Drug Store Surprises

Share Now

When my friend Olive and I pulled onto Main Street in Springfield, Tennessee, last Friday, I thought of Mother and Daddy’s story about the South Side Drug Company and decided to drive by.

To my surprise, a sign on the front told that they serve breakfast and lunch. I was so excited. For the sake of nostalgia, I asked Olive if she minded having lunch at the lunch counter.

Not only was it nostalgic, it was delicious and healthy. I enjoyed a smoothie made with real blueberries and peaches, mixed right before my eyes, and a walnut and dried cranberry salad. Olive had broccoli salad and potato soup made from South Side’s own homegrown potatoes. Seating is limited but they had a brisk business in take-out lunches, too.

Of course, I had to tell the server the story about my parents.

In a few minutes, a lady at the counter came over to talk to me. “I’m a reporter,” she said and then explained that she was doing a story on the lunch counter. She asked if she could include the story about my parents. Soon Olive and I were posing for a picture and spelling our names to the reporter!

Naturally, I thought that I must write about all of this for you. After enjoying most of our lunch, I asked a customer who had come to the counter a while after we did if she would take a picture of Olive and me, so that I could it include in this post. I had already noticed this red-haired lady because she really did favor my red-haired Aunt Charlene, a Springfield native whom my mother’s younger brother married in the late 1960s. I asked her if she was from Springfield, and, of course, I told her Mother and Daddy’s story. She snapped our picture . . .

. . . and told me that I should tell my story to the drug store owner, while nodding her head toward the man who had been sitting in the lone booth the whole time we had been there.

The friendly red-haired lady got his attention so he could hear my story. For the third time in a half-hour, I repeated my story to him and his wife. Hearing that I was from Ashland City, he asked me if I knew Sam Reeks. Did I know Sam Reeks!? I certainly did. He and his mother went to our church and Mother did alterations for his men’s store for many years. I told the owner about my Saturday night walks to Sam Reeks and Son men’s store with Mother so she could collect her wages.

Then he asked me if I knew Anthony Fizer. Did I know Anthony Fizer? I did! He was one of my family’s favorite people! He started working for Sam Reeks and Son when he was a teenager. For years, he knocked on our back door almost daily and often more than once a day, while holding a stack of men’s slacks for Mother to hem. Then, the South Side owner started calling Anthony Fizer by his nickname “Amp.” I hadn’t heard “Amp” in years! It was music to my ears. When Sam Reeks and Son closed its doors, guess where Amp went to work? He did accounting for South Side Drug Company!

I was happy to learn that South Side has been in operation since 1919 and that the nice man I was talking to had owned it for 47 of those years. I was also happy to see that he honored Jesus and our country. Notice the cross to the right of the God Bless America sign.

I was born in Springfield, Tennessee, but lived there only a few months before we moved into our little white house in the country. We lived there until I was almost four and then moved to Ashland City (which is 20 miles from Springfield). All of our close relatives in Springfield have passed away. I was not expecting to hear about people from my childhood at South Side Drug Store!

I am smiling as I type. Friday was such a joyful day for me. My friend Olive from Ohio was kind to share all of those memories with me. So are you.

Enter His gates with thanksgiving,
And His courtyards with praise.
Give thanks to Him, bless His name.
For the Lord is good;
His mercy is everlasting
And His faithfulness is to all generations.
Psalm 100:4-5

 

Share Now