Furniture Comes Home

Kent Mayer and Gail Mayer Goodrich are the son and daughter of Vernon Mayer who was born and raised in the Mill House. Thanks to their very generous donations, many beautiful pieces of furniture that had passed down generation to generation within the Mayer family have now been returned to the Mill House to be enjoyed by all who visit this museum at Richfield Historical Park.

Kent and Gail have very fond memories of the Mill House from when they were children. It was their grandparents’ farm and home, and they even lived there for a while when they were small. Their father Vernon was the son of George and Martha Mayer. George was the last Mayer to operate the mill until it closed. When Vernon returned from the Navy after WWII, he brought his wife Montre home to the Mill House where they lived for a few years. Vernon went to work for the West Bend Company; and he and his family eventually moved nearby to Hartford, Wisconsin.

Gail and Kent can remember visiting their grandparents at the farm almost every weekend and in the summer. The Mill had closed by then. Kent has fond memories of walking in the woods and fishing for minnows in the creek. In 1966, Vernon’s career took the family to Florida where they lived from that time on. Today, Kent lives near Tallahassee, Florida; and Gail and her husband David Goodrich live in Pembroke Pines, Florida.  They are Lifetime Members of the Richfield Historical Society.

When Kent and Gail decided to donate the family’s furniture and many other treasured family keepsakes, it took some planning to get things from Florida to Wisconsin. They enlisted the help of their aunt and uncle, Carol and Bob Woods (Carol is their father Vernon’s sister) who live in Wisconsin. A truck was hired to pick up the furniture in Florida. A second stop at Carol and Bob Woods’ house in Kenosha added more items that they donated as well. When the furniture arrived at the Mill House last October 2014, many of the items were placed where they once stood several decades ago. It was evident these items had been lovingly cared for over the years. Some pieces are well over a century old, and they are in excellent condition.

The original love seat, settee, chairs and Edison Victrola that once belonged to C. W. Mayer are back in the parlor along with all the wax cylinders which contained all the music (the forerunner to vinyl records). The bedroom set that belonged to George and Martha Mayer is back upstairs in their bedroom along with the washstand, complete with the original water pitcher and basin. These are but a few of the many items donated by Kent and Gail as well as Carol and Bob.

All of us at the Richfield Historical Society greatly appreciate and sincerely thank each of them for so generously donating their priceless family heirlooms. It is easy to see the emotional attachment the families would have to these links to their past. They could have easily kept them to pass on within their family, and we appreciate that instead they chose to donate them to RHS. These items are truly special gifts and treasured additions to be displayed just as they once were for many years to come.