After moving to rural Hampshire, Ill., in the mid-1940s, Lucille Eberly and her husband inherited about a dozen beehives left behind by the home’s former owner.
What started as a hobby quickly turned into a thriving side business for the couple that at its peak in the early 1970s was buzzing with more than 1,200 beehives.
“When they started they didn’t know the first thing about beekeeping but just figured it out as they went along,” said Mrs. Eberly’s son Gary.
Mrs. Eberly, 90, co-owner and operator of Eberly’s Honey Hill in Hampshire, died of natural causes Friday, Nov. 7, at her Hampshire home.
For years, Mrs. Eberly’s husband handled the marketing and distribution of their honey through mail orders and grocers around the Chicago area, while she took charge of a small roadside shop at the edge of their property. She also sold beekeeping supplies, beeswax candles and homemade holiday crafts.
“People would come for the honey but would end up buying a couple of candles or one of her crafts,” her son said. “People liked to swing by the shop just to say hello to her.”
The Eberlys’ shop was on a precarious curve along U.S. Highway 20 and had undergone repairs several times after being hit by vehicles that didn’t quite make it around the bend.
“One time a semi took out the whole front end of the shop,” her son said. “Fortunately no one was hurt.”
The other bump in the road for the business was when Mrs. Eberly discovered she had a severe allergy to bee stings.
“She got stung about a dozen times but nothing too serious,” her son said. “Once they had to cut off her rings when her fingers swelled up.”
Born in Chicago, the former Lucille Gloger grew up in Park Ridge and graduated from Maine Township High School in 1942. That same year she got married to Irvin Eberly, a tool- and die-maker. The couple moved to Hampshire a couple of years later.
Her husband, who died in March at 92, helped keep the mom-and-pop business going for nearly 70 years. By the 1980s most of the honey was being sold out of their shop.
“They worked hard at it, but that’s because they loved it,” said her son, who for decades owned his own beekeeping business in Wisconsin but returned to Hampshire about five years ago to care for his parents and help manage their business. “There’s a lot that goes into beekeeping, but there’s also a lot you get out of it.”
Mrs. Eberly also is survived by two other sons, John and Dave; a daughter, Lynn; eight grandchildren; and a great-granddaughter.
Private services were held.