My hometown has lost everything from grocery to hardware stores — but not my memories

Maybe it’s a function of aging or maybe it’s something that everyone does, but I find myself reading obituaries and checking the ages of the deceased. I feel sad when it is someone younger than me.

An older brother and I were talking and he said sometimes he sees an older person’s obit and thinks, “Well at least they had a nice long life,” and then realizes they were younger than him.

I’m not sure what that illustrates but I take it to mean seize the time you have left and make it mean something. But don’t shortchange those memories either.

Every time I go back to my hometown that is important for memories are pretty much what remains. The old gas station where I used to go and dig into the big metal box where all the sodas were kept is empty. I always got a Double Cola because it was 16 ounces — a rarity back in those days.

Of the six stations I remember, two still operate. That is better than the three grocery stores which are gone. And the many restaurants that came and went. Even the two liquor stores and the two bars haven’t survived.

Like many small towns it lost its industries and then its stores and bunch of people. I grew up with the firebrick industry. There were five plants in the area that employed a couple of thousand people at good wages. There were summer jobs for college students, including me.

Now there is one still working. The one that used to be in my hometown now is a large empty building with a no-longer illuminated sign out front.

The department store died long before I left town. The Chrysler dealership is gone. It used to be in the building where a company sold farm implements.

The roller rink didn’t last long nor did the bowling lanes — all five of them. It closed once because of a fire and rebuilt only to burn again. The building became a teen center and then an auto parts store and now, of course is a resale shop.

When you have been gone for almost 50 years you have very little idea who anyone is anymore. The adults who set the examples — good and bad — are gone or in the nursing home that now is the largest employer.

Heck, some of my contemporaries have gone through there as well.

Some of the churches are hanging in there and a couple of not quite mainstream congregations have been established. In a contemporary twist intruding on a small town, one church was sold out from under its congregation and turned into apartments.

More changes

Not only have businesses closed in the two-blocks of what we called downtown but half of the buildings have been torn down. There is a bank but it is part of a large chain.

There were two convenience stores but Casey’s bought the competitor and now it is the social heart of town. Actually it shares that function with the Dollar General store which the community adores. It is a combination grocery store, dime store, clothing store and hardware store — all of which the town has lost.

Sad, yes, but that is how America rolls these days. At least I have my memories.