Santa Claus is Coming to Town

Harold Wagahoff -- Raymond's Santa Claus

One of my favorite memories of growing up in Raymond is meeting Santa Claus on Main Street. He would come to town on a Saturday before Christmas, and dozens of children, many clutching their wish lists, would wait in line for what seemed like hours to talk to him and receive a small brown sack containing an orange, a peppermint stick, and two or three Hershey's Kisses.

I remember one year in particular, standing in line shivering in my red wool coat with black trim. The general belief was that Santa always flew into Raymond and landed near the water tower (the old water tower along 48), but on this day, the line was buzzing with the news that Santa had been spotted coming out of the fire house. Someone's parents quickly let us know that Santa had stopped at the fire house on his way over from the water tower to warm up and "take care of his business" before greeting all of us. Of course we all eventually learned the truth about Santa, and found out that Santa was really Harold Wagahoff. And everyone agrees he was the best Santa ever.

A special thank you to Harold Wagahoff's granddaughter, Stella Merit Turner, for sharing the following article that appeared in the Montgomery County News on December 19, 1990:

Lessons Learned

It's been hectic here in New Jersey, and I was a little worried about the topic for this week's TBT Blog. This evening, when I returned home from work, I was browsing through Facebook (a.k.a. procrastinating), and lo and behold, I spotted a really great status update that totally inspired me:

"Three words that I thought I'd never get to say: I AM RETIRED!!! 32 plus years of teaching and subbing for Panhandle School District :))"

This was posted by Nancy Weitekamp, whom I first knew back in the late 70's as Miss Edmiston. All of the sudden, it dawned on me that she is the person who is responsible for teaching me some skills that I have used daily throughout my adult life. Without her, I would not have been able to type papers in college, or write a blog, or efficiently update my Facebook status. I owe this woman a lot.

Mrs. Nancy Weitekamp

And teaching me was not easy. My freshman year was a bit of a "transitional" year for me, and I was much more interested in my social life than school. Pam (Mitts) Lanter, Curt Snyder, and I sat in the very back of the room in typing class, and it seems like we were always pulling some kind of shenanigans. Then there was 7th hour study hall. Mrs. Weitekamp had study hall duty that hour, which happened to coincide with my "social hour." I enjoyed talking way too much, and one day when she had really had enough, she made me write, I will not talk in 7th hour study hall, seven hundred times (yes, that's 700).  It was about 3 o'clock in the afternoon when she imposed the punishment, noting that she wanted the sentences on her desk first thing the next morning. There was a home ballgame that night, and I wrote sentences up until it started and then decided to take my pen and notebook with me so I could finish up during the game. That's when Jimmy Jones tried to take the notebook away from me. I pulled back and the whole thing ripped in half. I stayed up half the night finishing those $%^&$ sentences, and as you might imagine, I was pretty bitter about the whole thing. I don't know if I learned an immediate lesson, but I'm sure the experience was in my brain percolating and somehow helped me grow up and be a responsible adult.

I'm happy to report that I am now Facebook friends with several of my high school teachers, including Mrs. Weitekamp.  I ran into her a couple of years ago at the 4th of July and we sat next to each other on the bleachers by the stage and had a nice chat. She told me about coming to Raymond for the first time, her initial impressions of the town, and her memories of my dad running the Raymond Variety Store. She's lived in Raymond a long time now, and she and her husband, Larry, have raised a wonderful family. She certainly made an impression on me and hundreds of other students who attended Lincolnwood High School. So, I would like to take this opportunity to tell Mrs. Weitekamp (I just can't bring myself to call her Nancy to her face), thank you and congratulations on your retirement. You deserve it!

By the way, I ended up doing pretty well in typing class (maybe it was really just Pam who caused all the trouble).  :-)  For all you skeptics out there, here's some proof:

Gino's Pool Hall

From the May 4, 1967 issue of The Raymond News:

A small paragraph about Gino's Pool Hall appeared in the Raymond Centennial booklet published in 1971, "Mrs. Luisa Casolari operates the pool hall since the death of her husband, Gino, some years ago. She has remodeled the building, added air-conditioning and new fixtures, and provides a pleasant meeting place for the young people of Raymond." 

Although the pool hall closed when I was still in my early teens, I have lot of great memories of hanging out there (much to my Mother's chagrin). To this day, when I hear songs on the radio by Led Zeppelin or Foghat or Lynyrd Skynyrd (on the oldies station of course), I'm immediately transported right back to Luisa's, and I expect to hear the solid crack of a good break at any second.   

Luisa Casolari

Luisa did not speak English very clearly, and despite the communication barrier, she loved all the kids in town and everyone loved her. She was certainly a memorable character in the history of Raymond. 

One spring, not long before she closed the pool hall and returned (I think) to Italy, she gave me a card along with this photo. On the inside of the card she had written:

Happy Easter

Happy Spring

Happy Happy Everything.

I think of Luisa every year at Easter and sometimes in between.   

Citizens of Tomorrow

Does anyone recognize the little cuties in these photos that were taken just before Christmas in 1950?

 (The article below appeared in the February 1, 1951 issue of The Raymond News.)