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God Bless America
By Jerry L. Ginther
Many of my age group will remember the two, small grocery stores on Blackwood St. One of them was Jake Marble's grocery located just east of Seymour St. and the other, first known to me as Murphy's grocery, was located just west of McClellan St. There wasn't much difference in their size or the items they offered for sale, and today they would probably be categorized as convenience stores. Then, they were just neighborhood groceries owned by local proprietors who either lived next door or on the same property.
From the time I was big enough to keep up with my grandpa, I would walk with him to Jake's store where my grandparents did the bulk of their grocery shopping. Prior to that, I could go only when he could carry me, and what he anticipated carrying home pretty well dictated that. I was on one arm and the grocery bag was on the other. That was necessary, because Grandpa never had a driver's license nor owned an automobile.
As soon as we walked in we were greeted with something like, "Good morning, Tom. I see you've got your sidekick with you today. Has he been a pretty good boy this week, Tom?" Of course the answer was always yes.
Jake would respond with, "Well, I think he could probably use a cold pop. Would that be alright, Tom?" Again, the answer would always be in the affirmative. Then Jake would ask, "Jerry what's it going to be today?" And so went the pleasantries. Then Grandpa would give Jake his grocery list who would then go about the store pulling the items from the shelves and placing them on the front counter. He would "ring up" the total on the old manual cash register and say, "Tom, there's no charge for Jerry's pop." The groceries would be sacked, they would settle the account and on our way out, Jake would say, "You guys stay out of trouble now and have a nice day. Come back to see us."
In the back of Jake Marble's store was a large, round table on which he did some butchering. When you ordered a roast or nearly any other particular cut of beef or pork, Jake had to cut it from a hanging beef quarter or hog he had in a cooler near the table. He had a complete butcher shop back there which included a slicing machine for cutting lunchmeat and cheeses.
Murphy's store didn't have an in house butcher shop that I recall, but they did have an event there once, which I remember well. It had been advertised, so there were many kids on hand that Saturday morning including my sister, Connie, and me. The excitement for us kids was a visit from Sheriff Sid of channel 3, WCIA, in Champaign. If you recall, Sheriff Sid was a TV personality who hosted an after school kid's show. During commercial breaks he would interview a few of the kids who had come to the studio to watch the western movie that was being televised that day.
That Saturday morning, us kids were out in front of Murphy's store when the Sheriff arrived decked out in western attire complete with cowboy hat, boots and six-shooters. Hey, they looked real! We weren't too disappointed that he didn't ride up on a horse, and probably that would have been expecting too much. He passed out a few mementoes, asked some questions and gave out a few nicknames to some of the kids. Everyone giggled and had a great time! Now, I don't remember anyone else's nickname, but I'll always remember the moniker he pinned on my sister. You ready for this? "NORA NEEDLE NOSE!" I don't need to tell you that she had little appreciation for it, which caused me all the more delight. I never let it drop. You know, the big brother thing. I wore it out as long as there was any lightning charged reaction to it. Yeah, I was bad.
These are just a few more items from my memory archive of growing up in Sullivan.
Jerry L. Ginther
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