Man with Wadena ties hopes to save 'Herriman Mansion'
Fayette Leader, Fayette, Iowa
Wednesday, September 26, 2001
Everett Zupke has suggested a local committee take on the project of restoring the Herriman Mansion to a state that would be more reminiscent of its earlier days and he seeks interested persons in joining him.
Zupke's ties to Wadena is that his mother, Lucille (Davis) Zupke, was born and raised near the town.
Everett's grandparents, George and Nina Davis, lived in the Herriman Mansion (or "The Brick") for about four years after they were married and their first two daughters were born there. The oldest aunt (first one born in the Brick) lived in there with her husband and two children for several years in the mid to late 1930s.
The structure is presently owned by Eldon Lenth & family, who farm the property.
Says Everett, "I was born near Sumner, where I lived until going to college at Iowa State University, where I enrolled in AFROTC. I was commissioned a second lieutenant and entered active duty with the USAF in 1960. I retired from the Air Force in 1981 and worked for Advanced Technology Inc.
In addition to trying to get an effort under way to have the Herriman Mansion restored for public use, I have been doing family genealogy and as part of that effort recently started writing a story about the Davis Family and its connection to The Brick. I have been collecting information about our family involvement with the Herriman Mansion and about the history of the property and the people who have lived there. I am interested in obtaining more data to add to my collection and would be interested in sharing some of the stories I'm assembling.
I have also been recording the efforts made by others over the years to have the property preserved including some recent work by William Frank Probert, now of Los Olivos, Calif. Bill (he went by Frank when he lived in Wadena as a child and young man) was born in Oelwein but returned to the family home in The Brick where he spent his early childhood.
Everett W. Zupke
4802 Marion Avenue
Cypress, CA 90630-4323
(714) 828-1894
[email protected]