Next to my home in Fenton, my
favorite place was my grand parents home at Runyan Lake.
Runyan Lake was named from a family who owned much of the
property in that area and still had a large farm there. The
lake was about three miles outside of Fenton and there
couldn’t have been a more beautiful or more fun place in
this world. My Grandfather, (Guy Andrew Lyons) worked in
Detroit, about 2 hours from Runyan Lake and so spent much
time away. This meant we had my Grandmother, (Josephine
Agnes Krajenke Lyons) all to ourselves and what a
grandmother she was. She was a fantastic person-always
looking for ways to make our days full of love and
enchantment. She couldn’t read or write but the things she
could pack into a day to make us happy was outstanding. I
would bring my reader and speller to her house and teach her
how to write when I was eight or nine. She was so proud
when she wrote a letter to my mother in Fenton and we mailed
it together. She didn’t know how to swim herself but taught
every one of the grandchildren how. Gram would tie a rope
around our waist and throw us off the end of the dock.
She'd keep that rope just tight enough to keep us from going
under and we'd paddle our hearts out trying to keep a
float. Each child knew how to swim like a fish.
Runyan Lake had two islands we called the little and the big
islands. When my Grandparents moved there they were good
sized islands but as the years went by the water kept
washing them away until finally by the time the
grandchildren came along, little island was only sand three
or four inches under the water and the big island was about
half mile big though covered with trees. The challenges to
all us kids, was to be able to swim out to the little island
by ourselves. It was, maybe a half mile from shore, and
finally as young teens to be able to swim across the lake to
the big island. We'd have picnics at the big island several
times a year. Gram would row us all over and set up a fire
so we could roast our foot long hot dogs and marshmallows.
The final challenge was to swim Runyan Lake's length. Jerry
was the first to do this and so was a hero to the rest of
us.
Grandpa had built a long dock with a platform at the end and
two benches facing each other. This is where gram and I did
our most secret talking or where she'd tell us stories about
when she was little. The cottage was made of rock and was
quite a nice home. There were two huge bedrooms; in our
bedroom there was two double beds and two dressers. We had
big windows throughout the house and our bedroom window
faced VilleMontes cottage so we could be out and running the
moment we saw movement over there that meant they were up
and we could start our day of fun. Otherwise we'd go
swimming early and wait till the VilleMontes woke up. Bud
and I were early risers up by six or seven and Dale and
Jerry enjoyed their sleep and usually didn’t get up until
eight or nine. Those were two and three long hours for us.
Our bathroom was off the garage (so when we came in with wet
bathing suits which was always, we'd not get the house
messy.) The kitchen was also large and always full of great
smells from grandma's good stuff to eat. The dinning room
was for special occasions and when the adults would play
cards, which was several times a week. My grandma, grandpa
and the Odells, or my grand parents and my mom and dad would
play cards there. The whole front of the house was a
screened porch that made up a family room and setting room.
You could smell the honey suckle flowers that hung over the
arbor and there were bushes of little pink flowers that when
grandpa would open up the flowers would make boats with a
lady in the center. There was a big beautiful willow tree
in the front yard with its graceful branches. Those
graceful branches would really sting if you did something
wrong and grandma used one to switch you. Our families had
been together for several generations, first the Odells and
the Lyons were best friends, than their kids (my mom and
Jerry and Dales Mom who had married Paul VilleMonte) and
finally Jerry, Dale, Bud and I.
Jerry and Dales cousin Duane would come out to the lake a
couple weeks out of the year and that is how I met him. I
was about 11 and he was 14. He was older than all of us and
treated me pretty special. Jerry, Duane and I would go
boating in the evening and sing our hearts out. I really
enjoyed when Duane came to the lake as he was such a funny
person and we had such a good time together. He was always
telling me jokes or singing silly songs that I just loved.
He was quite a letter writer and so was I so we corresponded
when he had to go back to Detroit. It was nice knowing that
I was remembered after summer vacation was over. We
continued writing each other when he went into the service
and my family had moved back to Texas. He came to visit me
in Texas and later we married. This united the VilleMontes,
(Duane’s mother was Dolores VilleMonte before she married
Bernard Schultz) with the Lyons (my mother was Francis Mary
Lyons Castillo). The families, who had been life long
friends for generations were now blood relations.
There was a small lake off Runyan Lake we called Turtle
Lake. When our parents were all teens, they dug a small
passage through from Runyan to Turtle Lake and you could
(with much pushing and poling) get a narrow boat though.
Most the time one of the boys, usually Jerry, would have to
get out into the water and push the boat. This wouldn’t
have been too bad except that who ever got into the water
there could most certainly come out with blood-suckers
attached to him. You notice I said HIM. There was no way
you were going to get me into that channel. Turtle Lake was
covered with lily pads and full of turtles and frogs. It
was dark with trees overhanging and since not many people
were up to braving getting through-IT WAS OURS ALONE. This
was a secret place.
Grandma really had a green thumb and anything she touched
grew beautifully. Coming up the long drive way you could
admire the large garden she took care of all by herself.
She raised everything the family would need to eat. There
were black berry bushes at the end of the
garden-strawberries that made the best desserts, melons both
water melon and mush melon, vegetables and tomatoes, enough
not only for the family but for canning catsup and neighbors
to enjoy. There was a little patch to one side of the
garden where she would bury her food garbage and coffee
grounds. This was called our worm garden and we always had
worms for fishing. There was a crab tree in the back yard.
The apples were little and bitter but they were great for
throwing when you had crab apple wars.
Bud, Jerry, Dale and I were the best of friends and seldom
did anything unless it was together. We were, swimming,
boating or fishing and on occasion would take journeys the
other side of the road to our rope swing that was tied to a
huge tree. Its limb hung way over a deep gorge. It was
frightening which made it all the more tempting to chance
swinging out on it, until one day the parents found out
about it and that was the end of our rope swing. We'd climb
up a long narrow (dangerous) path that led to Runyan's
pasture. Getting though the pasture was another challenge
as there was a huge mean bull out there that loved chasing
us. We had to be pretty fast to get to the other side and
over the fence. After that it was a short jog to where
there was a deep grassy incline that we could roll down.
Than it was back up the hill, running through the pasture,
climbing down the long narrow (dangerous) path and over the
road to grandmothers' house again.
This was Runyan Lake and what a wonderful memory my
grandparents gave their grandchildren.
