Blue Dolphin House

Description

In 1968, John Lowry decided the time had come to get out of the restaurant business he had started in 1959 after graduating from high school. He had finished college and was teaching Social Studies full time in Kohler, Wisconsin. He and his mother Amy went into the gift shop and art gallery business. Amy was active in the art community of the area and a well-known local artist.John was active in amateur theater in his hometown of Manitowoc, where he met Peg Nissen, an Art teacher from Iowa. They were married in 1971 and Peg joined the business and she and John taught high school during the year and ran the business during summers. Their interest in the business grew and John's mother retired and they took over the complete operation in 1973.Because John and Peg were living in Manitowoc and teaching at Kohler and operating Blue Dolphin in Ephraim, their lives were hectic. In 1975, Peg resigned her teaching position and she and John opened Blue Dolphin II in Manitowoc. John continued teaching until 1979 and then resigned and joined the business full time. It was a roller coaster with two shops two hours apart. The Volkswagen bus was loaded weekly during the summer season and product was transported to Door County and displayed overnight to meet the summer tourist demands. John's duties were the bookkeeping and maintenance and Peg was the display person, and both were buyers of product for the two locations, which were similar but yet uniquely, had its own style and customer base.

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