A BIT OF SNOW: And what can I tell you? It snowed Wednesday night in Vermilion. It’s been so long since we experienced any weather like this - to took a little time to adjust. My friend, Jim Jones, took this measure at his house (off West Road above the river) before the sun rose on the blizzarding landscape. As one can tell it wasn’t over yet. We thought to wait until after noon to venture out but it was still bad. I tried driving my PT Cruiser. But it is just too low to the ground to do any good in 16-18 inches of snow. Another friend, Jennifer Smith, saw me go around the block and called leaving a voicemail message asking me to please come plow her driveway. In 15 years of cooking and coordinating the local Meals-On-Wheels program this was only the 3rd time that the weather prohibited us from getting the meals out. It simply would have been foolish to have folks go out on the roads under those conditions. It was a day to stay home. Because Christmas falls on Saturday it gave me a chance to put everything together for this weeks “Views” without staying up all night on Friday. Hither am I working in a word processing program that I will save in html (the language of the internet), and then copy and paste it into the raw page early Christmas morn. This should prove to be very interesting. I’ve never tried this before. I also had an opportunity to make and bake an apple-walnut pie from scratch. These are things I wanted to try before - but never had enough time. Ergo; there are some good aspects to being stranded at home during a blizzard
HELFRICH, HAMMAN, AND DAUMBAUGH: Mr. and Mrs. Helfrich, from Lorain, purchased the Showalter Livery/Boathouse in 1925. Together they built up a lucrative business. And when the old bridge gave way to the new in 1929 they erected a new building and equipped it for an up-to-date summer and winter restaurant and boat house. When Mr. Helfrich's health failed some years later his son-in-law, Jesse Hamman, also of Lorain, came in as assistant. And following Mr. Helfrich's death he continued as manager of the restaurant. When Mrs. Helfrich was unable to help as she had in the past, Hamman entered into a co-lease of the restaurant with a man named Andy Dambach from Milan, Ohio. Mr.Dambach also operated a restaurant called Andy's Place in Milan.
This photo, given me courtesy of my Milan friend Dale Hohler, shows Andy Dambach, Joe DiMaggio, Lou Gehrig and Pat Malone....who was also Milanite. Dale thinks that the other fellow was (then) the Huron County Sheriff. It is a very interesting picture.
FAMOUS FACES: Remember the little girl in the coal scuttle? Due to the kindnesses of (again) Dale Hohler and New London historian, Tom Neel, I now know a great deal more about her. As you can see by these photographs Dorothy Granger-Hilder was not only a beautiful baby, but she became more beautiful (and talented) as she matured. In a September, 1981 interview with Norwalk Reflector Staff Writer, Jan Rogosch she said, (after another girl was cast in the part of Belle Watling Clark Gable’s friend in the movie “Gone With The Wind”) that “It wasn’t my destiny to become a star.” How this translates into the language of folks like myself is that she was never destined to become a leading lady. She appeared in over 200 films. Several days ago I got to see her in an old film called “The Dentist” with comedian W.C. Fields. I intend to write more about her in the near future.
TEXACO STATION: Here is a great picture taken by Vermilion Photographer, Dick Koontz, of Spring-Thaw flooding along Lake Road (looking east) between the river bridge and the hill at Linwood Park/Vermilion Road. I can’t date the pic, but I’d guess that it’s late 1940’s early 1950’s. Burleys Optometrist office isn’t there yet and neither (of course) is Romp’s marina. The station (now Huggy’s) was a Texaco gas station for a very long time. When I was a wisp of a boy Dominic Kotora owned the place. I would like to say that this doesn’t happen anymore - however...
CHRISTMAS'PAST: The following vignettes are memories of Christmas’ past sent to me by “Views” readers. I believe you will find them of interest. I did. Many thanks to them for sharing. Merry Christmas, Everyone!
CLASS REUNION UPDATES:
Ray Beursken tells me that the VHS class of 1955 has scheduled their 50th class reunion on September 10, 2005 at the Boat Club. Class members of 1955 should put this date on their calendar. They're hoping for a good turnout.
I've been in contact with Bruce Eldridge and John Hunter from the Class of 1960/61 (?) and it looks like they'll have a website up for their class reunion very soon. When its done the link will appear on this page.
A gal named Shelly from the Class of 1985 tells me that "the VHS class of 1985 will be having a 20 year reunion in the summer of 2005......no further details. The name of the organizer is Kim Schultz."
From Roger Boughton comes the following note. His class just celebrated their reunion earlier this month (October): Some classmates have inquired if there are pictures available from our reunion weekend. Yes, and if classmates would send copies to me either through the internet or mail I'll make sure they are placed on our web site for all to see. This would be helpful to those who were not present but would like to see pictures of classmates who were present. Jessie Spring (Sharon Stark) and Mary Lou send their regards and promise to be at our next reunion when ever that might be. There has also been some discussion as to when to hold our next reunion and if we should move it around the country. We'll have a questionnaire that will come out within the next 30-90 days providing you an opportunity to respond and provide your views on what should happen next. Remember our web site is located at: Class of '59 and I'll update it as soon as I receive enough new pictures and information from our classmates to make it worth reading. So send me any information that you would like to share with other classmates and we'll put it up for all to see and view.
I've visited Roger's website and it's fun.
Persons interested in having their VHS (and vicinity) reunion plans posted on this site are welcome to do so. I can't provide anyone with webpages to post their activities in depth, but I can provide a link to existing pages and/or post some activity items here. All anyone need do is contact me at my email address and pass along their material electronically.
I should add that some of the people who are noted in this part of the page are good resource folks for all types of information if one should be looking for some long lost friend. I won't give out contact information unless I have permission from those named, but I will contact them on your behalf if you desire.
As news regarding VHS reunion activities comes to my attention it will appear on this web page. So stay tuned folks.
The Beat Goes On: The page is generated by the dreaded Macintosh Computer and is written and designed by (me) Rich Tarrant. It will change weekly ~ usually on Saturday. Bookmark the URL (Universal Resource Locater) and come back at your own leisure. Send the page to your friends (and enemies if you wish). If you have something to share with those who visit this page, pass it on. And if you see something that is in need of correction do the same. My sister, Nancy, is a great help in that respect. It only takes me a week to get things right. And follow the bookmarks. You might find something you like. If you experience a problem with them let me know. Also, if you want to see past editions of this eZine check the new archives links below.
Links to other sites on the Web
Vol.2, Issue 40, December 25, 2004
© 2004 Rich Tarrant