Interviewed by Russ (RP) and Marlene Patterson (MP), May 7, 2010, Napoleon, Ohio
Transcribed by Marlene Patterson
MP: Today is Friday, May the 7th , 2010 and we are interviewing Moe Brubaker. You had just told me before this interview that you are the Senior Editor of the Northwest Signal. That is a big title.
MB: It is a title with very few duties.
MP: Did I hear you correctly, you said very few duties.
MB: I just kind of oversee everything.
MP: Do they pay you for this?
MB: Yes ma’am. I semiretired three years ago. See, when I was younger I was going to move to Michigan. They offered me a sizeable sum of money for retirement.
MP: You mean if you would join their newspaper?
MB: No, the Northwest wanted to keep me and not go to Michigan.
MP: Oh I see the newspaper here wanted to keep you.
MB: And not go to Michigan.
MP: Is this why you fly the blue Michigan flag?
MB: Well I have always been a Michigan fan. I have a son, Tyler who is a Doctor of Philosophy at the University of Michigan.
MP: Great!
MB: Yes.
MP: You mean your Tyler?
MB: Yes he is my third son.
MP: Who is your number one son?
MB: He is Tad Anthony. He is the Executive Vice President of John Morrell.
MP: Do you mean the meat people?
MB: Yes. He is the big boss in Chicago.
MP: You’re not kidding me!
MB: No I am not. He is the Executive Vice President and he is in charge of eleven plants in the country. He is presently in Springfield, Massachusets.
MP: That is real neat -very good-very good. You should be proud. Don’t you have a daughter too?
MB: I have a daughter Tandy. She lives here in Napoleon. She married Randy Schwaiger who owns the Bowling Alley here in Napoleon. Then I have Taggart, he is the youngest. He will be getting married here in another month. He will be my last one then.
MP: Your baby is getting married.
MB: Now let’s see, there is Tad, Tandy, Tyler, and Taggart.
MP: Very good, now you have grandchildren too.
MB: Yes I have two. I have one grandson who lives in Plainfield. He is Derek. He will be graduating this year.
MP: Is that Ohio?
MB: No, it is Plainfield in Chicago. It is southwest. It is where all these people that work in Chicago live. It’s away from the hustle and bustle. I have two other little grandaughters that are from China. Haley and Hannah.
MP: Now who is their mother?
MB: Their mother and father were from China. They went over to China and adopted them.
MP: Now who of your children adopted them?
MB: It was Tad. Tad has the two daughters from China. Tad and Wendy adopted these two girls.
MP: Very good and I bet they are two little sweethearts.
MB: They are about the same size and same age as Spencer and yes they are very sweet.
MP: Now where are you living at the present time?
MB: I live in a condo on Chelsea Avenue.
MP: And your wife was Judy. I remember Judy well. She was a sweetheart too.
MB: Yes she was. Her maiden name was Judy Conners. She was the real hero in our family.
MP: I remember when you were coming in the store you were always dressed so nicely.
MB: I did!
MP: Very very flashy. Very stylish.
MB: Yes I did do that.
MP: I remember the Mickey Mouse necktie. All your clothes were stylish and color coordinated.
MB: I changed about twelve to fifteen years ago. Mom would say, I always called Judy Mom. Judy would say why don’t you buy some khaki pants like Fred Church the basketball coach wears. I didn’t want to do that and I finally did.
MP: He was stylish too, not flashy but stylish. Now, Moe I have always known you as Moe Man. How did the name Moe come about?
MB: I got that in the third grade.
MP: And it stuck with you
MB: forever. There are only three people in town between John L. Johnson, my principal, Dr. Judy Harrison, and Myron Walker from the mortuary. These are the only three people in town that called me Larry. Very few people know my name now as Larry.
MP: I happened to know your real name as Larry.
MB: I know that.
MP: I probably knew because I probably asked you years ago. You still haven’t told me how you came about the name Moe.
MB: It was in the third grade. We were playing Andy I Over. where they called out your name. I was always the last one over there, so they would call me Slow Moe. The name caught on. Then when I went to high school. in Junior High I was very fast. I was a good football player and a good basketball player and I broke my leg and my shoulder twice. This was in Junior High and as a Freshman. Dr. Judy told me I couldn’t play sports anymore as it would be detrimental to my shoulder, so I became a cheerleader. I was also President of my Senior Class.
MP: Was that uncommon to have been a male cheerleader at that time?
MB: There weren’t very many. Jack Crahan was a cheerleader. Then there was one after me. Jack Crahan was the first male cheerleader at Napoleon.
MP: That is interesting.
MB: I think I was the second cheerleader.
MP: I have always known you as Moe, but I would never have considered you as Slow Moe.
MB: Well you know how you are when you are young.
MP: Everybody slaps a name on people.
MB: The reason that is when I was six years old I broke my leg. I was in the hospital for a half a year. I went to the hospital up here where they set the leg and put a cast on it. I went home and two weeks later they checked on the Xray and it had slipped. They took me to St. V’s and put a pin in my leg. Of course I was slow for a while. So me and my brother went to school together. I went to the first grade for only three months.
MP: Which brother was that?
MB: That was Bill. We went all through school together in the same class.
MP: That would have been a good reason.
MB: I can tell you some stuff.
MP: Go ahead.
MB: Well, you know my father passed away in an airplane crash.
MP: I was going to ask you this. How old were you at the time.
MB: I was in the third grade. Mother had five children and one on the way. We weren’t destitute by any means but I decided when I was in the fifth grade to get a job. I got a job shining shoes for Bill Hatch.
MP: Who was Bill Hatch?
MB: He was a barber right beside the Town Tap. I shined shoes and I cleaned up the barber shop. During the week there were not very many people that got their shoes shined so I would go to the library and I would read about three to four books a week. The words that I didn’t understand and wasn’t quite sure of I would write down on a yellow legal pad. I would take that pad home and look the words up in the dictionary. That is what started me on building my vocabulary on writing. When I got into high school I was President of my Senior Class, Editor of the Wildcat’s Roar, and the annual and the last class of the day was English Lit. and Mr. Lenhart was our teacher. One day when I was a Junior he came into the classroom and he said is there anybody here that would like to write for the Northwest News on sports. My hand went up immedietly.
MP: He must have been able to see a potential in you.
MB: I worked at the Northwest News for two years when I was in High School. That was for Don Orwig. Next door of course was the Henry Signal and that was Nat Belknap. I did that and then kept on after I graduated from High School. Two years later Mr. Orwig passed away. Nat and John Orwig bought out the Northwest Signal and Northwest News and they printed the Henry County Signal. You have gotta understand that newspapers only came out once a week. Besides writing Sports which wasn’t a whole lot back then. So I had to cover City Hall. I had to sell ads. I had to go around and get the Police News and the Fire News, of course that was right across the street and was right next door to the Palmer House. I had to do all of that and I also took care of the paper boys. But see they only came out once a week. So eventually what they did was they put out one paper on Tuesday and one paper on Thursday. Okay this was only for a while. The Northwest News was published on Tuesday and the Henry County Signal was published on Thursday.
MP: What years are you talking about now?
MB: Oh I would say about 1963, right around in there. Then they got and it was still published on Tuesday and Thursday. and then on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday they would put out a Tabloid. It was a tabloid type paper.
MP: Do you remember that one Russell?
RP: No, but we probably sold it.
MB: And then eventually they put the two papers together and published five days a week.
MP: What year would that have been.
MB: Let me think. That went on for about I would say three years. 1962 to 1965-1966 maybe around in there. They published a daily paper and about the same time Mrs. Thiel had a paper. It was up there above Wesche’s Furniture Store.
MP: I remember that. It was called the Daily News. We have a copy of that.
MB: Right. Then it got a little bit more complicated and you would have to write a little bit more. I remember the first camera we had was a Polaroid. In the winter time when you went out to take pictures the Polaroid would freeze up and you couldn’t get a picture. Then sports was not real bad. They just had football and basketball and cross country, track and baseball and a little golf. Then in 1976 it just doubled because that is the year that women’s sports came into play. It just opened up and I had to have an assistant.
MP: Your work load just exploded.
MB: Today we have probably, in high school here alone we probably have 350 athletes among the student body. There are just so many different sports to keep track of. We have now what we call Stringers. They go out and take pictures. Gene Grim is one of them.
MP: I saw that.
MB: There are a number of people that do that type of work for us. They will write stories for us. They are called Stringers. They are paid by the job they do.
MP: I have always enjoyed reading your columns.
MB: I enjoy that more than I ever did anything else. When I started out Nat (Belknap) was still writing the Downtown column. I was writing the Town Crier. I used to be a bit more ornery. I would get on people’s cases on different things that were going on. This was in my younger years. About eight or nine years ago I changed my philosophy altogether. I wanted to make people smile in the evening when they sat down to read the paper. I get a big kick out of it myself. I laugh at myself. So I enjoy writing that. I still go to work everyday.
MP: It shows that you enjoy writing your columns.
MB: I enjoy going to work.
MP: We always enjoyed going to work. Russell and I. I never considered it a job. To me it was just visiting with people.
MB: You are right. It was visiting people. That is what I enjoy about still going in to work. People come in on the weekend and will sit and talk to me. Now Nat would always come in every Saturday and talk to me. He was a mentor to me. Along with Russell Patterson, he was a mentor. Mry Fran Meekison, Ed Peper, and Harold Hoff
MP: You are right.
MB: From these people I absorbed a lot of knowledge. All five of those people.
MP: You were like a big sponge. You were soaking up all this knowledge.
MB: I would be mowing my lawn and here would come Harold driving up. He would stop and he wanted to talk to me for awhile. My wife would look out the window and think are you talking to Harold again!
MP: I liked Harold. What was it he smoked, what brand of cigars. I think it was King Alfred.
RP: No it was King Edward’s.
MB: Yes he did. He would always have a little stubble in his mouth when he stopped at my house.
RP: Every day he would buy the Chicago Tribune.
MP: And those cigars.
MB: But that is basically what it is. I retired from Sports about four years ago. I started out in 1955 and I am still there. I enjoy it now just as much as I used to.
MP: It shows!
MB: I am really blessed to have people like Russ, Mary Fran, Mr. Peper, and Harold Hoff who has passed away. They gave me a lot of knowledge. I tried to keep it here in my mind about what they have told me. I learned a lot of things from Russ. I still remember the picture he showed me of Henry Ford and Thomas Edison at the Roundhouse here in town. I know where there is a log cabin house here in Napoleon.
MP: Is there one here in town?
MB: There is one down here on Front Street. It is next to Walter’s Collision. They took me in there one day. I went inside and the planks are right across the threshold. That is the only one that I know of around here.
MP: Do you know of any others Russell?
RP: That is the only one that I know of. The Rowan sisters were still living in it in the 1970’s.
MB: The Rowan sisters took me inside and showed me the house.
RP: I was inside looking around too.
MB: I saw that and I told them you have got to be kidding me. I walked inside and there they were, the big log timbers. Of course it had been modernized but it still had the big log timbers across it. I just don’t remember the Erie Canal very much. It was before my time. Of course the Miami-Erie Canal did not last very long. The Canal gave way to the railroad. It was featured on the History Channel one evening how they dug the Erie Canal to New York City. It was dug by hand. They used blasting caps and no machinery.
MP: Didn’t they dig this area by hand also?
MB: The Miami-Erie Canal of course went to the river. Then it came on past here. The canal didn’t last very long because of the railroad.
MP: You are correct.
MB: Where the police station is here in town, there used to be a hotel there. People would stop there for lunch or overnight..
MP: You are talking about the old police station in town before they moved to the edge of town by the cemetery.
MB: On that hill there where the Memorial is at. There used to be a hotel there.
RP: It was called the Wann House.
MP: Oh that hotel! I was thinking of the hotel where the police station is now.
MB: It was right beside and to the back of the Sheriff’s Department, and not the police station.
MP: That would have been right north of Peper’s Law Office.
MB: There was a hotel there.
MP: Do you remember the hotel that was there?
MB: No. It was long gone.
MP: Do you remember the Canal? When you were a kid was there water in the Canal?
MB: No, there was not any water in the Canal.
MP: Route 424 going through town hadn’t been built yet when you were a kid.
MB: They were just beginning to do that because the Canal went past Snyder’s then.
MP: And past Pepers office.
MB: And then, but when I was in high school we would practice football out there. There was no road built out there yet. You still had to drive through town on Route 24. So I practiced football out there where the Erie Canal used to be. Then I also was a Boy Scout where the second shelter house is. You know where you go up and around. Before the road went through there we camped out in that valley.
MP: You mean that area that floods when it rains really hard.
MB: Yes it does.
MP: What is the state doing opposite this area along the river. They are moving loads of dirt around.
MB: Where is this at?
RP: It is right opposite that turn around area out there by Wayne Park.
MP: It is just opposite where you would have camped out as a Boy Scout. They are just changing the whole layout of the land.
MB: I can remember on the top of that hill there where they had the dance hall. It was Wayne Park. Yes, they had wrestling there too.
MP: Did you ever go up there?
MB: No. I wasn’t old enough.
MP: I wasn’t either. They did have dances there when I was growing up but I was forbidden to go there.
MB: I didn’t dare to go there either. My knowledge comes from four or five people. Like I said when I was a Junior in high school Puffy Billow was a hero here in town.
MP: He married a friend of mine.
MB: As far as I know, he wanted to be a blood technicion you know taking your blood. I kinda wanted to be that. Lumpy came in. That was Mr. Dick Lenhart, we called him that. He came in the classroom and asked if anybody wanted to write for the Northwest Signal. And that was you and that is how I got started.
MP: Like I said before he must have seen a potential in you. You are a good writer!
MB: Well I have had a lot of experience.
MP: That may be true, but you have to be a good writer to begin with. You have been writing for years.
MB: A newspaper writer is nothing more than an author in a hurry.
MP: I suppose you are right.
MB: The hard part is not the writing. The hard part is assembling the material. I have various books, learning from my mentors and reading a lot. I read eighteen newspapers a day through the Internet.. Then I have books at the office that have history in it. One of them is the book is by Mary Fran. Then I have lots of other books. I used to go to the library and every day I used to go back and talk to Russ.
MP: I know you did.
MB: I wasn’t in there just to have fun. I went and talked to him just to learn something. I learned a lot from him. My Mom always told me. Now the Roundhouse was long gone when I was a young kid. Mom always dared us to go over there. We did anyway. My brother Bill who was one year younger than I am we got down inside that roundhouse. We caught the devil for doing that. We lived up there on North Perry Street. So we didn’t have to go very far. I enjoy working. I am still learning.
MP: Were there still train tracks inside the roundhouse when you were little?
MB: I don’t remember if there was one track left. There wasn’t much left inside of it anymore. That is where J. R. Winters started up his manufacturing plant.
MP: Oh yes.
MB: And Foster Canning Company.
MP: Oh yes.
RP: Did they have the turntable inside the roundhouse when you went inside it.
MB: No. You know why they didn’t come here anymore don’t you?
RP: Yes it was because of the cutoff.
MB: That happened during the Depression. Henry Ford put all those people together and gave them work. They stopped in Napoleon, Thomas Edison and Henry Ford and then they would go back to Cincinnati. During the Depression Henry Ford put a lot of people to work. The cutoff would go down through Malinta. I just pay attention.
MP: You are right, and it shows. You have stored a lot of knowledge up there in your head.
MB: I always pay attention to what people have to say and what people tell me. Russ always told me about Cocky Nagel. You used to be able to come to Napoleon and get married in one day. Am I right or wrong Russ?
RP: You mean Cocky Young.
MP: Cocky Nagel is the one that pushed his wife out the window and he had to get Ott Hess to come and defend him.
MB: Russ used to tell me that and you could get married in one day. And I used to know the Catholic Church was down in Goosetown.
RP: It was right where Jackson’s Cleaners is now.
MP: I know where the Lutheran Church was located but I didn’t know the Catholic Church was down in Goosetown.
MB: You do know why they called that area Goosetown don’t you?
MP: Because they had a lot of geese down there.
MB: And they had chickens too. They had fences up around their houses like little farms.
MP: So they called it Goosetown. I still think they should have kept the name of that area Goosetown and not have changed it to River Downs like they did. They tried to upgrade the name I guess. I still call it Goosetown. Nobody calls it Goosetown anymore.
MB: I do. I tell people you know why they had Goosetown, it was because they had fences around their houses for their fowl. When they wanted a chicken for dinner they would go catch one, tie it up and cut the head off. They would hang it on the clothesline. My Grampa did that over in Deshler.
MP: Hey I can do that too. I can chop a chickens head off and we hung our chickens on an iron fencepost to bleed. I know just what body parts you would hang on to the legs and tuck their wings in your hand and with your right hand you would use an ax and just whop it off. Then you put it in a tile that was standing on end. You left it in there until it was good and dead. Then you hung it on a fence after you had dipped the chicken in real hot water to release the feathers. You plucked the feathers off, singed the hair off, took the chicken inside for Mom to cut up and fry it.
RP: I have a report about James B. Hudson. He was the son of a gunmaker here in Napoleon. from 1902 to 1907. He put out a newspaper called the Goosetown Growler. I have an issue of it.
MB: I think you showed that to me at one time. I can remember when I was a little boy, my Dad was a Mason. This was when he was still alive. We would go over to Deshler on a Friday night after he got cleaned up. We would go to Grampa Jackson’s house. We would stay there Friday night and Saturday night and Harry was his name and Saturday night he would (in a loud voice) shout “Ethel how many are we going to have for dinner tomorrow”? Well Jane, that was my mothers name, Jane and her kids are here and Howard, who was my Uncle, and maybe Jim. You had better get three chickens. So we had that long hook, you know. We would catch three chickens, cut their heads off, hang them on the clothes line, bled them out. We would dip them in hot water and take their feathers off and we would have a chicken dinner. That’s just the way we did it.
MP: And the chickens we have today don’t taste that way. They were just wonderful.
RP: They were range fed.
MB: Range fed are always the best tasting chickens. Everybody will tell you that. Range chickens are the best. I will give you an example and then I will get off the subject in a minute. Tad, my son, you know is in charge for John Morrell. They make for example, 90% of the precooked bacon in the United States for Wendy’s, McDonalds, and all the restaurants.
MP: You can buy Morrell meats around here at Chief’s Super Market.
MB: You can buy Kershner, that is a brand. It used to be Con-Agra. They bought Con-Agra out..
MP: You can buy John Morrell hams. They are always real good.
MB: Right
MP: It is good quality meat.
MB: Yes it is good quality. You see Chad was in charge at Hillsborough, Arkansas. It was the largest turkey plant in the country – Butterball. They moved him around to different plants so he could get ideas like how to make wieners – hotdogs. A lot of people don’t know this but every hotdog place and sausage place has a Rabbi on duty.
MP: Really!
MB: He was on duty every day.
MP: He would bless the meat!
MB: Yes he would bless the meat and make sure they only got the middle. That is the truth! Every plant also has an agriculture meat inspector there on duty.
MP: I would imagine.
MB: Yes, they process a lot of meat.
MP: The brand of hot dogs that I buy is the Hebrew National. Probably because they’ve been blessed. I like the taste of them.
MB: Sure they use only the middle of the meat and that is all. And the Rabbi’s are there every day.
MP: That is encouraging to know this.
MB: One of Chad’s first job was up by Mankato, Minnesota and that is where he met his wife Wendy. They still own that plant. He was up there. He’s probably gone four days a week flying around the country. He called me last night from Springfied, Massachusetts. Sometimes they fly commercial airplanes when they have to visit three plants in two days they use corporate jets. He does very well for himself.
MP: That is very interesting. Now did, not to change the subject, but your father was in an airplane
MB: accident. He owned the airplane.
MP: Was it a hand built airplane?
MB: No, it was one he purchased. It was on a Sunday.
MP: In the afternoon.
MB: He and Tom Hardy went up in it. They didn’t get up very far and something was wrong with the motor and they came down right by the Brickyard.
MP: For some of us that don’t know where the Brickyard was can you tell us Moe.
MB: It was right at the end of Willard Street where it intersects with Lagrange.
MP: You remember when that happened don’t you Russell.
MB: They came right down at the Brickyard. It was right across from Bertha Travis.
MP: Was Hardy killed also.
MB: Oh no. He kinda fell out of the plane when it came down. He is still alive today.
MP: Your father was not very old then when he was flying airplanes.
MB: He was 32 years old.
MP: When he died.
MB: Yes. He was one of the last ones to take in the Draft during World War II. You see he was one of the last ones to be called because he had all these children. He was only in service for three months and the War ended. I remembered when the war ended. My mother never learned to drive. But Grandma did! Forrest Brubaker was his name. I always forget what her name was. She was driving a car and I was sitting on my Mom’s lap – we were uptown – and all of a sudden the sirens went off and that is when World War II ended. I can remember that.
MP: That is like my dad. He had five children and I can remember my mother worrying. The draft kept getting closer and closer to him when he would have to go. They were taking men with three and four children and drafting them for the Army. The war ended so he never had to go.
MB: Well, my Dad went and he wasn’t gone but three months and he was back home.
MP: Well, my Dad was never drafted.
MB: My Dad was a Mason. Him and Earl, he was my Dad’s brother.
MP: Earl Brubaker
MB: Right.
MP: Do you have any connection to a potato chip factory here in Napoleon?
MB: Yes, they were Earl’s Chips. He had it down in his basement.
MP: And he made potato chips?
MB: Yes.
MP: Now this would have been your Dad’s brother Earl.
MB: Yes. He made them right where he lives today.
MP: Really! That would be along Route 424 here in town. Now Earl’s wife was Naomi?
MB: Right. Yes, and Grampa Forrest lived right next door. There is a driveway right between the two. Earl lived here and Grampa Forrest lived there. (Moe draws a picture on the table with his fingers).
MP: Who sell the Moped’s there then?
MB: That is Terry.
MP: Naomi’s son?
MB: No that would be Earl’s boy.
MP: The potato chip man.
MB: The potato chip factory didn’t last very long, but I do have a bag.
MP: I was just going to ask you.
MB: Yes, yes, I do have a bag.
RP: You know I have a picture of his potato chip bag.
MB: I should really give it to you and the historical society, but you see my daughter lives on West Washington St.
MP: In Doc Herman’s old dental office.
MB: It is all full of antiques. I gave it to her.
MP: She will treasure it I know.
MB: I just gave her a thousand dollars worth of silver dollars.( She has them stored at the Bank ).Judy had them all the time and I thought I will give them to Tandy.
MP: I am glad you did. If you should die somebody can come in and just take them. This kind of stuff happens.
MB: I had them in a box.
MP: But they will take the whole box.
MB: They could, but most of the stuff I have is at my office. My treasures. I have a Sports Illustrated collection from way back when they were selling for 25 cents. Roger Bannister breaking the mile. I have Micky Mantle and Roger Maris on the cover. I have a whole bunch of them there. I also have 8 boxes full of books.
MP: Make sure your children know.
MB: Oh they know.They all know. They know who is getting what things of mine. I don’t have any trouble with that. We are going to go to a wedding the first of June. My youngest son Taggart is finally getting married. He works for Tom Baughman. They have about three thousand acres. Taggart always loved being outdoors and now he is a farmer and he is marrying a nurse. She works at the Wauseon Hospital. It will be held way down in Hilton Head.
MP: North Carolina?
MB: Yes.
MP: That will be a nice trip for you.
MB: I’ll be there two days for the wedding. Then we are going to go up to Myrtle Beach for a week with Tad and his family, Tandy and Randy and I. Then we are coming home and having a wedding reception for the local people.
MP: That will be great!
MB: I have always been a sponge.
MP: You know I think I am a sponge too.
MB: I always listen to people and I used to be a little bit naughty. That was back in the 70’s and 75’s and I would say why isn’t that lawn mowed or why isn’t this done. Then about, well I will tell you what. When my wife Judy passed away about seven years ago. I changed my attitude. I try to be cute and funny. I give people something that they don’t know.
MP: You come across very well in your writings.
MB: I love it. Now very few people don’t know that when I married Judy she was very introverted.
MP: Oh really, I would never have guessed that.
MB: Yes very introverted. She was adopted you know.
MP: I didn’t know.
MB: Yes, she was adopted. Her real father was Glen Walker.
MP: Which Glen Walker? I had a music teacher by the name of Glen Walker.
RP: He was married to Lois.
MB: This Glen Walker sold cars. He married Lois.
MP: Was this Lois Walker’s husband?
MB: Yes.
MP: Then Lois would have been Judy’s mother?
MB: No, when he married Lois they got rid of the children. There was Judy, Donnie, who was adopted by Lefty. Am I right?
RP: Yes
MP: Lefty who?
MB: Lefty Conners. She was Grandma Conners.
MP: You mean Florence. She lived across the street from us. I knew her real well.
MB: That was Judy’s adoptiive mother.
MP: I never knew that.
MB: In fact, my Mom and Jane and Florence worked together in the cafeteria at Campbell’s soup. They knew each other long before I started dating Judy. I know my Mom said to me one day. Do you know Florence, she said to me “why is your older son dating my younger daughter”? She was only 18 or 19 when I married her and I was 24. She said to my Mom why is your son driving around my house all the time.
MP: She had beautiful hair.
MB: And she was very introverted and we never had a serious argument. After our first three were born, you know she had a nursery school here in town.
MP: I remember that. She couldn’t have been too introverted.
MB: You see she worked for the Northwest News. That is where we met. She was a secretary for the paper. Then she was a secretary for Bill Mossing.
MP: Was this at school?
MB: Yes at school. She started her own nursery school at the Armory. Then what happened was everybody else started a nursery school too.
MP: I was just going to say.
MB: And they were in churches. They had to pay no rent when they held their nursery school in churches. Their schools were cheaper so Judy decided to go to school. She went to Northwest State Community College for two years. She was the Student of the Year, and later on she became a Distinquished Alumni. After she got her two year degree she went to Lourdes College. I used to drive her down their every Wednesday night. I would wait on her and even on Saturday I would drop her off there at 9 o’clock in the morning and go on to Ann Arbor to the football game, go back and pick her up. Then she went to Owens for some college education and finally got her Masters Degree from the University of Toledo and then she worked at Hope School for a long time.
MP: They should give you the Distinquished Alumni Award.
MP: I don’t need anymore of that stuff.
RP: You were Man of the Year. What year was that Moe?
MB: That has been quite a while ago.
MP: They don’t do Man of the Year anymore do they.
MB: It’s Citizen of the Year now.
MP: Do they even do that anymore?
MB: I don’t know. I don’t think so.
RP: I think the only thing they do is the high school alumni.
MB: The alumni thing. See I am on the NHS Athletic Hall of Fame. I was one of the first ones to be inducted along with Fred, Bucky, and Bud Schie and Bill Mossing.
MP: You’re really a fixture around town.
MB: When you are in the newspaper business people know you. When you’re in the newspaper business people know you. They see you in the paper every day. I go to shop at Chief and people like yourself you know, they say “that was funny last night and I clipped it out and I sent it to my daughter in North Carolina”.
MP: Well, you go into WalMart and you always run into somebody that has to talk to you. Really sometimes you don’t want to take the time, but you have to.
MB: I talk to them because the community has been very good to me.
MP: It has been good to us also.
MB: I am on the Board of Directors now at Northwest State Community College. Yes, me and Pete Beck.
MP: Can I touch you?
MB: I don’t feel like that.
MP: It’s an honor. It’s an honor to even be considered.
MB: I know but the town has been so good to me that I want to give something back.
MP: You have been very good for the town.
MB: Well, I enjoy it. I am just kinda a friendly guy.
MP: I know you are.
MB: I will stop and talk to just about anybody in town. They will say do you remember. Two weeks ago we had dinner and they asked me if it was true about Jim Homan getting all those corn honors? He got an award for high corn yield. He got 175 bushels of corn when everybody else was averaging only 70 bushels per acre. This was about 1970. I went to school with Jim. Remember when he had that accident.
MP: He is the Jim that goes to our church.
MB: Jimmy Homan went to school with me. He was from Liberty Center. Ronnie Miller, they were in the Liberty Center school district, but both of them went to our Napoleon school here in town. They are both friends of mine. Ronnie Miller was a Colonel or a General in the Air Force. He piloted them big bombers. I don’t think Jim was in the service, but he still works.
MP: Somebody was telling about it just recently. He told that if he hadn’t had his cellphone he never would have made it out.
MB: You are right, he never would have made it out. I had a big talk with him. He was always a very nice fella. He married a lady friend that I dated, not much. She was a Barton girl. They were farmers out at Five Corners. Anyway, I just enjoy people. I never look the other way. People will come up to me and say “Hey Moe” and I will turn around and talk.
MP: I always say hello to people. I have never snubbed anybody.
MB: They will stop me and say “Hey Moe”. They will tell me about a thing I had in the paper the other day, you made me laugh out loud. I love hearing that. That’s another reason I go in to work every day. I am there on Saturday and Sunday when nobody else is there. See I try to get ahead two days.
MP: You’re a writer.
MB: Yes, I am an author in a hurry. I am still an avid reader.
MP: Do you feel underprivileged that you lost your father when you were growing up at such an early age..
MB: No, I was too young to understand. I was only in the third grade. Oh yes I was remorseful, no doubt about that. You see after six or seven years it really never sunk into me. Mom had five children.
MP: But your Uncles stepped in.
MB: Yes, my Uncle Jim from Desher, my Mom’s brother came and lived with us for three years.
MP: I just wondered if you felt a void.
MB: Oh for a little while and then Jim came and he was young.
MP: He probably played with you like a brother would.
MB: We wrestled around. Not that I never missed my father or anything. I rode in a stone truck all the way down to Waterville with him and even rode in the airplane. I can remember him a lot. He was a big fellow, but as the years go by this Jim came along.
MP: Was this the man that lived across the street? Your mother-in-law Florence Conners. Was he the man that raised you then?
MB: He was from Liberty Center.
MP: No I am talking about Mr. Claussen.
MB: Grandma Florence married him.
MP: Oh your Grandmother married this Claussen.
MB: Grampa Claussen and my mother were kind of sweethearts way back when. He worked at Hope School. See they knew each other and they finally got married.
MP: So that man was not your grandfather.
MB: Her husband was Lefty Conners and he worked for Chevrolet as a mechanic in the Chevrolet garage.
MP: Do you mean Snyder’s?
MB: Yes, Snyder’s. He died and he had a bad heart, and he died one night and Grandma called me over and he was deader than a doornail. Then for a while she lived over where her house was and then she finally sold that house and moved over here at Bavarian Village and then Mr. Claussen, whom I call Grampa he was kind of feeble so I was over there about every other day checking on things and doing things for them. They were both in the Lutheran Nursing Home over there and he finally passed away. So then when Grandma got sick me and Tandy were over there about every day.
MP: I know Tandy, your daughter helped her a lot. She helped clean.
MB: Oh yes. I went to visit her about every day. I’d talk to her and get her stuff. When she wanted to take a nap I would help do that. I just sold her property out there. She owned 19 acres at the airport, and we just got through selling that.
MP: Is that out old Six?
MB: Yes. You know where the Walker’s Market was at. You remember that. Dutch and Lynette always had a fight – Democrat and Republican.
MP: Was that the Glen Walker that had the fruit stand?
MB: No, he was their son.
MP: We used to stop their for fruits.
MB: When they were first married Lefty and my Grandma, my real Grandma, Judy’s real Grandma, they lived upstairs. So they lived out at the fruit market a long time and then they moved to town. No, we just got through selling the 19 acres out there. Tom Baughman, he farmed it, he bought it. You see my son, Taggart works for him. I am just amicable. This town has been good to me.
MP: This town has been good to all of us. I like Napoleon.
MB: You know Napoleon is just like any other town nowadays. The little guy is not going to make it anymore. I remember when I was shining shoes below Spot’s Bar. The farmers would come to town about 3 o’clock in the afternoon two of them in one and two cars. They would park one car on the street and then go home and do their chores. They would all come together uptown and they had a good place to go shopping. Everything was here in town. We had Bernicke’s, we had the guy who owns Automotive Feed, Bill Beck.
MP: Winzeler’s had their meat market in downtown.
MB: You would take your grocery list. When I shined shoes and I came up it was a sea of people uptown.
RP: You couldn’t walk in a straight line it was so full of people.
MB: You would take your grocery list in to Bernicke’s and hand it to them and they would fill your list and you would come back and get it.
MP: I wish we could still do that. I hate buying groceries.
MB: I don’t have to buy many anymore.
MP: Well there is just the two of us.
MB: I live in a condo like you do. I don’t go to sporting events anymore hardly. I cover bowling with Randy.
MP: Of course you should.
MB: I bowl three times a week and Tandy watches me. I will tell you a story before we get close to closing. Tandy and Randy tried to have children for about eight years. I used to take her down to the Toledo Hospital for check ups and everything and I always told them they should just drink a bottle of Jim Beam and you will get pregnant right away. Well anyway she never did get pregnant. They just couldn’t have children. They tried and tried and she just couldn’t get pregnant. And people it was just three months after Judy passed away that she got pregnant with Spencer. To this day I believe somebody said something upstairs.
MP: Probably
MB: Because she is the spitting image of Judy. She has the red hair and everything. Out of all of my grandchildren and I don’t say this to just anybody, but she is special to me.
MP: I could see at the funeral home for Judy’s mother Florence that she is a doll. She just helped the two of us and showed us around just like a grownup would. You remember it.
MB: Yes I do.
MP: I was just amazed because normally little kids shy away. She will be something someday. She is special.
MB: Yes she is.
MP: How old is she now?
MB: She is in Kindergarten. She is six years old. She will be in the first grade next year. She bowls. She plays softball. She takes ballet. My other two Chinese ladies, I love them to death too. They are very good and they are all the same size. They are all about the same age.
MP: You mean all three of these grandchildren are the same size?
MB: Yes, Tad went over twice, and you have to take about $20,000.00 with you.
MP: Isn’t that something?
MB: I think that kept Judy alive for a little bit longer because Judy was very sick. Tad came over and showed me his money belt. You have to be there for two weeks. You gotta go and stay in a hotel, they take you all around and show you the ways and means of the Chinese people and you go out to a farmhouse, spend a day with them people. You then go over to the orphanage and they see the little girl they have. Then they take you back and you have to be there for eight more days. You get accustomed to everything and you know everybody wants a little money. It’s a two week thing. I really think that Judy was not good. Judy wanted to see that grandchild. Judy came home, but she died peacefully. She was a courageous woman. I think Judy is the real hero because she never ever complained. All the time she had therapy and the operations she never complained even once.
MP: It is a horrible horrible disease. It really is.
MB: They couldn’t operate. Grandma had a tumor near her liver, they couldn’t operate and it was just a matter of time. Paul Claussen went first and then we all took over and stayed with her. Like I say I am deeply indebted to Russ and you were always so friendly. Then there was Mary Fran, and he is in the hospital by the way.
MP: Is he in the hospital now?
MB: I mean in the nursing home. I mean her husband David.
MP: He has been at Northcrest for quite a while.
MB: Yes he has. He is not very good health wise.
MP: Are you on the computer?
MB: Oh yes.
MP: Do you have the dictionary on your computer?
MB: Yes I can correct spelling. If I think I have something not spelled right I can click on a button and it will tell me how to spell it correctly. Do you mean spellcheck?
MP: No it is an actual dictionary and wikipedia that will give you the spelling and meaning of a word.
MB: I don’t have that.
MP: It is good for me.
MB: I don’t have too much trouble. If I don’t know how to spell a word I spell it like I think it should be and press a button and it tells me the right way to spell it. No, Mary Fran and Eddie and people like that. I have been a sponge.
MP: Well Ed is still going strong. Mentally he is sharp.
MB: Yes he is.
RP: We have a group in our church that is called History Detectives. We meet once a month
MP: You should come and join us.
RP: Ed comes and even people that aren’t members of our church. Last month Bob Freytag gave a talk on Studebaker cars.
MB: I remember them.
MP: You have given talks on the airplanes that were built here in Napoleon. Each month he comes up with something different.
MB: I have a story about the Studebaker’s.
MP: What about the Studebaker?
MB: You knew where it was at.
RP: Oh yes.
MB: In the early days when I was maybe eight or nine, Bill and I would go up tp the old World Theatre on a Saturday night. For a dime you would get in. They had comics and a feature on news. In those days in the Fall or Spring of the year the showing of the new cars was a big thing.
MP: Right
MB: Over at the Studebaker garage they cleaned out all the mechanical stuff where they fixed cars. They had a band in there playing and they had this big hog trough. You know how big they are.
RP: Yes
MB: It was filled with hot dogs. Now me and Bill are small. Now this is true. Now me and Bill are about this tall. Now most of the people there were adults. Everybody was having a big old good time in there. It was about two or three people deep all along the trough. Bill and I would stick our hand between the adults and we’d pick out a hot dog. We took home eighteen. We had our pockets stuffed and everything.
MP: Oh no. What did your mother say?
MB: She gave us Mary Hell. I walked in and said hey Mom and Dad look at what I got. And she said what are you doing with all of them? Yes we had our pockets full. We had them stuffed in our shirt. The people at the garage never saw us. We just reached in and grabbed a hot dog, put it in a bun and stuffed it in our pockets and shirt. Now this is a true story.
MP: You were ornery.
RP: I will have to tell you the World Theatre story. You remember they always had these horse opera stories. Of course the World Theatre was cheaper. When I was in high school Frank Reinking, Bill Little and myself were sitting down to the front and all of a sudden there was a commotion up in the projection booth. It was a fire. We jumped right up and here is this exit door that goes out to the alley
MB: I know where that was.
RP: We jumped up and here they had a chain around the door and the door was locked.
MB: You couldn’t get out.
RP: We went out the back way.
MB: I know the back way.
RP: About that time the projectionist had put the fire out. You see they had that door chained and locked because guys would go up to the door, push the door open and let their friends sneak in.
MB: My famous story on the State Theatre was that Mom and Florence and Judy dutifully would go to the show every Wednesday night. The theatre had a drawing. It was called Bank Night. Well, when Judy turned eighteen, you see she was real young when I met her and started going with her, so every Wednesday night was Bank Night. When a person got to be eighteen you could sign up. So Judy is eighteen and signs up and puts her name in the hopper. The next week they go and guess whose name they pull out.
MP: Judy
MB: She won $500.00. And do you know, this is the honest truth, we bought our bedroom set with the money because we were going to get married. And I still have it and I still use it.
RP: I’ll tell you one since you knew her real well is that my Aunt Dorothy Little. She went to the Bank Night religiously. I think you could during the week sign an attendance card and pay admission and you didn’t have to go. This one week she missed signing up. The money amount was 500 bucks, and her name was called. Boy she has never forgotten that. She would go and sign every week but her name was never drawn. The one time she forget to sign up they call her name.
MB: I have the same story. The week after she signed they pulled her name out and her 500 dollars bought her a bedroom suite. It was nice and I still have it. Earl Edwards managed the theatre at that time.
MP: That was a lot of money back then. I think when we bought our bedroom suite we didn’t give 500 for it.
MB: I don’t know much it cost, but it paid for our bedroom suite.
MP: My mother was always jewing around. They had a hope chest in this furniture store. . Everybody had to have a hope chest in my days. They had a nice hope chest there but it had a leg broken. She got the price down and it was dirt cheap and she told me to buy that chest because Daddy could fix the leg and you couldn’t see where it had been repaired.
MB: To finish up with the frosting on my cake here about the show. Three months later it was Thanksgiving and they had two turkeys out in front of the theatre in wire cages. Guess who won one. Judy! I said to Earl I am not taking that turkey home. He told me I didn’t have to. I could go out to Chief and get one.
MP: I was just going to say that our Sam was always winning turkeys at these Turkey Shoots. When he told me he had won a turkey I thought oh my gosh, what will I do with a turkey. It was the same deal where you can go out to Chief and pick it up.
MB: Then you know I had two children, Chad and Tandy. Then it was seven more years before we had the next two. Judy would go to the doctor in Toledo and check everyhing out. There was nothing wrong. So then seven years later we had the next two – bing-bing. I don’t know, but anyway when they had the outdoor theatre, the River City Cinemas-double features, I can remember taking my two little boys, Tyler and Taggart. We went out there to see E T. I always would take them in and set them down. Then I would go to the back and get something to eat. I heard, Bob Heft was the manager, and somebody said I see Moe is here. Yes, he has his two grandboys down there watching the show. I must have been 35 or something back then. Anyway, it’s been fun!
MP: You know talking about your father with the airplane. Did he ever do anything like playing around and build his own airplane?
MB: No, he bought that airplane and it was called the Red Devil.
MP: Do you know of anybody that built airplanes here in Napoleon?
MB: No. Before my Dad’s time there might have been. My Dad bought that plane.
MP: What year was your father born?
MB: I was born in ‘38, so I think he was 32 when he passed away.
MP: That is so young.
MB: It was an airplane crash.
RP: Talking about shows like that
MB: That was Cocky Nagle at the shows. He was always in there wasn’t he?
MP: Do you know that we saw him one time downtown and he was staggering from one parking meter to the next one. He would hang onto the meter and then take off for the next one. I don’t know if he made it home or not. It was just like you see in the movies.
MB: I can believe that.
RP: I took the kids and we went down to Toledo and saw that shark movie “Jaws”. We were sitting there watching the movie and here comes the exciting part where the shark jumps out ot the water and attacks the boat – well the guy up in front of me flipped his arms up and poured his cup of pop all over me and it got all over my pants.
MB: Well you know back then you would go to Toledo only about twice a year when I was young.
MP: Well maybe yes. Now you hop in the car and go whenever you want to.
MB: Well when I was 9 or 10 years old you only went twice a year. Anyway we always had all these shops right here in Napoleon, We had Hoys, Conrads, you didn’t have to go to Toledo.
MP: You sure do now. Actually you don’t. You can buy anything you want on the Internet. That is what I do. You can get all kinds of brand name clothes.
MB: Oh Tandy does a lot of shopping on the Internet.
MP: Shipping is very reasonable.
MB: If you don’t like it you can send it back usually for free.
RP: I have one question for you Moe. About in 1960 a fellow walked to the back of our store and up to the prescription counter and he said “I bet you don’t know who I am?” I took one look at him and I told him that he was David Orwig.
MB: I never knew him.
RP: I asked him where he was at now and he told me he lived in Toledo.
MB: The name is familiar but I never met him. Don and Dorothy had a daughter too. Her name was Joyce.
RP: Another thing I always remember Don always drove a Cord car and he would park it over by where Dave Meekison’s office is. The Northwest was located there at that time. He would come in and buy Pall Mall cigarettes.
MB: He always went to the movies.
RP: I got a hold of a picture after their fire and it shows Don walking there and he had a cigarette in his mouth.
MB: Then he bought that whole block and that was where the Kroger store was, am I correct?
RP: Yes.
MB: When I started working for him that is where it was. It was brand new and it was pretty nice. Then Nat had an old dilapidated place right next door. Now young David Meekison is my Dad’s attorney. He is a good friend of mine.
RP: Oh yes. I remember Nat had that Burt Tanner
MB: I remember that name.
RP: He used to type for him.
MB: When I got there you had the linotype and you got dirty and you would get ink all over yourself and then you would have to make your own headlines out of the drawers.
RP: Old Burt used to come in the store and he would have his clothes all dirty.
MB: I did too. I would go home and Judy would say “Don’t wear your good stuff to work”. You always got ink all over your clothes. You would roll over the print and have to make a proof of it. And you would spill the ink once in a while. Then you would have to pick it up and put it all back together the right way. Yep.
RP: That used to be quite the deal.
MB: Yes it was. I have been through it all. I have a lot of memories. I am still going strong and I hope to stay strong.
RP: Just like you, when I was in high school we had to deliver medicine to most of the prominent people you know around town. I would do it and I would listen to their stories.
MB: That is how you got interested.
RP: Yes, just to give you an example I would listen to Mrs. D. D. Donovan. She lived across the street from Sterling, I guess it’s now K2, it was that big white house and she was over 100 years old. She was still living by herself at the age of 102.
MB: No kidding!
RP: I would take medicine over there and one time she asked me if I would do her a favor. She asked me to go out to the liquor store and buy her a bottle of Christian Brothers brandy. I like to take a drink every once in a while.
MB: I don’t blame her.
RP: So I went out and got it for her and delivered it to her and she didn’t say anything about paying me. Doogie was taking care of her bills at that time so I just added it on to their account. I think a little dose of brandy keeps your heart going.
MB: You know you and me we know a lot of things Russ and you have helped me a lot. I always enjoyed going up there and talking to you. You would give me stuff to put in the paper. Lots of stuff.
RP: I get a kick out of this history stuff. I am learning new things every day.
MB: Oh yes. We are both learning stuff every day. I watch the History Channel a lot on television.
RP: I do too. That is my favorite channel.
MB: Mine too. The other night they had the building of the Erie Canal,
RP: I saw that.
MB: No machinery. Digging by hand and by dynamite. It’s hard to believe how people survived and what hardships they had to go through. They would make a couple of dollars here and a couple of dollars there.
RP: I got interested in genealogy and was checking my Patterson side and I had a great great great grandfather and he had five different wives.
MB: What! No kidding.
RP: He lived on the Ohio frontier in a log cabin. The people would get diseases and the women would die in childbirth. Marlene always said they were worked to death. ( Both of the men laugh)
MB: Well people died early in those days from just about anything.There were no cures. If you got something that was it.
RP: That is just like my own grandfather he worked at the roundhouse and this was in 1921 and this was in the winter and he worked around those hot steam engines and then he would get out in the cold and he got pneumonia. I know my grandmother said just before he passed away, he was so sick, If you didn’t show up for work you didn’t get paid. So she had to get down and tie his shoes. He went to work anyway even though he was sick and a few days later he died.
MB: Anything else you want to know?
MP: Russell can you think of anything else? We got the airplane, we now know what you are doing in retirement.
MB: Semi-retired.
MP: You went to school in Napoleon.
MB: In 1957 I became a full-time employee. That was the year I graduated. I had worked there for two years. The work wasn’t very hard, but for a young fella. I have to tell you a story, one more story and then I have to leave. So I am doing everything from selling ads to taking pictures, developing film, writing city reports, police reports. Nat and the guys would always go to the Palmer House you know. So I go to the police station one day and they pulled a prank on me. I went over there and wrote this stuff down. You know when you are kinda in a hurry and you’re writing stuff down on a piece of paper and you don’t even know what you are writing. You know what I mean.
MP: Oh yes
MB: In the police news the next day in the paper it says. Written by Moe Brubaker. Napoleon police apprehended two possible suspects for thievery in Napoleon. Their name was Ben Dover and the next guys name was C Howit Feels. I wrote it up just like that. Was John pissed! He went right over to those cops and gave them Merry Hell. I didn’t pay any attention to what their names were.
MP: I could see how this could happen.
MB: It was Ben Dover and the C Howit Feels. Wasn’t that something! Now that’s a funny story.
MP: It is.
MB: I can tell you a lot of things. There was Dale Earnhart at 190 miles an hour at MIS, Michigan Speedway. I have been in the largest airplane in the world. We refueled jets over Texas. In Columbus they have a National Guard unit down there. You can stand in the engine mounts. I just knew a lot of people. I did a round of golf and took pictures of Tiger Woods, Jack Nicklaus, and Arnold Palmer. I just knew a lot of people.
MP: Now when you took pictures of high school sports and activities did you have to develop them yourself?
MB: Yes, I did my own developing at the Signal. The best thing that ever happened in photography was digital.
MP: Oh yes.
MB: Because when you went to a football game or a basketball game you took 20 to 30 pictures and hoped you would get 2 or 3 good pictures. Well, then when digitals came along I would go to Patrick Henry at 7 o’clock. Stay there for the first half. Now you can take a picture and see what you took. I would leave just before halftime and go to Holgate, and take pictures there before I went home. This is with a digital you can see what you have taken. I mean it is a blessing. We had to have all that film back in the old days.
MP: Actually I think it is cheaper with the digital cameras.
MB: Oh yes.
MP: There is really no comparison.
MB: It’s a God-saver. And also computers. We would either have to write it all out or type it all out. We would have to proofread it. You’re having fun aren’t you.
MP: Yes I am. I am listening.
MB: I have a lot of stories. Like Dale Earnhardt. He said “Hey Moe, do you want to take a ride with me?” Around and around we went at 190 miles an hour. It’s stuff like that. I have been fortunate. Judy wanted me to move to Michigan and take this job. No, I wanted to stay in Napoleon and be my own boss. The best part about that was when she got sick I had a computer at home so I could be with her almost all of the time. That was a blessing. They treated me very well at the Northwest Signal. They gave me a big big retirement. They still pay me for what I do. I am happy.
MP: Russell did you get all your questions answered?
MB: You mean Don
MP: Did you work with Don Orwig or were you too young?
MB: No, Don hired me. I worked for Don two years in high school and then about two years afterwards. Then he passed away. Eventually Dorothy ran it.
MP: I knew Dorothy real well. She was a nice little lady.
MB: She was nice but she knew nothing about the newspaper business. She treated me real good but it was too much for her. When Don Orwig and Nat bought her out, that was the best thing that ever happened.
MP: She told such awful stories.
MB: That’s how she was honey. I know how she was.
RP: You know we drove by on the way home one evening in the fall and here she had all of her leaves raked over on Doc Modens sidewalks and burning them..
MB: I knew where she lived.
MP: Now one evening when we were going home. Now this is the honest truth. We saw her carry garbage in her hand and she walked across the street and put it in their garbage can. Who were those people that lived there?
MB: Moore’s
MP: Yes it was Marilyn Moore’s garbage can. I saw her lift the lid and drop it in the can. I thought that was so cute.
MB: Cute! I told you she was left of center. Are you done now having fun?
MP: Would you like something to drink?
MB: No I am going back out to the Bowling Alley. Are you done now having fun. Invite me to one of your History Detective meetings.
RP: The first Monday of every month we have a meeting.
MP: He is talking about the early banks we had here in Napoleon. You will be learning something.
MB: I am in demand over here to speak to a bunch of gentlemen all the time. I am on the Board of Directors at Northwest State. I volunteer at the hospital.
MP: I would give anything to have Dorothy back. I really would.
RP: I don’t know about that.
MP: I mean just to have her alive again and be able to talk to her.
MB: She was a little hoochie
RP: She was.
MB: I used to go in the other room and say what the hell is wrong with her. I never laughed in front of her. But I would go in the other room and say what is she talking about. Really. I have enjoyed my life.
MP: They used to tell that she was a waitress at Chicken Charlie’s House in Toledo.
RP: I can tell you who told that. It was where Doc Moden lives years ago Clyde Frost lived there. Clyde was Frank Reinking’s uncle.
MB: I remember him.
RP: Clyde was sitting on the front porch there and Dorothy pulls in her driveway. She got out of her car and holds her head up high and goes walking up to her house..Clyde said I don’t know why she acts so smarty. I can remember her when she worked at Chicken Charlie’s in Toledo.
MP: There actually was a Chicken Charley in Toledo. We found a menu from Chicken Charley’s in Toledo at an antique shop.
MB: I mean something was not quite right there.
RP: I’ll tell you one thing about her. Her father was the editor of the News Bee paper in Toledo.
MP: She should have known something about running the newspaper business.
MB: I used to know a lot of people at The Blade. Don Wolfe was my buddy.
RP: Don gave us good write-ups on the Historical Society when we were just starting up.
MB: Thank you for inviting me over.
MP: Thank you for giving us this information.
MB: I miss you people.
MP: I miss all the people and really what we did was not any work.
MB: It was a fun job.
MP: I loved selling your newspaper.
MB: I know. I know.
MP: You saw, maybe you even took the picture when Peter Yarrow of Peter, Paul, and Mary came into the store. He serenaded me. I had no idea he would bring along his guitar.
Thank you so much Moe for coming over and giving us your oral history.
