Memories of yesteryear

For those great ones of Tyrone Past and Present...
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Something to say
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Memories of yesteryear

Post by Something to say »

BeachBiker in another thread talked about Tyrone and it's characters... My mind went strolling down memory road... just a few stories about some Tyroners who were genuinely good people and flavored the town with their deeds.


I remember my first "real job" @ 18 ... I worked the 3rd shift at Sheetz long before gas and MTO's... back then I had a lot of the paper mill crowd and guys from the "nut factory" coming in. Tyroners still did laps thru town all hours of the night and Sheetz's was a pit stop... needless to say I was always quite busy. I had to make 64 hoagies and dozens of ham and cheese sandwiches, and clean & replenish all the salad trays each nite, stock shelves, clean the parking lot, bathroom, and wait on customers. A man named Chauncey came in nightly and scrubbed the floors for me...( just for the exercise! ) took a load off my shoulders!! I so appreciated that man even though I really didn't even KNOW him.

Who could forget "Popeye" Decker? I can still see him diligently standing on the street @ 14th and Pennsy making sure all the kids crossed without accident. Once I was told a story by my cousin... Popeye had went to visit her sister and brother in law... police business...and their porch was quite icy. He slipped and fell on his bum...and when she opened the door to him he exclaimed. " Gee ****, I almost did the double-footed shuffle on your front porch!! " ALMOST???!!!! He was some character!

Early every morning an elderly man from Logan Ave drove to Sheetz to pick up the morning paper. Now let me tell you... I can't think of a time that someone's car didn't receive at least a scratch when he drove thru the lot. Someone would see him coming and yell ........here comes **** and EVERYBODY would RUN to the parking lot and stand by their cars.....hilarious. I dont think anyone ever made a fuss...they just had their cars painted and went on with business as usual...lol.

I dont know if this guy qualifies as Legend, Hero or Outstanding People.... but this is a true story ... I swear!!
I had a guy come in one morning and put a water pistol to my face and he demanded all the money from the register...this is no joke..lol... and I said....ummm.... I know you...he squirted himself instead and said... Blast it... small towns suck...and left....lol.

Anyway...I have plenty of memories from that era of time and I so wish Tyrone was the close-knit community it used to be... when people cared about one another...and defended each other, and the town hoodlum carried a water pistol.
Old Sgt
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If Mike has 13 apples, and gives six to Jane, how many does he have left?: 13
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Re: Memories of yesteryear

Post by Old Sgt »

Does anyone remember Mike Roads? He has to be ranked as one of the legendary hitch hikers of all time. He would come by the house for a meal when I was a kid and we would listen to his adventures. He hitched back and forth to Califorina like it was a trip to Altoona. My Dad had many stories about Mike. He told me that Mike hitched hiked home from the Korean war! We call that AWOL in the Army but Mike called it "enough". Mike also liked to ride the rails around the country. It was a different era in the 50's and 60's and Hobos were legend....but real!
While growing up my Dad would get sick of our constant running and would say "sit down Mike Roads and rest your feet". I'm not really sure about the spelling of Mikes last name or if that even was his last name. It may have been a nickname due to his many years on the road. I'm also not sure of the truth to the Korea story but my Dad always swore it was and he is no longer with us to verify. Together, all of the Mike stories create the making of a Colorful Legend.
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If Mike has 13 apples, and gives six to Jane, how many does he have left?: 13
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Re: Memories of yesteryear

Post by Leep »

I hate to cast dispersion on someone that I am not 100% sure of, but if it is the Mike Rhodes i am thinking of, he would show up occasionally at our place across the bridge in Ironsvville and have a cup of coffee and maybe a sandwich, and perhaps read the paper..Until my Dad came home from work one day, he worked Saturday this week, took one look at him sitting in our living room reading the paper and said in an angry voice, "You see that son-of a ...road." He jumped up and said '"Yeah Rags, why?"
Dad said, "You hit that road and don't you ever come back here again."
None of us ever saw him again...
Like I said, I am almost 100% sure this is the same guy, if this is how his name was spelled and I know why Dad threw him out.

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banksy
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If Mike has 13 apples, and gives six to Jane, how many does he have left?: 13
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Re: Memories of yesteryear

Post by banksy »

Why did he throw him out? Oh, and BTW, I was in Dillion, MT last week.
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If Mike has 13 apples, and gives six to Jane, how many does he have left?: 13
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Re: Memories of yesteryear

Post by Leep »

Dang, Banksy, that was only about 60 miles or so south of Butte..

What took you to that little town, if I may ask?

Oh, my Dad threw him out because he was caught molesting little boys....And we had four of them in our home....
There probably wasn't a fairer more decent man anywhere than my Dad..when he passed away seven years ago , Larry Derman said he had never seen so many people gathered to pay respects for one man, least on a weekday..
For my Dad to have done something so out of character, at least we had never seen him so mad, was sobering, to say the least..
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banksy
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If Mike has 13 apples, and gives six to Jane, how many does he have left?: 13
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Re: Memories of yesteryear

Post by banksy »

Leep:

Installing a PACS system at the hospital there.
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If Mike has 13 apples, and gives six to Jane, how many does he have left?: 13
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Re: Memories of yesteryear

Post by Old Sgt »

Wow Leep,
If that is the same guy and he did commit those terrible acts, I'm sorry I brought up his name! I was just trying to think of a colorful figure from Tyrone in the 60's. It's disturbing to learn of a darker, evil, side to a person. I know my Mom hated the guy but I thought that was because he was a Hobo.
Without positive proof it is hard to convict any man of any crime. I knew of your Dad and know he wouldn't just toss someone out the door without a reason. Lets put it this way; Mike R. has passed and if he did commit those crimes he still has one more "being" to answer too!!
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banksy
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If Mike has 13 apples, and gives six to Jane, how many does he have left?: 13
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Re: Memories of yesteryear

Post by banksy »

Speaking of memories of yesteryear, I remember that underground thing at the railroad station where you could go from one side of the tracks to the other. It got wiped out when the train wrecked in the early 80's. I was never in that thing though... wondering what others remember of what that tunnel was like.

Also... cold yoo-hoo from the gas station on PA avenue from the early to mid 70's.... it just tasted so good and soooo cold.
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