Recently in Local memories Category

I can't say enough, today of all days, how much I appreciate the service of the men and women of York County and beyond to our country in the Armed Forces.

The last few months have been filled with reminders in my life of close friends and family members who have served.

The pastor who baptized me, a lifelong Yorker who joined the Army in 1941 and was wounded at Anzio. He wrote me a letter last December, telling me a bit about his life and including a note that he remembered me - one of 589 people he'd baptized in his work as a United Methodist minister. After all his service, that he would remember me meant a lot.

A very good friend from high school, who came home in early October after 10 years in the Air Force, most recently serving in Afghanistan. I didn't know until he got home where he'd been assigned, and I'm so thankful - I'd have been even more terrified than I already was for him.

My brother-in-law, who recently attended the dedication of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial at the Expo Center. As a kid, I knew he was in the military, but didn't really think about it much. As an adult, knowing more than I used to about what went on in Vietnam, I respect his service so much more.

My eighth-grade Algebra teacher, who came into the newspaper's office toward the end of summer. I wasn't sure he remembered me, but he told me the one thing that made me sure he did - "I remember you, and I remember your daddy, too." He and Dad served together in the Army Reserves for many years. Next to his dedicated service, the big hug he gave me was the best gift I could imagine.

And most of all, my father himself. He's been gone since 1993, but he's still the first thing I think of when I think "USA." He enlisted early - lying about his age - to fight in Korea. He served for many years in the military police. He went everywhere - including to Italy, where our family is from. And once he "retired" from active duty, he joined the Reserves, where he did supply-chain training up until the year he died. Amazingly, he was called to active service again in the first Gulf War, back when I was in elementary school. I was going through my scrapbooks just the other day and realized I still have all the newspaper clippings of every detail of that conflict, and all the letters Dad sent me while he was away.

Wrapped in all these people is the gift of service to country that most of us might never fully understand. I'm thankful to everyone who serves, and today of all day, my thoughts are with our service members, their families, and the families of those who made the ultimate sacrifice. My life in York County is a happy one, and for those of you who've traveled far from home here to keep it so... my endless thanks.

Yes, Halloween has come and gone, but I'd be remiss if I didn't direct you to the stories of some paranormal happenings in York County that were recently told as part of our "Remember" series.

One of the stories happens to be from a good friend of mine, Whitney Stover, whose mom passed away a little more than a year ago. In addition to the event Whitney describes in the article, I was present for another "happening" related to it.

Whitney is part of a group of ladies that I scrapbook with occasionally in the Stoverstown area. One time, not long after her mom passed, Whitney looked at the door of the room we meet in and said, "It feels like she's just going to walk in at any minute and join us." The amazing thing? The door opened a bit, then softly closed. Now, this is a HEAVY outside door - and it hadn't even been cracked before. Needless to say, all of us there were pretty shocked.

Now, I'm sure there are some of you who don't believe in ghosts. I'm not one of them. I believe that I have seen things that were a bit out of the ordinary. When I was about 8 or 9 years old, at the house I grew up in (on Blackberry Road in northern Dover Township), I walked out of our bathroom, heading through my parents' room to go downstairs. As I walked into Mom's room, there was a woman standing at her dresser, looking into one of Mom's jewelry boxes. As Mom certainly had friends at the house on occasion, I didn't think much of it. The woman turned to me and said, clear as day, "You're Joan's daughter." Again, I didn't think much of it, just said, "Yes," and went on my way. Later, I asked my mom who the lady was - imagine my surprise when, as I described her, Mom told me that was HER mom, who died long before I was born, and who I'd never seen a picture of. And the jewelry box the woman had been looking at had been my grandmom's.

Strange things do happen in York County, and that one made a "ghost believer" out of me. So when I read the stories in this month's "Remember" installment, all I could think was, "Oh, thank goodness I'm not crazy."

How about it? Ghosts? Yes or no? Vote below, and leave a comment if you've had any kind of supernatural/paranormal experience!

WOW! I can't believe how many responses my post about Hess's last week drew.

I'd love to compile a thorough archive of "stores that used to be but aren't any more" in York County. I have posted about a few; if you're a newer reader to the blog, please check these out and let me know what you remember about these locations.

And for everyone - please comment and let me know what other stores you miss. I'll try to round up some info on them and post about them in the coming weeks!

Ghost stores:
- Hess's
- The North Mall (not a "store," exactly, but still.)
- J.M. Fields (at the North Mall, my sister and brother-in-law say)
- The York Mall (commenter Joe reminded me of that one) - I do remember that; wasn't there a free-standing Sears there?
- Best
- Hills
- ... and its neighbor Pathmark
- Gee Bee's
- Zaire's (which was at the same location as Hills, if I remember right??)
- I hear we had Mailman's, too, though I need some more guidance on where and when that might have been!
- Same with Two Guys - where was that?
- People's Drug (commenters Mark and Melanie mentioned all three of these last ones; do you guys have any locations?)
- From the Remember When topic on the Exchange, I learned about Bear's Department Store, which is what the picture above is of, and Stillman's Department store, as well as a place called Jack's store in York.

Ghost restaurants:
- Rax
- Rutter's (former employer of commenter friend Mark!)
- Ponderosa
- Spurg's Drive-In
- Gino's
- Bury's Hamburgers

Let's keep the list growing!

Fall in York County, to me, means marching band. You might prefer that sport that uses our band field during some of the same events... you know, the one with quarterbacks and stuff? Yeah, whatever! Hahaha.

I headed out to my high school's marching band preview night last Friday. (Click the link to read about my trip to the same event in 2007.) Took my daughter, my best friend and her daughter. And I loved it!

This year's Dover show is a tribute to Queen, so that made it all the better, because I really enjoy their music. But I also enjoyed that I, quite by accident, sat right in front of a whole group of friends from my church, two rows below of the band director's family and two rows above my best friend's brother-in-law (who was in the band at the same time we were), who had brought his son. I love that about York County!

So here's a scene from the show:

Does anyone know yet what the other local bands' show themes are for this year? We usually run a roundup in the paper, but I'm impatient.

Here's a blast from the past: Does anyone remember Hess's, the department store that used to be at one end of the (then-new) West Manchester Mall? I believe it was at the end that they expanded out and built the Wal-Mart at, but I could be wrong - I was pretty little.

Anyway, I was looking that up today and didn't realize until now that the Hess's chain, when it went out of business, was bought out by several other retailers, and among them was The Bon-Ton. Our location wasn't included in that, of course; it just closed, but still. While I had been sitting around today thinking it's a shame that Hess's is gone, I'm now sort of happy to know that it lives on through another York County retailer.

Anyone else remember Hess's? I think if SOMEONE IN MY FAMILY is reading this blog, they might have some memories to share, say of working there for a good bit of my childhood??

Subtle, aren't I?

Remember my post last month on why so many locals call the village in Chanceford Township "the Brogue" instead of Brogue?

A new commenter, Rita, helped me out with some insight on that question. (Hi, Rita!) She writes:

Well, we won't give Rita any grief, right? Not when we're such fans of York County phrases like doing something awhile or saying something is "all"!

Now, for reading this far, here is a great photo from Brogue:

Here, Carole Hale of West Wind Bison Farm in Brogue feeds the bison apples early in the morning in 2002.

What I really should do is make a trip down and find out more about this Brogue Hotel. Is it still there? Is it still open to the public? Can I take pictures? This might be a road-trip project!

You might have seen the new image on the right side of this page earlier this week - like the one in this entry, it describes a new resource for learning more about local history.

It's a directory of groups, Web sites, museums and more, and I'm not ashamed to say I worked on it for quite a while!

Check it out here, and read more on Jim McClure's York Town Square blog.