As heard on N-G Radio 'I won't miss standing on my feet for 10 hours a day'

Among this week's guests on the GTPS Insurance-powered News-Gazette Radio: third-generation Tuscola candymaker , who recently she co-owns.

Flesor's Candy Kitchen (est. 1901) isn't going anywhere - there are still bills to pay, she notes - but the hope is to find a buyer, then train them in the art that is cooking and crafting candy.

"Already, in the last 72 hours, we've had some people reach out," she says. "So our fingers are crossed."

Here's more of 's chat with the 2022 Tuscola High School Hall of Fame inductee.

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How long have you been thinking about putting the business up for sale?

Well, I guess since my husband's heart attack, to be honest with you, which was a couple years ago. I didn't want him to not retire before dying.

That sounds a little macabre to talk about but this happens to people, right? They die at work, and I didn't want him to do that.

My husband, Bob, had already retired from his first profession, which he was in for many, many, many years - he was an industrial radiographer working on the pipeline all over America - and then I talked him in to helping me here, and it's been six days a week.

So, if we want to retire, we have to start now, looking for someone to train.

Before you hand over the keys, you said you'd like to "teach some young entrepreneurs how to make great candy and ice cream ..."

We're very serious about that.

Who taught you how to do it?

First of all, I grew up watching when I was a little, little girl. I was taken out of fifth grade one spring to help make chocolate Easter bunnies.

So we did it when we were kids. And then when we returned to it, my brother helped me cook the candy, something I had not done as a teenage girl because it was dangerous and heavy and all of that.

Our mother taught us how to hand-dip candy and chocolate. Another Greek confectioner in Champaign-Urbana who had retired - Gus Chrisagis - came in and taught me some tricks before he passed away.

I mean, it's amazing. We learned from others. Plus, we have the recipes that are 100 years old that were passed down from my grandfather and my parents.

You learn by doing. I can't hand the recipes to either one of you and say, "OK, here are the recipes. Bye."

It is kinda tricky to make candy in a big copper kettle, over an open flame, and stir it with a large wooden paddle.

What's the best-selling item you make?

Caramels. And also the turtles - the pecan favorites that we make with the caramel.

Caramel. Caramel. Caramel. People also love our peanut butter candy and they do love our creams.

How about the one item you yourself are most likely to snack on when you need a sugar fix?

I like peanut clusters, which is such a low-brow thing. But I really like them. I used to watch "Law & Order" reruns and eat dark chocolate peanut clusters. Classy, huh?

What will you miss - and what won't you miss - when you retire?

I will miss all of our customers - and our employees. I will miss them very, very much. I mean, I know a lot of people, and I love many of them.

What I will not miss is customers who wake up angry. You know what I mean? And they share their anger with us here. It has nothing to do with us; it's just that they're unhappy people.

And I won't miss standing on my feet for 10 hours a day.

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This story was originally published June 18, 2026 at 9:51 AM.