WHITEHALL — The White Lake Area Historical Society paid tribute to Big John’s Pizza, and previous businesses to occupy its current 104 Thompson St. address, during last Thursday’s monthly meeting.
The occasion was a bittersweet one from the Historical Society’s perspective; the restaurant is set to close in August after 54 years in business. The property was sold to the city of Whitehall late last year and is scheduled for demolition so the land can be incorporated into the planned West Colby Promenade, which will be completed sometime in 2025.
Big John’s struck a deal earlier this year to move its operations to a spot in the old Plumb’s plaza on Colby Street, but Neal Martell, who owns and operates Big John’s along with wife Amy, said last Thursday that if that plan does come to fruition, the Martells will not be the ones making the move. They are now seeking to sell the business in an effort to devote more time to ministry work. Neal said he and his wife have done work for Samaritan’s Purse and Eight Days of Hope, both Christian nonprofits, and want to step up their involvement. Neal also said he will continue to drive for Verplank Trucking out of Ferrysburg, which he does part-time.
Neal said “it didn’t come easy” to make the decision to step away from Big John’s, but the Martells felt it wouldn’t work out if they attempted to undertake the move themselves.
His focus during his time speaking at the meeting, though, was on the original Big John’s owners, Gloria and Jack Miller, and particularly Gloria. Formerly Teresa’s Pizza, the restaurant opened as Big John’s in September 1970; Neal said Jack traded with his business partner, the original Big John, by teaching him to fly planes (the two had a business together that operated out of the Muskegon County airport) while Big John taught him how to run a restaurant.
Only a few years later, in 1974, Jack Miller passed away, leaving Gloria, as the story goes, to run the place herself despite also having six children to raise, one of whom - Gerrie - was in diapers at the time. She eventually sold Big John’s to her oldest son, also named Jack, in 2002, and Jack ran it until 2008, when he sold it to the Waruszewski family. The Martells bought Big John’s in 2016, having first become part of the business when Neal was a driver for the Waruszewskis.
The Millers still maintain some local roots, as Gerrie Miller owns and operates Miller’s Oil & Lube Express on Colby Street in the plaza that also houses The Homestead restaurant and Bill’s Lakeshore Golden Cards and Collectibles.
Despite the stresses of raising six children by herself and running a business, Neal said Gloria was well-known for her patience. She passed away this past February, and funeral attendees could only remember one time in the entire span she ran the business where she got upset with anyone; he jokingly added that he wished he could say the same for himself.
“My hope is that their story doesn’t get lost in the shuffle after this (building) is gone,” Martell said. “We’re proud to own it, but their story runs a little bit deeper.”
Martell said he is “not a poet,” but on his way to pick up his daughter from a church function around the time of Gloria’s passing, he found himself moved to come up with something and dictated a poem, written from the perspective of the building itself, into his phone. He shared that emotional poem with the historical society.
The Martells don’t know the future of Big John’s - multiple media reports say they are seeking a $300,000 sale price for the business - but whatever is next, the restaurant has made its mark in the White Lake area.
“It’s been an adventure,” Martell said. “We’ve been proud and humbled to run this business in the time we had it.”
The Historical Society also discussed the previous businesses that have operated out of the current Big John’s address. A pamphlet handed out at the meeting ran down the property’s history, which dates to 1877, when a building owned by an A. Hood, as well as E. T. Slocum’s livery stable, occupied the land. Those buildings eventually burned down in the great Whitehall fire of 1881, and the land was later occupied by multiple blacksmith shops. In the 1930s, a service station took over operations there, and later a motor company. Liberty Loan Corporation operated out of the building from 1956-64 and was the last business to be there before it became Teresa’s Pizza, and later Big John’s.
