Stan’s Ramblings

FRANK LAMB

By: Stan Jordan

As a young man he learned the barber trade and started a shop in a small building next to what is now the Oasis, but at that time was the forerunner of the Antwerp Exchange Bank. Later on he built or had built a lot of Antwerp business buildings like all of the Antwerp Pharmacy which consist now of 3 businesses.

He also built what is now McDougall Firearms, Oley’s Pizza and then what was called the Crumley block which now consists of Subway and Shadow Box Salon.

Then on north to the Gaisford block, Carla’s Cut and Curl, there has been a lot of renovations there. Then he built Lamb’s Hotel on West River Street that lasted for almost one hundred years and then was torn down and became a parking lot. He continued his trade for several years and passed away in 1939.

See ya

This blonde tip-toed past the medicine cabinet because she didn’t want to wake the sleeping pills.

These two blondes had a brother who had been a sailor and wanted to be buried at sea. They rowed the boat quite a ways out to sea and the one blonde went off the side with a shovel and started to dig.

Two Chinese boys broke into a distillery and one boy asked the other boy, “Is this whiskey” and the boy answered, “It is, but not as whiskey as wobbing a bank.”

A group of ladies sneaked into a farmer’s private pond to skinny dip and was having a good time. The farmer approached carrying a bucket, they asked him about using his pond without paying. He said, “Alright, I just came to feed my gator.”

A bus full of housewives going on a picnic, fell into a river. All died.

Each husband cried for a week, one husband continued to cry for more than two weeks.

When asked why he missed his wife so much, he replied miserably: “My wife missed the bus!”

EAGLE NEST DOWN

By: Stan Jordan

Roger Lilly was just in the office and showed me some pictures of a local eagle, but he brought me some bad news also.

He reported that the eagle’s nest on the corner of State Line Road and CR 48 has been blown down.

I bet he is right, because we had a number of bad, windy days. Yes, in my back yard alone, I will find a pick up load of dead limbs. I think a maple tree is about as dirty as a willow tree for dead limbs.

Mr. Lilly brought me up to date on the number of eagles nest in the area, That he knows about. There is a nest right at the take off end of the Bryan Airport. He says there is atleast two at Power Dam and three in the Independence Dam area. 

Yes, everyday we get  more eagles and I love to see them.

THE 1913 FLOOD

By: Stan Jordan

This picture is of the 1913 flood. It’s of the west part of town and if you look close, you can see the water tank for the locomotives on the railroad.

The picture was taken looking west from about where the Root Beer Stand is now. If you will notice there were three sets of rails at that time two sets went on west to the tank, but the left hand set stopped somewhere between the tank and the curve of the tracks.

Somewhere on the other side of that switch, is Wentworth Road, that line joins the regular line along about there. I think Wentworth Road is laid out just past that Velvet tobacco sign. In that back ground is the Old Murphy house I was born in back in 1924.

BILL HARTMAN

By: Stan Jordan

The following is an obit on a fine old Antwerp boy. Bill graduated from Antwerp High School in 1938 and after a couple of years helping his dad on the farm, he entered airplane training school.

Bill Hartman, 98, passed away on Dec. 27 surrounded by his family in San Mateo, California. He was born in Antwerp, Ohio to Everett & Naone (Hughes) Hartman.

As a young boy who grew up on a farm, Bill always dreamed of flying. This came true in 1939 when he was awarded a scholarship to attend a government civilian flight program in Dayton, Ohio. He completed the program in the top of his class in 1942. A few days later, he received a letter from Washington DC that he was to report A.S.A.P. to the 57th Army Air Force Training Department in Ocala, Florida. He served as a flight instructor teaching many cadets to fly for the war effort until 1944. Two months after completion of service, Bill was hired by United Air Lines, and flew for United for 36 years until mandatory retirement at 60. While at United, he attended the Boeing School of Aeronautics which was his dream in high school. He retired as a 747 Captain.

After retirement, Bill continued his passion for flying. He flew Otis Spunkmeyer’s DC3 Bay Tour, flew the DC3 for SalAir in Alaska, taught flight instruction, was a member in the SF Air Squadron, and built and flew experimental aircraft cross country.

In 1985, he was included in an episode of NOVA, “The Plane that Changed the World”, and was honored to fly Hap Arnold’s DC3 to attend a commemorative event at the White House.

Bill felt very blessed to have a career he truly loved and enjoyed for many years. He was a very caring, humble, and wise man who loved his work, his family, and his friends. He will be loved and missed every day.

He is survived by his children: Greg (Celia), Lisa (Peter) & Christy (Robert); and his sisters: Ruth Overmyer & Sharlene Carroll. He was predeceased by his wife Madelyn, daughter Julie, sisters June Peffley & Helen Sleesman, and brother George Hartman.