Penned by Dana Hadley (the daughter of Andy and Helen Urchyshyn)
It started as a dream. Andy and Helen Urchyshyn had a dream of opening a motel and restaurant to serve the citizens of the Sarnia Lambton community. Andy had previously owned and operated four restaurants in downtown Sarnia for many years, but wanted something bigger.
Andy, who immigrated to Canada in the 1930’s, grew up in war-torn Ukraine where he dreamed of running his own business. Upon arrival in Canada, Andy worked at a Chinese restaurant for two weeks, learning the ropes of how a restaurant operated. Those two weeks were enough experience for an always impatient Andy, and he decided that he was ready to open his own restaurant. Andy opened the Sarnia Café where he hired a young and beautiful waitress named Helen Frenkowski. Helen was stubborn and often butted heads with her boss, so Andy fired her but eventually came to his senses and hired Helen back, marrying her a short time later. Together the couple served the people of Sarnia for over sixty years. They owned the Sarnia Café, Andy’s Coffee Shop, Andy’s Ice Cream Shop, and the Embassy Restaurant before building the Motel Chalet.
Plans were formed for the Chalet. Andy and Helen found the perfect spot to build. The former city jail in the heart of Christina St offered the ideal location with ample space for the 40 room structure and attached restaurant and banquet facilities. The couple purchased the land from the city and construction began. The demolition was done by John Stassua and took place under the watchful eye of Andy who took the role of foremen on the building site. He made sure that every detail was followed to his specifications. The building was built to last. In June of 1962 the Motel Chalet was opened to welcome its first guests. In keeping with Andy’s flare for the dramatic, a Grand Opening Ceremony was held and attended by Mayor Ivan Walker. A blessing was performed by Monsignor Lowery from Our Lady of Mercy Church.
The Urchyshyn family continued to serve the public at The Chalet for thirty years making everyone who came to stay feel like they were in their second home. Over the years, Andy and Helen opened the motel to refugees who came to Sarnia to start a new life. They were welcomed to stay as long as they needed until they could find permanent residence. If you happened to find yourself staying at The Chalet over the Christmas holidays the Urchyshyn clan would make sure that your children had toys from Santa under the tree and you would be welcomed to have dinner with the Urchyshyn family in the Chalet’s restaurant. No one was ever turned away and everyone was treated like part of the family. Royal Polymer also used The Chalet when they transferred in workers from other countries. Some days it felt like you were at the United Nations!
The Chalet Restaurant (attached to the motel) served people seven days a week with staff on hand twenty four hours a day if a guest needed a meal. Both Helen and Andy made sure no one left the motel hungry. People came from all over the world and always went home and told others of the great hospitality they were shown at the Chalet and in Sarnia. Patrons always raved about Andy’s famous Boston Cream Pie. Andy’s secret recipe drew in customers from far and wide, just to enjoy a slice with a gourmet cup of coffee.
Andy’s favorite part of operating The Chalet was interacting with his guests. He would love to sit in “his chair” in the motel lobby and converse with people, telling them about his life, what a great country Canada was, and the opportunities that you could have if you were willing to work hard. When Andy passed away in 1990 The Chalet was not the same. The day-today operations became more difficult for an aging Helen to manage, even with the help of her son and daughter. Helen sold the motel in 1992 and retired with thousands of memories and even more friendships.
My perspective of the years growing up in the restaurant and motel business is that hard work does pay off! I watched as my parents worked 16 hour days, seven days a week. My siblings and I spent our times after school down at The Embassy restaurant doing our homework in one of the back booths. As we got older it was a given that you were put to work taking cash or waiting on tables. When The Chalet opened, we had jobs as hostesses, maids, desk clerks…and any other job that came up. The whole family worked at The Chalet: my brother and sister, our Aunts, and eventually my own children. Dad made sure that everyone pitched in! I remember that Mother’s Day dinners were always extra busy and Dad would put restaurant customers in spare motel rooms until their table came ready. He never wanted anyone to feel rushed with their meal and believed that people enjoyed sitting in a comfortable room waiting to enjoy the meals with their families, getting a chance to talk in private and catch up on family happenings.
We would get all kinds of people coming to the motel and you never knew what may happen when you rented a room for the night. We had ship captains stay overnight until their ocean ships arrived, train conductors would be sent to Sarnia for overnight and then they would replace the conductor that had been on duty. We once had a group of fishermen stay with us who decided to clean their catch up in the room. The maid staff was not impressed the next day with the mess that they found. Another individual decided to smoke in bed and accidentally set the mattress on fire. No one was ever turned away, which led to a number of interesting tales to tell. Like my mother and father, I loved meeting so many unique people over the years and still keep in touch with all the friends that I made.
My favorite memory is of the Sisters of Saint Joseph who lived in a convent on London Road. The sisters were originally opposed to the construction of The Chalet as they felt that “the wrong type of people” would be around the neighborhood. My father brought the sister’s over to The Chalet for afternoon tea and a guided tour. Andy introduced the sisters to our extended family and the sister’s quickly realized that The Chalet was going to be a family run business and they revoked their protest. For many years the sister’s enjoyed coming into The Chalet for afternoon tea or simply to visit with the family for many years. Many families would come in for breakfast on Sunday mornings after church telling us the sister’s sent them.
The Chalet served a number of high profile lawyers, judges, businessmen, and politicians over the years including: Bud Cullen, Roger Gallaway, Justin Mallon, Joe Donohue, Mike Bradley, and The Wealthy Barber David Chilton.
On behalf of my father, mother, and siblings, I want to say thank you to the people of Sarnia for the great memories