Main Street was a big part of growing up

The Reporter's Notebook

 

Last updated 1/8/2020 at 9:32am



My earliest and most vivid memories take me back to when I was 6 years old.

That was the year I started the first grade, and also when I started to get store-bought haircuts.

My father, who could do most anything, cut my hair until he took construction jobs away from home.

It was about midway through the Great Depression, and jobs were opening up.

I went to Ray Sheets’ barber shop on Main Street in Palouse. Sheets was a favorite of all the kids because he always had treats for us. And he had some other things going for him. His teeth were capped in gold and he would give you his million dollar smile. And he chewed tobacco and would spit in a brass spittoon near the barber chair. And I recall that when he hit the spittoon it would make a “ting” sound. It always brought laughter from those in his shop.

My brother Bob had different memories of haircuts. My mom thought she would save a little money and tried to cut my brother’s hair. She ran into trouble and it looked like someone had put a bowl on his head and then cut around it. I can still hear the wail he let out when he looked into the mirror. Mom then had to pony up the money for a haircut at the barber shop. Sheets just said that it looked like his mom had tried to cut his hair. Sheets repaired the damage. Little did I know then that Main Street would play a big role in growing up.

A few years later, I got my first job stocking shelves in the local Piggly Wiggly. It was right next door to the barber shop.

Things went along quite well, and I was taught to check people out and handle the money.

I continued there until my dad opened his meat market a couple of doors down.

He partnered with a cattle rancher who bought the animals and ran them through his slaughter house.

Dad could do just about anything. He was a finish carpenter, a cement finisher, mechanic, and about anything else. You didn’t hire people during the depression; you did the work yourself.

There, I got the duties of cleaning the meat case, grinding the hamburger and tending to the bacon and hams, which he cured himself.

It wasn’t much later when Dad had me killing and dressing chickens for the shop. I still have trouble looking live chickens in the eye. They know!

The next Main Street job was the Darigold dealer Shorty Ransom. There, I ran milk from his truck, one day on one side of town, and the next on the other side of town.

We started at 5 in the morning and I got through in time for school.

Shorty bought cream from the farmers back when farmers had milk cows.

They brought it into his shop in cans, and we would measure the butterfat content; that was how he paid them.

Shorty and his wife treated me like family, and I spent a lot of time in his shop and in their home.

Darigold offered Shorty a position in Spokane, and he moved; not a good feeling for me.

I spent time at Penney’s, because the manager’s son and I were best friends. We put trikes, bikes and wagons together for the store.

I was only out of a real job for a short time. I got a job washing dishes at the Oasis Cafe. I washed dishes and peeled potatoes for the restaurant’s french fry orders.

After a couple of weeks, the fry cook didn’t show, and my two bosses told me the job was mine.

After a bit of tutoring, I was on my own.

I worked six days a week from 4 p.m. until closing. Then I mopped the floors.

I continued this until I graduated from high school. All of my jobs were on Main Street, except for the two lawns that I mowed each week.

The father of a girl in my class had a shoe repair business, and he made boots for loggers in the area. When I had time, I used to hang out there, and he had me cutting out leather patterns for his boot business. This was a gratis thing, and I did it because I liked the guy.

His business was also on Main Street, a block down from most of my other jobs.

I always had money in my pocket and believe I could have had a job in most places along the business district.

Palouse was a great place to grow up.

 

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