Masdean33@aol.com
I'm so HAPPY you listed all those businesses etc. It almost made me
cry to remember some of them. Of course at that time I didn't know
any of them but I do remember there was a Merry Go Round which was
powered by a horse (If I remember correctly) and it was at the corner
of Whittle and Main by what is the 1st National Bank now. I couldn't
help but notice that Bower's of course is still in business but not
family owned now (or at least I don't think they are related to the
Bower's but could be). But King's Furniture is still a Family owned
store and still up and going. It was great reading all those
memories. I wonder if the Farris Cafe wasn't where the DQ is now?
I do remember a restaurant there at one time.
Gloria Dean
Class of '50
Kay McCarter Harbough
philkay1@verizon.net
Just a note to say hi and to thank you for the Olney Memories. I
really like them. My Grandpa "Doc" Nuding worked at the Elks for
years and at Leingang Bakery. I found some old pictures of the bakery
awhile back. My mother (Thelma Mc Carter) worked at the Olney Drive
Inn and Arcadia theatre for years in the evenings and at
International Shoe factory in the days. Olney does not have too many
old places left. It seems we tear them down instead of keeping
memories alive when they get old.
Kay McCarter Harbaugh
Class of '61
Billy Bender
bbender@wabash.net
When I saw the name "Mehmert" on your list of businesses in Olney
from years ago, it reminded me of a 6" plate that my step-father,
Harry Bail, gave to me when his school teacher sister, Geneva Bail
(Central School - 1 and 2 grades) passed away several years ago. It
is a picture of the proposed new Olney High School to be built,
somewhere around 1914 or 1915. On the back of the plate it says
"Painted and imported for H. Mehment & Sons, Olney, Ill." Also on
the back, it says: " Hand-painted by The Donrota Studio. Germany"
I have always treasured this plate and keep it on display in my
home. I stopped at Quayle's Antique Shop several years ago when
Thelma Quayle was still living to see if she knew anything about this
plate. She got rather in a snit and said that she had one, but
thought she had the only one! I sure hated to burst her
bubble.......because I also have one. Another Olney item that I am
very proud to have is a picture done by Viola Kowa that she drew with
pastels in 1961. She sat in front of the Richland County Court
House and drew Main Street (looking east) and the majority of the
businesses on the north side, all the way to the Weber Sanitarium,
which was one block east of the Olney High School (the old one).
The drawing even shows the really big arrow atop either a drug store
or Sherman's Dept. Store; this arrow points down Whittle Avenue and
says "New Olney Hotel." Miss Kowa offered the drawing to me, if I
wanted it!!!!!!!!!!! Of course I wanted it; had it framed in a
beautiful oak frame, and it adorns a wall in my home also. It is fun
to look at and try to remember all the stores, of which she drew in
the names of most of them.
Thank you for the "memories" that this #45th reminded me of. Am
sorry to say that I remember too many of them!
Have a great day......
Billy (Alcorn) Bender
Class of 1954.
Everette Brewer
pebrewer1@cox.net
Everett Brewer...Grad in 1953........Most of my memories are related
to school activities. Jimmy Stivers, Bill Hatch, Nancy Sparr,
Carlyn Mitchell, Neil Bemont...These are the people that went to
Central School with me.....we would sneak a drop down the fire escape-
slide when we could...Then on to ERHS...Where Hatch, Coen, Wilkinson,
and I played football and track......loved those years....Doris Leet,
Mimsi Weber, Jody Richards, Dee Leet, Sonny Burmett, Wonderful people
to have lived among....I know that Ms. Myers would never have figured
me for a college professor.....Mr. Allison in algebra always put his
head near my ear and said, "Ev, just write your name on the
paper...we'll get through (no great favor)." When I think on it, it
seems that time has gone way too fast.....where did it all go....I'm
sure it lives on, unchanged in our minds.....we are still
kids.....and maybe we come together again one day.
Everett Brewer...
Grad in 1953........
------------------------------------------------------------------------
------------------------------------
Tric Martin
squirl48@wavecable.com
ERHS Class of '66' - 40th Reunion
Friday June 23rd & Sat, June 24th, 2006
info at www.darrelsnively.com/ERHS
form and reservations to ;
Denny Totten, 620 S. East St., Olney IL 62450
by 15 April 2006
Tric Martin
Class of '66
A Reader of Olney Memories
I came across this phrase in a book yesterday "FENDER SKIRTS".
A term I haven't heard in a long time and thinking about "fender
skirts" started me thinking about other words that quietly disappear
from our language with hardly a notice.
Like "curb feelers" and "steering knobs" or "suicide knobs".
Since I'd been thinking of cars, my mind naturally
went that direction first. Any kids will probably have to find some
elderly person over 50 to explain some of these terms to you.
Remember "Continental kits?" They were rear bumper extenders and
spare tire covers that were supposed to make any car as cool as a
Lincoln Continental.
When did we quit calling them "emergency brakes?" At some point
"parking brake" became the proper term. But I miss the hint of drama
that went with "emergency brake."
I'm sad, too, that almost all the old folks are gone who would
call the accelerator the "foot feed."
Didn't you ever wait at the street for your daddy to come home, so
you could ride the "running board" up to the house?
Here's a phrase I heard all the time in my youth but never anymore
- "store-bought." Of course, just about everything is store-bought
these days. But once it was bragging material to have a store-bought
dress or a store-bought bag of candy.
"Coast to coast" is a phrase that once held all sorts of
excitement and now means almost nothing. Now we take the term "world
wide" for granted. This floors me.
On a smaller scale, "wall-to-wall" was once a magical term in our
homes. In the '50s, everyone covered his or her hardwood floors with,
wow, wall-to-wall carpeting! Today, everyone replaces their wall-to-
wall carpeting with hardwood floors. Go figure.
When's the last time you heard the quaint phrase "in a family
way?" It's hard to imagine that the word "pregnant" was once
considered a little too graphic, a little too clinical for use in
polite company. So we had all that talk about stork visits and "being
in a family way" or simply "expecting."
Apparently "brassiere" is a word no longer in usage. I said it the
other day and my daughter cracked up. I guess it's just "bra" now
"Unmentionables" probably wouldn't be understood at all.
I always loved going to the "picture show," but I considered
"movie" an affectation.
Most of these words go back to the '50s, but here's a pure-'60s
word I came across the other day - "rat fink." Ooh, what a nasty put-
down!
Here's a word I miss - "percolator." That was just a fun word to
say. And what was it replaced with? "Coffee maker." How dull. Mr.
Coffee, I blame you for this.
I miss those made-up marketing words that were meant to sound so
modern and now sound so retro. Words like "DynaFlow" and
"Electrolux." Introducing the 1963 Admiral TV, now with "SpectraVision!"
Food for thought - Was there a telethon that wiped out lumbago?
Nobody complains of that anymore. Maybe that's what castor oil cured,
because I never hear mothers threatening kids with castor oil anymore.
Some words aren't gone, but are definitely on the endangered list.
The one that grieves me most "supper." Now everybody says "dinner."
Save a great word. Invite someone to supper. Discuss fender skirts.
Anonymous reader of Olney Memories
Eugene Weesner
Olney, Ill.
Thanks for sending me the Olney Memories # 45. I didn't realize the
number of businesses in Olney. But while reading through a lot of
them I do remember.
The Montgomery Ward store on East Main is about where King's
Furniture Store is now. I bought two farm wagons, still have one
with a flat top on it which we made for it. Sold the other one just
last fall. They were good wagons.
Fred Newton Money to Loan. Also had a Barber Shop. I got my hair
cut many times at his shop.
Sunset Cabins—a Jones family lived there. His boys helped my dad out
many a time.
Kaleys Men Furnishings—my dad bought my first suit with long pants
there. Mr. Kaley had one arm. By getting a new suit in his store he
gave me a new neck tie. I thought that was something, getting a new
neck tie for nothing.
Robb's Coffee house across the street from the Court House is where
my wife Joyce and I had our wedding supper in 1946.
Bourell's Music Store on Whittle Ave had a big dog sitting out in
front of the store for years. I've often wondered what happened to
the dog. Bet someone has it. The dog was used in advertising RCA
radios.
Missing on the list is the Old Olney Hotel on South Whittle, where it
remained until it burned.
Where First Nation Bank Drive-in is now, is where Landis Auto Company
was at one time. I bought my 1st new car from the Landis Auto
Company. It was a new Chevrolet 1940 model, 2 door for $690. plus
$10.00 for a heater. Plenty of girls. I whistled or played my 3
horn melody. Boy! I was king of Main Street. At that time there
wasn't hardly any young boys that had a new car. The car took many
50 cent per hour and a few $1 hours and lots of trapped rabbits,
hulled butterbeans sold in strawberry boxes over weekends and more.
Vondale Camp was East of Olney 4 miles and was called The Seven
Gables. It had a dancing floor by the juke box. I went there
several times until it burned down.
Eugene Weesner
Dannee Newton
dukeandfang@yahoo.com
I remember Jackie's Dance Studio above the JC Penny building. Mother
enrolled me in the dance class when I was about 6 years old (about
l946?. The first day she came to pick me up I was sitting on the
mat while everyone else was dancing. I had misbehaved
