Wilodean Mock Tytler

Mock family, Mock’s Boat Livery (#606), neighborhood, Strieby family: Willodean Mock Tytler: Willodean was daughter of Dwight and Mabel Mock; Dad called her Susie (which I will use from now on); she first started coming to Wawasee when she was 2 years old; Dad started in boat business in 1920 when she was 3 years old; Dad had had a bicycle and vulcanizing shop on North Main St. in Goshen; Dad born and raised just south of here on the Mock home place; “Grandma” – (Dwight’s mother; wife of Perry Edward Mock) took him to Goshen when he was 9 years old; he worked different places as a child.

Wawasee property belonged to Dwight and an uncle at the time (Susie very young); Grandpa had built a cottage and he stayed there; Susie’s family would come up every weekend; the old Waco Dance Hall was there, and we’d go over there every weekend; Dad Franklin (Ross Franklin’s father) would say, “You just let Willodean come over here whenever she wants to because she’s safe here.” Has a picture of the original dance hall with people in the front that she knew. Waco has meant an awfully lot to her because she danced there from the time she was a little tot until she was married.

Her Dad rented boats – he had his putt-putts. One time he had 18 of them, and then he had the fishing boats. He started renting out outboard motors – they were the old knuckle breakers (busters) – Elto’s – flywheel on the top. The putt-putts were run off a hotshot battery and a coil or so many dry cells that equaled a hotshot and a Ford coil. Dwight passed away Christmas Day, 1953. He and Mabel lived permanently in their house on Wawasee since 1920. Susie was there and never went back to her home in Ft. Wayne. She was an only child. Susie’s grandma was gone, but grandpa lived in Goshen. That next summer (1954), Susie and her husband operated the boat livery – that’s what Dwight called it. We also rented canoes and rowboats. We picked up and delivered them at cottages and even at hotels. Dad’s reputation – “If Dwight Mock couldn’t fix it, nobody could.” Didn’t repair other people’s boats; he did repair outboard motors, lawnmowers; painted furniture.

Susie’s neighborhood: Lakeside Grocery was where Hoopingarner’s is now (#610) – I believe in the summer time, Annie Hill and them fed the orchestra from Waco. Lakeview Hotel: used to be known as Boland Point and Black Stump Point; Mrs. Boland ran it when Susie was little; upsets Susie that they have changed the roads around here. Waco Point never has been Waco Point. It was Lakeview Point because the Lakeview Hotel sat on that point and that was Lakeview Road (now Lakeview is on the road that goes back to the Tavern Hotel). TPA (Clubhouse – Traveler’s Protective Association) – long V shaped building near Ideal Beach. Emerson’s Grocery just around the corner – where Mrs. McCully lived.

Susie’s great grandparents (Strieby) owned the ground across the road (Waco Dr. now) and up across the other road (SR13). He gave each one of his daughters 40 acres, I believe. This ground goes from this road here clear across to where the Zion Church was. The homestead (“burned down a good number of years ago”) was there on the corner (south at Sleepy Owl off 13 then go right (650E), and his home is on right at the end – I think before it turns south again, there must be some new homes built in that vicinity). At one time they lived in a log cabin (gone) up there – I remember it still being there when I was small. He gave son Elmer the marina where Macy’s is now. Elmer had a son Alldean who died quite young. Alldean’s widow was a sister to Wales. Everybody’s relation through the Striebys; Susie has a genealogy book of family.

Things did when small: stayed at the garage a lot; wait on customers, we sold confections –served pop, candy, ice cream; even when I was small I’d sit up there and “Susie, watch the garage” because Dad would be somewhere else working on something, when someone came she’d call for him; could pump gas, check oil in old Model Ts – really a tomboy when it came to working around the garage and knowing motors; delivered boats – 4 of us – myself and 3 boys – one boy would take us in the service boat, and we’d go pick up the boats when they were due to come in, when we delivered them we’d take them and he’d come and pick us up, sometimes we’d come home and have 2-3 boats trailing behind us – we’d stop at one place and get a boat, and then stop at another place and get another boat; never had gas pumps on pier – carried it all by hand. Boats were for people who stayed at hotels and cottages for a week or two. Used to be umpteen rentals between Mocks and Ideal Beach. About every third or fourth cottage somebody would own it and stay all summer. Dad had 4 or 5 seasonal renters for the putt-putts. Sometimes, after a high wind, (she and the other boys) would have to take the (hand) water pumps and go around lake and pump out their rented boats. At one time, Dad and Mother had 2 cottages that they rented. Susie was gone from area from 1935 – ’45, but did come just about every weekend. Home one year when little Johnny Phillip Morris and his mother stayed in one of their cottages. Had season people that rented cottages also.

Cute story (near end of tape) about bringing home a canoe in rough weather – paddling backwards; Mabel pressing a man’s suit until it was dry; various stories about handling a boat in rough water.

Susie floated standing up!

Outboard races before Dwight died – 12 – 16 horsepower motors, little hydro planes – had a course out here in front.

Mock’s when Susie and husband, Ted Tytler, took it over – they didn’t repair lawnmowers or do a lot of outboard motor repair; Ted was a professional engineer and worked fulltime in the engineering dept. of Essex Wire in Ft. Wayne, then Hubbard School in Garrett and last 15 years at Zimmer in Warsaw in Research and Development Dept. – retired in 1984, he was in on the research and development of Susie’s knee (at the time of the interview she had just broken her leg); rented boats; started renting runabouts and ski boats, pontoon boats, rowboats, some canoes – that got to be a big headache because people had no sense; changed name to Mock’s Marine Service; finally all pontoon boats and no ski boats; closed business in 1990 – Susie ran the place and Ted was in on the maintenance; didn’t sell gas the last 2 years because it wasn’t profitable; moved business over here in July, 1955 – started building this building in the spring of 1955; built living quarters after had moved business; sold one cottage, moved another one back; Mabel had worked in the business but wasn’t a business person thus Susie took over. Dwight had built a bathouse in 1927 and Susie and Ted built their house.  So many boys have worked for her; they are like sons; some we don’t know where they are; Mike Brower – used to be at the post office; brother was Max – “was one of THE best boys she had – he was really smart, he took hold just like that, Max was good too but he wasn’t quite as sharp as Mike.” Had as high as 3 at a time. Hired them at 14 and expected them to work for her until they graduated from high school – even the summer after they graduated. Joe Freeman was one of the first ones who worked for Dwight and Mabel.  Susie’s mother now (1993) (Mother was 93 years old at time of interview – lived in her own house 73 years – had just put her in a nursing home, Susie was 76), lives in a small white house with awnings. The cottage west of her and the cottage east of her were built at the time (Susie was growing up)– vacant lot next door and 2 vacant lots next to that – now these lots have been filled up. In 1954, when put boats in, no algae – boats clean as could be in fall. Remembered when they used to deliver putt-putts, they could see everything on the bottom of the lake. The reeds were on the sand bar – had to go carefully through a channel between Highland View Gardens and sand bar (pretty sure reeds gone by 1954). The old channel to Syracuse was beautiful – got through in mid-50s but hazards –shame it isn’t kept open.

Susie saddened to see zebra mussels, too many boats, pollution from boats at sand bar, oily, dirty, doesn’t like to go swimming any more – used to wash hair in the lake, take a bath; remembered foam as a child – made ice cream cones in rolled up newspaper; kids don’t seem to do as much make-believe – aren’t as creative.

Personalities: teachers, kids, cousin Margaret – went to school together, girlfriends from Evanston and Rockford, IL came in summer; Pauline Levernier, Velma Penn, Millie Shively

Waco (Wawasee Amusement Company): Grandpa had built a cottage (nearby), and he stayed there; Susie’s family would come up every weekend; the old Waco Dance Hall was there and we’d go over there every weekend; Big Bands – Cab Calloway, Wayne King, Guy Lombardo, Jan Garber…; sold so many tickets for Cab Calloway that cars were parked from here clear down to Macys and people were walking, and they couldn’t accommodate them over there, Dad’s business was in that garage so that garage was full that night, we sold I don’t know how many cases of pop, we didn’t have time to get them cold, we just put in the water, sent it across and took it out where McClains used to be a bar-b-que (Leaftag’s Bar-B-Que she said later on) – open in summertime, had a spit outside, think they used fresh ham and beef; bar-b-que sauce was a cabbage slaw which was hot – not hot with heat, but hot seasoning – too hot for her as a kid, umbrellas out in the yard, people from Waco would go over there and sit and eat.  Susie had fun going there (Waco) to dance with one or 2 girls in neighborhood (10, 12, 13 year old girls) – every Sunday afternoon dancing; nobody was allowed without a tie – if you didn’t have a tie, Ross Franklin had ties that he would let you wear other than keep you out; soda fountain; slot machines – Susie worked a few nights to sell tickets (10 cents a dance) for the dancing and make change for the slot machines or sub for somebody; close friends with Jean and Billie Emerson – parents had grocery store around corner – they used to feed the band boys; lot of swimmers- people would come over from all the lake and swim – Waco had a beautiful beach – every afternoon you could look over there and see 25 or 30 people swimming; people would anchor their boats out in front of Waco at night to sit there and listen to Big Band music; really something – “I could lay in my bed at home, get my ear over toward the window, and I could hear it.” On the 3rd of July, women would all wear formals, men would wear white flannels, dark coats – it was a dress-up place – you just didn’t go over there unless you were dressed.  After Susie was gone, in Waco’s latter years, they did have a tavern out by the road for a couple of years – they had a pier walk from the tavern into Waco – they sold beer and sandwiches – don’t think they had liquor – wasn’t there too long. Then they started charging for parking, and that was one of the things that was a downfall; people would go in there at night and get in the mood for dancing and end up buying a couple of tickets – well when they started charging for parking that eliminated all those people who might have gone in there to dance. Then they charged so much a night to get in; then they showed motion pictures; then the last thing that was there was a skating rink. Then they tore it down and built the drive-in. We ran the drive-in one summer after Quiesser owned it. Susie enjoyed it; after that he tore it down and sold the lots.

Different localities in the 1930s: Tavern Hotel was a fishermen’s hotel; Oakwood; Herb King’s Kale Island beach was where we used to go for ice cream; Sargent’s Hotel and Spink Hotel; Crow’s Nest Inn; Johnson’s Hotel; Strieby’s Grocery on Ogden Island. Susie’s grandmother – her Dad’s mother – used to work at the Vawter Park Hotel. UKUMBAK (Silver Beach hotel, #530) – Lela Harkless was the daughter of Mrs. Wertz who ran the hotel – that’s where all the fishermen stayed when they would come.

Syracuse: She went to school there, ate lunch at Grand Hotel while in school – thinks maybe Seth Rodabaugh ran it; wooden store buildings along street on that side; where Buddy Hursh had his office there was a Gaffel Filling Station, Susie remembers when they built it – stucco on it with glass – sit across in the school and look out window and watch that; Connolly’s Grocery; Greiger’s; Jet White; Bachman’s; Klink’s old meat market with the sawdust on the floor; Gibson’s had a variety store, and she used to feed 3 or 4 of us at lunchtime; in high school went to Pel Clayton’s Syracuse Café (post office then license bureau at one time); hardware; Dad and I used to go into Hoch’s Rexall Drug Store and get milkshakes at the fountain; Dad always liked malted milk; went from grade school to Syracuse High School. My first year in school, I went to Tamarack School – country school – go to Crazy Corners then to next road and turn left and was down there by a little old cemetery – in fact, her father had gone to school there; Susie went there one year – they had a horse-drawn school bus; next year went to town school in that same horse drawn school bus – others had motorized buses. When they got to the beginning of the pavement at Pickwick Road – the pavement only used to come to the end of the Pickwick Rd. – the old highway – we’d have to walk on to school because the horses wouldn’t go on the ice (of the cement road). Old high school used to be back of the school – we’d go up there and play sometimes – must of torn that down in the early 1920s because she doesn’t think it was there when she went down to the new high school.

Church: Never went much as she was younger; since 1954 has been member of Calvery Evangelical United Brethren Church (old church was on street on east side of library down on that corner – maybe Benton St.), and then they merged with Methodist Church to become Calvery United Methodist Church in Village – cornerstone laid around 1961; served as Pres. of UMW for 8 or 9 years, Circle leadership roles, very active in many aspects of church.

Celebrations: Susie used to play in the band that played on the street uptown; BPW manned ticket booth during street fairs up near old school grounds; Water Safety Comm. had floats in parade uptown – decorated with Kleenex carnations; BPW had Showboat – stage show at Wawasee High School; card parties; dedication at church.

Winter: Terrible snowstorm blocked roads from here to town; Russell Warner brought his team of horses and wagon and everyone helped dig road out as he went along. Moved SR13 into swamp; Waco took sand out of lake and filled swamp. Dwight had ice boats and built ice boats – built one for Carl Tuttle. Expansion cracks; skate; play hockey; lake freeze over before Christmas; stay frozen; spot out in front of Spink that sometimes would stay open; cold winters but she didn’t remember any hardships; snow in front yard at least 4 foot deep.

Water Safety Committee: Seemed like we had a drowning every Father’s Day; when Earl Money was here, Susie was the treasurer of the Water Safety Committee that paid the lifeguards and instructors – they decided that they would have a Flotilla on Father’s Day to keep them busy– had it for a good number of years – had good parades; Susie is very disillusioned at how people make a party out of Flotilla today – too much drinking.

Additional information on Mock’s putt-putts from Ann Garceau’s phone call with John Call in 2013: John got one of Mock’s putt-putts from Art Overbay. Art had gotten a good start on restoring it. For a while, John stored it in Mike Buhrt’s barn. John sold it to a fellow on Eagle Lake near Edwardsburg, Michigan. John knows a lawyer in Elkhart, Bob Pfaff, who has lived on Eagle Lake all his life.