Vincent Hostetter, 69, Wimpy's restaurant in Osterville on Cape Cod was family's business
Hoodoo
January 8, 2005
http://www.boston.com/news/globe/obituaries/articles/2005/01/08/vincent_hostetter_at_69_operated_wimpys_restaurant/
Vincent Hostetter was only 8 years old when he started working at
Wimpy's restaurant in Osterville on Cape Cod. He washed dishes,
swept the floor, and did other chores. Wimpy's was the family
business and young Vincent was learning it from the ground up.
Aside from a break to serve in the Coast Guard, Mr. Hostetter's
life was dedicated to Wimpy's, until the family sold the
restaurant some 10 years ago. It still is called Wimpy's.
Mr. Hostetter, who was known as Skip and was an indelible part of
the landmark restaurant on Main Street, died Sunday in Cape Cod
Hospital from pneumonia. He was 69.
His parents, Raymond and Winnie (Cross) Hostetter, started
Wimpy's in 1938 as a six-stool hamburger stand to provide lunch,
said Mr. Hostetter's daughter, Daphne Bumpus of Osterville. Many
of their customers were itinerant workmen who had gone to the
Cape to install telephone service. "The men were able to get
breakfast and dinner at the homes where they were staying but had
nowhere to get lunch," she said.
When the Hostetters opened their restaurant, they decided to call
it Wimpy's, Bumpus said, in honor of Wimpy in the comic strip
"Popeye." Wimpy was known for the line, "I would gladly pay you
Tuesday for a hamburger today."
Over the years, Bumpus said, both the menu and the seating
accommodations at Wimpy's changed drastically. Eventually, you
could get everything from filet mignon to seafood 362 days a
year. The seating was expanded to more than 300.
Bob Cohan of Hyannis, who worked with Mr. Hostetter at Wimpy's
for almost 25 years, said that one selection remained the same
for some 40 years. "You could always get the oversized
cheeseburger," he said. "It was open-faced, topped with a slice
of onion, a slice of tomato, a tablespoon of relish, and one
green olive. And it came with french fries."
A native Cape Codder, Mr. Hostetter grew up in a house behind
Wimpy's and attended Osterville schools. He worked at Wimpy's
while at Barnstable High School and while serving four years in
the Coast Guard Reserve. After graduating from high school in
1954, Mr. Hostetter enrolled at the Culinary Institute of
America, which was then in New Haven, and graduated in 1956.
In 1957, he married Eleanor Medeiros.
Had he not gone into the family business, Mr. Hostetter's
daughter said, he perhaps would have made the Coast Guard his
career. After graduating from the culinary institute, he enlisted
in the Coast Guard for four years and was stationed on two
cutters, based in New Bedford; Portland, Maine; Boston; and Woods
Hole. They took him to Newfoundland, Iceland, Greenland,
Guantanamo Bay, and Bermuda.
When his father died in 1970, Bumpus said, Mr. Hostetter and his
two brothers took over the operation of Wimpy's. Eventually, his
brothers went into other businesses and Mr. Hostetter "was at the
restaurant day and night," his daughter said. As his family grew,
his children pitched in at Wimpy's after school and during summer
vacations.
Mr. Hostetter had a reputation as a hard worker. He did
everything from managing the restaurant to washing dishes. "When
I first met Skip around 1966," Cohan said, "he was still working
for his father and was at the Friolator 10 hours a day, six days
a week. When he was running it himself, he was still working hard."
Mr. Hostetter could build anything and did a lot of renovations
at Wimpy's, Cohan said, including installing a long bar made of
different woods. He also built the family home in Osterville,
working on it nights after leaving the restaurant, and a cottage
in New Hampshire.
Mr. Hostetter was formerly involved with other small businesses
on the Cape, including a doll and toy shop, to please his wife
and give him a chance to build toy furniture. He called the shop
"Ubba's," the nickname his grandchildren called him.
Besides his wife and daughter, Mr. Hostetter leaves a son, John
of Boxford; a brother, Daniel C. of Osterville; and four
grandchildren.
A Mass was said this week in Our Lady of Victory Church in
Centerville. Burial, with Coast Guard military honors, was in St.
Francis Xavier Cemetery in Centerville.
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