Eastlake Celebrates Its Seniors--Ellie Wiley--June 2011

Eleanor Wiley, known as "Ellie" to her friends, faithfully volunteers weekly at the Eastlake Senior Citizens Center, located in the old Taft Elementary School building. She volunteers five times a week in the exercise room. Someone has to monitor the room in order for the citizens to use the equipment. This is for safety reasons. They must have a note from a doctor giving them the OK to exercise, plus pay $12. Ellie enjoys this position. She likes talking to the room's daily participants. She has made many friendships while volunteering. She arranges a week in advance for Laketran to transport her to and from the center. The center helps to offset the expense of using Laketran. They pay $1.50 for the $2.50 trip. This helps the elderly who are on a fixed income.

In 1948, Ellie would ride a greyhound bus from Cleveland out to 343rd Street to visit her parents, Mr. and Mrs. Grose. Her parents would ride the same bus route back into Cleveland to shop. Ellie didn't get her driver's license until she was in her 30s. Now, as she points to her walker, she says she is driving a "Jaguar." On her trip she noticed a tunnel going under the boulevard that would take one to the Willowick Library. At this time the library was located north of Lakeshore. She also would see a golf course, where Shoregate is located today. This is evident by some of the street names still in Willowick: High Tee, Divot, Bunker, Eagle Street, Fairway Drive.

She married John Grieger on February 11, 1950. He was a house carpenter and also a volunteer fireman. The wives of the firemen would hold meetings in a room provided by Lloyd Culp. He owned a bar located in the bend of Lakeshore near Willowick Drive. The women's group was called The Eastlake Flames. They would hold fundraisers like bake sales and collect food and clothing. These provisions would be given to fire victims. The women would make sandwiches and coffee to take to the firemen when they were putting out fires that were taking a long time to extinguish. They raised enough money to purchase a fire bell engraved with the names of the volunteers. Once a year, the fire department would have a clambake down in the Chagrin Harbor in their party room. The white fire truck was housed underneath an awning structure that was located where the Sears store is today. She thinks it is wonderful how the traffic lights adjust to the emergency sirens and give the emergency vehicles the right of way.

Mrs. Wiley worked in the Willoughby-Eastlake Schools cafeteria for 30 years. The food was prepared in the North and South high schools and then filtered out to the other schools. During her work period the workers would peel the potatoes and make their own hamburgers. There was not as much prefabricated food like there is today. She said that the apple crisp was always a popular dish.

Ellie's second husband was a bricklayer. She met him because he was her neighbor's brother. His name was Charles "Ed" Wiley. He was from West Virginia. They married August 10, 1979. The couple settled on Stevens Boulevard. She remembers how they would scrape the dirt roads, put oil on them, and then covered them with sand.

Mrs. Wiley has had open heart surgery and been given a pacemaker. Instead of exercise she enjoys reading a good mystery. She also enjoys collecting salt and pepper shakers. She has some very unusual ones: lawnmowers, washer and dryer, sewing machines and even some that look like tombstones.

This article is written courtesy of the Eastlake Historical Society. If you know of someone 80 years old or older who has lived in Eastlake for 50 years or more please contact The Eastlake Historical society through City Hall. We would love to include them in our article series.

EASTLAKE CELEBRATES ITS SENIORS