Norma Tunberg remembers when her two small boys would clean up the parking lot of the family business on 23rd Avenue near 16th Street in Moline.

“They would say, ‘What would our friends say if they saw us cleaning the parking lot?’ ” Norma, 85, said. “So, one day I went out there and started picking up trash in the parking lot. I told them if I can do it, so can you.”

But today, “I am so proud of them,” she said.

All these decades later, the “boys” Jeff, 58, and Jon, 55 serve as vice presidents and co-owners of one of the most recognizable items produced in the Quad-Cities Whitey’s Ice Cream. The title of company president remains open in honor of their father, Bob, who passed away in 1991.

“She is a great businesswoman,” Jon said of his mother. “She was a working woman before it was fashionable.”

Most anyone who has lives or has lived in the Quad-Cities in the past 75 years has tried a Whitey’s cone, sundae or shake. And for many who have moved away, any trip back to the Quad-Cities includes a stop for a tasty treat.

Whitey’s is celebrating its 75th year with special offers and a contest to mark the milestone. On June 2-6, all single-dip cones will be 75 cents. From 2-4 p.m. on Sunday, June 8, stores will provide free single-dip cones. On June 9-13, all regular and special shakes and malts will be 75 cents off.

In addition, Junior Achievement classrooms throughout the area will be asked to create a new shake flavor. The winning flavor will be available all summer at all stores. And for each of those shakes sold, 75 cents will be donated to the local JA organization. The top three classrooms will be given $75 for school supplies and also be treated to an ice cream party.

It all started in 1933 when Whitey’s Ice Cream was established on the corner of 16th Street and 23rd Avenue in Moline by Chester “Whitey” Lindgren, who was so nicknamed because of his white-blonde hair.  In 1935, Lindgren hired a 15-year-old boy named Bob Tunberg, who began working for Lindgren while in high school.

They became close friends, and in 1953, Lindgren offered to sell the business to Bob and his wife, Norma. They accepted.

Country Style which still is located next to the original Whitey’s on 16th Street was founded in 1947 by Wayne Lindgren, who followed his brother, Whitey, in the ice cream business. Wayne eventually bought out his brother’s share of the business.

In the early years, Bob and Norma made ice cream during the day and worked in the store selling their product at night.

Whitey’s remained a one-store business until 1977 when a second store was opened on 41st Street in Moline and others followed over the years.

In 1969, Whitey’s was the first ice cream company to add candy bars, such as Butterfingers and Snickers, to its milkshakes, and in 1985, it was the first to offer chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream.

Jon remembers experimenting with putting candy bars in shakes while he still was in high school, trying out the concoctions on friends.

“It was a process,” he said. “I tried it with M&Ms. I was trying all types of candy bars. It grew by word of mouth. But the Butterfinger shake was the first one because it broke apart and each shake had that taste of Butterfinger in every bite. Dad was opposed to it. But he said if we are going to do this, let’s do it right. He fought it but he eventually embraced it.”

In 1988, Whitey’s entered the grocery store market. It is now sold at Hy-Vee, Wal-Mart-Sam’s Club, SuperTarget, Jewel-Osco, Fareway, SuperValu and Econo Foods.

Both brothers credit much of the success to their employees.

Virginia Hunsacker of East Moline has worked for the Tunbergs for 22 years and currently works at the production plant on 41st Street in Moline. She is called the topping lady. “I make all the toppings for all the stores,” she said.

Bernice Mason of Moline has been baking cookies for 10 years. “I make the cookies for the chippers,” she said. “I work part-time in the winter and full-time in the summer.”

Chippers are made of two homemade cookies with chocolate chip or mint chocolate chip ice cream in the center. “I usually make 1,600 chocolate chip cookies a day and pretty much the same with chocolate cookies,” Mason said. “It’s the only two kinds we make. That is all I do and I love it.”

As for the future, Jon Tunberg said: “We have to see what the Lord has in store for us.”

The faith that Bob instilled in  his sons remains a big part of the business.

“We really believe the Lord owns the business, and we want to be good stewards,” Jeff said.

They are members of Fellowship of Companies for Christ International, an organization that encourages members to operate “consistent with biblical practices,” Jeff said.