Memories of a Mackinac Island Native E-Book

Tom Chambers

• Herausgeber: Modern History Press
• Kategorie: Geisteswissenschaft
• Sprache: Englisch
• Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2024

Seitenzahl: 230

Beschreibung

Join me on a trip to Mackinac Island's past, from the late 1940s to the present day. These are my memories of growing up on the Island, as well as some earthshaking changes that happened to affect everyone: the end of steamship visits, the building of the Mackinac Bridge, the increasing size and speed of passenger ferries, the introduction of new transportation (from 10-speeds to snowmobiles) and much more. On a more personal level, I'll share stories of how I earned my living on the Island, from house painting, cooking and bartending to delivering ferries from the factory. I'l also share my love for music and just plain having fun in rock-and-roll bands. This book includes many of my own photos that allow you to peek behind the curtains of the Jewel of the Great Lakes.
"Finally a book written about the Island, by a man who's lived here his whole life. A true, first-hand account of the history and nuances of Mackinac that cannot be found in any other tome. This is the first of what--I hope--becomes a collection."
--Jason St. Onge, Mackinac native, fire chief, councilman and businessman.
"Tom Chambers' lifetime first-hand knowledge of Mackinac Island business history (especially ferries), local characters and fascinating Island lore make him a valued go-to resource for residents, as well as anyone interested in the Island. His deep family ties and experiences growing up and working on the Island always inform any discussion of Mackinac. I learn more about our beloved Island every time we speak."
--Marta Olson, Mackinac Island author, Mintaka Designs.
"This is a true, born-and-raised Islander perspective. Teen years on a snowmobile (when no one knew what they were), beach parties with a guitar, bike relays with competitors that turned into friends. An avid photographer and lifelong collector of memorabilia and stories, Tom Chambers has catalogued life on Mackinac for the last 50 years and now has a story, or two, to tell."
--Becki McIntire Barnwell, Islander and former co-owner of Hotel Iroquois.
From Modern History Press

Leseprobe

Memories of a Mackinac Native: Life on the Island from 1940s to 2020s

Copyright © 2024 by Tom Chambers. All Rights Reserved

ISBN 978-1-61599-831-9 paperback

ISBN 978-1-61599-832-6 hardcover

ISBN 978-1-61599-833-3 eBook

Published by

 

Modern History Press

[email protected]

5145 Pontiac Trail

tollfree 888-761-6268

Ann Arbor, MI 48105

fax [phone]

Distributed by Ingram Content Group (USA, UK, EU, AU)

Cover: Tom Chambers photo (2021) overlooking the town from Fort Mackinac, with the freighter Stewart J. Cort going through.

Contents

List of Photos

Acknowledgments

Mackinac of the 1940s and 1950s

Family Background

Early Years

Elementary School Years

High School Years

Following the Ferries

Traveling By Air

When 10-Speeds Came to Mackinac Island

When Snowmobiles Came To Mackinac Island

First Band, 1969-73

The (Old) Village Inn: 1969-72

Silver Birches

Summers of 1973-74

Bike Races

Working For “The General”

Mackinac Living, 1973-1980

Dabbling in Firearms

The Day the Boats Almost Quit

Travel 1978-79

Trying My Hand at Cooking

Iroquois on the Beach: Working For the Macs, 1983-1993

Mississippi River Trips

A Lifelong Love of Music

Golf, 1967-2001

Playing Games

A Return To Music, 2008-2022

Is Mackinac Haunted?

Mackinac Island Trivia

Model Ships

Close Calls

Ste. Anne’s Church Square Dances

Postscript

About the Author

List of Photos

City of Detroit III at Mackinac Island (1949) Photo by Tom Chambers’ mom

Main Street slide winter 1959-60. Photo by Jack Chambers

Great Uncle Captain Tom Chambers

Mom on her cycle truck (1952)

Jack Chambers and Uncle Dennis Dufina with the Lilac Queen, mid 1950s

Our Victoria carriage 1954. Photo by LL Cook

Jack Chambers with two of his horses on Bogan Lane (1955)

Dad and Grandparents dinner at Iroquois Hotel (1960) Photo by Frye

Somewhere in Time party Mom Ray and sister Kathy with the stars (1979 ). Photo by Sandi Brady

4th grade on the Island

Straits of Mackinac II at Straits Transit dock (1970)

Shepler’s Wyandot (2017). Photo by Tom Chambers

Snowmobiling on the ice (1988)

Morningstar band, beach party (September 1973)

Ray Miller and Jim Enrietti of the house band The Zippy Zips

David, Matt and Tom revisit our 1971 home about 15 years later

1975 relay race. Ty's Restaurant team

Painting of my grandfather Phil's cabin at British Landing. The dog's name is Patches.

Cooking at Holiday Inn Gulfview 1980

Star Line Cadillac in St Louis (May 1990)

Playing a board game (1985)

Chimney Rock band (08/20/2017)

The abandoned 'Haunted' Harvey House. Photo by Loren Horn

Four of Tom Chambers’ more than 600 hand-built model freighters

A typical square dance, with jimmy Boynton calling (undated)

Mackinac Island Trail Map by Chris Bessert

Acknowledgments

Maybe I have always wanted to write. I got my start trying my hand at short stories as a teenager, and I imagined writing a book. I took one or two writing classes each of the five years I went to college. They varied from a 500-level creative writing class to something a bit esoteric called “Structure of Modern English” where you learned advanced diagramming and proper usage. Examples would be, which is correct, “A” history or “AN history”? Or should I say, “that weighs a ton!” or “That weighs such a ton!” Suffice it to say, my college classes didn’t produce any bestsellers.

As for writing memoirs about a place you know well, a lot can be said for observing, paying attention, reading, remembering, and being able to string a grammatically correct sentence together. I wrestled with how much should be history, and how much autobiography.

I acknowledge Mackinac writers who came before me: my mother, Mary G. Duffina, Tom Pfeiffelmann, Jack Welcher, Dr. Eugene Petersen, Phil Porter, Dennis Cawthorne, Marta Olson, Dr. David Armour, and Edwin O. Wood.

A nice thing about this volume, if a chapter isn’t your cup of tea, or it’s too much “inside baseball,” you can simply skip it, and move on to the next. Each chapter is labeled.

I frequently found myself waking up in the middle of the night with ideas these past few months, and I used up most of a pack of printer paper during trial and error. I have tried to mention all the memorable people who have passed through my life. I apologize if I have forgotten anyone, but of course some people are not included by name, for privacy reasons. My thanks to all of you, for your interest in reading it.

In 1972, one of my English teachers at North Central Michigan College, the late Tusco Heath, wrote in my sophomore yearbook, “Finish that book, or I’ll haunt you!” Well, it may have taken me fifty years, Dr. Heath, but here it is.

May 2024

Mackinac Island, Michigan

Mackinac of the 1940s and 1950s

For this memoir, I will not attempt to cover a detailed Mackinac Island history. Others have already done that, and better than I could. I will give just a bit of background on the decade I was born, and the one preceding it. Visitors always like to comment that Mackinac Island “looks the same” as it did in a previous time, but I notice changes every few years or even every year. Every few decades there is an earthshaking change that really alters the complexion of the Island.

One of the biggest differences was the means of getting to the Island. From about 1870 through the early 1950s, the primary way was via large steamship, originating at ports such as Detroit, Cleveland and Chicago. There were several major steamship lines, and over twenty vessels, which stopped at the Island, docking at the Arnold Dock and Coal Dock. Ships also had routes to Sault Ste Marie and Lake Superior, after the Soo Locks were built. The lines were Northern Steamship Co., Anchor Line, Lake Michigan & Lake Superior Transportation Co., Northern Michigan Transportation Co., Cleveland & Buffalo Transit Co., Great Lakes Transit, Detroit & Cleveland Navigation Co., (they had the most ships), Georgian Bay Transit, and a rare trip by Canada Steamship Lines.

My grandfather, Ed, visited during most summers in the 1950s, taking the SS North American from Chicago. The highway system was primitive in those days, as were cars. Before the Mackinac Bridge was built in the mid-1950s, the only way across the Straits of Mackinac way by large white State of Michigan car-ferries. Airlines didn’t really serve our area, but there were two Air Force bases in the Upper Peninsula. As highways got better, the era of the steamers went into a slow decline, in the late 1940s. Detroit & Cleveland Line’s massive “Greater Detroit” last called here in 1950.

From 1951 on, it was just the North and South Americans. The North’s last season was 1964, and the South’s, 1967. The big game-changer came in the late 1950s, when President Ike

City of Detroit III at Mackinac Island (1949) Photo by Tom Chambers’ mom

Eisenhower introduced the Interstate Highway system of modern 4-lane divided highways. Travel and tourism in our area benefited greatly by the north/south running “I-75.”

There were small high-speed ferries running to the Island then, but they were of natural mahogany instead of aluminum. Most of them docked at small wooden docks between the Coal Dock and Iroquois. These all slowly went out of business, the last one being the 48’ Fairy Isle, which moored at the Arnold Dock until the mid 1960s. Their legacy was carried on by William “Cap” Shepler with his 30’ and 36’ wooden speedboats, Miss Margy and Billy Dick. They docked at the Welch/Straits Transit dock on the east end of town.

Home heating was also much different in the 1940s and 1950s. Nobody had electric heat. There were oil stoves and oil furnaces, coal stoves and coal furnaces, fireplaces and wood stoves. It was always nice walking around town on a winter evening and smelling wood smoke coming out of the chimneys. If you had a central oil or coal furnace, usually in the basement, chances are the rooms of the house each contained a radiator, filled with hot water and having a valve at the bottom and a steam release nozzle at the top. I recall my great aunt Ann and uncle Tom had large Jungers oil stoves in two rooms. These were about the size of a refrigerator and had a small glass door where you could see a glowing orange burner. Drays would deliver oil for furnaces carried in a four-wheeled tank wagon. Oil was then pumped by hose to the furnace. It was similar to gassing up your car.

If you burned coal, drays also delivered that, from the Coal Dock. There were two heaping piles of coal on the dock, one hard coal (anthracite) and one soft coal (bituminous). Soft coal chunks were about the size of a softball and burned in open stoves. Hard coal was just smaller than a golf ball, and burned in a furnace. The coal was shoveled down a coal chute into the basement (these could be seen all over town). Somebody in the household then had the job of “stoking” the coal furnace, shoveling coal into it, as you would on a steamer type ship. Later, waste product, “clinkers” had to be removed from the furnace when it was cool. I remember having clinker duty at our big two-story house at British Landing, 1966-67.

Wood for your fireplace or kitchen wood stove could be delivered by drayload also. It was often pre-split and delivered in quantities called a cord, which was equal to 128 cubic feet cordwood. It was still possible to go out and cut your own wood, as in the very old days, either on Mackinac or Bois Blanc Island.

It goes without saying there were no air conditioners in town those days either. Even in the early 1970s they were rare. Now, in the 2020s, every summer employee has one.

There were a lot more trees on Market Street and in town. Green space was more abundant too, even into the 1960s. In addition to the small park behind the Carriage Tours booth, there was one at the head of the Arnold Dock, between the Chuck Wagon and McNally’s, and west of the liquor store, all the way to Iroquois.

The types of shops along Main Street have changed over time. Around the turn of the century, there were a half dozen rug merchant establishments. In the early 20th Century, you could find a dentist’s office and three drug stores: Bogan’s, Bailey’s, and Central Drug Store. Some of them, especially Central, included a “fountain” counter, with seats for customers to get beverages. The type of gift shops has changed over time also. I feel in general there were more quality shops when I was growing up, than there are now.

I often patronized Bill Cooper’s Balsam shop to buy fancy toy soldiers, and his wife Doris’ Copper’s Perfume Shop, which was much more than perfume. She also carried a variety of turquoise jewelry. Maria Moeller’s Imports shop was also excellent. When the Doud family bought it and renamed it Windermere Imports, it carried on the tradition. There were a few shops in town that carried the famous Hummel figurines. I remember Frank Shama’s did. Clarice McKeever

Main Street slide winter 1959-60. Photo by Jack Chambers

Haynes had a nice art studio. At least there is still an art gallery today, the Little Gallery on Market Street.

In the early 1900s, merchants from all over the world found their way to Mackinac. In the 1950s and 60s there were a few ethnic restaurants along Main Street. Harry Stamas had a Greek Restaurant, and Sam Brocato had an Italian one, with a dancing marionette in the window. My favorite was Iggy and Catherine Palermo’s “Chatterbox” restaurant, located where the Lilac Tree courtyard is now. It featured homemade Italian bread and Spaghetti dinners. My family also patronized Wandrie’s Restaurant in late 1959 and early 1960s. My godfather and family friend, Dennis Brodeur, was running it. The chicken dinners were spectacular. Little Bob’s on Astor Street was also popular, with Islanders and tourists alike. It was known for the giant cinnamon roll.

Some other restaurants I remember, the Buggy Whip and the Carriage Lantern, went out of business. I also recall the Arab and Jewish merchants along Main Street, Edward and May Sultan of Edward’s Gifts, and Roben Arbib, who had The Thunderbird at the head of the Arnold Dock. Tom Shamy had a linen shop for many years in the current Mighty Mac location. There were far less fudge shops in the old days, too, and two shops from the 1960s even were bought out and renamed, these being Mary’s Fudge owned by Florian Czarnecki and Suzanne’s Fudge owned by Mary and Ray Summerfield. Frank Nephew acquired them both, and they are now Joann’s Fudge. Nowadays, Main Street is dominated by Sweatshirt and Tee-shirt shops, and of course fudge. Somewhere along the line the term “Junk Shop” came into being. It referred to the newer, low-end gift and souvenir shops.

Some quality clothing stores in the 1950s went out of business. “The Scotch House” in the Murray Hotel building featured wool and plaid Pendleton clothing. It was run by Joe and Letty Abbey. “Neary’s” was located where the Pancake House is now, and it had quality apparel. The family had a house on the East Bluff, and would winter in Arizona. Before Neary’s the whole two-shop Dennany building was Herpolsheimer’s Department Store, in the 1940s. I also remember “Angel’s” clothing store in the Chippewa Hotel building. It was run by mustachioed Freddie Ashton, who always sported an ascot.

Boat docks along the waterfront were everchanging as well. In the old days, the big Arnold/Star Line dock was called Hoban’s wharf. The Coal Dock was (James) Bennett’s wharf, and for many years it had a large steam crane on it. There was also a third large dock, just east of the Arnold Dock, called the Government Dock. It was quite active in the 1870s, but late in the 1800s it was torn down. Some piling stumps remained for several years.

In the 1930s and 40s, there were several small wooden docks between the Coal Dock and Iroquois Hotel for the high-speed ferries, in the age of the small mahogany cruisers. They included the Couchois Dock, Bird’s Dock, and others. They were all discontinued at the end of the 1940s, and that area was empty beach for twenty years. Shepler’s started building their “new” dock in 1966, and Harry Ryba built a dock across from the Lake View in 1967-68. There was a medium-sized dock behind Bennett Hall until around 1950. The dock behind Bay View Cottage went through many names in 120 years. The first version was called the Bailey dock, after the family residing at Bay View. Off and on it was known as the Yoder Dock, for another Bay View Resident.

The old dock was completely torn down in the mid 1940s and there was no dock there again until 1949. In most of the 1950s, it was known as the Welch Dock, for Mackinaw City ferry operator Dick Welch. From 1958 until the mid-1980s, it was the Straits (Transit) Dock. Straits had lengthened it during their tenure, but it was still all wood. Arnold put in a new dock in the mid-1980s, with steel I-beam pilings and a wooden deck. In the 1990s, Arnold Transit began calling it the “East Dock,” I suspect to erase the memory of their conquered competitor, Straits Transit. A railing was installed the length of the dock, down the center, as Doug Yoder maintained ownership of the west side. “East Dock” never caught on with me, both because I was a Straits fan, and also because strictly speaking the Beaver Dock was the easternmost dock in town. It had been built by Moral Re-Armament in the 1950s, in the shadow of the East Breakwall. It was used to load and unload freight aboard their 65’ powered barge, Beaver, for their myriad projects.

In 1949, two Island ladies, Nurse Stella King and Evangeline “Ling” Horn, came up with the idea of honoring our prolific flower, the lilac tree. A Lilac Parade was born, with horse-drawn floats and marching bands, held on a Sunday afternoon in mid-June, to coincide with the lilacs blooming. Sue Perault was the first Lilac Queen. A Lilac Coronation Ball was also held at the Community Hall the Saturday night before the parade. The Queen held a “court” of four or five ladies, and she was crowned during the Ball by a local or State dignitary who was also emcee of the night’s dancing and coronation.

Some later Lilac Queens were Mary Dennany in 1950, Jeanie Vance in 1951, Catherine McGreevy in 1952, and Joann Goodhart in 1953. There was also musical entertainment each year. The Lilac Festival and Parade continues to this day, and has become a sprawling 10-day event. Sadly, the Coronation Ball was discontinued over thirty-five years ago, much to my dismay. There was rumor some bar owners felt the Ball was taking business away from them, for one night of the entire season. The Queen is now crowned at a small, low-key event in Marquette Park or on Windermere Point, usually by the Mayor. The Ball had been something that really honored the girls, and I’m sure many remembered it for the rest of their lives.

Family Background

Both sides of my family have a long history on Mackinac Island. My mother, Mary G. Duffina, was of French/German/Native ancestry. She traced membership to the Mackinac band of Chippewa Indians, and her family name was included in The Durant Roll, a census taken by the U.S. Dept. of the Interior in 1907-1910 to determine tribal membership. She was born on Mackinac Island, August 8, 1929, eldest daughter to Philip G. Dufina from the Island, and Elizabeth Habermehl Dufina, formerly of Alpena. The time of her youth was divided between Mackinac Island and Alpena. She had three younger siblings, sisters Lois and Frances, and a brother, Dennis, the youngest. She played clarinet at Alpena High School.

Her father, Phil (1899-1954) was a scratch golfer, and was golf professional at the Grand Hotel for a few years. He had a variety of trick golf shots he demonstrated to local golf fans. All six Dufina brothers of that generation were avid golfers. Phil’s brother, Jim succeeded him as pro at The Grand. My mom’s mother, Beth, was a cook on the Island for many years. My mom developed an interest in horses at an early age, and she was involved in my dad’s carriage and buggy services for about ten years. She was married to him for fourteen years. From the mid-1950s to mid-1960s, she was in the Ste Anne’s Church choir, along with Mary Kate McGreevy, Gloria Davenport, and Nova Therrien. She also learned to play the electric organ, as Mary Kate did. My mother always put a lot of trust in authority figures—doctors, law enforcement and the clergy.

In 1962, she married her second husband, Albert R. “Ray” Summerfield, who came here as foreman for the construction of the new Public School. They had four kids between 1963 and 1968: David, Suzanne, Sheryl, and Kathryn. Mom was also involved in some downtown business ventures in the mid- to late-1960s, with Ray. For a year in the early 1970s, she became interior decorator for the Rev. Rex Humbard’s Stonecliffe. Mom and Ray were married for twenty-three years. She also wrote two books about Mackinac Island.

Many of the Dufinas are buried at Ste. Anne’s Cemetery on the Island. A few years ago, I located the gravestones of my great-great-grandfather, Alexander, born in 1835, and his wife, Ursula, born in 1844. There are probably even older ancestors there.

Great Uncle Captain Tom Chambers

Mom on her cycle truck (1952)

My father, John Thomas “Jack” Chambers, born Jan. 29, 1926, was of Irish descent. His ancestors came to Michigan during the Irish Potato Famine of 1845-52. There were four branches of the Chambers family in the area, three on the Island and one in St. Ignace. Jack was born in Chicago, the second son of Edward and Mary (Cullinan) Chambers. He had a brother, Bill, nicknamed “Will’am,” two years older. Mary died of an illness when Jack was about six years old.

Jack’s grandfather, “Cannonball” Bill Chambers, had settled on Mackinac Island and bought a few acres of land at British Landing. He was so-named because while digging on his property, he unearthed a 33-pound historic cannonball, probably from the War of 1812. He raised a family there at his store and residence, called aptly enough, The Cannonball. He also had a large vegetable garden, and sold his produce in town. Cannonball Bill had three kids, Edward (b.1892), Thomas (b.1894) and Ann (b.1896). Edward eventually moved to Chicago, and in the early 1930s, Tom and Ann moved to town, running a rooming house they called “The Ivanhoe.” It is now owned by the Gough family, and known as “The Big House.”

After their mother died, Jack and Uncle Bill were sent to the Island to live with Tom and Ann. From the 1930s through the 1950s, Tom had a seasonal career sailing on Great Lakes freighters, and later yachts. He eventually became a captain. He even spent some time on the train ferry, Chief Wawatam. Around 1939-40, Tom and Ann purchased a house from the Dr. Bailey family, on the east end of town, called “Thuya.” Ann ran a tourist home (B&B) there in summers. In the off-season she was school cook at Thomas W. Ferry School. Everyone raved about her meals and desserts. Tom and Ann also inherited the cannonball from their father when he passed. I’m sure the State Park would have loved to acquire it. When Tom and Ann moved to St. Ignace in 1969, they gave me the cannonball.

Jack Chambers entered the merchant marine in 1944 at eighteen, and made trips to Europe and the North African port Mers-El-Kebir. He served on the Liberty ship Marine Panther, among others. At the end of the war, he made a couple of trips on a liberty ship to South America. In 1946, he returned to the States and did a short term as junior engineer on the Great Lakes tanker, Beaumont Parks. By summer 1946, he was back on Mackinac Island, becoming a dock porter for Chippewa Hotel’s new owner, Nathan Shayne. He and my mom married at Ste. Anne’s Church in summer of 1946. Jack’s brother, Bill, was best man, and Sally Chambers was maid of honor.

Jack Chambers and Uncle Dennis Dufina with the Lilac Queen, mid 1950s

Our Victoria carriage 1954. Photo by LL Cook

My parents soon developed an interest in horses and got into the milk delivery business. Jack used a single horse hitch wagon. Sometimes his brother William helped out. My mom got a Schwinn “Cycle Truck” bike with an oversized basket, and would make all sorts of deliveries with it.

They bought a lot at the top of Bogan Lane, west side to pasture horses. Soon, Jack built a fairly large two-story barn there as well. Jack took a brief hiatus from the horse business to work for Moral Re-Armament (MRA) in the early 1950s as many Islanders did. He was chiefly involved in the building of the theater, as a foreman along with Chuck Dufina and Jim Francis. Jack was particularly proud of his accomplishment building the theater roof and ceiling, with its large log beams.

After about a year he became disenchanted with MRA, and got back into horses, starting a livery tour business. He had two primary fancy carriages, a black open top Victoria buggy with two facing seats and a “dinky” seat for the driver, and a varnished natural birch wood carriage he and Uncle Dennis Dufina built. It also had facing seats, and later had a roof added. His carriage service employed three drivers: himself, Dennis and a fellow named Don Courtright. Jack outfitted them in smart uniforms, consisting of a long yellow coat, bright green pants, top hat and puttee-style black boots. The overall appearance of the rig and driver was similar to Grand Hotel’s vis-a-vis carriage, and was, I felt, the best-looking in town. My mom did the bookwork for the business. Pro photographer, L.L. Cook, took several postcard photos of Jack’s fancy rigs and drivers in front of the Park, at Grand Hotel, and behind the Fort.

The livery venture lasted three or four summers before Jack got into management of the newly formed Carriage Tours Corporation, which had consolidated all the independent livery drivers in town, as well as having large three and four seat buggies to carry tourists. Jack became vice president of Carriage Tours under his cousin, Arthur T. Chambers Sr., and held the position about five years. He organized the Carriage Tours reservations system for loading tour buggies on Main Street. He remained a consultant for Carriage Tours for the rest of his life.

Jack Chambers with two of his horses on Bogan Lane (1955)

Dad and Grandparents dinner at Iroquois Hotel (1960) Photo by Frye

Jack got into the audio-visual business for about a year, in 1962-63. He had always been an avid slide photographer. My mom and dad divorced in 1959, and Jack spent winters in Mexico for a few years, first Mexico City, and then Acapulco. He became interested in Mexico through Island businessman Tony Trayser. During the 1960s, many Mackinac business people developed an affinity for spending winters, or winter vacations there, including Otto and Marge Lang, Louie Deroshia, and Gene and Marian Petersen. In 1964, Jack went into partnership with Dennis Brodeur of Wandrie’s Restaurant. Dennis was also my godfather. They bought a couple of Island businesses from Bob and Arlene Chambers (no relation) of Florida.

The businesses were The Orpheum Theater, which they owned for about six years, and The Village Inn, a narrow two-story bar and restaurant located between McNally’s and the Lake View Hotel. My first job was at the Orpheum, and Jack’s second wife, Joyce, sometimes worked in the ticket window, rotating shifts with Marilyn or Carolyn Riley. I discuss The Village Inn with more detail in another chapter.

After my dad and mom divorced, Jack moved into a small house on Bogan Lane, next to his barn, which I believe had belonged to his cousin, Lucy Mary Chambers. He built an addition on the back and modernized the kitchen, with hardwood floors and varnished wooden cabinets he built himself. I remember he rode a blue Schwinn Tiger 3-speed middleweight bike with a large basket. Once on a rainy day, his hand brakes failed stop him coming down Bogan Lane, and he crashed across the road, vowing never to ride a bike with handbrakes again. After that he switched to middleweight Schwinns with the two-speed kickback hub. A side note, Jack’s brother, Bill, was a department head (franchising manager) in Schwinn Bicycles, of Chicago.

Jack Chambers and my Uncle Dennis Dufina were actually brothers-in-law twice, which is quite unusual. The first time was when my mom and dad were married, and Dennis was my mom’s brother. The second time, Jack’s second marriage was to Joyce Mikesel, younger sister of Dennis’ wife, Carol.

Jack Chambers also became building inspector for a time, sat on the City’s Board of Review, and worked with Dan Musser in organizing the Department of Public works.

Both my parents left Mackinac for the mainland eventually. My mom, Mary, retired to Florida, where she worked on her writing, and enjoyed riding her yellow Schwinn one-speed bike she had brought from the Island. Jack bought a house in St. Ignace. He passed away on April 1st, 2005, and Mary on September 26th, 2018.

Somewhere in Time