Muscatine

My Uncle Bob was a stockman for Fosters.  Gramma Milder always had some stories to tell about Foster (he & wife lived upstairs, didn't they?).  I guess old man Foster always had some tails to tell.  As I remember, they expanded Fosters, to where the Insurance Company is now, and then soon after closed up.  Remember when the expansion was a 7-11?  Remember Pasquales (sp?), Pizza joint where Yocums' is at now?  Mary told me that the original Yocums was located closer to the intersection.  Maybe Pasquale's was where Yocum' (Babes) is now?  I remember the entrance door being on Lucas, and, the Parlor wasn't very big, with a counter facing the right.  When I was delivering the Journal, I used to live at Eichenhauers (sp?), before delivering my papers.  I remember winning 23 free games on the pinball machine in front of the front window.  God, the smell of the cigar smoke coming from the back room, where the old guys played poker, still brings back memories.  Ya know, the more we talk, the more I remember.  To think, that I can remember things that happened 50+ years ago, like it was yesterday, just amazes me!

I am not sure of what came first, but I know that it was Giant Foods in the early '70s.

Old man Gordon used to wear a ballcap with the bill turned up. He was also a pilot and owned a plane. He never announced his whereabouts on the plane radio either, like you are supposed to do. I remember when my brother was parachuting at the airport, the other pilots would complain about him. Seems like eons ago. We lived on Green Street a few houses below Schaapvelds. Bill Shank, the state trooper, lived on the SW corner. I used to climb into the storm sewer grate at Third and Green after balls when they rolled in because I was the smallest kid. Me; small?????

Yeh, that was an "old" cap too.  He always seemed to be dressed in either grey or faded green work shirt, pants, and the cap.  I think I remember him sitting in the back smoking a cigarette most of the time.  Did he roll his own?  He was one of the original neighborhood store owners that had a line of bull he would spout to the local house wives and all the kids.  It was entertaining.  Almost as good as TV cartoons.  Was his first name Gordon, or his last?  I can't remember.

Now that I think of it, most of the male store owners or managers in the little stores had about the same "let's have some fun with this one" attitude.  The female store owners and managers were the ones that thought everyone was out to steal everything in the store or just waste their time.  At least that's how it seemed to me.

I think the concept of the old neighborhood grocery store would make a heck of a book, or play or TV show.  How about it Opie?  Will you cut me in for a percentage if it makes you millions?