Last week I started a Facebook page exclusively for Beechmont Stories. In my very first post on the new page, I asked readers to give me suggestions or tips that would point me in the direction of local people to feature. It wasn’t long until a reader suggested I talk to Stanley Wilfert, a 91 year old Withamsville resident with a lifelong story completely local to Cincinnati’s east side.
Today I caught up with Stanley at his home in Withamsville where he invited me inside to chat. One could easily write a history book based around Stanley’s knowledge and connections to how Cincinnati’s eastern neighborhoods were founded, settled, farmed, and then eventually suburbanized.
For a 91 year old, Stanley could easily pass for man in his 70’s, and his memory and recollection are tack sharp.
We sat in the dining room of his meticulously kept home as he told me about his great-great grandfather, Abraham Hopper, who moved to the area from New Jersey in 1835. He lived where Beechmont Mall is today and owned 1,000 acres of land. It was called Hopper’s Hill, a name that should be familiar to us on this side of town.
Stanley’s great-grandfather, John Ambrose Wilfert came to the area in 1845 from Asch, Bohemia and lived in Over-the-Rhine by Music Hall. He started a lucrative business that made stockings. He eventually sold his company in 1870 and retired to a farm on Asbury Road.
Meet Stanley
Stanley was born January 30th, 1928 in a farm house that once existed where Bob Evans restaurant exists today, at Beechmont and Independence Drive, across from Hopper Hill Road. His father, Charles Wilfert, and his mother Gladys Bennet, had only two children. Stanley had a younger brother Donald who passed away recently.
Stanley attended grade school at Tobasco Elementary where no more than 50 children were enrolled. He remembered the crush he had on his teacher, Izola Clemmons, and how he would watch her as she got dropped off at the school by her father so she could teach the children. “I really fancied her,” Stanley said.
Stanley also recalled Arthur Evanshine, a tough but fair principal who never let students get out of line. “In later years, we’d get these really tough farm boys that would enroll. They were tough as iron and they’d be all sorts of trouble. They were so bad, they’d throw the teachers out of their own classrooms. Arthur Evanshine would catch wind of these incidents and find the biggest and the meanest of the trouble makers and whoop them really good in front of everybody. He’d make an example of them so the other boys knew what was coming if they followed step.”
I told Stanley I was surprised that children back then would challenge authority like that. Conventional wisdom holds that children of the past were practically ideal students compared to today’s kids. Stanley scoffed at the idea that children back then were magically of some better nature. “Kids are kids. It’s all about how you correct them. Back then kids could be corrected. They could be disciplined. That’s why they behaved. Today that is not the case. Today’s kids are out of control because they have been let out of control.” Stanley pointed out a stain on the wall in the picture below to me. “See that stain? Someone threw a tomato,” he said laughing.
Home Life
Stanley has fond memories of his mother’s apple pie and fried chicken. “She was an amazing cook,” Stanley said. For Christmas they would cut down a tree from the farmland and decorate it with ornaments. “I can still smell those cedar trees.” He remembers getting boxes of candy and popcorn as Christmas gifts.
After school they would race home to listen to Jack Armstrong, The All-American Boy, on the radio. Sometimes they’d take a nap in an old shed located on the farm property. Stanley leaned back, sighed, and smiled widely when he told me what it sounded like when rain would fall on the shack’s tin roof. “It would put us right to sleep,” he said.
On rare occasions as a special treat they would get a pop from the local general store.
Off to Work
After graduation, Stanley and his brother worked on their family farm for a few years. Eventually they learned that there was better money to be made off the farm.
Stanley would go work for Keebler in Mariemont. He made the icing that filled their sugar wafers. “There were only three flavors: chocolate, vanilla, and strawberry,” Stanley told me. “Fifty-two gallons of shortening, 750 pounds of sugar, and some flavoring would make one batch. They used to use coconut oil, but they switched to shortening to cut costs,” Stanley added. Further cost cutting would eventually outsource Stanley’s job completely, but he was able to finish his career working maintenance until he retired in 1988.
Interestingly, Stanley never got married or had children. Today he spends his time listening to classical music and reading. He recently finished a book on the great Stoic, Marcus Aurelius. Next he plans to delve into the history of Byzantine Emperor, Constantine the Great.
Stanley is active in his church and enjoys taking long walks to stay active.
After taking Stanley’s picture he showed me daguerreotypes he acquired from a friend before she died. Daguerreotypes are pictures taken using the earliest process of photography. “These pictures are 150 years old,” Stanley said. He also showed me a tintype (another very old photography process) of Elisha Arthur, a Union Cavalryman from Amelia who died in Huntsville, Alabama after falling in a well.
The Modern World
When I asked Stanley for his critique on the modern world, he strongly regretted the sense of community that has dwindled. “A long time ago there were much less people around, but we were all connected. We all belonged to something and we were held to our reputations. Today there are more people in this area, but we lost the connection.”
“I feel sorry for children today. Many of them will never know the happy simple life I had. Everything is too structured today, too scheduled. A big problem kids have today is that they don’t spend enough time with their parents. Kids used to be with their parents in the fields. Today the parents go off to work, the children have school and activities. Some families never see each other. How are parents supposed to instill their values into their children if they hardly seem them? And if the parents are not instilling values into their children, then someone else is.”
Stanley’s Advice
I asked Stanley if he had any words of wisdom to share.
“Take time off from work and spend time with your family. There’s nothing like good memories when you get old. If you get old with too many bad memories, you’re going to have problems.”
“Go for walks, you’ll sleep better at night. You don’t want to stagnate. Be active. Be social. Get involved with your church. And don’t go into debt.”
I spent over two hours talking to Stanley. There will certainly have to be a part two at some point to go over all the things we covered. And I’m sure that I haven’t even scratched the surface with him.
So if you see Stanley on one of his walks, stop and say hi to him. Ask him about life on the farm or about the unsolved murder on Clough back when he was a kid. Maybe ask him about Delia Bell or Harold Maddox. Feel free to use these cliffhangers to break the ice with him. You won’t regret it.
Did you miss Beechmont Stories: It can Happen to Anyone? Check it out here.
Fantastic story! One person you may want to get in touch with for fabulous stories would be Dennis Nichols. Email me for further info. Thanks for sharing such great stories!
Will do! Thanks!!
I very much enjoyed your story about Stanley Wilfert. I grew up on Clough Pike in Clermont County in the 50’s & early 60’s. We lived just down the street from Lloyd Bennet, a relative of Mr. Wilfert. I also knew another relative, Janet Lou Wilfert. Times back then were quiet, peaceful, and like he said people knew one another and families spent a lot of time together. Wonderful memories!
Thanks for the comment Eleanor! Recent generations (including mine) have missed out on close hight-trust communities. Maybe some day things will change and our children will have a chance to experience them.
I m proud to call Stanley a life long friend. In the Mt. Moriah history records there is a picture of a church picnic with Stanley and our family at the same picnic table. I think I was about 4 years old. As a young boy he would get up early to walk to Mt. Moriah to start the wood stove before Sunday service. He is a treasure in our community.
I bet he is! Thank you Margaret!
Great story and captures very well the great person that Stanley is. He is one of a kind and you portrayed him so well. He is a man of character, of the type you don’t see much any longer….
Thanks for the comment Jeff!
I love your work….fabulous stories/heart-warming,too! Thank you, Sincerely, M.J.
Thank you Mary Jo! I really appreciate the kind words!
A great story about a great fellow. Your interest in the community is inspiring. Please keep up the good work.
Loved reading this article! Harold Maddux, mentioned at the end, was my grandfather. Stanley is also a distant relative. Keep these coming!