I just thought I'd share this with my fellow Railbirds.
About a year ago my wife and I stopped into a local DQ. On the walls were many old photos of different DQ's across the country from the old days. We were looking at them and noticed one from Kankakee, IL, where we were both raised. It was from 1939 and an ice cream social where they were giving away ice cream to all the customers. It was a huge gathering. We were kind of excited and looked over the picture closely. In the front I noticed this young boy holding up his arms seemed to be waving at the camera. He looked familiar almost looked like my lil brother. The only thing is my lil brother wasn't born until 1965. I said to my wife OMG this may be my dad when he was a kid.
Over the holidays back in Dec. my mom came to visit and the wife and I began to tell her the story and she wanted to go there and see the photo. My dad had passed away in April and this is the 1st time my mom had been away from the rest of the family and visited us for the Holidays. It was a great visit. I took her over to the DQ and was showing her the photo and she was like OMG it is your dad, This is about the time when we met. The manager noticed us standing there and pointing at the picture and came over and asked if she could help us any. We told her the story about the wife and I coming in a few months early and she remembered us. I introduced her to my mom and we talked for quite a while and the manager was from KKK, IL, too, so this really got her excited too.
A few minutes ago we got a phone call from the manager 9 months later. She had been trying to get us a copy of the photo for my mom and us as a surprise. It had developed into a little more than what she had thought. DQ management wanted to make a human interest story about it and put our story into their news letter. She wants to get togther with us have photo taken and interview us so we can tell our story.
Wow!!! Ya go into a local DQ for a blizzard and it snowballs from there.
© Copyright 2008
16 comments
omg~what a wonderful surprise JK~im just smiling hearing this story~im so happy for u and ur family~isnt it funny how spirits work and aways remind us they r still with us no matter what~!~bless ur heart~thanks for sharing that with us!!!~may the great spirits and ur dad always watch over u and ur loved ones~!!~M
so can ya post the pic so we can see it too??~
That is awesome. many years ago there was a tv show calledMen in White and it was a WW2 documentary about medics and doctors working on hospital ships off the coasts during a particular invasion. My dad had been a medic on one of those ships and had been dead for many years. I was watching with my grandparents when lo and behold there was my dad scurring around from one wounded soldier to another. I can relate to the chill that must have run up you back when your mom confirmed it was your dad.
Great Story and what a gift to you mama.
You and she will treasure this story in the years to come.
This is a great story that brought back memories for me. I was raised on a farm about 30 miles from Kankakee. The farm was right between two very small towns called Beaverville and Papineau. We had to go in to Kankakee for dentists, Drs. etc. as that was the closest town to offer these services. This was back in the early 1940s. I attended a 1 room schoolhouse for 1st. and 2nd grades. After I completed 2nd grade the school was closed due to lack of enrollment so I has to attend the BIG school in Papineau that had 2 rooms. (1st to 4th in one room and 5th to 8th in the other.) It was a great life!
Thanks for sharing this story, please post the picture when you get it!