“I was always busy just trying to earn some extra money,” said Grizzell, who studied art education at Wright State University after graduating.
“I met my first wife, Yvonne after two years at Wright State. She was actually the horse person and got me involved. I was a city boy.”
Grizzell’s wife of 16 years, Yvonne, was studying respiratory therapy at the Kettering College of Medical Arts. She went on to work as a respiratory therapist at Kettering Medical Center and to run Pine Ridge Stables with Grizzell until her death from cancer in 1993.
“Yvonne was Dutch and grew up in Canada,” said Grizzell, whose first wife lived in a town near Toronto. “She used to go to Calgary and buy wild mustangs that she’d bring back and train for kids to ride at summer camps. She used to work part-time at Stouder (Memorial) Hospital in Troy. She volunteered to help break a horse for someone she met there and eventually we ended up with the horse.”
The Grizzell’s children include Zach, a graduate of Spring Valley Academy who studied radiation technology at the Kettering College of Medical Arts and currently lives in Springfield; and Caleb, who also graduated from Spring Valley Academy and attended Kettering College of Medical Arts and works as a registered nurse in the Kettering Medical Center emergency room.
Initially, Grizzell and his wife kept Blue Grass, their horse at the WSU Riding Club stable, but after Grizzell graduated in 1984 with his degree in art education the couple moved to Pine Ridge Stables in Bellbrook. The couple rented the land from Dr. Konrad Kircher, now deceased, and his wife, Susanne, and during the years developed a great respect and appreciation for the Kirchers.
At one point, the stables held 30 boarded horses, in addition to the Grizzell’s horse, Blue Grass, who lived to be 38 and sired a gelding that the Grizzells raised. Currently, the stables hold 12 to 16 horses.
Grizzell taught elementary art classes in the Centerville City School District before working for NCR and finally the Blosser Color Lab, now called Graphics Terminal, where Grizzell’s art work can be seen painted on the side of the building in Dayton.
Grizzell also has a private business photographing family and class reunions, www.kedespo.com/reunion/Pages/contactus.html, that he runs with a partner.
In 1993, Grizzell married his second wife, Vikki, a registered nurse who works full-time for Wellcare Home Care Inc., a home health agency, and part-time at the stables.
“She was a city girl, but now she does the bookkeeping and feeds and cares for the horses,” said Grizzell, who owns one horse and a miniature horse that poses well with children.
Contact this columnist at (937) 432-9054 or jjbaer@aol.com.
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