By By JOHN EBY / Dowagiac Daily News
Victor and Debbie Cuthbert's Manor Mini-Mart is the third generation of her family in business at 107 W. Railroad St. going back to Marie Donker's parents' Hiemstra's Food Shop.
The Manor, celebrating its 30th anniversary this week, was born out of one of Dowagiac's most spectacular fires which destroyed the Donker Shopping Center grocery store in January 1977.
"It was so cold that night," Deb said Monday.
"I can remember (firefighters) coming back to their vehicles and their faces were all iced up. It was awful."
"At that time, we had been married just a few months," Vic added, "and I had some high-topped work boots on. They froze stiff to where they didn't bend anymore."
Firefighters' hoses pouring water on the blaze created crystal works of frozen art years before Dowagiac envisioned its ice festival.
The Manor opened Friday, Sept. 16, 1977, with Rich and Marie Donker's oldest daughter, Debbie, and her husband, Vic, as managers of the convenience party store, delicatessen and bakery.
Hiemstra's became Donker's Super Market. The couple began adding new buildings and businesses to the site, which by 1963 had expanded into Donker's Shopping Center.
Twelve years before The Manor, the family had gotten out of the market business, selling to Mel Harding, who ran the store until the fire.
Deb's younger sister, Diane Simpson, also got into the family affair by opening a gift shop, Di's Shell Dock, in her mother Marie's beauty salon.
Simpson sold gifts made with sea shells, macrame hangings, candles, wood stands and jewelry.
"We had six months to decide if we were going to stay," said Vic. "We had only been married 10 months."
The Cuthberts lived above the store for eight years before they moved out in the country when Abby and Alan started school to School Street in Silver Creek Township, where they live today.
Both of their children were born while the family resided upstairs.
"It was good at the time for us because we worked a lot of hours," Deb said.
Before the plaza, the "rest of the block was houses" besides the market, Vic said.
"My father-in-law came up with the idea of building this building with an apartment. We came in to run the business, then bought the business and since then the whole shopping center, which was here when we came in '77. There were a lot of Colonial two-store buildings built in that era with the store downstairs and a residence above. There's one on Napier and M-140 that's a Mexican store now, and Tuka's at Five-Mile Corner."
The Manor, with its big pillars across the front, is reminiscent of a plantation home.
"Dad suggested not using our name in case we wanted to sell it," Deb said. "Manor popped in when Rich McCormick (of Preferred Printing) asked, 'What are you building? A southern mansion?' "
Deb graduated from Union High School in 1973. Vic grew up in Sodus, graduating from Benton Harbor High School in 1972.
"I was one of those people who got to go home because of riots in the late '60s, early '70s," he said. "My dad had a nine-acre farm and worked for Whirlpool. I was working in a body shop when I met her."
Deb started working at Wolverine Mutual Insurance Co. her junior year at DUHS and continued on breaks and each summer.
"Her sister wrecked her car and they brought it to me to see if I'd fix it," Vic said. "I always thought I would be in a mechanical business. I've got a lot of experience in farm equipment repair. I worked for a couple of implement dealers in high school.
"Deb's dad flew all the time. After a while of flying here and there with them, I decided I'd give it a try. I started flying about 1980."
Today Cuthbert is president of the local EAA (Experimental Aircraft Association) Chapter 1028, which hosted Saturday's fly-in at Municipal Airport.
He's also president of the Michiana Two-Cylinder Club for antique tractors and serves on the Dowagiac Airport Board. Vic also raced cars in the late '70s.
Their son, Alan, followed him aloft, becoming a corporate pilot after graduating from Purdue University. He's getting married next April.
Daughter Abby Johnson, who was Miss Dowagiac in 1998, lives in Zeeland, where she worked for General Motors after attending Central Michigan University. She gave the Cuthberts their first grandson, T.J., 2, and is expecting her second child.
"Dowagiac has a very nice airport, which is a plus for Dowagiac," Vic said. "It's really come along and improved the last couple of years. There's a lot more corporate traffic out of here than most people realize."
"And Chicago people, resorters, who fly in and leave their planes and have cars out there," Deb added.
"Things have changed so much since we opened," Deb said. "Nobody was open until midnight. That was like, 'Wow.' It was a big deal. Now, many places are open 24 hours."
"When we opened up, the Lottery was just getting started," Vic recalled. "We actually had the very first lottery terminal in town. When we first got in, you used to buy a roll of tickets every week" they sold for $1.
Today, there are so many games the display takes up much of the space between their two cash registers.
"We've gotten really well known for our cheese trays and roll-ups over the years," Deb said. "But when we started, we had a big bakery" with eight-foot cases.
The whole shopping center has seen its share of changes, with a Rent-to-Own store replacing Sears.
The restaurant next door has been known as P&J's and Trackside.
Gone from the corner is the Union Oil bulk plant whose trucks delivered heating oil.
"Rich made a deal. We painted their building for them and they let us put a mural on the side of their building," Vic said.
On the front of the block bordered by N. Front and E. Division streets, an aerial photo shows Steinman's and Oil Can Alley where they are today.
The houses are the same except for a smaller dwelling immediately behind The Manor, since removed for parking.
Years ago, Hook's Tavern and the old fire station were located in the larger area occupied by the expanded Steinman Shell.