WAVELAND by Ted Whitehead
WAVELAND by Ted Whitehead
" I was looking through some of the pictures and clippings of Kathys and found a poem written by Ted Whitehead -- titled, Waveland"
- shared by John "Rusty" Weaver 25 November 2014 on Facebook - 99% sure this poem was in one of the old Montgomery Magazines edited by Pat Cline (I wrote for this publication - loved that lady and TW, too.
When I think of Waveland
In the days of yore
Of Burrins and Sharpes And Charlie Moore's store
And of that old pot-bellied stove
We used to gather around
In those winter days of old
When snow was all around
How Mr. Moore would give us
A stick of gum or two
We'd carry in the coal for him
When we were kids back then
There was a man named Dillman
He sold windmills here and there
Those old mills pumped water
When the wind was blowin' fair
And every Wednesday night
Everybody came to town
For there was free movies
For us folks all around.
Note from KBZ: I remember Burrins (a nice little drug store -- which back then was a place you could get a prescription filled, or a cold medicine or whatever) that had great green rivers, a drink made with phosphate and ? . There was a large case of various kinds of candy. Used to go in there at least once-a-week to buy my grandfather, Carl Smith, root beer barrels and horehound candy. Frank Burrin was an extremely nice man. He was born in Ohio and not sure how he got to Waveland, but his wife was a native of our town. They had two sons and a daughter, none of whom stayed in our area. His place was a bit more old-fashioned that Sharpies.
Sharpes was directly across the street from the other drug store, Burrin's. It was kind of a teen hang-out. Every Saturday we were all thereand many nights right after school. Wilmer Sharp was also a very nice man, kind of goofy and fun sometime. He'd take a nickle to "wiggle me ears." It was awesome as he did indeed wiggle them -- a LOT. Well worth the nickle but I always wondered how he did that. Cherry cokes were the fav drink for most folks, but other flavors were available. His marshmallow sundaes were amazing, some people having the marshmallow on chocolate ice cream whereas I preferred vanilla (hand-dipped of course).. He had nifty Coca-Cola stools, I think with round tables. He demanded respect and we were raised to give it. His wife, Virginia Banta Sharp was one of the local librarians and very nice - she was just as Sharpie -- demanded respect and we gave it! Just the sign of those times which I wish we could go back to, really. Nice, nice lady and enjoyed their daughter, Pam as well.
Moore's store was a place I rarely went in but was sent there sometimes to get my grandfather. He was one of 'em who sat around the barrell talking away and smoking like a fiend. There were usually 4-10 there. Don't think they spent much on groceries but Charlie Moore loved to gossip. He and his wife, Hazel were pretty good friends with my grandparents, Carl and Hazel Morgan Smith. The Moores adopted a son and he was a bit strange, probably today what you'd call autistic, we just didn't know what to think in those days. Charlie liked to joke and have fun but often went overboard like when he put fish in our swimming pool while we were gone and we had to knock in the walls. Not sure if that was a joke or he got tired of us yelling ? We loved that pool. Charlie would often give credit so he could have an advantage over the other two grocery store owners, although Harmons (George and Jeanette when I was growing up, but fairly sure George's father began it many years before I was born - 1949) would to someone they knew well and knew could be trusted to bring it to them in a quick step. Coleman's I don't think gavfe credit, but may have.
Those were the five main stores in the 1950-60 time range, along with Weaver's gas station (couple of other owners before him but not sure who), Whitecotton & Spencer (afterwards for many years, Servies & Morgan which still to this date, 11-28-2014 is there but Larry Dean & Carl want to sell it - just can't get a decent price in this place) hardwares, Machledt's furniture store, the bank, a restaurant (again, owned by several even in my time, Wiatts, then Phyllis & Kenny Vance), and Hunt's Electric. Oh, and I don't believe Dillman's was there in my time frame - he had moved his family and hardware to Crawfordsville on Washington Street, I believe. -- kbz