Vera and Paul "Dick" Baum were grandparents to eight, great-grandparents to 18 and great-great-grandparents to one, according to Mistie Hray, one of the couple’s grandchildren.
But for many Northeast Ohioans, the couple — namesakes of Ashland’s iconic Grandpa’s Cheesebarn — were a kind of adoptive set of grandparents, too.
“It’s funny, they wouldn’t even know you, but they would give you a hug. You just learned how to share your grandparents, and it was amazing,” Hray says.
Both Paul and Vera died in the past week, both 93 years old. Paul passed on Dec. 8, and Vera on Dec. 10. The husband and wife had just recently celebrated their 73rd anniversary on Dec. 4.
“The one thing my grandma said when my grandpa passed away, that I think sums up how amazing he was – when he passed, my grandma looked at my mom and said, ‘He was so easy to love,’” Hray says. “[That just] summed up everything that I think about, when I think of Grandpa.”
Ronda, Mistie’s mother and the Baums’ daughter, and her husband, Dick Poorbaugh, opened the cheese shop in Ashland in 1978, choosing to name it after Paul and to use his likeness as the face of the business, Mistie says. At the time, Paul ran his own store, Wonderland of Food, in West Salem.
“My parents were happy to give the [image] that Grandpa started everything, because he’s just a wonderful man,” Hray says. “He really helped them a lot when they were first opening the store.”
The Baums' favorite picks from the Cheesebarn, according to Mistie, were Ohio Swiss and smoked cheddar.
In the ‘90s, the business at Grandpa’s Cheesebarn took off, and Sweeties Chocolates was later added to the offerings, next door. Paul sold Wonderland of Food and started working at Grandpa’s Cheesebarn full-time.
Grandpa’s Cheesebarn opened two more locations: one in Norton and one in the Summit Mall. The locations consistently draw in customers from all over the state – particularly the shop’s original Ashland location at 668 US Highway 250, just off an Interstate 71 exit. The campus features the big white barn with yellow “Cheesebarn” letters on top, the Sweeties chocolate space, a retail store and plenty of photo stand-ins for family pictures.
It’s more than a store: the Ashland shop has become a beloved destination in itself.
“You see generations and generations coming in,” Hray says. “Families have been coming here since we opened 40 years ago.”
Those same customers have supported Hray’s family since their loss.
“I was working on Saturday and people, they weren’t even waiting, they were just coming around the counter, hugging me, telling me how sorry they were,” Hray says. “I really feel like people felt like they were losing their grandparents. They were crying, I was crying. It was just so touching.”
She added: “It’s so hard, because I love them so much. It’s hard to put into words how wonderful they were. I know everyone thinks their grandparents were wonderful, but I just think that they were extra wonderful.”
Calling hours will be 4-6 p.m. on Sunday, Dec. 18 at Denbow-Gasche Funeral Home.
