A few weeks ago, the State Journal-Register carried the obituary of Raymond K. Stockus, the last surviving member of the Lithuanian immigrant family that founded The Fairview Restaurant at 16th and Sangamon Avenue. Raymond’s father, Kaston Stockus, immigrated to the U.S. in 1899 from Šiauliai County, Lithuania, and became a U.S. citizen in 1904.

 

While working as a coal miner and butcher, Kaston boarded in the building that by 1913, he would buy, converting the first floor into a grocery that was subsequently licensed to sell alcohol.  After becoming “Al & Joe’s” and later, the “Jolly End” taverns, by the 1960s, the business was converted into The Fairview Restaurant by Kaston’s daughter and Raymond’s sister, Ella Palusinki and her husband Alex.

According to his obituary, Raymond Stockus was born to Kaston and Caroline (Compardo) Stockus in 1935, was a veteran of the U.S. Air Force, and worked as a radar technician at Garrett Aviation for 40 years. He leaves behind a wife, Joyce, and children Greg Stockus, Gail Walter and Julie Bates, as well as three grandchildren.

You can read more of the colorful history of the Stockus immigrant family and more backstory on The Fairview restaurant in this post written by William Cellini, Jr., and published several months ago:

https://lithspringfield.com/2016/07/17/lithuanian-grocer-kaston-stockus-the-fairview