December 2003                                   The Megaphone                                               Page 2

Christmas 1960

by Jerry McClish '56

It was December 16, 1960. Judy and I had only been married 13 days. We got married on December 3rd because the Selective Service had told me that I would probably get called into duty in 30 to 60 days and she wanted to get married before I left.

Judy worked as a cashier at Roy Short's drug store on the NE corner of South A. Street and Anderson Street. I worked right near her, at the Smith-Alsop paint store....Rhodes jewelry was next to my store.

The 16th was a bitter cold night with temperatures near zero. We were to have a church class party but go caroling for an hour before we had our party. Judy got off a 5:00 and came next door to where I worked. We left at about 5:30 to get the car and to pick up her mother who was working at Leeson's. On the way to pick up Her mother, Opal Southern, we saw the fire trucks heading south on Anderson Street. We picked up her mother and headed towards South J Street when her mother saw smoke and some flames. She remarked to Judy that she had a feeling it was their house, which it was.

We were able to park close and ran to the house. By that time the second floor was burning with a lot of smoke. I was amazed to see the neighbors, like the Courtney's, the Dauenhauer's, and other families moving out every thing they could on the first floor, plus some items they were able to get to before the smoke got to bad on the second floor.

Opal had been buying gifts all year for the family and many were already wrapped. Judy and the women mostly, took out all the clothing, gifts, and stuff they could carry. Soon, more people came to help.

The fire had started by the chimney. A birds nest, they thought, had got some ashes from the coal furnace and ignited the fire. Fireman were starting to climb up onto the roof so they could punch holes in the roof. I recall two fireman going up in the front. Ice was
making things slippery. Junior Dever was one of the two in front who went up on the roof. As he was chopping the roof he slid down and hurt himself having to be taken to the hospital.

I recall Ray Southern asking me to get some boxes out of his shop and get some people to carry out his library. He had books from his mother and grand mother's days and that was his major concern. As we were packing them up water was now coming down on us and we were getting very wet but I think all books were saved.

By about midnight, only one fire truck remained. They were still trying to be sure there were no "hot spots" left near the chimney. By that time, Ray had contacted his good friend, Bob Carter, who was a contractor. Bob brought two or three pickup trucks and they started hauling everything but clothes, gifts, etc., to his garage, which went on until close to 3:00 AM. The family and friends took stuff to their homes, with much of it being taken to Judy's sister's (Carol) home in Frankton.

We were having coffee and some food in the Courtney's home and I did not realize that my pants were so wet they were stiff as a board. We got to our apartment about 3:30 AM and it was hard to get my clothes off but a hot bath felt good.

I was amazing to see so many neighbor's and friends help out during the night. The Southern's were so surprised that so much had been saved and for the help they had received. The small town neighbor's and friends had been so good When they moved to a temporary home after Christmas, friends and relatives were once again ready to help out.

This was the second time in less than two years, that I had gone through a fire. The one before was the big one when the Golden Garden's caught fire on South Anderson Street. Elwood Federal bank on the corner suffered some damage, as did our paint store next to the Golden Garden's, and two stores south of us. Some day, I will ask Loretta Dodd to post what I wrote about that fire.

Submitted by . . .

Jerry McClish '56

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