Dining car through the desert

__By Darla Buckhannon__

While strolling, I wondered whatever happened to Jerry Reppert.

Birthdays

Happy birthday to George Holland, Robert Coomer, Paige Holder, Renee Vandeven, Dane Horman, Jeremy Glastetter, Monica Harrell, Nikki Davie, Angela Hooker, June Cobb, Eric Eftink, Nick Swinford, John King, Josh Petitt, Eileen Varble, Marvin Ralph, Jerry Wolsey, Samantha Muka, Amanda Lowery, Tommy Nunnally, Gerald Dame, Mary Teegarden, Alice McFerron, Cletus Lux, Laura Craigmiles, Melanie Spane, Vona Baker and Tom Lambrou.

Happy anniversary to Bob and Margie Kielhofner, Bill and Elizabeth Hagan, Cliff and Bertie Evans, Terry and Peggy Lee and Martin and Jeanette Eftink.

October is Apple Jack Month, National Popcorn Month, Pizza Month, American Pharmacist Month and Clergy Appreciation Month. It is also Awareness Month for Breast Cancer, Domestic Violence, Lupus and Diabetes.

Barbara Arnold said the open house her children gave her on her 82nd birthday Sept. 14 was great. They had wall-to-wall people visiting and had a very memorable day. Barbara thanks everyone for their cards, gifts and well wishes.

Museum progress

Barbara, Shirley Lee and Mike Mantel have been busy trying to have the items at the Historical Museum organized and on the shelves. They are very appreciative of WarChild for getting them moved back into the museum but still need volunteers so they can reach their goal of having the museum ready for the alumni weekend. If you can help, please call Shirley at 887-1578 or Barbara at 887-3272. They have duplicates of 1927, 1950 and 1954 Moguls that you can buy for $5 each and are in need of 1930s and 1960s Moguls if you have any you can donate. With the holidays approaching, cookbooks are still available for $5 and they have several Christmas ornaments they are going to give away as door prizes for those visiting the museum. Membership dues for 2015 are $10.

We are always pleased when we see our old buildings restored and put to good use rather than deteriorating or being turned into parking lots. Presently, the old Slaughters is being dressed up by the owners of J Marie's Flowers & Boutique, next door, who plan to use the addition for display. If you look closely at the top of the building, you can see a handwritten ad for boots and shoes. We are wondering who wrote it and how long ago.

Busy calendar

Lots of activities are on the calendar this week. City Council meets tomorrow night at City Hall, and we have the Citywide Clean-up Tuesday and Thursday. The water and sewer projects continue, and we are asked again to be patient. This weekend we welcome CHS alumni who will be arriving for Saturday evening's banquet starting at 5 p.m. at VFW Hall.

The Chaffee Drive-in is closed for the season and will re-open in March. Loyal customer Bob Burnett says he has about a dozen large chocolate sundaes in his freezer so he can enjoy his frozen treats at least for another month or so.

Jack Maxwell of Jefferson City and others said our story about Jim McFerron's Volkswagen brought back many memories. Jack's first car was a 1960 black VW "bug" that he bought in the summer of 1963 after working as a lifeguard with Ken Howard at the pool at Harmon Field. He, too, remembers the absence of a gas gauge and the car having an "angle cock" on the floor just to the right of the gas pedal to access the reserve tank. Jack says he loved the car, and drove it through four years of college and into his first year of teaching.

Trip memories

We asked for memories of trips, and Vicky Martin of City Hall shares this one with us. Vicky says she was 5 years old when she took her very first trip, which just happened to be on a train. Her Dad had relocated to California after finding work there, so Vicky and her Mother sold most of their belongings and boarded the train in Poplar Bluff for the three-day trip to Ontario, California. Vicky said she loved watching Westerns with her mother and could name every actor who starred in them. As they traveled across the desert, Vicky just knew she would see some cowboys and Indians. A sailor returning home to his family sat nearby and helped Vicky's mother entertain the five-year-old. They snacked on Lance cheese crackers as he read comic books to her all the while, on the lookout for sightings of cowboys and Indians. Vicky said one real treat was eating in the dining car. It was the first time she had ever looked at a menu and the formal setting was quite impressive, with the white table cloth and silverware and the uniformed steward waiting to take their order. Much to her mother's surprise, Vicky ordered a grownup meal of ham and eggs. She realized much later it was probably over their budget but her Mother nodded OK and added grits, a dish for which Vicky says she has yet to acquire a taste. Vicky said they lived in California until she was 10 and she was able to enjoy the state's many attractions during those five years.

In the 1920s and 1930s, many of the best chefs in the country were working for the railroads, and you can read about it in James H. Porterfield's book, "Dining by Rail: The History and Recipes of America's Golden Age of Railroad Cuisine." Food trains can be found in California, New England and many parts of the world now, and multi-course feasts complete with starched napkins and polished silverware are accompanied with constantly changing scenes of open fields, rivers, forests and wildlife.

Special words

Remember to tell those special people in your life that you love them--those three words mean so very much.

Our thoughts and prayers continue to be with those who have lost loved ones, our homebound, those in nursing homes and hospitals, those undergoing cancer treatments and those recovering from surgery. We thank our many brave men and women who have served and continue to serve our country so valiantly. We pray for the safe and timely return of those on active duty.

Contact

Please email your news and comments to me at darbuck2@airmail.net. You may also leave a detailed message at 573-887-6430 or 214-207-7839.

And then ...

Then there was the comeback of the Sony Walkman retailing for $700.