Tuesday, April 11, 2017

From the readers: Thoughts on Mom, Norman Remington Co. and more

As I slowly get back into the swing of things here, it's time to play catch-up on some reader comments from the first quarter of 2017.

Mary Ingham Otto, 1948-2017: Thank you for all these kind comments when I announced the sad news...

  • Blakeney wrote: "I enjoy your blog and am so sorry to hear about your mother. Prayers to you and your family — may you see her again one day."
  • Tom from Garage Sale Finds wrote: "Sorry to hear of your loss, Chris. It's clear you had special bond and common love with her. No one well-remembered ever dies."
  • Joan wrote: "I was wondering what the Papergreat Tribute would be and this was perfect."
  • Art & Kevin wrote: "I was devastated to hear of your Mom's passing. My partner Kevin and I have cruised with your Mom several times and we always kept in touch. I am so sorry for you, and having lost my Mom a couple years ago, it is a very difficult journey in healing. Your Mom was so very proud of you, Adriane and her beloved grandkids. She was a dear friend and a fantastic lady. Be at peace knowing she is at peace. Art and Kevin, Vancouver, Canada."

"Jim and Judy," a 1939 grade-school textbook with a York connection: Anonymous writes: "When I was 6, we moved into a house in Texarkana and I found this book in an old cedar chest there. Mom was 7 months along, and she and Dad were discussing what to name the baby. I said, 'If it's a boy name it Jim, if it's a girl, name it Judy.' They liked it. My baby sister likes it, too."

Mystery real photo postcard: Man and two women: Tom from the Garage Sale Finds blog writes the following, with respect to "Balto.": "It's possible that's an abbreviation for Baltimore. There is a 425 East Baltimore street there. It's location of an 'Adult Entertainment Club' now."

Bookseller's label for The Norman Remington Co. of Baltimore: Anonymous writes: "I am also proud to see my great great grandfather Stanley G. Remington (whom I am named after), my grandfather John T. Remington and uncle John C. Remington — how they were part of American History of the book business! To see the dates that Stanley started in the late 1800s makes me glad that I am part (only a small part) of this family's History! My Dad was active duty Navy, so we were not in Baltimore but twice a year to visit with the Remington family and I as a little boy got to see the Charles Street offices and store before it closed 1979. I thought it was a cool place hanging in the history and stories of the location. Also the example of their work ethic. They did Baltimore proud! Thank you!"

Miniature photographs from 1930s New York City: Wolfgang Schindler writes: "My grandfather had bought a set of exactly these photographs (12 to 16) while staying in NYC in late 1937. I still have most of them."

The Dude's QSL card and some groovy 1970s swap-club stamps: "Unknown" writes: "Space Patrol was a QSL swap club. It was started by the same person who started Canadian Goose, I think."

Monday, April 10, 2017

Two postcards purchased at Griffis Grocery in Lawtey, Florida


The past five weeks have been a whirlwind, as you might imagine. In the midst of everything else that I've been dealing with, my 190,000-mile vehicle was mortally injured by miscreants1 while it was parked in the public garage at my workplace. The extent of the damage is such that it doesn't make any sense to put money into fixing it up and removing all of the poorly-drawn phallus graffiti from the sides and the hood.

So I had to remove my belongings from the car in advance to driving it to the salvage yard. The last thing I discovered was in the glove compartment — the two vintage postcards that I purchased in February 2016 at a tiny grocery store [pictured above] near Lawtey, Florida.2

Here's what I wrote last summer about the store:
"To be clear, though, Lawtey isn't a ghost town. It has a population of about 700 and has been well-known in recent times for using a speed trap on U.S. 301 as a source of local revenue. I stopped at a tiny grocery/antiques store called Griffis Grocery ... and purchased a bottle of soda and a pair of early 20th century postcards from a sweet old woman who told me she was legally blind."
The postcards went into the glove compartment on that day and came out yesterday, as I was emptying the Ford Taurus in preparation for its farewell.

So here's a look at those two postcards. I think I'll use one of them for Postcrossing and retain the other one as a keepsake of that afternoon driving through Lawtey.

R.R.Y.M.C.A. Building, Brewster, Ohio
That stands for Railroad YMCA. The Brewster Railroad YMCA/Wandle House, located on Wabash Avenue in Brewster, started as a railroad dormitory constructed in 1916 by the Wheeling and Lake Erie Railway. The building now houses the Brewster-Sugarcreek Township Historical Society Museum and The Station Restaurant.

Chalmers Motor Co., Detroit, Michigan
Short-lived Chalmers Motor Company was established in 1908, struggled with business after World War I, and merged with the Maxwell Automobile Company, forerunner of Chrysler, in 1922.

Footnotes
1. Hooligans, vandals, juvenile delinquents, mischief-makers, hoodlums ... kids who should have been inside reading books.
2. You can see the grocery store's sign in this 2011 post on The Goat.

Sunday, April 9, 2017

1958 photo of Mom & friend


This photograph, marked as being from 1958, shows Mom (right) and a friend named Charlene sitting in the den of the family house on Oak Crest Lane in Wallingford.

As I write this post, I'm sitting in the same chair that Charlene is sitting on in this photo; I've used it as the chair at my computer "desk" for a couple of years now. I think it will easily outlast all of us.

Mom, meanwhile, is sitting on a mattress that might well be the same one that's currently in the guest bedroom of her house in Aspers — the house she didn't get to live in nearly long enough following her retirement and move away from Oak Crest Lane.