Going on South at the cross roads is the home of Joseph Boyer and his
wife Ruby (Decker). The first owner that I remember was Axley
Kellams and his wife Elizabeth. Here lived Ora and Ida
Sherman. Axley was a cooper. The older house was a large two roomed
structure with a double fire place in the partition. This house was torn down
and built into the present one by its owners Oscar Kellams and
Alberta (Jones).
Here lived
Frances.
It was later owned by a family from Indianapolis.
Next down the road East toward Newton Stewart are the two modern brick homes
belonging to two brothers Jerry and Richard Summers, and
their families. These boys are brick and stone masons and have had a part in
constructing many of the business buildings and homes in and around Jasper. It
is regretted that homes like these will be taken for a park.
The next home East is that of their father Bert and his wife Alma.
This was the Thomas A. Kellams home. Here lived Eliza, Oscar,
Pearl
and Floyd. Also David Summers and his wife lived here. The wife
of Tom Kellams was Cassie Deich. The Kellams family were
good singers and sang for many occasions in the community.
To be continued next issue…
The Brown;
In the late 1930’s George Pope, who had some connection with the Ballard’s,
was working as the doorman at the Brown one evening when a car drove up and
tossed several sticks of dynamite at the door. George did not hesitate one
minute, he picked up the dynamite, ran as far as he could, then heaved the
bomb several feet into a vacant lot.
No damage was
done. No one was ever charged with the crime but the local gossip was that it
was perpetrated by a couple of disgruntled local dealers. George had also
served as the sheriff of the county in the twenty’s.
Most of he dealers were local men but some would be brought in from New York
and other places. As a rule these men would return to their homes when the
season ended. Some came in and liked the Valley so much they stayed. One that
I remember very well was Pete Thomas. He and Phil Miller became great friends.
Phil operated the skeet club at the top of the hill behind the hotel. They
would play pool for great stakes. Phil was a good golfer, a middle 70’s
shooter, He prevailed on Pete to take up the game so they could play each
other. Pete had never swung a golf club in his life and he took lessons for
three or four weeks from our pro, Mel Smith. Pete had an extremely flat swing
but it was natural so Mel did not try and change it, rather he just tried to
improve on it. Pete would work the casinos until the wee hours of the morning
and then he would hit the practice range for several hours
***