Owner of Shanders Bakery in Meadowdale, known for Old World recipes, dies

A former bakery shop owner in Carpentersville, whose Old World recipes for breads and pastries drew business from throughout the Fox Valley as well as area restaurants and banquet facilities alike, has died.

Joseph Shanders and his wife, Donna, owned Shanders' Bakery in the Meadowdale Shopping Center from 1983 to 1990. It was a dream come true for Shanders to run his own business, after working as a butcher for Jewel Osco in Streamwood, and later in construction.

Shanders passed away Feb. 6 after a long battle with lung cancer.

“It was a great place to get fresh bread of all kinds, as well as giant, signature chocolate chip cookies and even freshly made pierogies, made from a recipe handed down through generations,” says his son, Patrick, of Gurnee.

Shanders was a native of Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, whose parents emigrated from Poland. Consequently, he grew up steeped in traditional ethnic foods like pierogies, poppy seed rolls and kolaches, and he brought those recipes to his suburban bakery.

“He grew up around food and he always liked to cook,” his son adds. “On Sundays growing up, he always did the cooking for the family.”

Shanders started out as a butcher at a Jewel Food Store near Lawrence and Milwaukee in Chicago, where he met his future wife, Donna. Both were divorced, with children.

Consequently, when they married in 1963, it became a “Yours, Mine and Ours” family - five years before the movie that starred Lucille Ball and Henry Fonda - with Shanders' four children, his wife's two and three more they would have together.

After they married, the couple moved their family to Carpentersville, when Shanders transferred to the Streamwood Jewel. He remained there until 1972, then went to work in construction, before ultimately purchasing the bakery.

“It was an established bakery when they bought it, called Charles Bakery,” Patrick Shanders says. “They retained many of the original recipes, though he tweaked them a bit, and he added some of his own.”

The shop eventually provided baked goods to area restaurants such as Floyd's Supper Club, Blue Moon and Durand's, as well as wedding cakes to area reception halls and banquet facilities.

After selling the shop in 1990, the couple retired to Huntley and ultimately Woodstock. In nearly every home, Shanders constructed an elaborate miniature Christmas village, that eventually took over half of their basement.

Besides his son, Shanders is survived by Donna, his wife of 52 years, and children Gary, Kathie (Bryan), Laura (Candice), Kim, Keith, Scott, Donna and Joe, as well as nine grandchildren and two great grandchildren.

Services have been held.