Main Sreet Musings: Raymond Super Service

The following was taken from Raymond’s 125 Years of History Book published in 1996:

Pinkston's Raymond Super Service Building on Broad Street in 1983.

 On June 1, 1943, the Raymond Super Service, an auto and farm machinery repair shop, was opened. Originally, this was a three-way partnership venture, but by the end of the second year, the other partner was bought out, leaving Glen Pinkston as the owner. Due to the war, no new cars were being built at this time.

For the first few years, there were many farmers from as far away as Tuscola, Lovington, and Arthur who came to Glen for rebuilt magnetos, since he had made quite a name for himself when he worked for Johnson Implement Co. in Taylorville. In 1945, Glen Pinkston signed a contract with Chrysler Corporation to sell Plymouth and DeSoto automobiles as the factories were now gearing up for building cars again. The following year, Glen purchased the building from L.E. (Shorty) Hendrickson of Litchfield who had built it about 1918. It was operated as a general repair shop by Ray Guthrie and later Ray Trinkle operated a Chevrolet dealership there until World War II. The Pinkston family credits the First National Bank of Raymond for its importance in helping Glen secure sole proprietorship of the business as well as purchasing the building and a home for the family. In the early years, Glen also handled small and large appliances, as new cars were hard to get when they first came out.

Glen "Buck" Pinkston and  Carl Routt at the Raymond Super Service in 1954.

Wayne “Barney” Henderson was a mechanic for the business for many years. He often worked side by side with Glen. All of Glen’s mechanics had the advantage of Chrysler Corporation technical training. Glen made many of the tools used in serving new car, and quite often improved upon some of the many new ones he purchased each year. Upon Glen’s death, Bates Motor Co. of Litchfield purchased his entire tool collection.

Glen died in 1983 just two weeks short of his 69^th birthday. He had suffered a serious heart attack in 1968, but had recovered enough to continue working.

Glen and his wife, Mildred, were married May 21, 1936. Mildred was born in 1917 in St. Elmo and grew up in the town of Bethany. She worked full time at the business firm from 1943 to 1969 when she took a job with the Illinois Department of Revenue in Springfield. After that, she continued to work part-time at the garage until it closed and full time at the Department of Revenue until her retirement in 1989.

They became the parents of eight children: Gene, Bob, Marcia, Sheryl, Pat, Glenda, Debra, and Brenda. The Pinkston family lived in a home at 211 N. McElroy, which they purchased in 1946. It had formerly been the home of Stephen and Sophia Schulte, a brother and sister who operated a bakery attached to the back of the home for many years. At the time of purchase, the back half of all three lots was occupied by raspberry bushes and a grape arbor extended from across the back of the bakery down to the alley. There were also quite a few trees around the rest of the lots, but disease and storms decimated their number, until now only three walnut trees are left.

One night, 15 owls lit in an elm tree and were a source of delight to the neighborhood children. The next morning they were gone. In his youth, Billy Ross Hough would come to the house and conduct funerals for dead birds and kittens there, complete with flowers, mourners, sermons and committals.