Making fresh donuts daily for the community

By Dee Ryan – I thought I knew ‘good donuts.’  Then I went to “Chum’s Donut Shoppe.
Located at 34300 Glenwood, it’s right across from Wayne Memorial High School.
The many types of donuts are truly impressive.  They offer jelly donuts, cream or custard filled donuts, nutty donuts, and just about every kind of donuts you can think of.  And all those wonderful donuts are made fresh every day.
The shop owned by Larry and Veronica Stockwell, is a continuation of donut making started by Larry’s Dad, Chalmer Stockwell.  The elder Mr. Stockwell sold donuts at Belleville and Ecorse Rds.  That was in 1941—when the Bomber Plant was in production.  Chum’s then moved to Michigan Ave. across from St. Mary’s Church.  That store lured donut lovers until 1966, when Urban Renewal forced another move, to its present location.
At one time Larry Stockwell visited each elementary school in Wayne-Westland and showed the young students how donuts are made. Veronica Stockwell’s maiden name was Brothers.  Her uncle was the legendary Tom Brown who was so instrumental in forging Westland out of Nankin Township.
She was delighted to show me a letter found in their store mailbox.  “A few months ago you helped me out when I had no cash—only credit and debit cards.  You gave me the donuts with the intention to pay you when I returned to the area.”  Along with the letter was his payment for those donuts.

Lynn Higgs had a wonderful summer vacation.   I asked her to tell you all about it. So in her words…
I recently completed an amazing European vacation with my husband Jerry and joined by my daughter Maureen and her husband, Bob.  Their home is in Richmond, Virginia.  The trip was a guided two week tour through Italy, France, Spain and Monaco that took us to some of the historical and artistic highlights of those areas.
The trip began in Rome. The highlights of Rome for us were the Coliseum, the old marketplace known as the Forum, a trip to Vatican City where we were able to see the Swiss Guard in their traditional dress and the Sistine Chapel.
After Rome we stopped by Assisi.   Assisi is a beautiful Italian town known as the home of St. Francis.  The rose garden outside the original chapel of St. Francis contains a special type of rosebush that grows nowhere else in the world and is said to be thornless.  However, when we went out to investigate this amazing plant an Italian gardener very sternly told us that nobody was allowed in the garden (hmm – is this bush really thorn less?).  In Florence we saw the giant cathedral known as Il Duomo (the dome) and the home of Dante. Pisa, naturally, involved a trip to the famous leaning tower and like every other tourist there we took the obligatory photo where we feigned holding up the tower to prevent it from falling.

Congratulations to Lois Van Stipdonk.  She is Wayne’s Diamond of the Community.  She deserves the honor.  Lois is a real jewel.

The Wayne Historical Society’s next program will be “The Beginnings of Wayne” by Darlene Hawley.
It’s on Thursday, September 10th —7:30 p.m. at the Museum.

The Library isn’t just for reading anymore.  Witness the fine turn-out for the recent beer tasting evening.  The Library Friends send a big “Thank You” to Craig Lowery and Toarmina’s Pizza.  Their donation of 4 huge pizzas were delicious and so appreciated.

Library’s Used Book Sale—Starts on Wednesday, September 30.