Staff Writer The first time I remember getting (and knowing I got) a BOTTLE OF POP took place in Okarche, Oklahoma, when I was a pre-schooler, who had to hold Grandpa Herman Schroeder’s hand when we crossed the street in front of the Post Office to get to George Schroeder’s Grocery Store, where there was a cooler with ice and “bottles of pop” in it. We were buying the list of groceries Grandma had sent us to town to get so that she could cook that week’s Sunday Dinner (noon meal after Church) for the extended family.
I had probably tasted some prior to that time, but M-M-M-M, was the drink from the sweating, ice-cold glass bottle about the greatest thing I had ever enjoyed as a beverage! I don’t even remember the flavor or brand, but I know Grandpa paid an extra dime beyond the price of the groceries to cover our two drinks.
Forward to boyhood in FORNEY as I recall the next time I really remember having a bottle of POP. It was at a picnic, held by Hope Lutheran Church Congregation located on Jim Miller Road at Day Street in Dallas, and the picnic was at some Dallas Park close by – I think on Buckner Blvd! It was a Coca-Cola in a bottle smaller than the one Grandpa had bought for me, and it had been “iced down” in a galvanized wash tub, as we all called the gray tubs. It was good with my hot dog, roasted on a straightened wire coat hanger with the paint first “burnt off by Dad, but not as good as the first one!
The third memorable bottle of Pop was consumed at a summer baseball game at the Legion Baseball Field, and it was in an actual double- tub soft drink cooler, filled with ice and its melted water. It was a carbonated grape drink – Grapette – in a bottle that was smaller in the middle than below or above that spot, seemingly to provide a better hand-hold for the sometimes slippery bottle. Wow, it was really good, but not as good as the first one – but close! I had more “pop” at summer games – orange, root beer, Seven-up, R-C Cola. Remember those days, Alan?
Next in my memory is one of the best, yet but not totally good, Pop-drinking events in my life, and it was back in Okarche at the Meier Reunion (Mom Marian’s side of the family). It was held at a rural farm, and again the drinks were iced in galvanized wash tubs set out around the homesite area so as to be handy for folks eating all the picnic fixings you can imagine.
Cousin David and I approached the area a little timidly, and especially I held back, because our family was not as often there during this reunion time. But one of our relatives came up and greeted our folks and told David and me to “help yourselves to the bottles of pop in the tubs. You can have as many as you can hold!” And guess what, Mom and Aunt Frances did not say we couldn’t!
I remember, Coca-Cola, Dr. Pepper, Grape, Orange, Root Beer, and Chocolate Soldiers. I remember that we tried to not eat too much so that we could hold more Pop. I remember that after seven, I did not think I wanted any more, but I was afraid to tell David, who was determined to have at least one more. He did, and he “threw up” what he had taken in of that one and some colors of earlier others, too. His Mom saw what had happened, and that was the end of our binge!
As I got older, I began picking up discarded “deposit” pop bottles, because Grandpa had explained to me how “deposits” worked and that for every usable pop bottle I could return to the grocery store that sold those items, I would be paid two cents. Pop cost five cents (a nickel) per regular-sized bottle in those days of the 1950s, and on a good day of walking to town, I could often find one or three that “someones” had thrown out car windows and onto the ground between the road and the sidewalks (such as they were). Candy bars were also a nickel then, and Fleer Chewing Gum was a three-pack for one cent, so for six found bottles, I could redeem them and buy a bottle of pop, a candy bar, and three sticks of gum – and still have a penny left to start my “stash” in my “squeeze” coin purse.
I will never forget the day that Billy Owen Costello, George Hughes, Pat Adams, David Costello, and I (and maybe Mike Adams, Andy Boles, and Melvin Tucker) had all walked to town to do some errands for Mrs. Maxine Costello – one errand was to get her mail from the Post Office – and guess what? Billy Owen saw a letter for him in the pack of mail Mrs. Hinton handed him, and he opened it. It was a birthday card from some uncle and aunt and had a one-dollar bill inside for his present – one whole dollar! Well, knowing what I probably would have done (taken it home and put it into my “savings jar”), I was shocked to hear Billy Owen say, “O. K. Everybody over to Verdie-Mae’s” (restaurant). I knew I was supposed to go right back home after we did the chores, but what could I do? Billy Owen and George were the “big guys” and in charge of watching all us “little guys” – and they headed to the café!
We went inside and sat at the counter, and I did not know what we were doing. Mrs. Nichols came to me last at the end of the row of stools and said, “What kind of ice cream?” I could only think of vanilla (I was stressed!) and blurted it out. “What kind of soda do you like?” I said, “What?” She said, “O. K. What kind of Pop do you want?” I answered, “Orange,” still not knowing what was going on!
I sat there and waited, not wanting to ask anything of the two older boys and look “stupid.” I did not know if the others knew what was going on, so I just sat quietly. Then, in front of each of us, Verda May set down a big glass of ice cream and a big bottle of pop, just as we had ordered.
And, I began to eat/drink one of the most delicious things I had ever tasted – an ORANGE FLOAT (not sure if it was NEHI or Sun Crest) – a free one and the type to this day that is still my FAV!
And I sat there, enjoying the wonderfully nice, sharing side of Billy Owen that I did not know existed!
A few weeks after this episode, Mary Linn Adams took us neighborhood boys to the store in Talty, and I had my first Mr. Cola pop. It had two more ounces than R. C., so it became another of my favorites!
Not too long after this outing, in the fall football season when the weather was still pretty hot, Dad took me to Van to watch a football game. The trip was a long one for a boy with no other boy to talk to, but we had a pretty good time going; when we passed a root beer stand on the way, Dad said, “We will remember this place and stop for one on the way home.”
I thought to myself, “Yeah, sure, it will be late, and the stand will be closed.”
But, my-oh-my, though it was rather later, it was open with lights blazing and a sign that said, “Special for game night – Root Beer, large size, 1/2 price!”
We stopped, and though root beer had never been my favorite, I could not tell Dad I wanted something else that was not on sale. So, big root beer it was, and I will admit, it was tasty and a type with which I was not familiar – DAD’S Root Beer in a bottle. And, I drank the whole thing and then “squinched” and “squirmed” and “wiggled” most of the way home. Once back to Maple Street, I rushed past Dad when he unlocked the door and beat him to our one bathroom! Relief!
Through the years, I bought POP at the service stations of Roy Thomas and J. H. Ford – and from Marvin Feagin and Dick Farmer. People came into their stations and put peanuts into the “little” bottles of Coke and Dr. Pepper. I never did!
If it was later at night, I bought Pop from Sunny Miller at his fuel stop/truck stop/filling station along the highway. He was so nice and always had “free air and water” for our vehicles. And, it was safe to stop there, even if it was LATE!
Cub Scouts meetings for us grammar school young boys always meant refreshments of “little Cokes” or “little Dr. Peppers” – and once a variety of Nehi pops!
One final memory – Boy Scout Summer Camp at Lake Texoma by way of Denison and Pottsboro. The Forney Troop 339 travelled in a truck that I think was driven by Rick McDaniel’s dad. We stopped at a “filling station” (gas) and all got out of the back to walk around, use the “facilities,” and buy a bottle of pop. I did not recognize the name on the bottle – BARQS – but mine was a root beer, ice cold out of the “ice box,” and a new brand was added to my favorites list. And, I noticed bottles of Pepsi Cola there, too – had never had one of those!
OOPS! One more “final” memory: Summer of 1968 and working for the City of Forney on the “trash truck” one Tuesday or Friday – 100+ degrees – Mr. Malone pulls into Dick Farmer’s gas station, and Mr. Harvey, Don Themer, Warren Hatnext ley, Andy Dehtan (that summer’s three “city boys”), and two City workers who just happened to see us stop (Ed McCoy and Dick Harvey) go inside to hear that Mr. Farmer wants to give all of us a “coke” for free for always picking up his trash on time and so well. I remember pulling the SPRITE from the drink machine rack, popping off the metal cap, and “chugging” down that so cold, delicious lemon/lime carbonated nectar.
Bottles of Pop – I guess they are my favorite memories of hot summer days and evenings and needed to be out of wash tubs full of chunks of ice and shared with friends and relatives.
Oh, yes, oh, yes – I am ready to drive to Pottsboro, find the station and that shade tree, and sit with the boys and have a BOTTLE of POP with Warren and Rod and Howard and George and Dale – and especially Coach Jim Johnson!
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