Free Press –
Russ Schanely Quakertown History
Dear Friends,
Good morning. I received a heartwarming letter from Lee Frantz, the nephew of Russell Schanely whose memorial service I wrote about last month. Lee and Donna Frantz live in Brookings, South Dakota. Russ was a community leader who gave his life to veterans. Lee’s message was about his relationship with Russ…and it was about Quakertown in the 1950’s. I’ll share parts of it with you.
“I remember taking walks with him [Russ] along the creek behind my Nana’s [Miriam Schanely, Russ’ mother] home [100 block of Park Ave.], looking for salamanders and chubs and smelling the potato chips being made south of town,” Lee began. The smell of potato chips came from the Crouthamel Potato Chip factory on Station Road.
“On the day of Russ’ funeral,” Lee continued, “We spent some nostalgic time with the Harr’s at Sines 5 and 10, looking at Schanely and Quakertown memorabilia. Bill Harr was like a long lost friend digging up matchbook covers with Uncle Russ’ candidate qualifications and picture on it and a calendar plate that went back to my Great Pop Pop H. B. Schanely’s jewelry store from 1911. I bought the “Images of America: Quakertown” book and Marlene and Bill handed out Hire’s root beer to get us through that steamy day.
My wife Donna and I’d stumbled upon Sine’s when we went for a walk downtown to see the old jewelry store at 212 Broad St. the day before the funeral…I looked in at Sine’s soda fountain and gasped. It didn’t look any different that when my Nana sent me down there for root beer in the 1950’s- most likely to get me out of her hair in the store.
“I can remember vividly the day I shut the safe in the Schanely Jewelry store during the day and that was it; it was locked until the next morning when a timer allowed it to be opened again. If I remember correctly, someone had to stay in the store all night because the diamonds and watches that had been in the window display couldn’t be locked up. There were also customers who came in for orders and had to be told that “our grandson locked the safe and we can’t get your ring out until tomorrow.” I have no idea if I messed up any engagements, birthdays of anniversaries with that move.
“Another great memory I have is when Nana Schanely and Uncle Russ took me to Trainer’s for “lobber tail.” It was and is my favorite food, but I couldn’t pronounce lobster at that young an age. My parents were always horrified at the expense of a lobster dinner, but my grandmother always insisted since I like “Lobber Tail” so much. I saw an old Trainer’s menu in Sine’s that said the lobster tail dinner was $4.50. That wouldn’t even be the tip or even the tax on a lobster dinner today.
“I guess going to restaurants, which was a rare treat in the 1950’s, and having my grandmother Miriam let me help her in her kitchen set me up for my life in the food service industry. I will retire next May as a professor of restaurant and foodservice management. Russ and Nana both let me wreck havoc in the kitchen, peeling shrimp, cutting ring bologna, basting turkeys and arranging platters of foods at the early age of five.
“Russ Schanely will forever be in my memories,” Lee’s letter concluded. “I can still feel the Dutch (Deutsch) rubs he gave on my head. He didn’t take it very easy either- it was a heck of a hard rub on the head; but if you didn’t get that greeting each new visit, you were probably in some kind of trouble. That rub was love.”
Thanks, Lee, for taking me down memory lane. We still live a block from your grandparents’ home. I was in high school during the days that you describe. A ride on a Philadelphia trolley, cigar, and newspaper cost just five cents. We worked for 50 cents per hour. Ah, what memories.
Sincerely.
Charles Meredith