BERNIE HERSHOREN

Bernie and S. Alice Hershoren
Bernard (Bernie) Hershoren was born August 03, 1911 in San Antonio Texas. He was the son of Jacob and Anna (Jagniatinsky) of Kiev, Ukraine region in Russia.
Jacob immigrated to America through Cuba before coming to Texas in 1907 where Anna joined him in 1910. Jacob, known for his blond hair and blue eyes, married Anna when she was 16 and they had eleven children. The first four children died in infancy, then Mattie, Betty and Rose were born. After they arrived in the United States Bernard, Clara, Morris and Michael were born. The family moved to Detroit in c1916 where Jacob, who never learned much English, worked at many jobs including at Ford Motors and as a junk man.

Bernie married Stella Vezzetti in 1932. She was born March 9, 1913 the daughter of Joseph and Laura (Boerrio) of Northern Italy. Joseph immigrated to America in 1896 and Laura followed in 1903. They were married and settled in Pennsylvania where Joseph held varies jobs including coal mining. Joseph, known for his blond hair and blue eyes, and Laura had four children, Ann, Alice, Dominic, and Stella. The family moved to Detroit in c1916 where the family worked at various jobs including Packard Motor Cars and also ran a boarding house.

After their marriage, Bernie and Stella (or Alice as she was known. Stella used her sister’s identification to get her first job in 1928 with Hudson’s in Detroit. From that time on, outside the family she was known as Alice) moved to Grand Ledge in 1936. Coming to the Lansing area to find work at Oldsmobile, Bernie found work
first at the Grand Ledge Face Brick Company as a delivery driver, with the WPA
and later was able to work at Oldsmobile during WW II.

In 1945 Bernie and Roy Chute, who worked with him at Oldsmobile, started the
Island City Cleaners at 221 South Bridge street, in a small wooden building. The
cleaners started as a drop off and pickup service with the cleaning being done at
Talmadge Cleaners in Lansing. Soon Bernie owned the entire business and
moved to 301 N. Bridge at the corner of W. Main in a store rented from the Winnie family. By 1948 Island City Cleaners had grown and a new cleaning plant was built up the block at 321 N. Bridge street. The Cleaners now was a full service store, with free pickup and delivery and cleaning done on site. Shirt laundry and tailoring and repairs were also added. The building included a storage vault for furs, wedding dresses, and other items town people needed to store. Bernie and Alice ran the business until 1982 when they both retired.

They had two children:

Beverly Joyce was born May 18, 1933 in Detroit and married Victor Jr Haueter in 1953. They had four children. Michael and Patrica born on Dec 15, 1953, Pamela born May 25, 1957 and David born July 18, 1966.

Gary Jerome was born Dec 5, 1934 in Detroit and married Marcia Kay Tanner in
1957 They had two sons. Mark was born Sep 27, 1958 and Joel was born Sep 12, 1962.