Suzy Anetsberger-Carter

(JUDY HUGHES): Good afternoon and welcome to Northbrook Voices, an oral history project sponsored by the Northbrook Historical Society and the North Public Library. My name is Judy Hughes, and I’m pleased to welcome Suzy Anetsberger-Carter, who has lived and worked in Northbrook almost all of her life. Welcome, Suzy.

(SUZY ANETSBERGER-CARTER): Thank you, Judy. Nice to be here.

(JH): Can we start with, can you tell me why your family came to this area?

(SAC): Primarily due to business. My grandfather, Frank Anetsberger, and his wife, Theresa Anetsberger, are originally from Park Falls, Wisconsin. They moved to the city of Chicago for business purposes. And my grandfather and his brother, I believe his name was Joe, started a small welding business on Elston Avenue in the city. My grandfather then sort of invented, like, the world’s first commercial French fryer or electronic one, anyway. And the business grew and grew until the point where my grandfather felt it necessary to look for some land, and that’s how we came to Northbrook to build his business and really, you know, start his family out here and grow.

(JH): Can you tell us a little bit about the business?

(SAC): Yes. Anetsberger Brothers Inc. moved to Northbrook in, I believe, the late 40s, and they developed a line of baking and restaurant equipment. And again, the business grew and grew, and my grandfather wanted his employees who were other, you know, Germans like himself with a strong work ethic, to be able to come out here and enjoy not only their work, but to make their part, their families, part of like our big family out here. So, when he bought the land out here and built the factory and his home, he also put in a small, little golf course, which still operates today with the Northbrook Park district. And also, he started the Isaac Walton League Club out there. And he actually, most people don’t know this, he purchased a bus, and I just found out recently that the bus was part of, like, the Northbrook l school buses. And he bought the bus, and he hired a driver or one of his employees to actually go down to the city, pick up the employees, and bring them to work. So, after that, with putting in the little golf course and the pavilion and nice little ball area and everything else so that the bus would go to the city and pick up the families on the weekends. So, they’d have these, you know, events or parties or whatever, and enjoy. Yeah.

(JH): So, coming out to the country to enjoy the country.

(SAC): Yes, because Northbrook was still very like semi-rural at the time. You know, I remember my grandmother telling me that Waukegan Road was just a two-lane dirt road before it got paved. So yeah, it’s so interesting.

(JH): Okay, and then you said they built a home here as well. Where is, where was their home located?

(SAC): Their home is located on Voltz and Waukegan Road. And I believe that they built that in the late 50s and purchased, oh, I think, about 20 acres or so surrounding where the home was built. And by the way, my grandfather, his brothers, my father, who was old enough at the time, they literally chopped down the trees and built the house themselves. You know, they had that old German craftsmanship, you know, so you don’t find floors like that anymore. I’ll tell you the truth.

(JH): So, is it made out of logs?

(SAC): Yes, it is. Well, of course, the walls are still, you know, regular plasterboard and things like that. But my favorite room in the house, we called the log room. It has a huge stone fireplace. And all the walls are logs, like a log cabin. And the chandelier in there was built with the with wood from trees that they, you know, sawed and stained the wood. And then they put like, like the deer antlers and the lights in there. And my uncle, one of my uncles, he was quite the craftsman. So it’s a lot of that old German folk, you know, decor and things like that, but very, very beautiful and homey and warm.

(JH): And you’ve talked about your dad and the uncles. Can you tell me the names of your dad and the uncles?

(SAC): Sure.

(JH): And who was oldest, if you remember?

(SAC): Oh, sure, I do. My father is Donald F. Anetsberger, and he’s the oldest of four boys by Frank and Theresa Anetsberger, my grandparents. After my father came my Uncle Richie, and then my Uncle Greg. And the youngest, who still survives is John. And there’s a big gap between my father and his youngest brother, John. They are 15 years apart, so yes, I loved all my uncles very, very much and still do. And it was quite the full house. My grandmother always told me that she never knew who was coming or going, who was living there at one time or another. But after my parents were married, they lived in the house for a while. And of course, then they bought their own house on Meadow Road, like Meadow and Cherry right there. And then I was born in the city of Chicago, and I am an adopted child as well as my three younger sisters. So, I guess my parents tried for years to have their own, but they saw it in their heart to adopt after six years of trying. So, I came right as an infant from the city to Northbrook, and other than going away for school and some jobs, I’ve always come back home to Northbrook. And my mother is still alive. She lives here in Northbrook. She owns the house in Southbridge Commons subdivision, and my husband and I now live back with my mom, so to taking care of the house. Well, that’s all. That all happened. Came full circle.

(JH): You talked, you talk about sort of a large, extended, loving family.

(SAC): Oh, absolutely. My grandpa Anetsberger has a huge family. He had 11 siblings. So, yeah, they were quite a large family. And I believe that his parents were sort of off the boat from Germany and settled in Wisconsin, central Wisconsin. And, you know, they had to get off the farm eventually, you know, for business reasons and education. And that’s how they got there. But really, my grandparents were so kind and benevolent, and they really cared about not only their immediate family, but they felt that, you know, their employees and their friends and their sons, even their sons’ friends. And everybody was just, they embraced the Northbrook community. And I said, it was funny that my grandmother said at one time, she goes, I don’t know who’s living here sometimes, you know, because I go in and out. But she just loved everybody. They were really kind.

(JH): So, you and your sisters grew up on Meadow Road.

(SAC): Correct.

(JH): Where did you go to school?

(SAC): I went to school at St. Norbert for grammar school and then Marillac for high school.

(JH): Do you have any specific St. Norbert memories?

(SAC): Oh, yes, I remember Father O’Reilly from Northbrook and some of the nuns there because that was way back when, when they were still allowed to carry the rulers and do all the good stuff, you know, for us little holy terrors. But no, we were good kids. I’m just kidding. But I do remember, you know, that I always thought Father O’Reilly was quite omnipotent, you know, or like he was up there like the authority, like next to God. And I do remember a little nun whose name was Sister Urban, and when the boys were bad, she would give them hot ears. I know this sounds funny, but what she’d do is she’d come up behind them and put her hands on their ears and then rub back-and-forth like that so it would make friction and cause heat. So, they’d have hot ears. I mean, it was silly, but it was, like, fun. And that I remember Mr. McCafferty, bigger than life. He was our gym teacher and social studies teacher, and I really liked him. And if the boys were bad, he’d hang them up. Or if you’d chew gum, they’d stick it in your hair or on your nose. So, this is way back when. But, you know, silly things like that. But it was it was a lot of good memories at St. Norbert. And I always remember walking home through the village green, which wasn’t so manicured and nice back then, and then going to, like, Baskin-Robbins ice cream. It was a treat, you know, that we’d go there, and I remember Little Louie’s, went in there for the hot dogs and, you know, all the shops, and I used to ride my bike all around town. I remember when the old Woolworth’s was there uptown and the Ben Franklin and Huerbinger’s drugstore, and we’d make the little rounds on our bikes and, you know, go in for the penny candy. And, oh, it was a joyous time. It was very, very, very nice.

(JH): I know you mentioned before we started our interview that you have a lifelong love of horses. How did that happen?

(SAC): Oh, boy. Yeah, well, my grandpa Rabler, this is my mother’s father, worked for Breyer Molding Company at one time when they were here in Chicago. And he used to take me when I was a child on the train down to Western Avenue. And we’d get off the train, and his friends from work would pick us up and take us to the factory, where I’d see all the model horses being molded. And my favorite part was to go into the painting room, and it was a big room with little boots in it, where the ladies would be spray painting all the colors of the horses, and they would let me paint like the reject horses that weren’t going to go out for sale. And I met famous authors like Marguerite Henry, who wrote the Misty of Chincoteague series and Walter Farley, Black Stallion, and others. And at the same time, my uncle Greg Anetsberger’s wife, Linda Anetsberger, had an aunt and uncle who lived in Wisconsin that gave her a small horse, like a paint horse, and also a Shetland pony. And the Shetland pony’s name was Macaroni. Like Carolyn Kennedy’s, only Macaroni was not so nice, and he used to run away and come uptown to the village green. Seriously. And the police would like bring them home in their van. It was a good time. We were kids. It was the craziest things with, especially with that pony. You know, one of those saucers that we, that the kids would slide down the hill on him in the snow, and they were metal at that time. All right. We attached like this saucer to the pony, you know, with a yoke around its neck to, like, pull. And we’d go around my Grandma Theresa’s, Grandma Anetsberger’s like, backyard around there. And the pony would run, and there’d be, like, five kids sitting on this little, tiny saucer, and the pony would, like, run up the hill and go around, and then the saucer would, like, fly, and we’d all go flying off and land in the snow, and the horse would run away. We had such a good time, though. It was really fun, and that’s how I got my real love of horses. I’ve had horse fever since I was a kid, and it never wore off. So, I’m fortunate now that I still have a beautiful quarter horse, and he’s like our big pet with nothing to prove, and he takes care of the kids now.

(JH): Where do you keep your horse?

(SAC): Our Quincey is an American Quarter Horse, and we keep him at Don Bar Farms, which is in Wadsworth, Illinois, just on the border of Illinois and Wisconsin. And it’s a little getaway paradise for us on the weekends, and we just enjoy with our friends. And I really, now I really, really like having my grandchildren out there or, you know, other, the kids or children that I’ve seen now grown up and stuff, you know, ride the horse. I ride a little, but still not like I used to, of course. I got pikes and pains, but it’s just gorgeous out there, and there’s just nothing like, you know, I think we borrow freedom from a horse. They give us wings, at least for a moment in time, so it’s a very special bond.

(JH): And I know you work at a special place as well. Where do you work?

(BP): Okay. I work as a dog trainer at Heartland Animal Shelter here in Northbrook. It’s off of Milwaukee Avenue, out of Preiser Animal Hospital. Doctor Preiser started the shelter some years ago, and I was very fortunate to become a dog trainer there, and I love dogs too obviously. And I have my own little private side business called the Dog Nannies, where I train privately and do pet sitting for approved clients. And that brings quite a joy to my life because I can teach people to become confident leaders for their pets and have a good family dynamic, and on from there.

(JH): Can you tell me a little bit about Heartland?

(SAC): Yes. Heartland Animal Shelter is a not-for-profit, no-kill animal shelter for both dogs and cats, although at times we’ve had some like guinea pigs and some other animals. But primarily it’s dogs and cats. I go in, and I will do evaluations on incoming dogs for them, and where we can save a dog or put a pet up for adoption, we will always try for that first, or we’ll send them to other facilities that have the means. But that’s our main goal, is to get the dogs trained well enough with myself and two other trainers there, professionals, so that they can be adopted. And each dog is assigned a, you know, a volunteer trainer or a person, you know, that’s going to be their people to see them through and get them adopted. And just wonderful people there, just absolutely wonderful. So, I’ve gotten a lot of my personal business through there on recommendations from Heartland, which I really appreciate.

(JH): How many animals do they shelter there?

(SAC): At any given time? I’d say up to maybe like 30 dogs and 50 cats. So, it could be up to 100, you know, pending what they have room for and what they can handle, you know.

(JH): And are there ways that the Northbrook community can help Heartland?

(SAC): Yes, absolutely. We always need volunteers. Of course, if you can’t volunteer, we always take donations. If you go online to heartlandanimalshelter.net, and they have many events, for example, they have a, I think it’s a 5K run right now. They have a lot of like restaurant events where, you know, the profits go to the animal shelter. Just wonderful, wonderful people, good sense of community, getting together, sharing, enjoying and having fun, but doing good for the animals. So please, check out heartlandanimalshelter.net.

(JH): You talked a little bit in a few minutes ago about getting on your bikes and riding around town. What other stores do you remember downtown?

(SAC): Oh well, one really good memory is of the Country Maid bakery because the Mueller family that owned the bakery at the time were very good friends of my parents. And so, when we were kids, we’d go ride up there, you know, uptown, and Uncle Albert, that’s what we called him, and Aunt Carol. We’d go in the bakery, and there was always something good in the bakery, you know that, and the smells, I remember.

And so, we went to school with their two daughters, Mary Ann and Joni, and they’re all grown up now. But my father, of course, provided the baking equipment for them. So, one hand washed the other. And as long as we all got treats, we’re good. And the cakes, I remember the cakes. There was like, he used to make these cakes that looked like, there was a doll in the middle of them. It looked like the doll’s dress. I remember that, and then my most special cake that he ever made was for my 10th birthday, when we moved from Meadow Road to Southbridge Common subdivision. It was a carousel. Wow. It was cool because, you know, me and my love of horses and carousels and oh, just, that was like the best memory of uptown.

(JH): Yeah, and grocery stores. What grocery stores do you remember downtown?

(SAC): I definitely remember Jewel being uptown, where Sunset is now. And Sunset used to be across the street. And I remember when I was a child and my Grandpa and Grandma Rabler lived on Cherry and Meadow in the condominiums there, across the street from where we lived, which was really great because I loved going over there because Grandma and Grandpa were next door. And my Grandmother Rabler used to take us over to Jewel, and we’d go shopping. And I remember Mr. Kelly helping us with the groceries and everything. Oh, I loved him. He was such a nice man. And then every once in a while, we’d go over to Sunset. And they were always, you know, really, oh, God. Sunset is like the best for, like, service and stuff. But it was really, like, more like quaint, simple, you know. Way back then, you didn’t have to worry so much about, you know, like the kids. I mean, we never wore, you know, the helmets and the safety stuff back then. I mean, and we survived, but, you know, life was simpler, you know, sort of back then. It really was.

(JH): And do you remember the neighborhood? What do you remember about the neighborhood you grew up in?

(SAC): I remember doing a lot of, like, roller skating and bike riding down to the Tot Lot Park on Meadow and swinging on the swings and jumping off. And it’s a miracle we didn’t kill ourselves. And then my girlfriends in the neighborhood, and we’d play Barbies and we’d, oh, we’d actually come to the library, which was on the corner of, I think, Shermer and Cherry? That little, little, like building. And here’s something I remember specifically about going to the library. The library cards were like cardboard, and they had like a piece of metal in them. And you’d have to put your card in there, and they’d have to swipe it like an old, you know, credit card thing, but to make the imprint and stuff.

But yeah, we had really a lot of fun when we were kids. And one time, my cousins who lived next door, and my sister Sharon, she’s two years younger than I am. So, it was Kathy and Sharon, and they were little kids at the time, and they wandered off down to the corner under the viaduct. Well, there was a field there instead of apartment buildings that there are now. But the police picked them up, you know, and they brought them to the police station and, you know, fed them cookies and stuff. And they were having a grand old time, but my mom and my aunt getting chewed out terribly for not watching the kids wander off down the street. That was a biggie. I haven’t thought about that story in years, but yeah.

(JH): I wonder if a two-year-old today would get out the door.

(SAC): No. See, that’s the thing. And now here’s an embarrassing story, but I was like five years old or so, and my Uncle George was visiting from Germany. This was my Grandpa Otto Rabler’s brother. And I was in the bathtub, I guess, and I didn’t want to be in the bathtub anymore, so I came streaking out the front door, lolly-dallying down the streets all naked, and them laughing their butts off because I thought I was pretty funny. But it’s like, my mom was so embarrassed. So, yeah, just crazy stuff when we were kids, you know?

(JH): And you said you went to Marillac High School?

(SAC): Yes. I did. Yeah.

(JH): Where was Marillac at that time?

(SAC): Marillac was off of Waukegan Road, actually had a Northfield address. Today, it’s, I believe, the Christian Heritage Academy. And of course, you know, I didn’t really appreciate going to an all-girl Catholic high school back then. You know, hormones raged at that age, you know, but it didn’t lack for, you know, any dates. We had coed things with Loyola at the time. Well, now the high school has merged and they’re all Loyola. But, you know, after I got out of Marillac, I realized how fortunate I really was to get that kind of education and individual attention that I don’t think you would get at the public high schools and stuff. That’s not to be offensive to Glenbrook in any way. They’re phenomenal.

But at the time, you know, that’s the way it was. And my parents just felt the obligation to give us a good, you know, a background in education. And they had a lot of benefits and things there. My love of music came from there. I was in the choir. I also did a lot of piano playing and guitar playing for their musicals and whatnot, and I had a wonderful opportunity to go to Europe when I was about, I don’t think about, maybe 15 or 16 years old with the group. You know, class trip, like that. So really, really was very educational. And I’ve got to say about Northbrook too, the best thing about Northbrook was probably the fact that it was still semi-rural. And we had Techny Farm down the street from us, and Techny Farm was owned by Divine Word Missionaries, which is on Techny and Waukegan Road today. They’re a big conference center and missionary headquarters.

My mom actually worked for them for a while as their conference coordinator, but I grew up with this farm down the street, and so the animals and my love of animals, to this day, I mean, even stem from there. And having the opportunity, you know, we’d go in and have milk fights. We’d grab an utter of a cow and squirt each other with milk, and the cats would come out and like, try to catch the milk. And oh, there’s so many good memories on that farm. And we’d ride the horses out back in the field, and then I remember they had pigs there too. And the brothers that were working on the farm would say, okay, if you can catch a pig, you know, like the baby pigs would run around and they all go squeaking off and we’d try to like, run after them as kids and catch them.

And oh, it was a lot of fun. But then, you know, we also had the culture of this, and the education, of course, of the city being so close. So that’s what Northbrook provided, was a really well-balanced, you know, education and life and style so that, you know, we were able to experience life from one end to the other. So that’s what I love most about it.

(JH): Well, we are almost at the end of our interview, so is there one final thing you’d like to say about your Northbrook?

(SAC): My Northbrook? This is my hometown. I love it, I love the people, and I feel totally blessed to have grown up here with such good family and friends. I mean, some I haven’t even seen in years, but you can always come back, and you know that you’ve always been in their hearts, just like Northbrook’s in mine. So, this will always be my hometown.

(JH): Well, thank you so very much for participating in Northbrook Voices. Your memories of life in Northbrook will add a unique and personal perspective about the history of our village. Thanks.

(SAC): Thank you, Judy.