Memories # 8
Date:11/12/01 4:59:46 PM Central Standard Time
Hello to Everyone! It's time for some more Olney Memories. If
any of you know more people who are interested and would like to be included on
the mailing list, please give me their names/addresses so they can be
included. I get many requests from people who want their
names added to the list. Also, if you have more memories yourselves to
add or know of people who do, please forward them on to me and those memories
will be in Memories # 9. Some of you have written and asked me about
Memories # 8. Please accept my apology for not sending Memories # 8
out a little sooner, but my dad was in the hospital for nearly 3 weeks, and
that delayed me about a month in getting this ready to send out.
I hope you all enjoy reading Memories # 8 and will be looking forward to
hearing from you and others for more thoughts for the next Memory
Edition. Happy Reading
!!
Ann Weesner King
pianoann97@aol.com
Class of 1960
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Walter Gibbs
gibby114@hotmail.com
HELLO ANN,
Glad to hear from you. Yes, I would like to be included in the OLNEY
MEMORIES. Here's a memory that Barry Beehn and
I were talking about not to long ago. Barry, Dave
Smith and I rode from OLNEY to DUNDAS
by putting Dave's car on the railroad tracks from OLNEY. The car straddled the
tracks just perfect, we let some air out of the tires so it would stay on the
tracks. You did not even have to hold of the steering wheel. Now that I
look back at ..this was pretty stupid. I do not know if you knew
Dave Smith or not, but he was a year older than us.
WALTER
Class of 1960
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Bob Marshall
Bob n Mrg@aol.com
Hi Ann & others,
Though never an Olney resident and one whose memories
go back much farther than most, I find it pleasant to read some of the
reminiscences.
Someone mentioned the New Olney Hotel. Then there was the Litz
hotel on Main St.
I think later the location of the Penny's store. The thing I remember
most was that Mrs. Litzleman (Mabel?) won a big prize
in the Irish Sweepstakes. She then invested some of it in a huge Packard
automobile -- a 10 or 12 cylinder model I think -- with a hood that extended on
forever. I would occasionally see it pass by our home on I30. It certainly
stood out from the rest of the traffic.
It was later purchased by a man by the name of Clarence Curry who used it to
haul the mail on a "star route" which also passed by our house on
130.
Thanks for the memories,
Bob Marshall
a former Olney area resident
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Jim Dale
Class of 1940.
First
of all, I too was saddened by the passing of Gus Sliva.
I was
in high school when he first came to Olney and we became good friends.
He was not married and we went fishing together quite a bit. I do not
remember whether we caught many or any fish but we had a good time
tooling around the countryside. He was a fine person.
A bakery has been mentioned which was located east of J. C. Penney's
on Main Street.
It was Haupt's Bakery. In the early 30's bread was
just
10 cents a loaf and just a nickel if a day old. It was wrapped in wax
paper and got stale rapidly. We used to take the wax wrappers to the
Cherry Street School
where we sat on them going down the slide. With a
lot of kids using the wrappers the slide really got slick and we got a
fast ride.
Maas Market downtown on Main
Street has been mentioned. There were
actually two Maas Markets. Walter Maas had the store west of Piper's
hardware. It was a butcher shop and grocery store and upstairs Mrs. Maas
had a kitchen where she baked different pastries. My favorite was a
banana nut loaf covered with divinity icing. They sold for a dollar and
when a day old for half price. I worked at the market for a short while
in late 1942 and at the end of the day Mrs. Maas would let me buy any
unsold banana nut cakes for 50 cents. Walter's brother Homer Maas had a
strictly butcher shop in the block east of Walter's place, near Wagner's
barber shop.
The vinegar plant was remembered for its smell and the fact that it
was good place to dig for earthworms for fishing when they were
difficult to find in most places. The worms thrived in the piles of pulp
left over from the squeezed apples. The worms looked plump but when
pierced with a fish hook the contents ran out and they looked pretty
sorry. They were better than nothing.
The blind man who delivered the Olney Daily Mail in downtown Olney
was referred to as Blind Joe. As I recall his last name was Clark.
I
delivered the Daily Mail in the North part of town and Joe used to talk
to all of the carriers while we waited to get our papers. He was from
England
and had a strong British accent. He would tell us all kinds of
interesting stories which may or may not have been true, but we enjoyed
listening to him. He lived downtown in an upstairs apartment just east
of the Litz Hotel.
I worked in Schmalhausen's Rexall Drug Store all the
4 years I was in
high school (1936-1940). At that time it was located on the corner east
of its later location. There was a pool hall downstairs below it, and
upstairs Dr. Houchin had a dental office and for a
while the Pure Oil
Company had some offices there before they built their building west of
the fairgrounds. During this period there was a fire in the building
which mainly caused smoke and water damage and it was all repaired.
The Town Talk ice cream parlor and Tubby Gassman have
been mentioned.
Of course the wonderful caramel taffy apples were the best in the world
and the caramel corn was also excellent. At a high school reunion I
asked Tubby's daughter Suzanne if she knew her
father's recipe for
making the caramel. She said that he was the only person that knew the
recipe and when he passed away the recipe went with him. Too bad.
I have many other memories but they can wait until later.
Jim Dale--class of 1940
========================================================Mamary
Noerenberg Cummings
cummings_mary@msn.com
Thanks for sending me all the wonderful memories. I had a good time
reading all 50 pages of them. I have a few things to add and I am also
going to contact a couple of the people on the list if they don't mind.
Ann Neely being one of them.
The different restaurants were talked about and Turnipseed's
came to mind. They lived across the street from us - had 3 kids all about
our ages, too. In 1973, my husband and I had our wedding rehearsal dinner
at Turnipseed's. What fond memories that
brought back!
There were many gasoline stations and one that my step-granddad (Wayne Warren)
ran comes to mind was near the corner of 130 and old Rt
50 (now 250). It was Kerr McGee, but before that it was Vaught's (I still
have a patch that was never used on his uniform). It was a small station
and my brother got to help pump gas for customers when he was young.
I remember my Dad going down to the newsstand to get the Sunday St. Louis Post
Dispatch while we were all still getting ready for church and Sunday
School.
Hornback's Grocery Store on the corner of S. Mill St. and E. Elm Street was
just a block from my house and Mom would take the wagon and us 3 kids down
there for our weekly grocery trip. She'd give each of us a nickel to
spend on candy and we could get a whole sack full for that amount of money - we
were rich!
I was born in the old Olney Sanitarium about a year or so before it was torn
down (1952) and my sister was born in the new Richland Memorial
Hospital in 1954.
All the pictures of the Weber family were moved from the Sanitarium to the new
hospital and there they still hang on the old wing at the information desk.
Mr. Snively was one of my mother's teachers. To
the Olnean who was from the class of 43-44, my
mother, Betty Lou Harms, graduated from the Olney High School
in 1944. Her Dad was Forrest Harms and worked for one of the local
grocers, can't remember which one. Mr. Snively
used to mistake me for my Mother and call me by her name.
Does anyone remember Dr. Birch, the dentist, who had an office about a block
from downtown? I remember climbing lots of steps to get to his office (a
narrow staircase). He didn't like to use Novocain just to drill and fill!
Gaffner's was where my husband and I bought our
wedding bands - $104 back then FOR BOTH. Such a deal.
I went to Cherry Street School
and Mr. Gallagher was our principal. His daughter Caroline married Don
Graham, who was a student teacher under Gus Sliva
when I was a Freshman. That's the year the band took a trip to St. Louis and we all went
on the river boat (The Admiral, I think, was the name of it). I remember
Does anyone remember my Dad, Fred Noerenberg, playing
the organ at the skating rink? The owners taped all his music and then
later played the tapes until they wore out - not too long ago.
The best homemade chowder came from my church - First United Church of Christ
(when I was little it was the First E&R United Church of Christ on N.
Walnut before we built a new church in the 60's on North Silver Street). The men would
cook all night getting the meat off the bones (they used rabbit, beef, and
pork) and the women cut up all the vegetables, some home grown. The soup
was so thick you literally could eat it with a fork! Sooooo
good!
More Later. Thanks & Cheers!
Mary
Class of 1970
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Bobby Cravens Hoff
knbwood@otbnet.com
This past week the Jackson
Hospital was torn down.
The large 3 story building south of the court house and next to the Sheriff's
office. When I returned to Olney in the late 60's it had been converted into
office space. Later Tom Weber had an office there with Bob Vaughn. The
Southeastern IL Mental Health started there also, later becoming the counseling
center.
My family went to the Summers
Hospital located at the
East end of Market Street.
4 of 6 were born there, with one at home and the last at Richland Memorial (the
others didn't exist)! I guess I was thinking of Dr. Jackson who had the
little building next to the library on Main.
Never went there either! Dr. Murray practiced down on Whittle Av.
Kay Paddick (Class of 62?) worked there for years. I
believe I even have a piece of sheet music of a song he wrote. I believe it was
about Olney. Then there was Dr. Krajec at West Salem. A lot of people in southern Richland Co. went
down to West Salem. He was a giant of a man
with great "bed side" manner. I'm sure I left out a few, but at least
we have the correct name for the hospital. Oh yeh,
the first "shot" I remember came from Jim Wattleworth's
dad. I sat on a pillow for days! Didn't know that end had anything to do with
my sore throat!
Bobbie
Class of 1960
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Carole Gerber Journell
CaroleJournell@aol.com
Ann:
Marilyn Travers Bennett shared with me about your "Olney
Memories". I was born in Claremont,
but naturally, we did all of our shopping, etc. in Olney. My memory of
Olney? In the mid-60's, after church or on Friday night, the girls
(Polly, Marilyn, Martha, and Brenda) driving from Town Talk to
Dog-n-Suds...back and forth...back and forth. Would you believe Marilyn
actually met her husband that way and they are still married to this day!!!
How about those White Lightenings or Chocolate Cokes
at the Town Talk? Or the barbecues and onion rings at the
Dog-n-Suds. I can't find a good pork barbecue sandwich anywhere in California to compare
with that sandwich!!!
My maiden name was Carole Gerber. Music was my forte. After 26
years of being a music minister in various churches in southern California, I have
joined my husband and we are both in real estate.
Alan Seely...didn't you attend the Assembly of God
church in Olney? I played for several things there.
Carole Gerber Journell
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Norm Axelson
Noaxelson1@aol.com
I am trying to locate Jane Welker who was the Home coming queen for Olney Community
College in 1966 or 67. She was a good
friend of mine and I just wanted to see if she remembered me.
Norm Axelson
Class of 1965
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Jim Dale
Class of 1940
Regarding the Elm Street Christian Church, when I was in school at
Cherry Street School (ca 1928-29) there was a mill
pond at the West end
of the block where the church is located. The mill itself was on the
West side of the street and still operating but the pond was not used. I
presume the pond furnished water for the steam boilers formerly used to
power the mill. I hope they used good fill so the church will not sink.
In an earlier email I said I hitchhiked home from the navy in 1943
and I should have said 1946. January of 1943 was when I went in the
navy.
I will be dusting off my thinking cap and try to cook up some more
memories that will not be too boring to the younger generation.
Another Olneyite,
Jim
===
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Rich Wilson
Wilson761@aol.com
Thanks for the memory of the blind guy with his red cane selling ODM's.
He had the downtown business route plus whatever he could sell out of his
bag. As kids we talked with him but I don't recall his background
story. I think he typifies the difference in approach to managing a
hometown newspaper between the cigar smoking "old man Yount" and his
college educated son. The old man always reminded us of Winston
Churchill; he seemed to be tuned in to how people lived and felt. To the
son it was business and efficiency. Of course the son "made the
train run on time" and with the old man you never knew when the press Big
Bertha was going to finally slip her last cog. Some days we reported at 3:15 and didn't get our papers until
after dinner.
My brother and I delivered newspapers in Goose Nibble. It was a long bike
ride from downtown all the way out to where the Red Rooster is now and back
again. As has been said - it was a slice of life. And it had a
sense of community that is lacking in so many places today. So many
residents were friendly AND always had food to eat. One of Olney's success
stories is of you-know-who after they bought a fleet of modern garbage trucks
and secured contracts for municipal trash collection. Brilliant!
One of our regulars was a grandmotherly type who lived alone in a small house
with screened front porch; she budgeted her money very carefully. To pay us she
left pennies in a jelly jar just inside the screen door; if she left no money
it meant her extra money for luxuries had run out for that month.
Sometimes she'd leave an IOU in the jar so that she could get the food section
with the coupons. When her money ran out we'd leave one of our
"throw-aways" or "extras" from the day before. As
Mother Teresa said: "So little can mean so much to those who have
nothing".
I slipped on an icy drive one day and pitched a rolled newspaper through a
glass storm door. Understandably the homeowner was upset and dressed me down
for trashing his storm door even though the ODM always paid the bill for broken
windows. I probably didn't help matters any by laughing at the shredded
newspaper: it looked like one of those party gimmicks which extends a rolled
newspaper into a ten foot pole. Anyway, he wiped that smile off my face and I
was pretty upset when I arrived at Jack's grocery (formerly identified as being
run by former "carnies"). Believe it or not they offered to pay
for the broken window themselves when they heard why I'd been brow beaten by
the homeowner. Oddly enough the next day the homeowner apologized and
told me to forget it (the repair cost was $1.35) and I gave the grocer his
money back.
Do you remember the Arcadia Theater cashier who wore leg braces? I
was startled when she stormed onto her front porch in Goose Nibble and demanded
that I do a better job a hitting her front porch with the newspaper. Her house
had a wooden porch the size of a battleship deck with nothing to stop the paper
from skittering off the other side into the vast unknown darkness of enormous
bushes. I thought that maybe she was deaf too as she's the first person I
recall ever playing any Stevie Wonder records LOUDLY and OFTEN. Now I
think he must have represented hope of success to her.
Our TV repairman lived in Goose Nibble too. He's the only person I've ever met
who actually completed a TV repair course after enrolling with a matchbook
cover. He invited us into his house to see the color TV he had built from a
kit. Wow! In those days we needed an appointment to even find an
occasional color TV show. We'd hoped to catch an episode of Bonanza but
instead saw part of "Gentlemen Prefer Blondes" with Marilyn Monroe.
There sure was a lot of RED. His home made TV reminds me of my earlier
PCs; he spent more time adjusting it that we did watching it.
Yep, you really don't get to know folks (and what they eat) until you stand in
their kitchen waiting for them to find the exact change to pay their monthly
newspaper bill. :-)
You're quite right about our Jr. Hi English teacher who could not fit between
her little desk and the blackboard. She always pushed the desk away from her
instead of scooting her chair back. I doubt that many 7th graders
realized how sensitive she was about her weight and her appearance which was
not at all subtle. She was our neighbor and was very kind to us. I
guess it's no shock to learn that she was a great cook? Anyway, her husband was
a painter who kept a sign business. He had a nifty old 1930's black
pickup truck that her used for delivering signs. I suppose that's what they had
in common - an appreciation for the arts. Back in the Viet Nam era I
was amazed to meet him on a train from Denver
to St. Louis on
his way back to Olney from a convention in California. They both often walked to
town and to work from their apartment which I suppose makes them ahead of their
time for urban gentrification.
Kory and Kora Bakery was mentioned again. I finally found a good match
for their bear claws and coffee rolls. Do you remember those burnt
caramel colored rolls sprinkled with nut chips? While touristing in Mackinaw City in Upper
Michigan I landed a box full of pastries from the Mackinaw Bakery
on Langlade Street;
it's to the north of the ferry landing to Mackinaw Island.
It must be a difference in the dough and the sweetness; they're not sticky sweet
and the dough's not mushy - like Mexican pastries - a little on the dry side
(good for dunking). Anyway, if you're in the area and tire of fudge then
you should stroll on over to the Mackinaw Bakery.
Rich Wilson
Class of '68
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Mary Noerenberg Cummings
Cummings_mary@msn.com
Memories of Kick-the-Can and Hide-n-Seek, whiffle ball, kick ball, all took
place doing the summers when we were growing up. There was a vacant lot
off the alley behind my house where we all congregated to play the ball
games. Kick-the-can and Hide-n-Seek were all after dark games we played
in the summer. Our summers were longer from school because we didn't have
so many days off and didn't start until after Labor Day. There were 10
houses in a one-block area of the 900 block of East Elm Street. In the 1950's and
60's there were 30 kids all getting together to play these wonderful games, or
go ride bikes, go down to the pool at the park, etc. Lots to do!
Some of the families were the Turnipseed's (3 kids), Zubers (8 kids), Speiths
(3 boys), Hahn's (4 kids), Brookfields (2 girls), Noerenbergs (3 kids) and
there were other families who moved in and out of 3 other houses, but there are
23 of the kids. What fun we had. Does anyone else remember who may
have lived on our block during those years?
I was in 5th grade, Mrs. Lamb at Cherry
Street School,
when President John Kennedy was assassinated. I was walking down the
stairs in the old part and tripped at the same time he was shot.
Mrs. John Kowa was the art teacher/youth choir director/leader at our church
for years. When we built the new church on North Silver, we couldn't
afford real stained glass windows like from the old church on North Walnut.
So the youth group painted all the symbols on the windows under her
direction. This was when I was in Junior High (1964-65) and took a year
to complete. Since her passing several years ago, the church has tried to
keep up the good looks of the paint by repainting it and putting on another
coat of varnish-like substance. They still look pretty good after all
these years. Also under Mrs. Kowa's guidance, our youth group made a life-size
Nativity scene which was used every year since until just a few years ago when
it was so weather-beaten that it was pitched. How sad. It was paper
mache and fun to make. We also did that when I was in Junior high
school. She was an inspiration to everyone she touched and what a grand
lady she was (even in her later years). Never a bad word about anyone!
Is the Homecoming Dance still held in the gym? As I remember, Prom used
to be held in the Gym also. Where do these events take place now?
This is to Ann Neely - Our Junior year in high school there was no musical
because we were concentrating on the 20 kids chosen to go to All State.
We also concentrated harder on the band contest and solo and ensemble contests
that year. You were correct - 1967 was "Brigadoon", 1968 was
"Oklahoma!"
and our senior year 1970 was "The Music Man" with John Stull as
Harold Hill. Cindy Parnell and Ruby Neely were double-cast as Marian the
Librarian and I was Mrs. Paroo. I still have the record of that
performance and I have never heard any team of boys do the opening train scene
any better! Brings chills thinking about it!
Someone mentioned that it was a shame that the old "high school"
Junior High building was torn down. After the middle school moved into
their new "digs" in the late 70's, the building was used for storage
and was a fire hazard. However, if you would like to see a beautiful
rendition of this building, my Dad was presented with a pen & ink of the
building at the 1989 Sliva Salute. It hangs in his living room. It
is so accurate you can almost see the boys (Chris Tatum and Steve Weber) sneak
in the windows to the band room! I'll never forget the days I helped Dad
set up the band room after the janitors had moved all the chairs to clean the
floor. A couple of summers I also helped start out the beginning clarinet
players. That was an experience.
Chocolate - anyone want to buy a bag of chocolate? How about real
Christmas greenery from the State of Washington?
Had a lot of that too in my garage - 16 foot garlands, wreaths - I can still
smell them.
I am really enjoying the memories. Thanks to whoever started them and
THANK YOU, ANN WEESNER KING for keeping them going and encouraging more.
Cheers!
Mary
Class of 1970
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Joe & Barb Hunt
hunt1@wworld.com
Hi - received our first email of
memories from Sally Hunt and enjoyed reading. Although I am not familiar with a
lot of these memories it is nice to keep the history alive and be able to hold
on to something to pass on to my children. I grew up in Olney and I am
only 31 but mine and Joe's families have created a
lot of memories in this area. I respect this and would like to be added to your
mailing list. Joe and Barb Hunt -----
Joe & Barb Hunt
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Diane Martin Wood
Missydi45@aol.com
Yes, I received the Olney memories and thank you so much for including me in
them I really enjoy reading them. I'm not good at writing about things
like that but I do remember almost everything everyone has written about.
I remember the Merle Norman shop with the Baby Shop right next door and another
baby shop down the street - I always shopped in those 2 places for my kids
& at Merle Norman for my clothes when I was in Jr high & high school -
right down to layaways of 25 to 50 cents a week until paid for. And the
White Spot's banana splits with my friend, Donna Seiler. I also remember
the Kora & Kory bakery & a candy shop.
Diane Martin Wood
Class of '63
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Robert Sutton
phermone@ij.net
For the older grads - The dancing and parties at Vondale on 50 east - Rainbow
Inn on 130 & Whittle - Chateau at Vernor Lake - Ma Hatchets - Green Door -
Triangle on old 50 west - and other coffee places as the county line on
50 east - Lucile's Cafe - Kenny's Cafe - Cafe at the intersection
50\130 - first oil wells when hundreds watched the drilling and hot dogs were
sold - Pure Oil Picnics - Ruben VonAlmen frying up one of the first batches
of French Fries at Vondale - C. D. Drive Inn on 50 west - Hurn Lumber on
Walnut and York - The Centennial in 41' - May Day Parades (last day of
school for the country schools) Hanging out in Bowers and Schmalhausens -
Centralia Basketball Tournaments - And not to be forgotten The New Yorker
and Oasis - The opening of the Swimming Pool at the park - and the
Saturday Night crowds downtown when diagonal parking and route 50 put a real
cramp on any type of movement. Just a few of some of the earlier
memories, Ann - do appreciate your efforts in putting the Memories in a
Newsletter.
Robert Sutton
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