[higgenslake]

"Milk money"=Wilson's Dairy

[projectfolly]

Another pic of Ace at Walloon Lake.

Notice sitting next to Ace is a can Budweiser, like in the first picture. Matt tells me Ace referred to it as his "soup".

Seated at the far left is Jeff Feldstien (might not have spelled the name right), his father Mort, worked at Royal.
Between Jeff and Ace is John Figurski and far right is Matt Figurski. Again, Matt and John's father worked at Royal, in various positions in the service department.

[Dr. Eric M. Schiffer]

Originally Posted by higgenslake

"Milk money"=Wilson's Dairy

Asa "Ace" Wilson Sr. and his older brother Ira Wilson Jr. worked for their father on the dairy farm. I beleive it was in Imlay City. Their father realized that they could make more money by trucking their own milk rather then selling it to others to truck and process the milk.

As time went on the Wilson brothers took the family business to a new level. They did home delivery, sold to grocery stores, restaurants, etc and opened up Wilson Dairy Stores with many chocolates, dairy products and ice cream. They also made sweets for other up scale chocolate companies.

After Ace Jr graduated college his uncle Ira told his brother, Ace Sr., that he did not want Ace Jr working in the dairy business. Ira did not have much confidence in Ace Jr.

Ace Sr. needed his son to do something so he bought a Pontiac dealership for him to run. Then Sr. built the new show room a few blocks south at 400 N. Main St. This is the one everyone has seen.

The old Ira Wilson Dairy office building on Hoover north of Nine Mile Rd was torn down within the last year.

But lets not get into Ace Jr.'s personal life. It is sad that Jr. died at an early age and leave it at that.....OK!

[muscle_collector]

how old was he and how did he die???

[Dr. Eric M. Schiffer]

Originally Posted by muscle_collector

how old was he and how did he die???

In the late 1980's Asa Sr. told me that his son had been living "up north" and had a constant sore throat. He went to Burns Hospital in Petoskey MI, near Walloon Lake about it. They found he had an advance stage of cancer. (I beleive, but don't quote me it has been several years since this conversation) Ace Jr. went to be treated at Cleveland Hospital. They told him they could not do anything more for him. Sr. said Jr went down to Florida to die. I don't even remember the approximate year Jr. died.

I would have to estimate that Ace Jr. was in his 50's when he died. Sr. did not pass away until he was in his mid to late 90's. I went to the funeral but I don't remember the exact year. But it was in around 2000.

Their are others that beleive Jr. died of other problems. I don't know. I do not want to speculate. I'm just relating to you what Ace Sr. told me.

Sr. would tell me how much he missed his son. I never wanted to push the subject. So, if we could drop the subject and just try and remember the good times it would be more fun.

In 1989 - 1992 I worked with Domino's Farms, (Domino's Pizza's HQ) in Ann Arbor, to put the GTO Northen Nationals together. The first few years I had the dash plaques and awards state on the bottom, "In Memory of Asa "Ace" Wilson Jr.". Since Ace Sr. lived near me I had my wife and kids bring Ace Sr. a couple of the years. Ace Sr.'s daughter, Jr's sister, Dee Sterling and her daughter also attended. They greatly appreciated the gesture.