In the 1950's and early 1960's, Mannford (the old town) had at least three grocery stores. Convenience stores had been created by that time but Mannford wasn't ready for them. In fact, the first convenience store in the United States was opened in Dallas, Texas, by the Southland Ice Company in the 1950's. It later grew into what is today 7 Eleven stores.
The grocery stores I remember were Varnell's Grocery, Mannford Trading Company, and Vaught's Grocery. Varnell's was located on South Main Street on the east side of the street. Earl Varnell ran the grocery store and my most vivid memory of that store was that he had a cream station. Did Earl's wife work there as well? I don't remember.
In the early 1960's, we had a milk cow who could out-produce what our family could consume so we would run the excess milk through a cream separator and sell it in town at Varnell's Grocery. Running the separator was hard work and you had to crank like mad to keep the speed up. The cream was hauled into Varnell's and, as I recall, they measured the butterfat somehow to determine how much to pay you.
Hugh and Ethel Vaught's grocery store was across the street and west of the Bank. I don't remember a lot about it except that it was relatively new and always appeared to be extremely clean. Mr. and Mrs. Vaught, like most of the people in Mannford at that time, were wonderful people and really contributed to the community. Mr. Vaught had run a grocery store just west of the drug store but sold it to a Mr. Willetts when he built his new store in the 1950's. Mr. Willetts later sold that grocery store to Alfred Hughes who turned in into a feed store.
The other grocery store in Mannford at that time was the Mannford Trading Company. It was probably the biggest store in town as well as being the oldest. F.M. Coonrod, who had opened the Mannford State Bank several years earlier, opened the Mannford Trading Company in about 1925. I'm told that he and his wife, Jessa, ran the Trading Company for many years until their daughter, Juanita, and her husband, Les Hinton, took it over.
As a youngster, I found the Trading Company to be a fascinating place. It was "L" shaped with an entrance on the south to Highway 51 and another entrance to the east opening to Main Street. The groceries were all located on the west end of the store and best accessed from the Hwy. 51 entrance while the dry goods were on the north side of the store.
It, by the way, was the ancestor to today's Phelp's Market. When the town moved in the early 1960's, Les and Juanita moved their grocery store to the new town. The store was located across the walkway from the Bank. After a few years, they decided to retire and talked their daughter, Peg, and her husband, Jack McIntire into running the store. Later, in about 1969, the grocery store was sold to Bill and Harriett Phelps.
When my brother, Gary, and I were in our early teens, we made extra money by planting tomatoes and okra and then selling them to Mr. Hinton at the grocery store. I can still visualize him standing behind the counter in that grocery store!
Showing posts with label Old Mannford. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Old Mannford. Show all posts
Wednesday, July 23, 2014
Your First Job
Do you remember the first real job you ever had? Not doing chores for your parents or grandparents but a real, honest to goodness JOB? My memories of my first job are very vivid, but some of that may come with age. As I get older, some of the stuff that may have happened becomes fact! The good news is that there are few people around to challenge it.
In 1960 our family moved back to Mannford from Pampa, Texas where we had lived for four years. Dad was working in Tulsa and Mom got a job at Mannford State Bank, working for L.R. "Dick" Jones. I was 14 years old and it was time for me to go to work, too. I don't remember how I heard about the job washing dishes at one of the local cafes, but I went up there and applied to the owner, Callie Fields. She was the wife of Gene Fields and was a bit intimidating to a fourteen year old boy. My starting salary was 30 cents per hour. After a few months, Callie sold the cafe to Lilly Hudson. Lilly was just the opposite of Callie, she was one of the nicest, warmest people I've ever met! Life was good; plus, I got a raise to 40 cents.
The name of the cafe is questionable but I do remember that it was called Gene's Cafe for a while. Other cafes in town were the White Way, the City Cafe and the Coffee Cup cafe.
Judy Shaeffer and I worked there for a year or so, I would guess, and took turns doing dishes, cooking the easier things, and waiting tables. I also got to work with Ollie Farrow there. She was the mother of one of my classmates, Jesse, and was one of the finest women I knew.
To this day, I remember some of the prices of the meals. Hamburgers were a quarter, hamburger steaks and chicken fried steaks were $1.25, "veal cutlets" were $1.35, and T-bone steaks were $2.65. To prepare veal cutlets, we took a tenderized raw chicken fried steak and cut it into two pieces. We may have put it in a different coating, I don't remember.
Judy must have worked the morning shift because she talks about preparing sack lunches for the workers who were building the roads, parks, and bridges in preparation for moving the town. On the other hand, it seemed that I was always working in the evenings. The only lunches I remember packing were for Lilly's husband, Otis. He had a job as a night watchman on some of the construction sites and Lilly would pack a lunch for him in the evening.
About once a month, Dick Jones would bring all the employees of the bank over in the evening for dinner. Everyone ate T-bone steaks and had a good time. That was kind of strange for me because I had to wait on my mother. I couldn't begin to name all the employees at the time but they included Bobby Greenwood, Paul McCrackin, and Hazel Tate.
Just east of the cafe on the corner was a covered triangular area. This obviously had been a gas station years before but was closed when I worked at the Cafe. We used it for storage of soft drinks and other supplies. Lilly used to send me down there to fetch supplies and I would read magazines while I was there. Lilly knew I was goofing off but she was too nice to say much about it!
I think your first job is alway kind of special. At least, mine was. I think I enjoyed it more than my last one but that may just be the years fading my memory!
In 1960 our family moved back to Mannford from Pampa, Texas where we had lived for four years. Dad was working in Tulsa and Mom got a job at Mannford State Bank, working for L.R. "Dick" Jones. I was 14 years old and it was time for me to go to work, too. I don't remember how I heard about the job washing dishes at one of the local cafes, but I went up there and applied to the owner, Callie Fields. She was the wife of Gene Fields and was a bit intimidating to a fourteen year old boy. My starting salary was 30 cents per hour. After a few months, Callie sold the cafe to Lilly Hudson. Lilly was just the opposite of Callie, she was one of the nicest, warmest people I've ever met! Life was good; plus, I got a raise to 40 cents.
The name of the cafe is questionable but I do remember that it was called Gene's Cafe for a while. Other cafes in town were the White Way, the City Cafe and the Coffee Cup cafe.
Judy Shaeffer and I worked there for a year or so, I would guess, and took turns doing dishes, cooking the easier things, and waiting tables. I also got to work with Ollie Farrow there. She was the mother of one of my classmates, Jesse, and was one of the finest women I knew.
To this day, I remember some of the prices of the meals. Hamburgers were a quarter, hamburger steaks and chicken fried steaks were $1.25, "veal cutlets" were $1.35, and T-bone steaks were $2.65. To prepare veal cutlets, we took a tenderized raw chicken fried steak and cut it into two pieces. We may have put it in a different coating, I don't remember.
Judy must have worked the morning shift because she talks about preparing sack lunches for the workers who were building the roads, parks, and bridges in preparation for moving the town. On the other hand, it seemed that I was always working in the evenings. The only lunches I remember packing were for Lilly's husband, Otis. He had a job as a night watchman on some of the construction sites and Lilly would pack a lunch for him in the evening.
About once a month, Dick Jones would bring all the employees of the bank over in the evening for dinner. Everyone ate T-bone steaks and had a good time. That was kind of strange for me because I had to wait on my mother. I couldn't begin to name all the employees at the time but they included Bobby Greenwood, Paul McCrackin, and Hazel Tate.
Just east of the cafe on the corner was a covered triangular area. This obviously had been a gas station years before but was closed when I worked at the Cafe. We used it for storage of soft drinks and other supplies. Lilly used to send me down there to fetch supplies and I would read magazines while I was there. Lilly knew I was goofing off but she was too nice to say much about it!
I think your first job is alway kind of special. At least, mine was. I think I enjoyed it more than my last one but that may just be the years fading my memory!
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