THE KEAN FAMILY in the living room of their newly remodeled home. From left to right son Steve, Larry Kean, wife Tomi, and daughter Angie. With Kean is family dog, Beezie.

The candy counter which once held penny candy has been replaced by a spacious living room. The meat locker has become a bathroom. Dingy storage rooms have been converted into bright, cheerful bedrooms.

The old Nun’s Grocery Store at Third N. and State has made quite a transformation at the hands of Larry Kean, an Omaha, Neb., native who moved to New Ulm last summer.

When Kean went househunting last May,he really didn’t see anything he liked, he explained. While on his way to view another home, Kean accidentally saw the Nun building. He asked to see the inside of the building and wound up buying it. Kean said the real estate agent thought he was crazy.

Kean had never done any extensive remodeling, but he started in immediately. He did a lot of the work himself, but also enlisted the aid of carpenters, electricians and plumbers.

“You should have seen the looks on the workmen’s faces,” said Kean. They found it hard to believe anybody could make a home out of the old building which had housed the grocery store since 1933.

Patrons of the old store would never recognize it now. The main area of the store which once held the counter has become the Kean’s living room, complete with fireplace.

The original chopping block from the store rests in the middle of the kitchen. Kean had all the cabinets made in Omaha before he moved and luckily they fit, he said.

The old meat locker has become the downstairs bathroom. Kean said when he began work, meat hooks were still hanging from the ceiling.

Storage space downstairs has been turned into s dining room, another living room-type ares and bedrooms for Kean’s two children, Steve and Angie.

Kean has also built a bathroom and bedroom upstairs. He said as far as he knew, the upstairs hadn’t been used for anything before.

Kean’s wife, Tomi, said they are trying to model the home after Spanish-style homes they saw on a trip to California. Some of the rooms have the textured ceilings found in Spanish-style homes.

“It was a challenge,” said Kean. Next year he hopes to remodel the exterior of the building.

In the meantime, the Keans are getting used to all the stares from passersby when they look at the home and probably remember what it used to look like in the good old days.

New Ulm Daily Journal

Jan. 5, 1975