Orin K. Grettenberger, better known as O.K., son of John O. "J.O." (1868-1944) and Wilhelmina "Minnie" (Kaiser) (1871-1958) Grettenberger, was born 19 April 1908, Okemos, Ingham County, Michigan. 

Lansing State Journal (Lansing, Michigan) Friday 12 March 1920

March 12 - Ida Strayer, Lavinia Strayer, Orin Grettenberger and Harold Edgar have been neither absent nor tardy from the intermediate room during the winter term.

He graduated in 1926 from Okemos High School.

 

 

 

 

 

J.O.Grettenberger, Lansing State Journal, Saturday, May 11, 1929.  Their home in the background was three lots west on the Northwest corner of Okemos Rd. and Hamilton Rd 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

O. K. married Laura Anne Woodworth 10 August 1930, Okemos.  Laura was a 1926 OHS graduate.  During their 60 years of marriage they raised a son and daughter.

Lansing State Journal, Ad Announcement, Saturday, May 11, 1929

According to the 1931 Lansing City Directory, O.K. was employed as a clerk at College Drug Company, East Lansing, Ingham County.  In 1939 he was appointed postmaster of the Okemos Post Office, a second generation in that position.  O.K.'s father, John O. Grettenberger was postmaster in Okemos from 1915 through 1938.  In 1949 O.K. was appointed Director of the State Board of Pharmacy.  Later, from 1954 to 1965, he served as Director of the Michigan State Drugs and Narcotics Division. 

O.K. was also heavily involved in the Democratic Party of Michigan.  He served for 10 years as the party treasurer during the 1940's and 50's. 

In 1965 he sold his drug store business and became involved with a new business venture, Lorann Oils, which made flavored oils for bakeries and candy producers.  O.K. also was deeply engrossed in breeding Standardbred horses and with harness racing for many years. 

Orin, O.K., Grettenberger died 31 January 1990, Lansing.  Laura, born 20 September 1908, died 30 March 1991.  O.K. and Laura were interred Glendale Cemetery, Okemos.

Lansing State Journal (Lansing, Michigan) Tuesday 21 June 1949

LANSINGITE HEADS STATE DRUG BOARD

O. K. GRETTENBERGER ASSUMES DUTIES JULY 1

O. K. Grettenberger, Okemos druggist and former Democratic postmaster, Monday was appointed director of drugs and drug stores by the state board of pharmacy meeting in Ann Arbor.

Grettenberger replaces Francis M. Taft, Lansing, who has held the $5,000 a year job for six and one-half years.  Taft, secretary of the Ingham county Republican committee, has been serving as director on a day to day basis since Democratic Gov. G. Mennen Williams took office Jan. 1.

Grettenberger, appointed to the pharmacy board by Williams, resigned his membership on the board to accept the full-time job of director.  He will assume the office July 1.

Grettenberger resigned as Okemos postmaster several weeks ago when informed that he could not hold both the federal and state posts.  His wife has been appointed acting postmistress.

Lansing State Journal (Lansing, Michigan) Sunday 22 February 1959

LENTZ NEW TREASURER

DEMOCRATIC PARTY DROPS GRETTENBERGER BY 48-19 VOTE

Grand Rapids - A fight that started some time ago in Meridian township erupted in the Democratic state central committee Saturday and dumped O. K. Grettenberger, Okemos druggist, as party treasurer after 10 years.

Succeeding Grettenberger was Charles N. Lentz, also of Meridian township who has been deputy state treasurer since 1955.

With solid committee support from the six Wayne county districts and the sixth district of Ingham - Livingston - Genesee, Lentz defeated Grettenberger 48-19.

State Chairman Neil Staebler, Vice Chairman Adelaide Hart and Thomas H. E. Quimby, national committeeman, all voted for Lentz.

Perhaps the key an in triggering the unseating of Grettenberger was James F. McClure, Meridian township supervisor and convention delegate.

DISSATISFIED

McClure said he and others in the Ingham Democratic delegation have long been dissatisfied with Grettenberger's service, contending he is a Democrat only on the state level and not in the township.

McClure said he has been unable to get co-operation from Grettenberger in party matters.

Grettenberger said the differences stemmed from a real estate transaction and resulting rezoning and assessment squabbles in Meridian township.

Although Lentz' candidacy had its start in Ingham county, his support reached into all sections of the state except the upper peninsula and southwestern Michigan, whose committee members voted solidly for Grettenberger

LENTZ QUALIFIED

Lentz has handled several fund-raising dinners for Democrats, and was treasurer of the Williams for Governor committee last fall.  He also has handled finances in the campaigns of his superior, State Treasurer Sanford A. Brown.

Lentz was nominated by Richard Cook, Ingham co-chairman, Grettenberger's name was offered by Mary Farrell, delegate from Delta county and wife of Lawrence L. Farrell, former executive secretary to Gov. Williams.

The party post of treasurer is unpaid.

Grettenberger is director of the state board of pharmacy, and was perhaps the last pre-Williams Democrat in a top state party post.

The central committee re-elected Helen Salomon of Detroit as secretary and Alice Brodbeck of Lake Odessa as recording sectrtary.

Lansing State Journal (Lansing, Michigan) Friday 18 June 1965

AREA TROTTER HEADING EAST

Harness racing shifts this weekend from Wolverine Raceway to Northville Downs and during the transition four or five of Michigan's top trotters will be shuttled out of state for bigger purses in the east.

All are locally owned and trained and appear worthy of close watch as they prepare for a number of major harness events at Yonkers and at Saratoga Springs in New York, at the Meadows, just outside Pittsburgh, Pa. and at Northfield in Ohio.

Kidnapper is a stakes caliber 3-year-old colt that owner O. K. Grettenberger of Okemos says is the best Standardbred he has ever owned.  And down through the years since 1937, Grettenberger has kept some good horses in board and hay.

"This trotter is really a good one.  He is by the famed Kimberly Kid out of a Bill Gallon mare and he won last year in a $20,000 Invitation race at Santa Anita," say the Okemos druggist.

To the uninitiated, Kidnapper's breeding is high on the harness racing tree.  His pappy and his grandpappy on his dam's side were winners.

After Santa Anita he scored big in Phoenix, Ariz. and then came home to win recently at Wolverine.

"Now we're pointing him for some of the big ones at Yonkers and later at Saratoga," Grettenberger said.

Grettenberger sees a fabulous future for Kidnapper as a stud.  So far he has taken his mares to big name sires for breeding as far away as Lexington, Ky., but with Kidnapper standing on the 40-acre Grettenberger farm near Okemos breeding will all be done at home.

Alvin Stanke of Haslett, trainer for the Grettenberger stable, will take several other top horses along with Kidnapper.

Next on the list is probably Lula Rutledge, a 4-year-old mare of exceptional ability being sired by Sky raider, a brother to the world record holder, Greyhound.  Sneed apparently runs in the blood of this breeding line and Lula Rutledge can match times with any of the country's top Invitational-class pacers.

In the Grettenberger stable are also a pair of flashy sisters, Cinda's Future and Future Victory both having class with Future Counsel as a sire.  They can win, too, in top company.

Not to be overlooked is a 2-year-old filly that Grettenberger speaks of in superlatives.  She is Cloud 9, a trotter, by Diller Hanover by Blue Cloud.

Cloud 9 is just getting started in the sulky pulling business and has only started three times.  Her record is two firsts and one second.

Though he has been in harness racing nearly 30 years, Grettenberger says he is still building a foundation - meaning in racing lingo that the best is yet to come.

"We have 29 horses and right now we're only racing nine," he said.  "Next year there will be about 15 with some nice young colts coming up."

Lansing State Journal (Lansing, Michigan) Sunday 9 October 1977

One of Okemos' most prominent, Orin Grettenberger, remembers when the four corners was a sleepy country crossroads, so untrafficked that a hound could catch an afternoon's nap in one of the turn lanes without being disturbed.  "We had a grocery, meat market and post office all in one building," recalls Grettenberger, 69.  "We had a little building out back where we cut the meat.  My father had a grocery and drug store from 1885 until 1930 when I took over.

In that year, the Grettenberger store was moved one block down Hamilton Road from the present site of a Clark station.  It became a delicatessen in the 1950's when Grettenberger built a new drug store next door.  Now the old building is home of Elegant Wigs and Pam's Sample Hut, a dress shop.

Grettenberger, who was one state director of drugs and drug stores, quit the drug store business in 1965 and turned to the manufacture of pharmaceuticals and food flavorings, now employing 25 workers.

Lansing State Journal (Lansing, Michigan) Friday 2 February 1990

O.K. GRETTENBERGER, DRUGGIST, HORSEMAN

Okemos - Orin K. Grettenberger's impact on Michigan ranged from opening the door for the use of generic drugs to improving the status of harness racers and their horses.

Services for Grettenberger, who died Wednesday at the age of 81, will be at 11 a.m. Saturday at All Saints Episcopal Church, East Lansing.

"My dad never stopped," said his son, John Grettenberger.  "He had a series of careers and excelled in them all."

As director of the Michigan Board of Pharmacy from 1949 to 1960, Grettenberger fought for legislation that would allow doctors to prescribe generic prescriptions instead of the more expensive name brands.

From 1954 to 1965 he served as director of the Michigan State Drugs and Narcotics Division.

His love for horses also caused him to have influence in that area.

He was involved in legislation that improved the purses given in harness racing and breeding conditions of horses.  He was past president of the Michigan Harness Horsemen Association, past director of the U.S. Trotting Association and in 1976 was named Harness Horseman of the Year.

Grettenberger, a native of Okemos, operated a chain of pharmacies and later founded Lorann Oils a company that made flavored oils for bakeries and candy manufacturers.

He was involved in politics too, first as Okemos postmaster and later as treasurer of the Democratic State Central Committee and a charter member of the Mackinac Bridge Authority.

Besides his son, John, Grettenberger is survived by his wife, Laura of Okemos, a daughter, Ann Shaver of Mason, and two sisters, Mildred Buxton and Marion Musselman, both of East Lansing.