By David Fleet
dfleet@mihomepaper.com
Independence Twp. —  If a house could speak, the Trese Family home would never be silent.
The 135 year old farmhouse that straddles the border between Clarkston and Ortonville along Oak Hill Road was home to Thomas and Laone Trese. The couple raised their 17 children in the spacious 3,200 square feet farmhouse over nearly six decades. The home is now for sale and recently 15 of the siblings returned to remove some belongings and share some thoughts.
“We are sad to see the house get sold because to us it wasn’t just a house,” said Christianne Benner (Trese), one of the 15 that returned. “To us, that property, the house and the barn; they were really more like a member of the family. Everything that happened, happened there.”
“As we gathered to go through what was left in the house so many memories and stories came out with the stuff,” she said. “Obviously, we have all been shaped by our unique circumstance of being raised in a family with 17 kids. But what struck us now was how much this house and property are also a big part of that story and how much it connects us all together. Being in that space all together one last time was very bittersweet.”
Thomas and Laone purchased the farm in 1965, a home at that time, for their ten children. The next seven children were added while they all lived in the Oak Hill home.
In many old-fashioned big families, the kids had daily chores, said Christianne.
“And, oh yes, we were put to work,” she said. “The 2.4 acres of gardens, crops, farm animals, out buildings, the house and the barn needed constant up-keep. Our mother was a Master Gardener, she was always needing help in the garden. She had beautiful flower gardens but also fruit and vegetable gardens that helped to feed the family.”
The father, Tom, worked as a social worker for Royal Oak Schools with summers off, but that doesn’t mean he didn’t work, recalled Christianne.
“He, and all of us, spent most of our summers working on the maintenance and improvement of the property,” she said. “So, we the children, have all put our blood and sweat into that land. We have many great stories to tell about that too. My parents didn’t have a lot of extra money, but they did have a lot of extra hands.”
In the early 1970s the family converted our old barn into a multi purpose/living space. The older brothers were put to work putting a wood floor and wood paneling in the barn. Tom and some co-workers were doing marriage counseling sessions there. Then it was used for counseling and religious weekend retreats.
“I guess doing marriage counseling in a converted rustic barn was very 70s chic,” she said.
But children grow up and parents age. Right about the time all the children were grown and gone Laone was diagnosed with cancer. She could no longer maintain her beautiful gardens. She battled her cancer for 10 years, then passed away in 2002.
Laone shared her parenting skills with others by serving as chairperson of the Brandon Groveland Youth Assistance, where she was active for three decades. She was involved in family education programs in both Brandon and Clarkston. Laone was a Brandon Library Board member, Optimist Club member, Master Gardener, parenting mentor for Oakland Family Services and Head Start. She was also named Citizen of the Year 2001 by The Citizen newspaper.
“Our father Tom lived by himself in the giant house until about 2010,” she said. “At which point, in his 80s, it didn’t make any sense for him to be there alone.”
Tom moved near Christianne where he lived until he passed in May 2024 at the age of 96.
In 2019 Tom shared glimpses of life at the family home with The Citizen newspaper.
“The kids were all great students, there was not a lot of chaos (at home),” said Tom. “At one point we had 16 at home all at once. We used the den as a bedroom too. I thought it was fun—we had a really good attitude and we appreciated every new one, it was not a burden. Laone wanted a big family—she came from a family of 11 children and was the oldest. I had too small of an income for that family but we made it work.”
The eight boys and nine girls attended Brandon Schools for 30 years. Today the Trese children have 20 bachelor degrees, eight masters and three with doctorates including an attorney, veterinarian and college professor. At one point 12 were in college at one time and in 1985, five were attending the University of Michigan.
Christianne hopes there are many more interesting chapters left in the farm house history.
“We spent most of the weekend laughing, remembering and being grateful for each other,” she said. “But no family has only good stories and only good memories. Of course, difficult and sad things happened. But even with the hard things, we tried to deal with them together, and the house on Oak Hill Road was ours together.”