I don’t think just sharing my travels to the cabin suffice. There was more to this man than just a person who happened to build a cabin. I first met Jo in the spring of 1962…
Jo Calhoun at Wheel of JAHOMA Late 1960s
He always wore a suit when traveling to and from WILLEBEJOBE. The cabin cruiser was hand-crafted in Parry Sound. The steering wheel came from an old Chevrolet.
Photo courtesy of Janey Knight
Jo
- Joseph C Calhoun
Date Unkown
Photo Courtesy of Janey Knight
I was eight years old. We moved into the house next to the Calhoun’s in Cleveland Heights. The first few days I watched Jo and Betty Dean from our house. He was a big man who towered over Betty Dean. He drove a big, mid-fifties, coral-colored Imperial while Betty drove a dark green Lincoln from the same era, maybe a little older. They had a dog, a big (at least to me) Norwegian Elkhound named Müstie. I thought it was an Eskimo Dog, you know, the kind that pulls sleds; it barked and grumbled a great deal when I or anyone approached.
Jo and I met face-to-face the first weekend after we moved in. He was outside doing early spring leaf clean-up. He was speaking with my dad who introduced us. He seemed like an alright person. As he was cleaning the barberry hedge row that ran between our properties, he asked me to reach in to pull out the dead leaves. I obliged him; after all he was a huge man but then again anything larger than a grasshopper was huge in my book. (It is over fifty years since I met this man and I can’t say why I remember that day but that first meeting certainly had left an impression.)
The Calhoun’s Gardens
As the weather warmed, the Calhoun’s tulip garden bloomed. This was fancy but not real formal; it had four separate quadrants and a circular garden in the middle. A grass walkway separated the quadrants and circled the center garden (I believe, at that time, it had a large bird bath in the center but it was moved later); it looked like an English garden. When the blooms died off, the bulbs were dug out and vegetables planted. We were the recipients of many of the vegetables from both their backyard and Canadian gardens for the many summers we knew them. They also grew red raspberries and red currants. When the summer ended and the plants stopped producing, out the plants came and in went the bulbs with the cycle repeating every year. (I do not know whether Jo had a hand in designing the gardens; Betty had grown up in the house and the gardens could have been the work of Betty Dean’s father, Harry Dean.)
The Calhouns grew rose bushes around their backyard and there were dozens as well as a couple climbing rose bushes. The bushes had numerous blooms and were they ever fragrant. He taught me how to dust the roses to keep away the beetles and aphids. Taking care of their roses while they were away was as important as tending the vegetables.
Jo Hunting at Little Blackstone Lake
In this undated autumn photo, Jo takes in the view of Little Blackstone Lake while sitting on the shore of the Blackstone River which joins the lake with Blackstone Harbor.
(Photo Courtesy of The Massasauga Archives)
Jo planted geraniums along his patio. He didn’t buy geraniums in pots and then plant them; he pulled them from a box he had in his cold cellar. There wasn’t any dirt around the roots and he had these geraniums for years. They had to be three feet tall; in the summer, full of blossoms, they were a sight to behold.
The gardens weren’t completely tended by Jo. There were a couple of gardeners who occasionally came by to help with the “laborious” tasks such as turning the rose beds to work in the humus. They were friendly and I learned they were also custodians in the Shaker School District.
As I grew older and physically stronger I started maintaining their yard. Although Jeff, my brother first took care of the lawn and snow-shoveling, I eventually took on the responsibility. I started out using a manual push mower and since I was on the short side, Jo and my dad had to modify it so the handle would be low enough for me to push the mower. It was a physical job but I was happy because I was able to earn money.
Cleveland Heights being east of Cleveland sat at a higher elevation and so received heavy lake-effect snowfalls. Sure we had snow days but those benefits were offset with the heavy job of clearing driveways with only a shovel. We didn’t have a plow or snow-thrower. I continued to do this for the Calhouns throughout my high school years.
In the late spring their patio was graced by a large dark green awning and then the patio furniture was out. Jo and Betty Dean ate their dinner on the patio as long as the weather was pleasant. I should say they dined; they didn’t eat as their meals were leisurely affairs. They would sit on the patio during the evenings until well after sunset. They would wave us over to join them in conversation.
We’d join them on their patio for hours at a time. They would mesmerize us with their tales of the lodge and their European travels. During the winter months we’d join them to ring in the New Year and view their slides of Canada and Europe. I know it sounds dreadfully boring but it wasn’t. It was during one of the Canadian slides shows prior to my first visit when Jo and I talked about poison ivy. It was probably the first time I had seen the stern, impatient grandfatherly side of him…
As a kid I would break out just looking at poison ivy and I remember discussing with Jo whether there was poison ivy at the lodge. He was adamant that there wasn’t any. I asked, “What do you mean there’s no poison ivy? Why wouldn’t poison ivy grow there?” Jo, I think, grew exasperated, gave me one of those looks and ended the discussion. I never did see any while there and I certainly climbed all over the rocks and through brush and never got it so maybe he was right (or maybe, just maybe, there was just very little of it). On the other hand, perhaps he just wanted me to enjoy myself in Canada and not worry about poison ivy.
Jo was a craftsman. He built a workshop in his basement. We spent a good part of one summer helping him dig out a room under their library den. We would fill bushel baskets with dirt, haul them up the stairs to our backyard and dump them to fill the low spot (that had previously turned into a small pond when it rained). Eventually he had his shop ready where he would make bowls, and furniture. One piece he made that stood out was a grandfather clock. I have no idea where it is.
He would eventually teach me how to use a Shopsmith multipurpose tool. Using the lathe I turned a bowling pin into a lamp under his tutelage. When I finished, it no longer looked like a bowling pin but rather a wine bottle. Through this I learned to appreciate the finer aspects of furniture-making and to recognize well-made furniture.
Jo was a corporate attorney and maintained an office in downtown Cleveland. I first learned was also a judge when I first visited the cabin. I had listened to Jerome address Jo as “Judge” or refer to him as “Judge” in conversation. Sometime later, when I was down at the boathouse, I asked Jerome why he called him judge. He looked at me asking, “You don’t know?” I replied, “No.” Jerome, without much discussion, said Jo was a judge, and specifically, Justice of the Peace for Cleveland Heights for over 25 years and that is why he was called Judge. I never addressed him as Judge; to me he was always Mr. Calhoun.
When we first moved in I noticed their cars’ license plates were embossed with “CS.” Since I had never seen plates like this, I asked my dad about them. He told me it stood for Consul(ate) Service. I learned that Jo was the Norwegian and Danish Consul in Cleveland. He was first appointed Norwegian Consul in 1933 and then the Danish Consul in 1953. As Consul, he was responsible for their respective country’s commercial interests as well as their citizens’ welfare. This certainly shed some light on their trips to Europe, especially Norway and Denmark.
Christian Radich – square-rigged, three-masted Norwegian training ship
On his 1964 trip to Norway, Jo helped pave the way for the visit of the Christian Radich to the Port of Cleveland. This would be its first visit to Cleveland. Being Jo’s neighbors, he arranged for our family to have a personal tour of the ship. While I found the ship to be impressive, I think my dad was the most excited so, of course, he purchased the soundtrack from the 1958 movie documentary, Windjammer.
I think it was about two or three years before he passed away that Jo took up painting. I don’t know whether he had any formal training or just a natural talent. I didn’t think about his painting hobby until Janey shared that his mother was a very talented artist. When she told me that, I remembered Jo having started but never finished a portrait of me; it was complete except for the teeth. I think he was having trouble with that part. I didn’t have to sit for it as he used one of my school pictures for reference. I remember my mom asking me to take the photo over to him and I was a bit surprised that he was taking up art at that point in his life.
Betty Dean
The house where the Calhouns resided was the second house where Betty Dean lived and grew up. The house was in a neighborhood of professionals; there was a newspaper executive, a curator of the Western Reserve Historical Society and a couple of doctors. Four of houses sat across from the backyard of Viktor Schreckengost a renowned industrial designer and artist. (Viktor lived in a mansion on the next street whose estate provided us with quiet solitude.)
Born in 1920, Betty Dean’s given name was Melissa Elizabeth. She was a descendant of the OA Dean Dairy founder. She attended Cleveland Heights High where I also attended and I remember seeing her picture in the hall where they hung the pictures of honor students. As I recall she was wearing her band uniform. She would later attend the University of North Carolina. Betty Dean passed away in May 2014 at the age of 94.
She was a voracious news reader. While I don’t recall her reading novels, I do recall her reading newspapers. While many people stop newspaper delivery when away for lengthy periods, not Betty Dean! While they traveled, Jeff and I were responsible for collecting the mail and the newspapers. A trip to Canada meant one or two weeks’ papers accumulated while a trip to Europe meant a month’s worth. She would read these old issues of The Plain Dealer, Sun Press plus the Parry Sound North Star! I remember one day months after they returned from Europe when she announced she’d finally caught up on her papers and proceeded to talk me about Bobby Hull.
Betty Dean provided Jeff and me more cultural exposure. She would take us to Severance Hall to hear the Cleveland Orchestra, to her church, The Church of the Saviour, to listen to the choir and Heights High to listen to the bands. It wasn’t my favorite thing to do but certainly helped me appreciate these things later in life.
For their professions and more than modest means, both Jo and Betty Dean were down-to earth. My dad wasn’t a professional but rather a non-degreed postal worker, my mom was mom. That didn’t seem to bother Jo. He played chess, cribbage and bridge with my dad. He and my dad also took woodworking classes together. They enjoyed each other’s company.
The Calhoun’s humbleness was evident in their cars. Earlier, I described that Jo drove an Imperial and Betty, a Lincoln. Back then these weren’t cars purchased by humble people of modest means. Furthermore, professionals usually bought new cars. I soon learned these were used cars; Jo and Betty didn’t purchase new cars. It was in 1963 that Jo purchased a black 1960 Lincoln Continental. I would learn from them that used cars are less money and where you can get a lot of car for a smaller outlay.
Jo’s Family
At the time I met Jo, Betty Dean was his second wife. Although I don’t know the year, they had only been married at most, I believe, a couple of years when we moved next door.
Jo’s first wife was Elizabeth. She was also known as Betty (because there were three Bettys in Jo’s life, I will refer to his first wife as Elizabeth for clarity throughout the blog). Of course, I did not know her. I only knew that she had passed away. Jo’s granddaughter, Janey shared…
“…my grandmother (Elizabeth) was vital to life in Canada. I obviously spent more time there with her than I did with Betty (Dean). My grandmother kept all the stone beds full of flowers and the kitchen full of wonderful foods.
I adored my grandmother. She was a sweet, kind and caring woman. She took wonderful care of her family. She usually spent all summer in Canada. Jo would travel back and forth by plane when he could.”
Apparently, Elizabeth was involved somehow and some way since the cabin was first built but when I visited in the 1960s there was no longer a cook. Although vegetables came from the garden, meals were fairly simple as there were no fresh-baked goods. Betty Dean did not stay at the cabin for the summer and Jo did not fly in or out. The two made frequent trips to the cabin from Cleveland and each trip was only for a couple of weeks. Time moves forward and events often reshape our lives.
Jo had two children, Betty Jo (sometimes known as BJ) and Bill (William). I knew BJ a bit better and met her a couple times when she came to visit from Massachusetts. I had learned she liked woodworking like her father and that she was an educator. She was at the cabin during my last visit in 1970. I would learn that she would move to Vermont where she passed away in 2004.
Bill and Mary Ann Calhoun 1942
Photo Courtesy of Janey Knight
Bill was the older of Jo’s children. While I met him once or twice, I didn’t really know him. Since he and his family lived in Canfield, Ohio (about two hours away from Cleveland Heights) he didn’t stay for long visits unlike BJ who would stay for a week or two. He only recently passed away in March 2013.
Bill had three children: Holly, Janey and Bill(y). I did not know Holly and Janey and only recently corresponded with Janey about the cabin. Billy, I did not know real well as he was older and hung out with my brother Jeff.
Last, while I don’t know anything about Jo’s parents, Jo had a sister, Alice Calhoun. Alice, who passed away in 1966, was a silent film star in the 1920s. I do not know whether she had any involvement in the cabin’s development nor do I know whether she ever visited.
End of The Calhoun Era
Shortly after I graduated from high school in 1971 Jo and Betty Dean returned from Canada and told me they no longer owned the cabin. I remember Jo being kind of sad, maybe even a bit angry and not wanting to talk about it. Even I was saddened by the news.
While I thought Jo had told me the property was going to pass into the hands of the province, I recently learned otherwise. The property had been purchased by the William Taylor Family. The story of the sale and The Taylor Era is in another section of this blog.
Jo with unidentified friend on Blackstone Harbor – 1942
Photo courtesy of Janey Knight
Jo passed away in November 1972. I often wondered whether the illness precipitated the sale or vice-versa. Jo never said anything to me about his health and if he talked to my parents, they never said anything. I seem to recall that he worked for several weeks, if not months, after our conversation. Perhaps he was winding up his business affairs but I really don’t know. It just seems, as I look back, that one day a home care nurse and the den/library was outfitted with a hospital bed. The den/library would be his room until he passed.
The day he passed I was at school and did not know until I returned home that evening. I understand he passed quietly after having had lunch.
Edited September 9, 2013, content updated July 7, 2014, February 12, 2014, November 18, 16 and 1, 2013
The Calhoun Lodge: WILLEBEJOBE 