When I was a young lad in 1972, age 9, my parents divorced and my mom took my sister and me from Middleport, NY, to another small town five miles away called Medina, NY. There was a sweet old lady I'd visit who lived across the street from us. Her name was Mrs. Kreppeneck. She had to be in her late 60s, from what I remember. Often times I would join her on her porch. We would talk and talk, and I'd play on her steps and swing on her porch swing until the sun came down and I had to retreat home some thirty steps away. She lived at 209 Prospect Ave. and we lived at 204, and later, 212 Prospect Ave.
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| Mrs. (Gertrude) Kreppeneck's old house. Photo taken 2001. |
Sometimes she'd let me inside. I can remember the calm and cozy surroundings. There were several round tables covered with patterned table clothes and doilies, and on top of those doilies were pictures of her family members. The place had the distinctive smell of a grandmother's house. I think I remember her telling me that her husband had died, and it made me feel sad, as sad as anyone my age could understand. I wasn't sure if anyone else lived with her. But I do remember feeling slightly weird that she may have felt it odd for someone's kid to hang out with her. Or maybe it was just me feeling that way. Didn't I have a better place to be? I had several neighbor friends, but when we weren't playing or they weren't around, there was always Mrs. Kreppeneck to talk to.
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| How close she lived from our two homes on Prospect Ave. 209 is the red marker. |
Forward now over half a century later, and I discover through a 1937 online newspaper article that my grandfather, Victor C. Rook, with whom I am named after and have never met because he died before I was born, once lived in that very same house back in the 1930s. He was married to his first wife, Virginia Sayers, and my dad and aunt were age 2 and 1, respectively, that year.
All I've known of my namesake was that he died of a heart attack in 1961--two years before I came into this world--at the young age of 52. At that time he lived in the house adjacent to my father's home back in Middleport, NY. He had divorced Virginia (who later became my grandmother, Virginia Snow) and married a woman by the name of Josephine in 1946.
But apparently, there was a great deal more to Victor C. Rook, which I am now discovering. He was an avid hunter, businessman, and community leader. He co-owned a men's clothing store called Montgomery & Rook Clothiers in the 1930s in Medina. He was a man-about-town, so they say: Vice President and then President of the Medina Junior Chamber of Commerce, Member of the Orleans Rod and Gun Club, Medina Conservation Club, Medina Masonic Order, Advertising Committee, Dance Committee, and apparently, a show-dog exhibitor. Upon further newspaper searches, I learned that he was also part of a convoy of vehicles that delivered two tons of relief supplies to Wilkes-Barre, PA, during the 1936 floods.
I'm not certain if my grandfather lived in other locations in Medina, or if my father may have been too young to remember that he once lived in Mrs. Kreppeneck's house for part of his childhood. When he picked me up for weekend parental visits, he never mentioned anything of the sort. I have since learned that Mrs. Kreppeneck passed away at age 77 on July 13, 1985.
The most incredible part of this story is that I was drawn to visit Mrs. Kreppeneck, and in doing so, I spent time inside the former home of my grandfather. Perhaps it was my grandfather finding a way to protect and console his lonely grandchild, one he was never able to hold and meet in real life. I was once told by a psychic that there was a man watching over me, and so I've always thought it must be him (since we share the same name).
Here are some article snippets from The Medina Tribune with mentions and pictures of my grandfather. Special thanks to Lee-Whedon Memorial Library in Medina, NY, for providing me with image scans.
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| Apparently he ended up winning that year with his Irish setter, Allegany Red. |
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| Business profiles, 1937. |
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| Sales ad for Montgomery & Rook and Gould's. |
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| New window display with hunting gear. |
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| Wilkes-Barre, PA, relief effort in 1936. |
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| Victor heads Jaycees, 1938. |
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| Mrs. Kreppeneck's obituary, 1985. |
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