Co-owner of Chattaway Drive-In dies

ST. PETERSBURG -- Everett Lund, co-owner of the landmark Chattaway Drive-In, famed for its Chattaburgers and onion rings, has died at 79.

Mr. Lund, a noted singer and local actor, died Thursday (Feb. 28, 2002) at Grace Health Center. He had cancer, his daughter, JoAnn Wheeler, said Friday.

Since a 1997 stroke, he had not worked regularly at the popular restaurant on Fourth Street and 22nd Avenue S, she said, but he came in frequently to keep an eye on the business.

The Chattaway, originally a gasoline station and grocery store, was turned into a restaurant after Prohibition ended in 1933. Its name can be traced to Wiley Franks, a circus aerialist who was a former owner.

Mr. Lund's mother, Helen, acquired the restaurant in 1951, and he came to St. Petersburg from Bayside, N.Y., in 1956 to help her. He and Jillian Lund Frers, who was then his wife, took over operation of the restaurant in 1983.

Over the years it changed little from its dirt parking lot, outdoor stools and bathtubs planted with flowers.

Everett Walter Lund was born in Ozone Park, N.Y., and worked in carpet sales before moving to St. Petersburg. He brought with him a musical talent that had helped pay the bills as he grew up.

"I always prayed at night I'd be a tenor," he said in a 1973 interview. "In New York in 1930, at the age of 8, I answered a Daily News ad for a boy soprano at the Little Church Around the Corner. I got the job."

When his voice changed from soprano to tenor, he was able to remain with the professional choir at the Episcopal church, singing there for 24 years.

He also made money singing radio commercials and began acting as a child.

In St. Petersburg, he appeared in productions at the Little Theatre and was in the cast for The Last of the Red Hot Lovers at the Showboat Dinner Theater.

"That's where he was happiest, singing or on the stage," his daughter said.

"It was tough to give up show business, but I had promised to help my mother at the restaurant," Mr. Lund said in 1984. "Your talent is a trap. People say, 'You should be singing.' So you hang in there as long as you can. But it's hard to make a living. So you have to do something else."

He saved his voice for his church, singing tenor for 10 years in the choir of St. Peter's Episcopal Cathedral. In 1982, he was part of a tour by the 42-member choir, accompanied by six bell ringers, and led by organist-choirmaster Robert D. Setzer, who toured England's most famous cathedrals.

The tour, which included a performance at Westminster Cathedral, was "Everett's crowning thrill," recalled Eric Lang Peterson, an art appraiser and gallery owner who also was a member of the choir.

Mr. Lund's mother died Nov. 15, 1995. Survivors besides his daughter include two brothers, Bill, Greensboro, N.C., and Everett Louis Lund, Oakland, Calif.; a sister, Lorraine Klopp, St. Petersburg, five grandchildren and a great-grandson.

Friends may call from 6 to 8 p.m. March 8 at Anderson-McQueen Funeral Homes & Cremation Tribute Center-Ninth Street Chapel, 2201 Dr. M.L. King (Ninth) St. N. A funeral will be at 11 a.m. March 9 at the funeral home.

-- Information from Times files was used in this obituary.

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