Continuously serving Kosciusko County since 1854
PIERCETON - Nedra Wertenberger was the girl next door. Fred Beebe, her neighbor, also worked in her dad's hardware store.
They fell in love and married, for better and for worse.
The worse part came when she required many hospitalizations and surgery in the days when medical insurance was unavailable. To pay the bills he started buying, repairing and selling furniture - anything to, literally, make one cent.
They eventually opened a store in town, calling it Beebe's Antiques. He specialized in furniture. She became an expert in china, glass and jewelry.
For more than six decades Fred and Nedra Beebe worked day and night, running their store during business hours and going out to buy in the evening.
He died two years and 11 months ago and he is sorely missed.
"Father was his boss," she said. "I decided he was pretty nice and he was a wonderful man. I still have people come in and talk about him. He loved everybody."
At age 87, Fred's widow has been packing an unparalleled antique collection gathered over a lifetime dedicated to the business and is offering a huge portion of it for public auction Thursday in Fort Wayne.
"I'm very sentimental about it," Mrs. Beebe said about the upcoming Ellenberger Brothers auction at The Lantern. "I can't go to the sale. You get very attached to these things."
Mrs. Beebe, along with her friend May Edington, has spent the past few months preparing for this initial sale, the first of many sales liquidating the vast Beebe collection.
It's a once-in-a-lifetime event, according to second generation auctioneer Kenneth Ellenberger.
"The Beebes have been one of the better collectors we've ever dealt with," Ellenberger said. "They were both widely respected for their professionalism, knowledge and integrity."
The Beebes have one of the oldest, continuous antique shops in the state and they rarely traveled more than 100 miles to buy.
"We probably have more than 2,000 items to sell Thursday," Ellenberger said. "There is not one duplicate or reproduction of anything. They were widely respected for their authenticity."
The auctioneer ought to know, since the couple has worked with his company for more than half a century.
The majority of the items are Early American and Victorian pieces purchased within a 100-mile radius of Pierceton.
Ellenberger said he expects bidders from across the country to attend the sale Thursday, which begins at 9 a.m., and tomorrow's preview from 2 to 4 p.m.
Items offered for sale include a Victorian baby carriage; a U.S. Navy 74-inch wood propeller; a whale oil flint lamp base; circa 1850 Carnival, Greentown and Depression-era glass; and Rookwood, Roseville, Hull and Weller pottery.
There will be advertising tins, quilts, frames and prints, marbles and a rare Lyon and Healy Electric Victoria. Clocks and radios and an Edison cylinder phonograph, desks, dressers, love seats and toys and more toys will be sold in two sale rings.
"The unique thing about this sale is the quality of each piece and the variety of items offered," Ellenberger said.
The quality and variety came from hard work.
"We worked 30 hours a day," Mrs. Beebe said. In the beginning they would go on buying trips as far away as New York and Maine, and soon found they could find acceptable items close to home just as easily.
"I love to see things go to people who will treasure the item. That's been very rewarding," she said.
Specializing in American antiques (items more than 100 years old), the childless couple started a trend in their small hometown. Pierceton's main street is now lined with antique shops.
"One success leads to another," she said about the other dealers. "The whole clue to the whole thing is to study and study and study and not be afraid to work nights."
The Beebes have served three generations of collectors in some cases and have had customers from every state in the Union.
"We've had such a wonderful clientele," she said.
One special customer was Eli Lilly, who bought an old mansion in Indianapolis and furnished it with furniture from Beebe's Antiques.
In addition to the shop, at one time the Beebes rented space at antique shows.
Mrs. Beebe tells the story of a woman who visited their booth 20 years ago at such an event in Chicago. She was looking for something special.
The customer was going to be presented to Britain's Queen Elizabeth and she wanted a gift for Prince Charles. She eventually selected a pocketknife, which was very well received at court.
Mrs. Beebe's brother, Ike Wertenberger, and his wife had an antique store in Silver Lake: Ike's Antiques.
May Edington worked for Ike's for more than 15 years and, after the Wertenbergers closed their shop, Edington visited with Mrs. Beebe one day, saying how she missed the customers and the people. The Beebes hired her immediately.
"She's a wonderful salesman, a wonderful friend and knows everyone," Mrs. Beebe said.
She claims the key to a long career in the antique business is to be prepared "to work the hardest you've ever worked, study the hardest you've ever studied and have the most fun you've ever had in your life."
She ought to know.
