1. I knew a few things about Johnny (or John) Wollaston before I found out back in early October that he'd died. I knew he played basketball at Kellogg High (he graduated in 1962) and at North Idaho Junior College. I knew, because a newspaper story about it was displayed at the restaurant, that he had eaten at Wah Hing for hundreds of days in a row. I knew he hung out a lot at the Yoke's deli. I knew he tried to sell things he accumulated over the years out of a store front on McKinley Avenue. I knew that every basketball game I attended at the high school, John was there.
When I first started going to the Inland Lounge when I'd come to Kellogg from Maryland to help out with Mom, Cas, for reasons I don't remember, told me about John and when he said his last name it rang bells in my head, but I couldn't figure out why.
Well today, Christy messaged me wondering if I'd heard Johnny died. She'd just learned about his death yesterday. I'd also sent a picture out to some fellow Wildcats of the junior varsity team John was on in high school and that had Stu and me messaging back and forth about him.
No one ever wrote a full obit about John, but today I found the obit for his brother, Robert, who died in Texas about fourteen years ago.
In it, I learned at least one reason why the name Wollaston rang a bell when Cas mentioned him to me around ten years ago.
Dad tended bar at the Sunshine Inn on Friday and Saturday nights.
His bartending partner was Paul Riep.
Paul was married to Marcella and BINGO Marcella's first husband was John and Robert Wollaston's father, also named John.
Dad's bartending partner and good friend, Paul, was Johnny Wollaston's step-father and I must have heard the family name mentioned around the house in my youth.
I'm not convinced that's it.
Slowly, surely, I plan to poke around, ask around, and see if there are other reasons why the Wollaston name sounded so familiar to me when I heard it about ten years ago at The Lounge.
2. No need for details and I'm not sure I could recite them anyway, but the process of Debbie getting Idaho plates and registration for the Corolla she bought, what?, five months ago in New Jersey has been a fiasco. But, something in this ongoing logjam broke loose and today the Idaho registration for her car came in the mail. I called Debbie with the good news and sent the registration and license plate stickers to her in New York this afternoon.
Now I'm waiting for her plates to arrive in the mail in Kellogg so I can send them on to her.
3. Ed and I met up at The Lounge today and I enjoyed a couple refreshing non-alcohol Bud Zeros and had a lot of fun talking with Doug Y. and Ed.
Ed and I were there for about an hour.
When I arrived back home I made a tomato and eggplant pasta sauce and enjoyed it very much poured over a bowl and a half of penne pasta.
I have leftovers and so another bowl or so of this delicious dish will be in my near future.
No comments:
Post a Comment