John Miles Venard (1886–1969) was a fixture in the village in the early 1900s. Beginning his postal career at age 19 in 1906, he delivered mail for 51 years, retiring 1957. In the year 1914 he married Frieda W. Von der Ohe, and together they built the home at 4540 Highland Avenue, a Downers Grove Landmarked Home now known as The Venard House. John and Frieda lived in the home for 60 years. The home, virtually unchanged for those six decades, remains a rare time capsule of early 20th-century domestic architecture. John Miles and Frieda are buried together at Clarendon Hills Cemetery in Darien. John was the grandson of early Downers Grove pioneers Charles Venard (1800 – 1884) and Catherine Butler Venard (c. 1800-1884). His parents were James Edwin Venard (1841- 1900) and Katherine “Katie” Redmond Venard (1844 – 1923).
