About Us
Village Signcraft co-owners Wayne and Deni Pfaff were married in 1989, and they live and work in an early 19th century-style log house and studio/barn in rural Seneca County, Ohio. Parents of five grown children and grandparents of seven, they now share their home with black Lab "Macsie" and several "barn" cats.
Deni (Hammond) Pfaff is a native of Tiffin, Ohio and has resided in Seneca County most of her life. She is a graduate of Tiffin Columbian High School and Heidelberg College (1983), with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Psychology. After graduating from Heidelberg, Deni's chosen field of work was Vocational Rehabilitation. Following her marriage to Wayne in 1989, the two became partners in Village Signcraft, then located in the city of Tiffin. She is involved in most aspects of the sign-making process and is the primary customer contact and consultant. Among her many varied interests are reading, family history, substitute teaching at the elementary level and "being a wonderful grandma."
Wayne Pfaff is a native of Sandusky, Ohio. He was introduced to the sign trade while working in the sign shop at nearby Cedar Point Amusement Park (1965-1970), and among his early teachers were Tom Chamberlain, Tom Layton, Ray Wood and the legendary Richard "Bus" Crawford. Wayne attended the Ohio State University and later transferred to the College of the Dayton Art Institute, where he graduated in 1974 with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree. After employment with Mercury Sign Corporation of Fremont, Ohio (1977-1981), he established Village Signcraft at Bascom, Ohio in February 1981. Among his interests are his personal artwork, classical music, gardening and family history.
What is Elizabethtown?
According to Warner, Beers & Co's. History of Seneca County (1889), "Elizabethtown was surveyed August 29, 1838, by James Durbin for James Fisher, on the southeast corner of the southwest quarter of Section 6, Town 1 north, Range 16 east, and named for Elizabeth Boyer, wife of Dr. Fisher. The location was on what is known as the "Beachman farm" or "Blackman's Corners", but every vestige of it has disappeared before the industry of the agriculturist. The population of Elizabethtown in 1840 was ninety-six, and the business and manufacturing interests were represented by one saloon, one blacksmith shop and the mere sign of a general store, which did not materialize." We are located in the vicinity of this true "ghost town", so we decided to remember it in part of our name, "Studio at Elizabethtown."
(left) Re-enacting at the Tiffin-Seneca Heritage Festival, Living History Village, 1994.
"Macsie"
© 2005 Village Signcraft
Village Signcraft
. . . Since 1981 . . .
