Anna Frees Staak, Adis Browder Frees & Frank Frees

Interview Date: April 21, 1986
Interview Location: Home of Mrs. Stanley Browder, 8610 Callie, Morton Grove
Interviewer: Yvonne Ryden
Duration: 33 minutes

Introduction

In April 1980, Mrs. Lina Frees died at the age of one hundred while living in California. Her daughter, Mrs. Anna Frees Staak, her son, Frank Frees, and his wife, Mrs. Adis Browder Frees, returned to Morton Grove for the funeral and burial. The three narrators consented to an interview on short notice and recalled life in Morton Grove in the ‘20s, ‘30s, and ‘40s.

Anna Frees Staak moved from Chicago to Morton Grove in 1924 at age 16. Her father had bought a tavern and restaurant known as Frank Frees’s Place located at 6230 Lincoln Avenue. This later became the Bringer Inn. Anna recalls helping her parents in the kitchen of the restaurant until 1934 when she and her father took a job at Eitel’s in Chicago and rented the tavern out to Feigel’s. She was also one of the earliest employees of the Morton Grove Public Library.

Adis Browder Frees was born in Morton Grove and attended the Morton Grove Public School. She and her husband, Frank Frees, have know each other all their lives and in the interview speak of the "exceptional teachers" they had. Adis and Frank recall other activities in town such as ice skating and sledding on the river, swimming in the Poehlmann gravel pit and local baseball. Frank fondly remembers making “scooters” and building automobiles with some of the local boys.