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| At Brookside Cemetery |
This blog post began as a tribute to Ruby Joyce Wilbar who was born in
Middlesboro Kentucky. She lived for a while in Tennessee and lived her teen
years in Tecumseh Michigan before becoming a successful actor by the name of Julie
Parrish starring in movies and television.
Upon research of Ms. Wilbar, I discovered
that she legally changed her name to Julie Parrish and preferred being called
by that name.
And so, in respect of her wishes, this blog
post is affirmingly about Julie Parrish.
Oh,
how uncooperative the work of the biographer!
Much of the material by
which they compose a biography evaporates by the time the search is launched to
discover that evasive material.
To complicate matters,
during investigation of facts and details, one runs into conflicting
information. One then must decide which of the sources of information upon
which to base their conclusions.
I shall revisit that
conundrum later.
It was one day many weeks
ago I was searching Youtube for obscure sitcoms of the 1960s that I ran across
“Good Morning World” which was about two morning radio personalities ‘Lewis and
Clark” and decided to give it a view. Fun show!
One thing I noticed was
that the lead female role played by Julie Parrish had credit at the opening
credits of the show along with the two main characters. Goldie Hawn, not yet
famous of Laugh In, had lesser credit at the end of the show.
Who is this woman with higher
credit than Goldie Hawn!
And so, I researched just
who is Julie Parrish. I found much about her acting career and subsequent
profession as a Chemical Dependency Counselor.
It seems many people want
to make comment on her as a celebrity. I list some resources at the end of this
blog post that you may view them yourself.
I aim in this blog post to
recognize her as an energetic, high school girl excited about the world, and
also to promote Tecumseh Michigan as a place worth visiting.
Since Julie passed away
in 2003 and much of her family has passed away or is unreachable by this
amateur (very amateur) biographer I have little to go on as to stories,
memoirs, and such about her. And so, my wife, Sherry, and I took the trip to
Tecumseh Michigan to try to get a “snapshot” feel for the town in which she was
a teenager during the 1950s.
Our first stop in town
was the Tecumseh District Public Library. The History room was a great source
of information.
The Robinson’s City Directory of 1956 listed the family address as 210 E. Chicago. That would be a must to visit and photograph. That location in town is now a parking lot.
Also,
according to Gary Naugle, Tecumseh City Council Member and volunteer at the
Historical Museum, the family lived on Evans Street. I am going to trust the
information of one who lived in the town all his life and knew the family
personally over the address reported in an impersonal publication of names and
addresses.
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| Robinson's Tecumseh City Directory 1956 listing Wilbar family at 210 E. Chicago. |
The History room of the
Tecumseh District Library also had Tecumseh High School yearbooks of 1956, 57,
and 58, Julie’s year of graduation.
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| Julie, short hair...woman in the middle. |
Starring in the senior
play, we see that Julie had an interest in acting by personal design, not, as
with so many, incidental and fortuitous.
Our next stop was the
Brookside Cemetery in town. Though it took a while, my wife, Sherry, and I
discovered the burial place of the family.
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| Amateur Detective and Biographer |
We can see from the
Brookside Cemetery burial listing (found at the library History Room) that Joyce “Julie” is listed. She does not have an
actual gravestone bearing her name. But, there is a memorial marker provided by
the class of 1958.
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| Burial listing according to records found at library |
Again, Gary Naugle
informs me that Julie is actually buried somewhere in California and the
memorial plaque provided by the class is just that …a memorial.
Jeanne Sheldon offered
many informative points of interest about the history of Tecumseh.
Both, Gary and Jeanne,
were wonderfully hospitable to Sherry and myself as we asked questions and
snapped photos.
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| Gary, with display of Julie memorabilia. |
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| left to right: Jeanne Sheldon, Sherry Borglum, Gary Naugle |
Sherry and I then moved
on to the Artwalk in town.
We visited Tecumseh
Antique Appeal self-described as selling antiques, primitives, jewelry, and
furniture. Sherry found some hand-made jewelry.
Having reported the
reason for my trip to Tecumeseh, and telling Juli Jones (proprietor of the
Tecumseh Antique Appeal) that Julie Parrish had been in an Elvis movie, Juli,
with smile and pride, reported that she was related to Elvis! “Wow” said I,
“How?” I pressed.
The great- great
grandmothers of Juli and Elvis were sisters! Yes, what a well -connected world!
Also, Juli remembered the
name of the town bakery before it was Lev and Son…Van’s!
As Juli was very
informative and welcoming, I very much encourage you to visit her store when in
Tecumseh. The store is located at 101 E. Chicago Boulevard.
The telephone number for
the store is 517-424-2152. She is open Monday through Saturday 10 AM -5:30 PM.
The Tecumseh City
Historical Museum and the town itself seem pretty danged proud of Julie Parrish.
One can tell by the display of photos and information at the Museum.
I encourage any fan of
Julie Parrish to visit Tecumseh and see where she lived as a teenager and meet
the town folk who are proud of her.
Even if you are not a fan
of Julie Parrish, this town is worth the trip.
I visited Lev’s Bakery to
get treats (Julie had worked there during high school when it was Van’s Pastry
Shop). Do remember to take cash with which to make a purchase. I had no cash
with me. But, and this speaks highly of the kind of people that live in
Tecumseh, a customer in the store, Carmen, purely from the pure goodness
of her heart, offered to pay for my treats!
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| Carmen |
Yes, she is a personal
indicator of the type of town this is!!
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| Julie worked at Van's while in high school. Same location as current Lev and Son Bakery. |
As I concluded my visit
in Tecumseh, I imagined Julie as a high school girl walking from her home to
work at Van’s bakery, perhaps on a Saturday morning with inches of snow on the
sidewalk and a cold wind that threatened to distract her from her thoughts
about a career, yet she did not surrender to immediate and ephemeral discomfort.
I imagined her with each crunching step upon the snow plotting a career as a
successful actress of whom the city of Tecumseh would be proud. I envisioned
her listening with transistor radio to CKLW, originating from Windsor Ontario,
on her way to work eagerly hoping to hear the latest release by Elvis Presley.
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| Evans Street looking south toward town. Julie's perspective as she walked to work at Van's Pastry Shop |
Yes, model, actress, counselor,
Julie Parrish also once was an American teenager with an American dream in the
1950s.
May she always be an
inspiration for teenagers in Tecumseh and all over America that small town
hopefuls can make their dreams come true!
To find out about Julie’s
movies and tv appearances visit:
https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0663554/
To get a general idea of
who was Julie Parrish visit:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Julie_Parrish
To learn more about
Tecumseh Michigan visit:
http://www.downtowntecumseh.com/
I would like to thank
Craig Burkeen of the First Presbyterian Church who supplied me with the
obituary for Willam Wilbar (Julie’s father, who probably worked with my
grandfather in Oak Ridge Tennessee. But that will be a different blog post).
Thanks to Pastor Brian
Jones of the Missionary Baptist Church for giving me direction as to the
original church site where the family attended.
And, thank you Mike Hrivnak, Vice President of the Tecumseh Historical Museum.
