Famed Restaurant Owners Celebrate 50th Anniversary

Celebrating 50th Anniversary
Mr. and Mrs. David H. Willits, who owned and operated Willits Oyster Bay, famed S. State St. Restaurant and rendezvous for University students and alumni, today are celebrating their 50th wedding anniversary. Mr. Willits is 80 and his wife is 74 years old. Neighbors around their Dixboro home at 6400 Plymouth Rd. are planning a celebration at the Dixboro Methodist Church as soon as Mrs. Willits' health will permit. The Willits restaurant, established in 1902, was a State St. landmark for 30 years.

DIXBORO - Mr. and Mrs. David M. Willits whose famed Willits Oyster Bay at S. State St. and N. University Ave. was the rendezvous for students and University alumni for 30 years are today celebrating their 50th wedding anniversary at their home, 6400 Plymouth Rd.

Because of Mrs. Willits' ill health a public reception for the couple scheduled for last Sunday at the local Methodist Church has been postponed for two weeks. Meanwhile the couple is enjoying a quiet celebration at their cottage home here.

The couple was married July 8, 1902, in Ann Arbor and immediately after opened a temporary restaurant on E. William St. while the new building which was to house their Oyster Bay permanently was being erected on the present site of the S. W. Trick Bldg.

The new restaurant shortly became the favorite eating and meeting place for University students. Here also were held banquets to honor Michigan's tremendously successful football teams. Returning alumni usually headed for Willits' to meet old friends and share memories.

After disposing of his restaurant Mr. Willits opened a real estate brokerage office at the same S. State St. location, on the second floor, and for several years carried on an active business.

The couple had two sons, David and John, both of whom died in infancy in 1904. Mr. Willits is 80 years old and his wife, 74.