Page 108 - some-stuff-i-wrote-and-some-stuff-i-didn't-(2011)-h-morris-williams
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Some Stuff I Wrote and Some Stuff I Didn't (2011) H. Morris Williams
One day the grand old Grand closed and the spanking new Columbia Theater
opened one block to the north of Hurst.
Even more customers flocked to Hurst’s. Later the Columbia was renamed the
Gateway (this building is still standing) and Hurst’s still thrived.
“Good evening sir. The popcorn smells extra nice tonight, doesn’t it?”
“Hello, young people. How about some pop popcorn this school night? Only five
cents.”
Time passed and the end for Hurst’s Hole in the Wall came into view. Television
came along in the nighttime street crowds dwindled. Air-conditioned homes took
more people off the streets.
Years of hard work and constantly being on his feet outside in all kinds of weather
finally took their toll. A disabling stroke took Hurst’s ability to work, then his life.
Later his wife, a hard-working angel of a lifemate also died. Son Bobby, a college
graduate, now lives in the Tampa area. Bobby is proud of his daddy and he should
be.
Claude R. Hurst, with no social safety net to catch him if he failed, invested his
working life in a “Hole in the Wall” and hard-worked his way into a small slice of
the American dream.
That’s the kind of daddy any son can be proud of.
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