11/28/13 The TRUTH re BUTTERBALL,THANKSGIVING DAY,2013! So I always post a little story about "Grandpa Butterball" (ie my late grandfather,Leo Peters, of Evanston & Grand Rapids) & all things related on Thanksgiving day.I also searched for internet posts about grandpa & butterball (including a few previous by me) & have listed them below for your convenience. Just a brief recap will do: My grandfather started out working for Armour in Chicago,with his young wife,Helen, & the first few kids of what would become six daughters,living in an Evanston apartment about a block or two from Lake Michigan. While working at Armour,gramps came up with an idea of making butter more beautiful because at the time butter had no coloring or shape...it was just a shapeless,colorless blob. The legend has it that Leo went to his superior with the simple idea of a "squeeze pack" to make butter more beautiful,but they weren't impressed. So grandpa Leo decided to "go it alone" & began creating the squeeze pack in the garage of his evanston apartment with the help of his first few daughters (Martha & Linda, & maybe Diana too) as well as lovely wife Helen (my grandma who died before I was born). And the rest,as they say, is HISTORY! He went on to market this simple butter idea & sold it & developed designer butter molds & eventually moved "across the pond"(no, not to England,but across the "big lake" (ie lake michigan) to grand rapids where dutch-americans are a prominent part of society alongside the Christian Reformed Church (CRC,originally Dutch Reformed) , & started a factory which he named "Butterball Farms". He also bought a big mansion @ 750 Plymouth in East Grand Rapids, which has a very historic,stately,beauty to it; and of course a cottage on Lake Michigan near the Holland channel. The big money for Butterball Farms originally came from McDonalds,who bought Butterball Farms butter for their breakfast hotcakes (& I think they still do).But you're asking what does this have to do with turkey & thanksgiving? Later, grandpa sold the name "Butterball" to Swift which they used for their turkeys. By the way,grandpa also dabbled in cooking meat with the emphasis on retaining its "juicyness", & for a short while even had a restaurant called "Juicyful". Although he sold the name to the turkey company,grandpa retained the rights to use the name with his butter. Today they still make beautiful butter in Grand Rapids & in addition to the small McDonalds patties they also make larger patties for fancy restaurants. Apparently they also have a Canada location as well (or did). Grandpa passed away in the mid-90's and his son,Mark (from his 2nd marriage,which I call the "Peters II family"),took over the business & is the current CEO. And that's the story. There are some "soap opera" aspects to the family relations,some tragic,some comic,...the good,the bad,& the ugly, (including a notable dispute he had with calvin college,where he attended as did I, re creation versus creationism) & today I simply focus on the GOOD, & pray for all my extended family,PetersI&II ! May God be with them & bless them. Personally,I grew up in Grand Rapids as well,but for many years my main "stomping grounds" have been southern California & my main focus is telling the Good News of Jesus Christ who loves us!
And if you're eating a butterball turkey today,remember my late Grandpa Leo Peters,may he rest-in-peace. Happy Thanksgiving,2013! -VK-
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Here are some of the posts about Butterball Farms,Grandpa Leo Peters, et al,including a few previous by me:
1) FROM THE THANKSGIVING ARCHIVES: AND THANKS FOR MR. PETERS:
2) 11/23/11 REMEMBERING GRANDPA BUTTERBALL, THANKSGIVING EVE ,
3)The Origins of Our Favorite Nostalgic
4)Butterball - Wikipedia,
5) Fritinancy: How Butterball Got Its Name
6) "Because Butter Should Be Beautiful
7)Butterball Mansion property
8)APPRECIATING the PETERS FAMILY
9)Butterball Turkey
10)Henry Stob's little anecdote re young leo
http://www.stobfamily.com/henry_stob/summoning_up_remembrance/summoning_up_remembrance_chapter5.html
11)I NEVER REALLY THOUGHT OF MYSELF AS "GRANDSON OF BUTTERBALL
12)GRANDPA's HOUSE | newvander
13) 11/21/12 MY BUTTERBALL STORY
14) 11/25/10: TRUTH Re BUTTERBALL TURK
15) LEO PETERS TRUST - BUTTER AND MARG..
16) interesting short history, east gr. rapids)
17)Butterball Farms,Private Co Information
18) [I remember posting this but can't get back to the full article,maybe u will have better luckchiefbigfaith.wordpress.com/2010/11/.../...
11/25/10 RECAP of TONIGHT SHOW,
THANKSGIVING DAY (tonight show blog):
.... The truth is, the name came from my
grandpa Leo Peters , who first used it for
... to Grand Rapids where he sttarted a
Butterball factory named Butterball
Farms ..."
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Leo peters,grand rapids,butterball farms,mark peters,swift,armour,evanston,thanksgiving,turkey,mcdonalds,
