Mary Jo Scace soon will be back on Barron Lake staying in the home she lived in with her family more than 50 years ago.
A class reunion in September is bringing her to the lake and she’s excited to see former Howard Community School graduates—her class was the last graduating class from that school—but she’s also excited to be staying on Breezy Beach in the very same house that she and her family lived in from 1951 to 1970.
“It’s amazing that I’m staying at my old place,” Mary Jo said. “It’s like the Lord has blessed us. I can’t believe this is happening.” The home is owned by Barbara Youngberg’s daughter, Lori Moore, who agreed to rent the home to Mary Jo, her husband Bruce, and family. “For Barbara’s daughter to allow us to do this, well I’m just so grateful.”
Mary Jo and Bruce and lived in Edwardsburg until 2019, when they moved to Milwaukee. While still living in Edwardsburg, Mary Jo said they often came back to the lake to drive down Breezy Beach. Sometimes they would stop and visit with former neighbors and friends like Barbara Cane Youngberg.
Now, they will have a chance to spend 10 days reminiscing with old friends and family about their childhood on the lake. And it’s this opportunity that is bringing those memories to the forefront.
“Most of the people that lived by us were part-time. There were only four or five year-round homes. The rest of the homes were owned by people from either Detroit or Chicago,” Mary Jo said. “So, nine months out of the year it was pretty quiet. The three months in the summer it was crazy. And that’s where I met Barbara Youngberg. I grew up with her in the summers.”
“We were one of the fortunate ones,” she said. “The majority of the homes had outhouses, but we had indoor plumbing. My father hung knotty pine paneling and I believe it is still there.”
There were many highlights for Mary Jo as she recalled her years living on Barron Lake, including having her grandparents, John and Minnie Wingeart living close by on Miars Drive.
“I walked through the woods (Sunset Lane) to see them. This was way before houses were built on that street,” she said.
And, how much her father loved to fish in the summer as well as the winter. “A lot of people knew John Wingeart and Erwin Wingeart for their fishing spots. They’d set up their shanties near Breezy Beach. We used to sit and look out the picture window to watch them. If it was a windy day, the ice shanties would fly over to our side,” she said.
Mary Jo also remembers being able to ice skate in the winters. “My dad would test the ice every winter with an ice spud,” she said. “Then he would clear a place for us to skate. We had a flood light, too, so we could skate after dark.” And she recalls how much fun it was on Halloween. “There were always a lot of kids. I always went out and then I took my children, who are now in their 40s and 50s, out there every year to my mom and dad’s so they could trick or treat. It was a fun time.”
Barron Lake always holds a special place in Mary Jo’s heart and a lot of that credit goes to having so many friends on the lake.
“Janet Baird would come across and pick me up in her speed boat and we would enjoy being on the lake. Sheila Lappan and I were friends and we used to hang together,” she said, noting that if they were playing at the Lappan’s Resort, they had to be very quiet so as not to disturb the guests. The Canes were from Chicago and had the cottage next to them. “They came every year during the summer months and enjoyed the lake property,” she said, adding that her brother Ron and Denny Calvert (a former Barron Lake resident) were friends, and Denny’s wife, Janet, and Mary Jo’s sister, Carol, were friends. “They were always at our home on Breezy Beach,” she said.
And like many who grew up on Barron Lake, Kugler’s Beach is a big part of their memories.
“I worked there when I was 15. I sat in that box and took people’s tickets. That was fun,” she said. “Once in a while the machine would print a ticket with a star on it. Oh, my goodness. Those people who got the star were ecstatic. It meant a free day at the beach,” she said. That was in the late 1960s and believes the price of admission was 30 cents. When she was a teenager, she remembers sitting on her pier and enjoying the music coming from the jukebox at Kugler’s Beach.
Those who bought toys in the area probably were purchasing toys from Mary Jo’s family business. “My parents owned Toy Land Toys and sold the toys in the Barron Lake Store and the Avalon Store. One time a semi-truck drove down Breezy Beach to deliver our toys and it had to back up on Breezy Beach and up the hill to get back onto Barron Lake Road. There wasn’t a place for it to turn around and it took many hours to get it back up there,” she said.
There’s a lot Mary Jo is thankful for in her life and one thing that stands out is being on the lake. “It’s peaceful, tranquil and something God made,” she said.
Written by Jodi Marneris for the Barron Lake Association September 2022
