring drive down Buffalo Road. Older residents may remember a large choke cherry tree that served as a climbing adventure for neighborhood children. Wilbur’s machine shop was always bustling with people requesting mechanical repairs or a part made. Due to the busyness of the shop, Wilbur built a small cabin at the back of the property as a place to relax. Shortly after completing it, newly married daughter Jean, and her husband, Don Ellinwood, became the first occupants. The cabin was the first home of numerous family members, town residents and students over the years. Someone once remarked upon seeing the house that the family must be wealthy. Financially, Wilbur and Joan were of modest means. Their riches were in the form of serving others. If someone needed a repair or part, Wilbur would create whatever it took to meet the need. Joan would often find travelers behind the shop waiting for a handout as word passed that she was a kind woman. Their home was always open. From the usual family holidays, birthdays, wedding and baby showers, anniversaries, Sunday dinners, funeral meals and graduations, to the first teen sleepovers for granddaughters, their home was the family gathering place. Joan loved to host parties - like the wedding shower for neighbor, Althea Morey Lawrence, and wedding reception for nephew Bill VanPelt and his bride. She even encouraged grandchildren to use the home for entertaining so that another generation of the community enjoyed social occasions under her roof. “No one ever left Grandma’s house without having had a cup of tea and something sweet,” according to granddaughter Cindy Steltz. Famous for her homemade raisin and cardamon seed breads, her almond pastry and ollie bollen, Joan loved to bake. Until she moved to the Episcopal Church Home in 2000, Joan insisted on having a large freezer where she could keep a supply of cookies, bread, pastries and meals to share with others. Setting a pretty table was such a delight to her that the family joked that she owned pieces of “Desert Rose” dishes that the factory didn’t even know they had made. For many years, Joan’s dining room table hosted a group of local women who volunteered thousands of hours cutting and packaging materials to be sterilized for an area hospital. As the family home was demolished, grandchildren reminisced about chasing each other around the stairs at family gatherings or playing “bank” behind the railing in the upstairs hall. Family members walked through the house in their thoughts, remembering scenes of family gatherings - 50th wedding anniversary celebrations for three generations of the family, Wilbur’s parents, John and Mary Gruendike, Joan and Wilbur and twenty years later, daughter Jean and her husband Don. They talked of choosing their first novels from the bookcase in the hall. Memories of wiggly children watching family slide shows of Wilbur and Joan’s camping trip to Mexico surfaced. They expressed continuing appreciation for the intricate dollhouses and furnishings Wilbur and Joan created. Grandchildren shared memories of tea and cookies in the breakfast nook, competitive games of Scrabble® on the back porch, giggly sleepovers and the toy cupboard. The family remembered Joan’s valiant struggle with blindness and pain at the end of her life. Grandson-in-law, Hal Steltz, laughed over the time Toby, the Cairn terrier, brought a possum in the house that had to be extricated from under the china cupboard that held Joan’s teacup collection. The family shed tears over the “never agains:” no longer being able to hear the opening click of the deadbolt on the back door and the immediate clink of the teakettle being placed on the stove; the creak in the fourth step of the staircase that kept daughters Jean and Joyce from sneaking in undetected; the smell of lavender in the linen closet; the coolness of the marble tile on the bathroom floor; the smell of the cedar lined closets and Joan’s 47/11 cologne; the thunderous ring of the telephone bell installed to allow Joan to hear; the distinctive sound of the wooden lids on the china cookie jar and tea canister; the pine saturated air of the Christmas trees for sale; the earthy, spice tinged smell of the fruit cellar in the basement; the big, dark scary coal bin; the cobwebby mystery of the crawl space and attic; the sunlight through the numerous windows that graced the house; the classic beauty of the wallpaper that adorned the walls; the warmth and love that blessed them all. Donated to Roberts Wesleyan College in 2002, the business building on the property is now a state-of-the-art maintenance facility for the college. As the family watched the removal of windows, doors, trim and other architectural elements from the home, thoughts ran to how delighted Wilbur would be to see his handiwork put to use elsewhere. Submitted material |
Joan and Wilbur in front of the fireplace with one of the many replica churches they built as holiday decorations.
John W. Gruendike and Mary Elizabeth Sheldon Gruendike celebrating their 50th wedding anniversary on February 9, 1947.
Wilbur and Joan Gruendike celebrating their 50th wedding anniversary on June 15, 1977.
Don and Jean Ellinwood celebrating their 50th wedding anniversary on September 25, 1998.