19. Epilog - Whatever happened to ...?

The Second Generation

Laura Kyro Dixon
Laura was the first child of William and Anna Kyro. She was born March 23, 1911, in Port Arthur, Ontario. Laura did not finish high school, but instead attended an art school. In 1932 Laura Kyro and Leonard Dixon were married at a church in Detroit. Their first child, David Erick Dixon was born in 1933, but died at the age of two months. Their second child was John Kent Dixon, born September 1, 1934. The third child was Ann Lynn Dixon, born on July 1, 1940. Laura graduated from Wayne State University in 1961, and was an elementary school teacher in Detroit She passed away from cancer in 1966, in Detroit, at the age of 56. Her ashes were scattered at one of her favorite places, Trout Lake, near Thunder Bay, Ontario.

Leonard John James Dixon
Leonard was born on May 30, 1898 in London, England. He came to Canada with his parents in 1907. He grew up on a farm near Woodstock, Ontario. The Dixon & Kyro store opened at 13444 W. McNicols road in 1948 and continued at that location for 30 years. After Laura Kyro’s death he married Laura Foote in 1970. In that year they made a trip to England and visited relatives that Leonard had not seen for 63 years. By 1977, because of frequent robberies, Leonard sold the store and retired to his home at 17569 Greenview. He died in 1986. His ashes were scattered on Lake St. Clare.

Helen Elizabeth Kyro Virjo Nicholas
William’s second child, Helen Elizabeth, was born in Port Arthur on November 30, 1913. Helen was in Finland and married Harri Virjo there during World War II. The Virjos had three children. The first two children were Marja and Helle, both born in Finland, both now deceased. Helen became a school teacher and school principal in Detroit, and earned her Ph.D. in Education from Wayne State University. She later became a professor of Education at Miami University, Miami, Ohio. Helen was widowed from her second husband, Lynn Nicholas, Ph.D. She retired to live in Stockton, California. Professor Helen Kyro died in 2005. She is survived by her third child, Kirsti, who was born in Detroit and currently lives in California.

Harri Virjo
Harri was born in Finland and graduated from the University of Helsinki in 1938. He came to the United States in 1946. Harri operated the Lincoln Supply Company for many years. On February 27 1956, Harri Virjo was appointed Finnish Vice Consul for the Detroit area. In February 1959, Harri Virjo was promoted from Vice Consul to full Consul of Finland for the midwestern region. Harri died about 1990. Harri is mentioned in the book “History of Finns in Michigan.”

Erick William Kyro
William's and Anna's third child, Erick William, was born in Port Arthur on March 28, 1916. Erick graduated from University of Michigan in 1940 with a Bachelor Degree in Forestry. He joined the Army Air Corps just before the start of World War II. He flew 215 combat missions in the South Pacific theater. He married Violet Erickson in 1944 and they had two children, Judy and Ralph.

After the war Erick was a partner in Lincoln Supply Company for several years. Erick was active in The Michigan Air National Guard from November 1954 to April 1968, and while Commander of the 127th Fighter Interceptor Wing was promoted in the United States Air Force Reserve to the one-star rank of Brigadier General by President Kennedy on August 17, 1961. (In August 1966, he was promoted by Governor George Romney to the State of Michigan Air National Guard rank of two-star Major General. After over 14 vears of service with the Air Guard (and over 26 years total military service), Erick retired from the Michigan Air National Guard on April 1, 1968. After 27 years of company service, Erick retired on January 31, 1980, from his civilian position as an executive of Chrysler Corporation. As of 2006 he is living in Southfield, Michigan and is still active in the Finnish Center (Erick is co-author of this book).

Violet Erickson Kyro
Violet Erickson was born in Gackle, North Dakota, on February 24, 1917. Erick married Violet in Detroit on April 8, 1944, in a Finnish language ceremony. Violet raised two children, Judy and Ralph. Violet suffered a long illness and passed away from a heart attack in Southfield, Michigan, on July 2, 1996. She is buried at Glen Eden Memorial Park. Livonia, Michigan.

The Third Generation

John Kent Dixon
John was born in Detroit on September 1. 1934. He graduated with BSEE degree from Lawrence Institute of Technology in 1957. He married Alice Coveyou in 1959. He worked as an electrical engineer on military projects at Chrysler Missile and Bendix Research in Detroit. While working, he earned an MBA in 1964 and a MA in mathematics in 1965 at Wayne State University. In 1965 he moved away to study at the University of California at Livermore. He received the MS in physics in 1966 and a Ph.D. in computer science in 1970. He moved to the Washington DC area and worked as a computer scientist doing research in the field of artificial intelligence at the Naval Research Laboratory and various business companies. Some of his technical papers may be found on the internet. He divorced and remarried Carolyn Good in 1979. He had three children with Alice: Bruce, Katherine and Laurie. With Carolyn he had one daughter, Bethany, and helped to raise one stepson, Andy. John retired in 2002 and lives with Carolyn at 13512 Tabscott Drive, Chantilly Virginia. John is a co-author of this book.

Ann Lynn Dixon
Ann was born in Detroit on July 1 1940. She graduated from Michigan State University in Lansing with a Bachelor of Science degree in psychology in 1962. She stayed in Lansing and took some additional classes to obtain a teaching certificate. She married Hans Toch in 1963. They lived for one year in Norway, then returned to the United States. They divorced in 1965. Ann moved to California and became a first grade teacher in Oakland. In 1970 she married Eid Abdulla, a graduate student in physics at the University of California at Berkeley. In 1976 she divorced Eid and became a waitress at the Mark Hopkins Hotel and bought a fine old Victorian house in Berkeley. Later she began to sell Encyclopedia Britannica and like, her grandfather, proved to be an expert salesperson. She was a close friend of her cousin, Marja Virjo, who lived in Oakland. In 1983 she was promoted to become manager of six salespersons. In 1987 Ann sold her fine Victorian house and moved back to Detroit. In the 1989 she settled in Farmington, a suburb of Detroit and became a teacher in the Detroit Public Schools. She now (2006) teaches second and third grade children.

Marja Virjo
Maria was the first child of Helen and Harri Virjo. She was born in Finland in 1940 during World War II. She graduated from Michigan State University in 1964 with the degree of Bachelor of Science in education. Marja was married for a few years, but had no children. She was extremely fond of animals and owned two horses. She taught in the Oakland, California schools until she became blind because of diabetes. She died in 1982 at the age of 42 of complications caused by adult diabetes.

Helle Virjo
Helle was the second child of Helen and Harri Virjo. She was born in Finland in 1941 during World War II. She nearly died in infancy because of congenital diabetes. Her mother saved her life by taking her to Sweden where she could get proper treatment with a special type of insulin. Helle came to the United States with her parents in 1946. She graduated from Redford High School in 1959. She was attending Soumi College in Hancock, Michigan when she died in 1962 of complications caused by diabetes.

Kirsti Virjo
Kirsti was the third child of Helen and Harri Virjo. She was born in Detroit, Michigan in 1946, shortly after World War II. In defiance of her parents’ wishes she refused to attend college (another example of sisu). She was married twice but had no children. She worked as a manager at Golden Gate Race Track near San Francisco. She is living in Stockton, California in 2006.

Judith Marilyn Kyro (Gates)
The first child. of Erick and Violet Kyro, Judy was born in Orlando, Florida, August 1, 1945. Judy Graduated from Redford High School in 1963. She graduated from Eastern Michigan University with the degree of Bachelor of Science in education. She married Michael Gates. Judy lives with her husband in Warwick, Rhode Island. They had one child, Michael Gates, who lives with his wife and child in Alexandria, Virginia.

Ralph Eric Kyro
Ralph was the second child of Erick and Violet Kyro. He was born in Highland Park, Michigan, on May 24, 1948. Ralph graduated from Michigan State University in 1970 with a Bachelors Degree in communications. While a student, Ralph met Nancy who was also a student at Michigan State. They were married in 1970. They had three children, Jeff, Kim and Stacy. Ralph lives with his wife in Midland, Michigan.

Others

Armi Kuusela
Armi was born in Finland on born August 20, 1934. Her mother was Martha Kyro Kuusela, the sister of William Kyro. In 1952 William Kyro’s niece, Armi Kuusela, won the title of “Miss Finland.” Armi then traveled from Finland to Universal Studios in Hollywood and won the very first Miss Universe title on June 29, 1952. She was, at the time, only 17 years old.

Universal Studios offered her the standard 7-year contract starting with $250 per week with full training in acting, speech, English, singing and dancing. Even though a part of winning the pageant was a contract with Universal Studios, she chose not to sign it after refusing the first part they chose for her. She also disliked the studio’s suggestion that she should marry Tony Curtis to avoid issues with her work permit. Less than a year later, on 4 May 1953, Armi chose to give up her Miss Universe crown, before her year was complete, to marry Filipino businessman Virgilio Hilario. They lived in the Philippines where they raised a family of five children: Arne, Anna-Lisa, Jussi, Eva-Maria, and Mikko. She starred in one film in Finland, “Maailman kaunein tyttö” in 1953. She made another film, “Now and Forever” in the Philippines in 1954.

Armi was for many years the most famous person in Finland. In 2006 a Google search of the World Wide Web turned up over 30,000 hits.

Hilario died on 7 September 1975, and Armi married Albert Williams on 8 June 1978 and moved to La Jolla, a community in San Diego, California. As of 2003, she and her husband were still living in San Diego. She is still active in her community and involved in cancer research.

The Simplex Servi-Cycle
The Simplex was designed by J. Paul Treen as a simpler, cheaper version of heavy motorcycles such as the Harley-Davidson. Production began in 1935. Many improvements were made over the years. During World War II, many machines were sold to the army. Production stopped in 1960 when cheaper, good quality Japanese motorcycles became available in the United States.

The Whizzer Motorbike
Breene-Taylor Engineering, a Los Angeles-based manufacturer of airplane parts, began to produce the Whizzer Model "D" Bicycle Motor in 1939. A person could buy the motor and install it on his own bicycle. They began to sell over 1000 units per year. In 1946 the Whizzer factory was moved to Pontiac, Michigan (near Detroit). The Whizzer became much more popular, selling about 50,000 units per year. Whizzer began to sell fully assembled motorbikes, in addition the bicycle conversion kit.

A few years later Whizzer motorbike sales fell and production stopped in 1955, but in 1998 an investor bought the rights to the Whizzer and began production of complete motorbikes in a new factory. The new Whizzer sold well as a nostalgia item and is still in production in 2006.

Bibliography

Brier, Herb “Novice Shack” in “CQ - Radio Amateurs’ Journal” Vol. 9. No. 5, May 1953, p70

Burkowski, Gordon (editor) “A Chronicle of Finnish Settlements in Rural Thunder Bay,” Written for the Thunder Bay Finnish Canadian Historical Society, production by Canadan Uutiset (Finnews Limited), Thunder Bay Ontario, 1976. (Available from the Finnish Book Store, 168 Algoma St.) (William Kyro is mentioned in this book)

Holmio, Armas K. “History of the Finns in Michigan” translated from the Finnish by Ellen M. Ryynanen. Wayne State University Press, Detroit Michigan, 2001. (William Kyro, Harri Virjo and Dr. Sippola are mentioned in this book)

Metsaranta, Marc (editor) “Project Bay Street: Activities of Finnish-Canadians in Thunder Bay Before 1915” Thunder Bay Finnish-Canadian Historical Society, 1989. It details a history of the Finnish residents of Port Arthur. (Available from the Finnish Book Store, 168 Algoma St.) (William Kyro’s involvement in the building of the Finnish Labor Temple is described in this book.)

Soderstrom, Werner, “Armin Tarina” (Armi’s Story) Aikakauslehti Seura, Helsinki, 1962. (finnish-language book with lots of pictures)