The Kinsley Family
By Tony Taton

Edward Kinsley came from Kitchener, Ontario, Canada, to Detroit during the early part of the 1900s and his boys, Ralph and Howard, went to school in the city.

Edward bought some lots in the beach area between Dogwood and Elm Streets and built a two-story, with the first floor being an area for a tavern and the second story for their living quarters. He named it Kinsley’s Tavern.

In the '30s, business was good, and in the summer both sons tended the business along with Ed, while Mother prepared good food in the kitchen. Mother’s specialty was top quality chili and Canadian bacon, lettuce and tomato sandwiches.

Nearly always during the evening hours someone played the piano, and music and song singing were part of the evening agenda. For years, Florance Riefert played the piano and later on, the organ. Many an evening we sang the songs, new and old, as we drank a couple schuppers of beer.

My wife, Marilyn, and I put some time in with our friends before we got married in 1953. When World War II ended, Ralph opened a painting supply store where the Nobel Antique Shop is now and his brother, Howard, helped him.

Ralph then purchased a piece of property one block south of M-90 and opened Kinsley’s of Lexington, a furniture and appliance store, that developed into probably the best store in the area with name brands and Hot Point appliances.

Ralph had all of the ingredients for success: a great location, brand names, a good crew of people on the floor and top service, with Howard handling the service department.

Ralph and his wife, Jeane, (Divon) had three children: two daughters and a son. He was the ideal salesman: a good personality, dressed sharp, a complete product knowledge and fine manners with the public.

Some years later he and Jeane parted ways and later on both remarried. Acres were purchased on Frenchline Road and a fine country estate was built with state of the art amenities, four bedrooms, three baths, two fireplaces (one in the great room, and one in upper level), a large outbuilding was built to house all of Ralph’s hobbies, gardening, antiques, collections, etc.

Later on Ralph married a nice German lady from the fatherland and they really got into the flowers, big time. Ena was a master gardener and she taught Ralph all about gardening, landscaping and flowers. Ena’s flowers were in some of the top outdoor magazines in the nation.

At age 80, Ralph died of a heart attack in the garden, doing what he loved to do, and ironically Ena would die two years later in the garden with her flowers, from, of all things, bee stings, at the age of 82.

In my few years on this earth, I have known thousands of people in the business world. But of all of these people, Ralph and Ena had to be the most ambitious of any of them, for there were not enough hours in a day to do all they wanted to do. Both of these people are by now in the Master’s great flower beds doing what they loved to do.

Around the area, Ralph Kinsley was well-known for he worked with all of the organizations being a 50-year-plus member of the Lexington Lions and a member of the Shriners with as many years (50) of service.

Ena, although here for a short time, was a real personality for what you saw, you got. Ena was a member of the Lexington Garden Club and was very active. Both she and Ralph were very active in the Methodist Church of Lexington, in which they accomplished much with the new addition of the church in recent years.