1 Chapter One: Door County Beginnings
Douglas Van Vorous was born in 1943, in Fish Creek, WI, to Hudson and Marion Van Vorous. He had two brothers, Gale and Gary, and one sister, Sandra. Doug would tell you that his very existence was a miracle. When his father, Hudson, was drafted for WWII, he was going to be shipped out on the light cruiser USS Juneau out of port NOLA in New Orleans, where he had gone to sign up. However, they shipped out families together, and the five Sullivan brothers1 were meant to be on the same ship. Seeing that Hudson was alone, and knowing they needed space for all five of the brothers, they sent Hudson home. Little did he know, but the Juneau would sink on its journey across the Atlantic, leaving no survivors.
Doug’s great grandfather Levi Vorhees was an entrepreneur; he started a lumber company on Washington Island. At the time, Door County’s main industries were lumber and fish. He later opened a salt store in Fish Creek.
Doug explains what a salt store is – 13 seconds
In the back of the salt store, he had a blacksmith shop and a livery stable. However, when Doug was growing it, it had been repurposed into a garage for car repair, and a gas station had been put up across the street. With his various businesses, Levi was very successful. In 1905, he built a home in Fish Creek. Doug’s grandfather Wilfred Vorous later inherited the home as he owned the combination grocery store and butcher shop across the street. Wilfred supplies food to the local restaurants as well as groceries to the people who lived on what was at that time called “millionaire row,” because everyone living there owning businesses in Milwaukee. Doug’s father Hudson was raised in the home that Doug’s great grandfather Levi lived in.
Doug said that some of his fondest childhood memories were riding in his grandfather Wilfred’s car–the first one North of Sturgeon Bay–through the park. At that time, there weren’t even proper roads, only Native American and wagon trails. He can recall driving through the park and there suddenly being a tree in the middle of the gravel path. His grandfather would have to drive the car around it. When he and his grandfather Wilfred drove around, Doug remembers seeing the German POWs picking cherries.2 The POWs would take part in various work projects, such as picking cherries and paving roads. Doug said that when the POWs were out cleaning the roads by his house, his mother wouldn’t let him or his siblings play outside. When he rode in the back of the car with his grandmother Ruby while his grandfather Wilfred was driving, he would feel afraid when he saw the POWs. Doug’s car rides were also the only memories he had of his grandmother, who later died in a car accident when Doug’s mother was driving. Afterward, Doug’s mother never drove again.
As the grandmother on Doug’s mother’s side also died when he was young, Doug never really had a biological grandmother in his life. However, when his paternal grandmother Ruby died, his Aunt Norma came to live with them, refusing to let Doug be without a grandmother figure.
Doug recalling his Aunt Norma -8 seconds
When Doug was in first grade, his grandfather sold his Fish Creek store, moved to Milwaukee, and started a cigar store with Havana cigars from Cuba. From what Doug knows of the family history, his grandfather Wilfred was involved with Fulgencio Batista–the military dictator of Cuba–and other powerful Cubans who were helping him get the cigars into the United States. When Batista was overthrown by Castro, and the Cuban cigars were no longer available, Wilfred’s cigar business failed. He would go to the bar every night after he closed the store, have a few beers, and then he’d walk home. The bar was in his neighborhood. One snowy winter night, Wilfred was run over by a car. While the killer was never caught, Doug believes that Wilfred’s past connections had made him a target of the new Cuban regime, and the kill had been an intentional hit rather than a tragic accident.
With much of the family’s wealth lost, Doug grew up poor. His family lived in a shack-like house that had no plumbing or running water. Doug recalls that their house was a “two-holer,” meaning they had two “toilets” in their outhouse. As a kid, this made him feel better about their living situation because at least they weren’t as bad as the “one-holer” houses. While Doug didn’t realize it until much later, his family was dysfunctional. As a child, he simply knew that “mom and dad were always in fights.” He can remember his father Hudson hitting his mother and that his father was an alcoholic. During the winter, when there was nothing else to do, Hudson would join many of the other men of Door County in drinking and gambling their evenings away.
Doug’s first experience with school was first grade, as they didn’t have kindergarten at that time. Most of the schools in the county at the time were old “one-room schools,” with all the grades in the same small building. However, because Fish Creek was a larger town, they had a two-room school. First, second, third, and fourth were in the smaller room, with fifth, sixth, seventh, and eighth in the larger room. High schoolers would go to Gibraltar High School, which was a few miles away.
When Doug was in first grade, he recalls his older brother Gale, who was in sixth grade, being teased and abused for having a “girl’s name.” During class, Doug was none the wiser as they were in different rooms. However, at recess, all the kids would go out together, and Doug recalls how some of the other kids would gang up on Gale. Doug would always try to get in and help, but their two older siblings simply let the other kids pick on Gale. Doug’s other memories of Gale as a kid were sleeping in the same bed, as there was only one bed for the three boys. Every night, Gale would tell Doug a new story about the one-inch man.
Doug talking about Gale – 14 seconds
Doug started work at a young age, helping his family makes ends meet on the weekends. Doug recalls that in the summer when work was plentiful, they “ate like kings.” However, when the farming season passed and they had to fall back on saved money and food, his family starved. Doug recalls how his mother would boil cheap flour in water and make a sort of porridge, and that would be their meal for the whole day. “It was a tough life,” Doug remarked, “but not so bad.”
Around 1950, Doug’s family was traveling down South so his dad could find better work in the winter than what Door County had to offer. On their way through Chattanooga, Tennesee, Hudson saw an advertisement for a management position for Blue Plate–“the Kraft of the South.” Because of his father’s experience running a shop with Doug’s grandfather, they hired him. Doug’s family moved to Chattanooga, and Doug started the second grade.