By Staff
I don't know if this is a true story or not, but it was told to me by a friend of mine recently in a random conversation.
He said years ago there was a car salesman who worked at the local Ford dealership.
He told me the man's name, so it may really be a true tale.
It seems an old, cruddy-looking farmer wearing his torn and dirty farmer bib overalls and driving a beat-up pick-up truck came in and said he wanted to buy a truck.
He was pushed off on to the fellow mentioned to me by my friend by all the other salesmen.
After picking out the pick-up he decided to buy, the salesman said now how would you like to finance this?
The old farmer said, see those three old milk cans in the back of my truck?
Well, they are full of coins and that is how I want to pay for it.
Now, whether this was a true story or not, it does well to say you can't judge a book by its cover.
This kind of reminds me of a story I read years ago. Famous singer Bing Crosby was on a northern fishing trip and with his old dirty fishing clothes and being unshaven, he was turned down when he went into a hotel and couldn't get a room. I think this was a real story.
I bet a lot of folks my age can remember Phil Harris and Alice Faye. He had a band on the Jack Benny radio show.
I can still hear them singing, “That's What I Like About the South” and “Smoke, Smoke, Smoke That Cigarette,” plus “The Preacher and the Bear.”
I remember when Andy Moses, who was a real good Dowagiac tennis player, lived with Howard and Wilma Goodsell on Division Street.
He was their nephew, if I recall.
I think there was a fish pool on the east side of their house.
Andy married a school teacher, Joyce Thomas, and for some reason changed his name to Andy Thomas.
His wife used to give baton lessons to Peg's brother in Coloma. Her brother later became a national twirling champion and twirled at Detroit Lions and Green Bay Packers Thanksgiving football games.
After hearing the severe thunder storms it reminded me of the time I was sitting on our front porch at 207 New York Ave. watching a bad thunder storm.
Lightning struck one of the big elm trees on New York Avenue on the east side of the Lyon and Son funeral Home (now Groner's).
Later, when Bob Mosher and I went over to see the tree, where it ended at the base of the tree it had turned the sand to look glasslike.
In reference at article 187, I did stop at the Dalton sign farm and met Bob Dalton and his wife. They are two very nice people and his wife said the Dalton sign was all her husband's doing.
Don't know if the gang was part of his family.