The Schnorf family has a long history tied to Coles County, Charleston, and Eastern Illinois University. The first relative, John Myers (the great-great grandfather of Steve, Dave, Marty, and Jim Schnorf), arrived in Coles County in 1836. His son Jacob Myers, worked at Eastern in 1909-10 as a yard man, and owned a house and land on the northwest corner of Division and Lincoln Streets. Jacob’s daughter Grace Myers, the grandmother of the four Schnorf brothers, married Elmer Schnorf in the early 1900’s. Elmer Schnorf’s grandfather, Arthur Cook Schnorf, arrived in Coles County in 1853. Elmer also worked at EIU as a fireman in 1911-12. Elmer’s son Burl, the Schnorf brothers’ father, married Marjorie Baker, the brothers’ mother, in 1934. Marjorie was the daughter of Martin and Estella Baker, who moved their family to Charleston in 1923 from Sumner Illinois. Estella was determined that her children would get college degrees, and wrote the State School Superintendent in the early 1920’s, asking him for a recommendation of a college. The reply letter she received back recommended Eastern Illinois State Teachers College (originally Eastern Illinois State Normal School and now Eastern Illinois University). Based on this recommendation, the family moved to Charleston. Marjorie had two brothers and two sisters, and of the five children, four graduated from Eastern. The one daughter who did not graduate had a son and daughter-in-law that graduated from the university. Martin Baker was a successful local contractor and developed numerous houses around Charleston, and Estella worked at the original Little Campus…prior to it being owned by Walt Warmoth, then for many years by Ike Kennard, becoming known as “Ike’s”. Martin Baker laid the foundation for “Marty’s” restaurant, originally called “Walt’s”. Dave, Marty, and Jim regularly walked across Eastern’s campus during grade school at lunch time during the late 50’s and in the 60’s to eat at Walt’s. The family has very strong ties to the university, with 33 identified degrees on the family chart, which does not include more distant relatives…only direct family members/spouses of the Schnorf brothers’ aunts, uncles, and first cousins. Three additional family members worked at Eastern. Many also attended grade school and high school connected to the university. All four brothers actually attended the new Robert Buzzard Laboratory School at the same time, the first year it opened. The Schnorf family has known all of the Eastern Presidents from Livingston Lord forward, and Burl and Marjorie Schnorf were very close friends with
President Buzzard and his wife. The family has had ties to some interesting people that had occasion to be in Charleston and at Eastern. The great-great aunt of the Schnorf brothers (Olive Anne Green) used to serve Abraham Lincoln preserves in the jar pictured on the display when he was an attorney and would come to Coles County on business, often stopping by their home. One of Elmer Schnorf’s siblings at one point owned a farm near Yale, Illinois that was next to the family home of Burl Ives, and Elmer’s family would periodically go visit, also getting to know the Ives family during the trips. Ives subsequently attended Eastern in the late 1920’s, and knowing the Schnorf family, would regularly come over and play his banjo on their porch. The house where Burl Schnorf and his siblings lived at that time was on the southwest corner of 10th and Lincoln Streets, and the family would often sing with him. In addition, Leo Baker, an uncle of the Schnorf brothers on their mother’s side, was an accomplished piano player, and would regularly accompany Ives when he would play his banjo and guitar at events around the community. Most years during the 1950’s and 1960’s the family would have annual summer reunions, often times at Morton Park in Charleston, but other times in locations near where the Baker side of the family originated in or near Oblong and Robinson, IL. The Myers family would also have reunions, and continued doing so for many years. Eventually the family on both sides spread geographically, and the reunions were discontinued. On the Schnorf family side, the Schnorf brothers’ father Burl had a brother Roy who subsequently lived in Champaign and ultimately Decatur, married to Virginia. Burl’s other siblings were Marie, who lived in various locations across Illinois and Missouri, finally living in Toledo, IL, and Frieda, who lived in Houston most of her adult life. Frieda’s daughter Carol Tanet, first cousin of the Schnorf brothers, was instrumental in helping put together the early Schnorf family history information. In addition, Dave Schnorf’s daughter Jamie Barge spent many hours enhancing very old photos and articles that otherwise would not have been usable to help tell the family story. On the Baker side, the Schnorf brothers’ mother Marjorie had two brothers and two sisters. The oldest was Leo, who ultimately completed two degrees at EIU, and was on the track team in the 1920’s when he first attended school. His son Wayne was an outstanding basketball player at “TC High”, the college affiliated high school, in the 1950’s. Pauline Baker graduated from Eastern in 1929 and taught school. Merv, the next to youngest, received two degrees from Eastern and was an outstanding athlete and then coach across many sports…so outstanding that the university’s Sports Hall of Fame is named in his honor. The youngest sibling, Alberta, did not graduate from Eastern but her son and daughter in law did. The Schnorf Brothers Growing up in Charleston Steve, Dave, Marty, and Jim Schnorf all had the opportunity to grow up in Charleston, IL and to attend grade school at the Laboratory School affiliated with the university, all ultimately graduating from Eastern Illinois University…with Steve and Marty earning multiple degrees from there. The period of their youth, from the late 1940’s thru the early 1970’s, saw lots of changes in and around the community. There were multiple things that had high impact on the family during these years, including the Lab School and Eastern Illinois University, Brown Shoe Company, the town bowling alley (originally Bel-Aire Lanes), and sports. Lincoln Street in front of the family house transformed into a 4 lane major road. The family home was on West Lincoln Street, situated in the block where the Pizza Hut restaurant is as of the dedication date of the Schnorf Family Victory Suite in September, 2019. Steve, Dave, and Marty were born in a house that was just west and to the front of Pizza Hut, the house just a few steps from Lincoln Street, which was a two lane cobblestone road in the late 1940’s and in the 1950’s. A new family home was built in the early 1950’s, right next to the existing home, sitting precisely where the Pizza Hut restaurant rests. The home was one block from Morton Park, a place where the brothers spent a lot of time playing ball in their youth. Across Lincoln Street to the south and to the east was the city swimming pool, currently the location of the McDonald’s restaurant. The display board has a painting of both the family home, and the swimming pool, as they appeared in the mid-1950’s. The painter was the brothers’ grandmother, Grace Schnorf, a highly accomplished painter. Brown Shoe Company Brown Shoe Company was a major employer in Charleston from the 1920’s thru the mid-1970’s. The company served as a livelihood for the Schnorf family, with the brothers’ father Burl working there for 37 years, primarily in the role of Foreman. In addition, the brothers’ mother Marjorie worked there at different points in life before she ended up finishing her work career as a high school teacher at Charleston High School. Both Steve and Dave worked one or more summers there, and numerous other relatives at some point were employed by the firm. The brothers’ uncle Raymond Snodgrass also made a full career working at Brown Shoe, in locations in Charleston, IL, Mattoon, IL, Sullivan, IL, Murphysboro, IL, Charleston, MO, and Dixon, MO. When Burl Schnorf was critically ill in the 1960-61 period and spent many weeks in Barnes Hospital in St. Louis, the company essentially picked up 100% of the medical bills, a cost that in today’s dollars would have been many hundreds of thousands. Schools In addition to all brothers attending the Laboratory School and Eastern Illinois University, all also attended Charleston High School. Two of the brothers went thru 9th grade at the Lab School, one attended thru 8th grade, and one thru 5th grade. The Lab School provided unparalleled benefits to elementary students in a small community such as Charleston, with many grades literally taught by Ph.D. professors…something that would be extraordinarily uncommon even today. Foreign language was taught starting in 3rd grade, quite unique for the 1950’s and early 1960’s. Bel-Aire Lanes The Schnorf family’s closest friends in the 1950’s, Max and Mary Cougill, owned a small grocery mart on Division Street, sitting northwest across from Morton Park. Marjorie Schnorf worked there during this period. The Cougills decided to build a new bowling alley for Charleston, which opened in 1960. Burl Schnorf, who was highly skilled mechanically and with all types of electrical work, essentially wired the entire bowling alley. He also served as a mechanic for the new automatic pinspotters, working there nights and weekends when not at the Brown Shoe Company. The brothers all grew up as serious, accomplished bowlers. Steve bowled a 729 series as a 16 year old, a record at that time. Dave bowled a 290 game in high school, which stood as the highest game for a number of years. Marty carried a 180+ average as a very young teen bowling in the top men’s league. Jim bowled his first 200 game at age 6 and a 600 series at age 8. The bowling alley served as a social center, allowing the brothers to get to know most all other youth in town, as well as many adults. Max passed in 2021, Mary still owns the bowling alley, subsequently named Charleston Lanes, Chucktown Lanes and Lucky Strike Alley, almost 60 years later. Sports The common thread among all the Schnorf brothers has been a passion for sports. All grew up as serious youth baseball players, their skills honed by playing wiffle ball in their side yard at every opportunity. The family house was a magnet for neighborhood kids for all kinds of sports. Having an uncle (Merv Baker) as the head coach of three primary sports at Charleston High School afforded all of them an opportunity to go to many high school games; they all attended many EIU games as youths also. With the swimming pool immediately across the street, all were good swimmers at a very early age. Steve’s initial job coming out of EIU was teaching and coaching high school sports, and Marty spent most all of his early and later adult life coaching baseball or weightlifting…for a period of years doing both. Dave was an avid baseball player and fan, and Jim played multiple sports and continues attending many professional and college sports events. The brothers’ parents always attended all of the boys’ games.