Meridian High Alumni Message Board

Mike, funny you should mention Niolon's. When we had Keith [a/k/a Cokeman] print that old "20 Million Monkeys Can't be Wrong" sign back in 2005 I made a copy of it and it hangs over my desk at work. I was looking at it a little while ago. I just love that old sign.

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Donna Jordon
Class of 1970
"The most thoroughly wasted of all days is that on which one has not laughed." -- Nicholas Chamfort

Didn't we go somewhere near there to purchase "school books" each year? Seems I vaguely remember a store down town where we bought our work books... long ago.

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Linda Massey Dickens
Class of 64

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Jeff "Corky" East
Class of 1960

I thank my God in my every remembrance of you, Meridian, and the wonderful childhoods some of us had.

Jeff: Ask your mom the name of that drug store next to Weidmann's. I think it was Lide and Cheatham, as Pantaze Rexall Drugs was located near the corner of 23rd Avenue and 8th Street where Meridian Federal Savings and Loan was located in later years. Rayner Drugs has nearly always been on Front Street where most of us are familiar with.

A bit of family humor here....My dad had to quit school in about the 8th grade to help support his family (circa 1920). He got a job as a delivery boy at Lide and Cheatham. Soon he got fired for some reason or other. Luckily he was then hired by Soule' Steam Feed Works and worked there for over 50 years.

Hey! I remember the Paragon Book Store. That was considered the only place to get your school supplies back in the good old days.

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Bob Chatham
Class of '57
Just a ROB.

I remember several of us boys used to go to the Orange Bowl about twice a week. ( I lived within walking distance of it). One day, a couple of us distracted Lucky by ordering a hamburger and a Coke. Of course, back then, all he sold was either an orange or grape drink from one of those big glass dispensers where you could watch the drink spraying up into the glass bowls. Lucky used to say "Why do you think this is called the Orange Bowl and not the Coke Bowl? You can have either orange or grape." While they were arguing with him about his not serving Cokes, one of us would sneak around the counter and get his hat and put it in the freezer. We couldn't wait to go back the next day to see if he was still raising hell about it.

Kids nowadays don't know what they're missing by not having characters like Lucky and Chaney around. All they've got now is some part-time help at McDonalds.

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Carpe Diem

Right on,right on. Paragon,the Orange Bowl, Alberta, Ritz the drug stores where we could look at the comic books for free and order cherry sodas. Lucky was the only one who would make me a cream cheese and olive sandwich. Judge Little sporting goods was around the corner to complete the day. JB you are so right. Kids today have no idea of how to have fun

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Our greatest glory lies not in never falling;but in rising every time we fall.

Remember the Paragon Book Store well! Also, the Alberta, the drug stores, Nilolon's (there was a cafeteria on the same block once upon a time). Rayner's Drug was my grandmother's favorite and we were friends with them for a long time. Sarah Margaret Rayner (several years older than me was one of my good friends). Also, met my future hubby (Yes, Coach Knight) at Judge Little's Sporting Goods Store (the original one). Now that's a story in itself!

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Anne & Jug Knight
Classes 1950 & 52

Anne, was your friend Sarah Rayner the lady who ran Merle Norman in Meridian for years? If so, my mother-in-law loved her dearly and was a very loyal customer at her shop. We even used to go by her apartment on Christmas Eve and carol, taking her a plate of my mother-in-law's cornbread dressing, which she loved. She was a very nice lady.

This might not be the same person at all, but I'm almost sure her name was Sarah Rayner.

Well, heck, since this thread started as scents, sounds, etc., I'll have to say that I still love the smell of Merle Norman products. My mother-in-law bought me my first at Sarah Rayner's Merle Norman shop many, many years ago when she took me in and treated me to a facial [this was when the shop was still downtown, before moving to Village Fair Mall]. A year or two ago my sister-in-law and I discovered the Merle Norman shop on North Hills Street and each went in to buy ourselves a jar of the Superlube moisturizer, just because it has such a lovely smell, reminiscent to us of my mother-in-law and her mother. Funny how smells affect us, isn't it?

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Donna Jordon
Class of 1970
"The most thoroughly wasted of all days is that on which one has not laughed." -- Nicholas Chamfort

Dogs and cats aren't the only animals affected by scents. National Geographic did some research about ten years ago on how humans are affected by familiar scents. Their research showed that we - like our four-footed friends - have a memory bank of scents. A smell of something from long ago can instantly bring recall of events of that same time frame.


On the other subject of this thread about childhood retreats -- Don't leave out browsing the comic books, watching the Duncan yo-yo salesman, etc., etc. at Wall's Drug Store.

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Bob Chatham
Class of '57
Just a ROB.

Donna, Sarah Rayner was my sister-in-laws Mother. (Jackie Ray (BabyRay)Haguewood. I loved her, She was a Jewel.

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Been There, Done That.

Charlie Haguewood

Bob, it was Massey's Drugs. It was operated by the Massey family. Bobby Massey, one of my classmates was one of the younger son's.
Lide & Cheathams , was on the southeast corner of the block. Adjacent to L & C , to the north, was Moffettt's Barber Shop; Then a Westinghouse appliance store, next to the alley.

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You can push the envelope but it's still stationery...

Class of '59

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Jeff "Corky" East
Class of 1960

I thank my God in my every remembrance of you, Meridian, and the wonderful childhoods some of us had.

Anne, I don't remember a cafeteria on that block. The Giant food Store, (which I think was about a block north), had a cafetreria. The drugstore on the block was the Panataz(sic). I 'm still trying to remember a cafe/sandwich shop, between Niolin's and the Paragon Book store.

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You can push the envelope but it's still stationery...

Class of '59

Okay, okay, I'm an old fellow and the directions we are talking about have got me turned around, but good.

I remember that the Giant Food Store was on 23rd Avenue directly across the street from the old YMCA building that later became the WTOK-TV building in the mid-fifties. This was between 8th and 9th Streets.

I used to sack groceries (circa 1954) at the Giant Food Store. It may have had a deli, but I don't recall a cafeteria. Mr. Bailey (Bobby Joe's dad) was the store manager. The market manager was Mr. Culpepper (Lance's dad). Seems like back then (in the good old days) I was paid something like 50 cents per hour to sack groceries, and then on Saturday night we swept the place and mopped the floors. I learned what I did not want to do for a living.

El Frito -- You're right on the drug store name. It was Massey Drugs. I think Hookey Massey is kin to the Masseys who owned that store.

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Bob Chatham
Class of '57
Just a ROB.

In the 40's Giant Food Store had a snall cafeteria. Maybe in 1954, it was closed. Did they have a bakery when you worked there? I remember one of their specialties was "salt leavened bread". I thought it was very good.

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You can push the envelope but it's still stationery...

Class of '59

Frito: Seems like they had a bakery in the back of the store near the market area.

Tried to remember Mr. Bailey's first name last night and couldn't. It was Bernard Bailey. He was a nice gentleman to work for. Lance's dad was called Kid Culpepper by grown ups. Don't know his given name. Mr Culpepper was a nice boss man at the store.

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Bob Chatham
Class of '57
Just a ROB.

You all have to remember I'm a "little" older than most of you but I really do remember a cafeteria on that block and going there when I was a little girl. Seems like I remember a meat market of some kind (maybe Betbeze's?) on the side of the street by the Royal Theater. Also, the drugstore on the corner. Donna, I don't think your Sarah Rayner is the same one I knew. Sarah Margaret married a Dr. and continued to live in Meridian. His name was Gillespie (sp) I believe. I think they are both dead now. We definitely lost touch through the years, which is sad. And, I also remember "Baby Ray Rayner". That name jumped out at me when I saw Charlie's post.
By the way, hope everyone has a great 4th of July!

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Anne & Jug Knight
Classes 1950 & 52

About a downtown cafeteria again....

Across the street from the Davis Grill (north side) sat the old U.S. Post Office, or at least that is what I have been told. I have faint memories of an old building being there when I was a small child.

Don't know when the old post office building was torn down, but sometime around 1950 or so a cafeteria was built on that spot. This is south of the Meridian Star office on the same side of 22nd Avenue. It was called the Jim Nix Cafeteria. Not sure when it went out of business. There may have been other cafeterias in downtown Meridian, but I don't have any memories of them.

Anybody remember eating at the lunch counter in Albright and Wood Drug Store on the same triangular block with the Davis Grill? Then in later years eating at Tutor's Pharmacy down on Fifth Street? Seems that Albright and Wood was where all the city bus lines crossed.

Anne, I remember Betbeze Brothers' market. When I was a small child I would go in there with my mom to get meat. Kind of different from today where you get all your groceries at one place. Betbeze's Market was right down 23rd Avenue from Meyer and Schamber Jewelers as I recall.

True story here since the statute of limitations has long since expired -- My mom, and many other Meridianites, went to high school with the Betbeze brothers. During WW II you could only get as much meat (bacon, sliced ham, round steak, etc.) as your ration stamps permitted.

After the war was over my mom (and others) told it that quite often when they got home from Betbeze they found that they had more meat than their ration stamps permitted. Of course they had paid for the total amount of meat, but still, the amount of meat was more than the ration stamps permitted. The Betbeze brothers "looked out for" their former high school classmates.

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Bob Chatham
Class of '57
Just a ROB.

Do any of you remember a small neighborhood corner store called Kleinfelts (or maybe Kleinpeters). It was on the corner of 16th Street and 28th Avenue (the southwest corner). The family that ran it, I believed, lived behind the store. The door going in was slanted towards the curb (kind of like Burnetts was). Instead of the sides of the building meeting at a 90 degree angle, it was cut short and a door angled out. Does that make sense to any of you?

The house is still there and the entrance is still the same, if I remember correctly, obviously the store has been closed for a long time (probably 40 years or more). I have no idea when they may have originally opened it.

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John Harwell
Class of '79
Go Wildcats!!!!!!

Gee, haven't heard the name Betzebe for a lot of years. One of those brothers was a fox-hunting buddy of my Daddy's when I was a very little girl.

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Donna Jordon
Class of 1970
"The most thoroughly wasted of all days is that on which one has not laughed." -- Nicholas Chamfort