WHO WE ARE
William Eichenberg Jr.
My great aunt and great unde, Mr. and Mrs. (Elizabeth (Dtdsy) O’Connell) Mike Shehan, bought land in Olmsted Falls in the early 1900’s. Mike Shehan arrived from Ireland in 1876. They built a home in 1910 at what is now 26603 Cranage Road. There was a chicken coop and a place to raise the new bom animals. It was made of wood. The part facing the south was made of glass. Every day some one would go and gather the newly laid eggs.
My father and mother, Mr. and Mrs. (Vera Prebis) William Eichenberg, Sr. moved here in the early 1930’s. My two sisters, Joan (Kreiser) and Mary Ann (Deibel), -and I had many great times growing up. When I was very young, we would go and pick strawberries in June, blackberries in August I recall going into the woods and gathering nuts with them. Sometimes we would take a box and look for a kitten in the woods. The girls would also ice skate on the land between Division St (Mapleway Drive) and Clark St.
My mom and dad raised English bulldogs. They had a kennel which was called DonewelL Many of the dogs won prizes at dog shows in the midwest Some of the dogs were sold as far away as Puerto Rico.A few of the breeders that they knew were Mr. Sparks and Dr. Vardon (Detroit Michigan).
My dad built a really neat slide - in the shape of a giraffe. He also built a swing, a stone cookout and a large picnic table. When my dad would be working outside, my mom would take him a glass quart of kool aid. To this day, 1 still have a glass jar and take kool aid out on the hot summer days. It’s always red because that is the color my mom would take my dad.
It was so neat at the old house. 1 remember watching them all playing croquet in the side yard. My grandfather, Nicholas Prebis , would come out for a visit Some days, when the men were building the beautiful stone bridge over Minnie Creek, he would walk down to watch them. Even though I must have been about two, I remember him showing me the night stars.
During World War Two, each street had a CD Warden. One of his jobs was to be sure all the windows were blacked out If even a pinprick of light showed, he would inform the people. During the war, my mom would make fruit cakes. My Uncle Al Prebis was a corpsman on USS TRANQUILITY. Uncle William Prebis was a Sea Bee. He built airstrips in the Pacific and was badly wounded in an air raid. He saw Pappy Boyington land his F4U Corsair. Back to the fruitcakes! One uncle wrote home and said that it was very moldy when it arrived in the hot Pacific. My mom wrote back asking if she should try to send something else. In the next letter he wrote, “Heck no, sis, we just scrape the mold off!” For the duration of the war she would send fruit cakes. You may recall how long and hard it was to get ingredients then.
My dad built the new house in 1949. It was one of the first ranch type homes .He would work on it after work and on the week ends. He was doing very well. Unfortunately, he was on the roof one day when a plane flying in the Cleveland air races flew over fast and low. It startled him so much that he fell and broke his ankle.
Olmsted Falls was Olmsted Falls then. In our part of the city, it still is. You needed something, you had your neighbors: Mr. and Mrs. Strang, Mr. and Mrs. George Bias, Mr. and Mrs. Bennie Van Blaircum ( Mr. Van Blaircum was in George Patton’s 3rd Army), Mr. and Mrs. Sill, Mr.and Mrs. Louis Miller (Mr. Miller was a flight engineer on B-25’s), Mr. and Mrs. Henry Dreger, Mr. and Mrs. John Majsinger, Mrs. Donegan , the Pailey sisters, Mr. and Mrs James Ditmyer, Mr. and Mrs. Foose , Mr. and Mrs. Steve Fanchalli.
I attended SL Mary of the Falls School. Fr. Joseph Walsh was the pastor. Fr. Roth was the assistant Fr. Roth was also chaplain to our fire department I became an altar boy. Many great teachers helped me: Sr. Eileen, Sr. Kleran, Sr. St George, Sr. Pancratius. We were the first class to graduate from the new St Marys Church (1960). New adventures waited at Olmsted Falls High School.
When our little dog Cappydied my dad called Dr. Vardom who was still raiding bulldogs. We went to his kennels in Detroit. The caretaker took us through the kennels. As he dosed the door, my mom saw a small puppy in a cage. The caretaker said he was not doing well and would be ‘put down’. This is the puppy we took. He would need a lot of work and would most probably never walk right He would need a leather brace for his leg. We took him home and named him Jeb. My dad made a spedal enclosure for him in the back. He would be able to be in the sun as often as possible. Every day mom made him a special diet to strengthen his little body. He also had to have castor oil. Not only did Jeb live, he never needed the leg brace. In the summer, Joan and Mary Ann would take Jeb for a ride- to the Dairy Queen at Lorain and Columbia and buy Jeb an ice cream treat In the fall. Coach Wally Hood made Jeb mascot of the Olmsted Falls Bulldogs. He served as mascot through my high school years. The August after I graduated, Jeb died.
Some of my teachers at Olmsted Falls High School were: Mr. Gary Turner (homeroom), Mr. Glen Hutchison (math), Mr. Terek (biology), Mr. Howard Vasler (chemistry), Mr. J. Neil Sappington (history). Miss Helen Massa (guidance). Miss Amelia Harding (English), Mr. Del Shannon (guidance), Mr. Tm Cawley (English). Mr. John Sanders was assistant principal; Mr. Gordon Boddy was principal. His office is where the mayor’s office is now. The teachers made sure you were doing your work. I’m sure they received more than one gray hair from me. Their hard work paid off because at John Carroll University I was permitted to skip some freshman classes. Senior year, I even made the Dean’s List.
Who We Are