16. Dixon & Kyro Faces Competition

On March 22 1954 the J. L. Hudson company opened the world’s first regional shopping center about three miles from the Dixon & Kyro store. It was called Northland. The complex consisted of a central Hudson’s department store flanked by 100 smaller stores. Walkways connected all of the stores. The stores were surrounded by acres of parking space. It was highly successful and was soon copied by real estate developers across the country.

Northland began to draw business away from the smaller shopping center at 6 Mile and Schaefer, where the Dixon & Kyro store was located.

In June 1954 Anna Kyro died from coronary thrombosis in Detroit at the age of 65. She is buried in Glen Eden Memorial Park, Livonia, Michigan. Grandson John Dixon was one of the pallbearers. William retired from the Dixon & Kyro Company and Leonard Dixon became the sole owner. Thus William had achieved his goal of helping all three of his children to become financially secure.

Erick Kyro became active in The Michigan Air National Guard beginning in November 1954. He still continued to work full time as an executive at Chrysler Corporation.

Several years later William married Olga, a widow living in Mount Clemens near Detroit. Inactivity made William restless. He found a product to sell to young parents. It was the BabyTenda, an item that had progressive utility as a young child grew. First it was a baby's bed, then it converted into a play pen, and finally became a high chair. Sales were disappointing. William gave up on it.

On February 27 1956, William Kyro’s son-in-law, Harri Virjo was appointed Finnish Vice Consul for the Detroit area. Harri is mentioned in the book “History of Finns in Michigan.” Harri carried out his diplomatic duties in his spare time but continued to earn his living selling paint and wallpaper in the Lincoln Supply Co. As a member of the Diplomatic Corps Harri and Helen were invited to many official Detroit City celebrations and social events. They became acquainted with the other diplomatic consuls located in Detroit and with the mayor of the city.

In the spring of 1957 William Kyro had some trouble with his car and decided to buy a new one. He knew that his oldest grandson, John Dixon, would be graduating from college in a few months, so instead of trading in his car on the new one he decided to sell it to John on very favorable terms. The price was very low and, best of all, John would not have to pay until after he graduated and began to work. John quickly accepted this good deal. The Studebaker had an oil leak and needed engine work, but it did run. John was able to keep it going until graduation. In June 1957, John graduated from Lawrence Institute of Technology with a Bachelor of Science degree in Electrical Engineering. He immediately went to work. When John began collecting salary, he paid Grandpa Kyro and traded the old Studebaker for a 1954 Plymouth.

John Dixon went to work for Chrysler Missile Division, designing electrical circuits for Redstone and Jupiter rockets. (One of these rockets, a Jupiter C, launched the first American satellite, Explorer 1 on January 31, 1958.).

Erick Kyro was also working for the Chrysler corporation. In 1958 he was assigned to the Chrysler Missile Division. Since they worked in the same building, he and John Dixon sometimes carpooled to work together.

In February 1959, Harri Virjo was promoted from Vice Consul to full Consul of Finland for the midwestern region.

By this time Leonard Dixon was running the store all by himself. By 1959 the financial condition of Dixon & Kyro was so bad that Leonard was no longer able to take the customary 2% cash discount on merchandise that he purchased. He held a conference with William Kyro. William advised bankruptcy. Leonard did not accept that suggestion. He negotiated a reduction in rent, cut expenses and gradually nursed the business back to health.

Laura Dixon graduated from Wayne State University in 1960 and became a teacher of Art in an elementary school in Detroit.

William and Olga decide to move to the Lake Worth and Lantana area of Florida, where there was a community of retired Finns, a Finnish church, a Finnish Hall, and even a Finnish nursing home. He and Olga had a new home built in Lantana. William was still bubbling with energy and kept very busy. He became a sales associate for the Palm Beach Memorial Gardens, a cemetery with plots and crypts to sell. He also sold advertising for, and conducted his popular radio program "The Halls of Finland" for 55 minutes on Sunday mornings from a radio station in Lake Worth. He collected and read the news, wrote and read the commercial announcements, provided and played recorded music as a disc jockey -- all in Finnish -- to the large Finnish community of retirees in that area.

While Commander of the 127th Fighter Interceptor Wing, Erick Kyro was promoted in the United States Air Force Reserve to the rank of Brigadier General (one star) by President Kennedy on August 17, 1961. Erick was also appointed as commander of the Air National Guard for the state of Michigan. His duties included traveling each month to the state capitol in Lansing to report on Michigan’s military readiness to the Governor of the state. General Erick Kyro found that he was now commander of an air force larger than the air force of Finland.

In October 1961, Urho Kekkonen, President of Finland, visited Detroit. It was estimated that 40,000 people of Finnish descent lived in Detroit at that time. William Kyro’s son-in-law Harri Virjo, the Finnish Consul, helped to organize the visit. William and all of the Kyro extended family attended a dinner reception for President Kekkonen. American and Finnish flags were placed on each table. This event is described in the book “History of Finns in Michigan.”