leslie tozier, gwen watson, claude watson, watson's store, mapleton michigan, old mission peninsula, old mission, old mission michigan, old mission history, old mission gazette, peninsula township
Gwen Watson's great-niece, Leslie Tozier (left) and her family in Mapleton, Michigan | Jane Boursaw Photo
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There are some people in this life who seem to take on a mythical quality as the years pass by. Gwen Watson is one of those people. Everyone who lived or grew up on the Old Mission Peninsula during the 1950s, 60s and 70s has a story about Gwen (aka Gwennie) and Claude Watson, who owned Watson’s Store in Mapleton, across the road from the Peninsula Grill and Peninsula Market.

So you can imagine my delight when Gwen’s great-niece emailed and said she and her family would be visiting the OMP, and wondered if I might know something about Watson’s Store.

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“My name is Leslie (Bradford) Tozier and my great aunt, Gwendolyn May (Bradford) Watson was married to Claude Earl Watson,” she wrote. “Claude passed away in 1962 and my Aunt Gwen in 1990. I believe Claude was shown in an article of yours, showing the men of the Old Mission Fire Department circa 1945.”

Here is the Fire Department photo Leslie referenced. Pictured, standing left to right, are Harry Heller, Arnold White, Roy Hooper, Claude Watson, Stanley Wood and Ray Heller. Seated in the truck are John Lardie (wearing helmet) and Ike (Isadore) Lardie. Read more about the photo and truck here.

Leslie said she knew that Gwen and Claude owned a cherry orchard and an old general store, which burned down some years ago. She also said the orchard was sold after Gwen’s death, and that both Gwen and Claude are buried in Ogdensburg Cemetery (just north of Old Mission Peninsula United Methodist Church on Center Road).

Leslie recalled, “We visited my Aunt Gwen over the summer sometimes and stayed with her. My two sisters and I have memories of sleeping in the attic where there were bats and bees. She would say, ‘Ah, the bees won’t bother you’ and ‘don’t worry about the bats.’ Needless to say, we were a little (or a lot) concerned about the bees and the bats!”

Gwen was the sister of Leslie’s grandfather. Leslie’s father, Ralph Bradford, was Gwen’s nephew. Leslie noted, “My father was an only child, so he was doted on by Gwen and her sister.”

My husband Tim and I met Leslie and her family up at Mapleton where the store used to sit and chatted about Gwen and Claude and the store. I was struck by how much Leslie reminded me of Gwen – tiny, with a quick smile and fun laugh.

As mentioned, everyone who was on the OMP during the 1950s and 60s has memories of Gwen and Claude Watson and their store. For me, it involved our family’s strawberry patch across the orchards and down in the valley. Our family farm, Johnson Farms, is about a half-mile north of Mapleton, with a big red barn on the right side of Center Road heading north.

When I was a kid in the 1960s, my mom, Mary Johnson, ran the strawberry patch down the hill from the barn. All of us kids and our friends would pick strawberries, and help Mom load them into the back of our Volkswagen Bus, to be delivered to stores in the area. Then we’d take our strawberry money and run across the orchards to Watson’s store, where we’d buy pop and candy.

My favorite candies at Watson’s Store were those tiny wax bottles holding about a half teaspoon of juice. You’d bite the end off the bottle, suck out the juice, and then chew on the wax. And of course, candy cigarettes. I can still taste those sugary-sweet cigarettes (and no, they didn’t lead me down a dark path to a lifetime of smoking).

Tim recalls that on Sundays, their family would stop by Watson’s on the way home from church (St. Joseph Catholic Church) and buy eggs and bread. You’d pay for the eggs and bread inside the store, then get in your car, drive around the circle driveway, pick up your eggs in the chicken coop and grab a loaf of bread at the house.

Watson’s house, across the driveway to the north of the store, had a big porch, and in the middle of the porch was a door that led inside the house. To the right of the door was the kitchen window, where home-made loaves would be resting on the windowsill. If Gwen was in the house, she’d sell you a loaf of bread through the window. I remember being in the house a few times, and recall it being very light and airy.

They also had gas pumps out front, and out by the road, there was a small pop stand, where you could buy chips, pop and ice cream.

There was a door at the back of the building leading to the basement. Guys would often disappear down the stairs and have a beer with Claude, who could usually be found sitting by the beer cooler.  As I recall, there was also a stairway leading downstairs near the cash register inside the store.

According to the book “A Century of Service,” published by Jack and Vi Solomonson, and their daughter Mary Jo (Solomonson) Lance of the Peninsula Telephone Company, Pete Lardie owned the store and house until 1946, at which time he sold it to Gwen and Claude. Here’s a picture from the book captioned “Harold ‘Pete-the-Boss’ Lardie in front of his store in Mapleton.”

And here is a picture from the book captioned, “Left to right: Belle Lardie, Catherine Lardie, Pete and Lizzie Lardie.”

I’m sure I have some pictures of Gwen in my archives, and will post as soon as I dig them out. Let me know if you have any photos of Gwen, Claude or Watson’s Store you’d be willing to let me publish in Old Mission Gazette.

What are your memories of Gwennie and Claude Watson, and Watson’s Store in Mapleton? Leave thoughts in the comments section at the bottom of this story.

Here’s a clipping I came across in Newspapers.com about the time Gwennie organized a community birthday card for OMP resident Sgt. Ralph Heller, who was serving in Viet Nam. The clipping was originally published in the May 28, 1970 edition of the Traverse City Record-Eagle.

A NOTE FROM JANE: I started Old Mission Gazette in 2015 because I felt a calling to provide the Old Mission Peninsula community with local news. After decades of writing for newspapers and magazines like the New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Family Circle and Ladies' Home Journal, I really just wanted to write about my own community where I grew up on a cherry farm and raised my own family. So I started my own newspaper. Because the Gazette is mainly reader-supported, I hope you'll consider tossing a few bucks my way if I mention your event, your business, your organization or your news item, or if you simply love reading about what's happening on the OMP. Check out the donation page here. Thank you so much for your support. -jb

Bay View Insurance of Traverse City Michigan

13 COMMENTS

  1. I love the articles you’ve done recently that include my family. I didn’t know about the birthday celebration for my step brother, Ralph Heller, that Gwen had put together. Thanks.

    I, too, remember biking up to Gwen’s store and spending my babysitting money on soda and candy. Gwen was always so generous and kind to us girls. We always trick-or-treated at Gwen’s house as well. She always had special treats along with candy. Often it was homemade cookies she had made just for us girls. I’ll have to look for photos. I know at least one is us in our Halloween costumes in Gwen’s kitchen.

  2. Gwen and Claude were such wonderful friends of the Heller family. I have so many fond memories of going to their store on our horses where they installed a hitching post for us to tie up the horses while we went in for our candy and sodas. If we didn’t have the exact amount for our many purchases, Gwen would make a little charge account for us. My brother, Ralph, worked for them one summer pumping gas and selling items from the pop stand. One morning Gwen called our house to say she had our bloodhound, Tracy, in her bedroom sleeping on her bed and could we please come to get him. The next morning she made the same call and said he was there again and she saw him open her screen door with his nose and go to her bedroom and get on the bed. It became an everyday occurrence which she started to enjoy. On Sundays my father always went to the store to talk. I know he said he wouldn’t be too long as we waited for him in the car so maybe he was just enjoying a cold one. When I moved away from the area, Gwen used to call me to keep me posted on life in Mapleton. When she passed I was so very sad that a Wonderful, dear friend was gone and very missed by all of those who were touched by her love.

  3. I’ve enjoy your history of Old Mission
    Peninsula so much! Thank you! I remember Gwen Watson. She was a sweet lady. My dad wasn’t able to walk and so she would come out to the car and ask him what he needed. I would go in, help gather the items and she would help bring them out to the car for us. It was such a kind thing she did for us.

  4. Hi, my name is Paul McNamara. My mother was Elizabeth Sarah Zoulek McNamara (b1928). My grandfather was Matthew Amos Zoulek the son of Peter Zoulek Jr and Elizabeth “Lizzie” Carroll Zoulek Lardie. Peter died young at 27 (1898) leaving Lizzie with Elizabeth, Matt and Ruth. Lizzie then marries John Lardie. Her oldest, Elizabeth, then marries Isidore Lardie. I am interested in much the history. The Zouleks were one of the prominent families in the late 19th century of Mapleton. I am interested in the history from that time. I am currently in conversation with Mary at the Mapleton library who helps Tim Carroll with his room. I am emailing Ren Wright (a McManus).

  5. I visited with Gwenie often when I moved back from AZ in the 80’s. She was so kind and asked me over to the house to visit, I do remember the Bees! I still have a beautiful etched round water picture she gifted me.

  6. […] I like to think of Pam as the Gwennie Watson of this generation. Back in the day, Gwen was the coordinator of the fire department’s auxiliary group, which provided coffee, food, blankets or whatever was needed to the fire department. Gwen and her husband Claude owned Watson’s Store, which was located across the road from where the Peninsula Market is now located in Mapleton. Gwen’s niece, Leslie Tozier, visited the Old Mission Peninsula with her family in 2018. […]

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