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Date Posted: 16:18:03 12/08/08 Mon
Author: Randall K. Wilson (1970)
Subject: Re: Block's Christmas
In reply to: Glenn Holle (1951) 's message, "Re: Block's Christmas" on 11:25:57 12/08/08 Mon

Well my folks didn't think they could afford to shop at Block's or Ayres for that matter. So if I was in either place it was just passing through. However as late as the 1960's I do remember some of the window displays and it was a "show".

Switching gears here a bit. I think of this around the holidays. John Miller ATHS class of 1942 for decades had a commercial real estate company in the old Merchants bank building (the first official Indy Skyscraper). He delt in the leasing of office space in the mile square. John ate lunch everday in the Ayres Tea Room. After Christmas he would stop by the toy department and see trains being marked down in price. John would eventually "make an offer" on all of the left over Electric Lionel Train stuff, and get some good deals. He hoarded and continued collecting this train stuff for many years.

His family told me sometime in the late 1980's he wanted to show his grandkids some of his Train collection. Hence, he took the liberty of digging through the boxes and getting out all of train engines, just the engines only. This was a chore in itself. He then made a line of new Lionel train engines. When they were all counted John had bagged a total of 151 New Engines. Now that is not to mention all the other train cars, track, and other accessories related to building a train display.

John passed away a few years ago. He was a very nice gent and had a nice family as well.

Randall K. (Randy) Wilson
Class of 1970

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Replies:

[> [> [> [> Re: Block's Christmas -- Glenn Holle (1951), 09:52:59 12/10/08 Wed

Does anyone remember taking their grandchildren to "Breakfast with Santa" in the LS Ayres Tea Room. It was "can't miss" for my mother and my kids. My mom worked in hosiery repair at LS Ayres during the Great Depression. Before she retired she was a section manager on the main floor at William H Block and the manager of the annual Hoosier Salon Art Exhibit in the Block's Auditorium... that is where I received an indelible English lesson from an artist's mother, but that is another story.
Randy, since you "switched gears", I have a Lionel electric train story about me. My father bought a starter train for my first Christmas (I was 4 mo old and could only sit beside the track around the Christmas tree and swing at it with my new peg board hammer as it came past.) The men in the family were the ones playing with "my" train. My dad was a USPS letter carrier from the depths of the Great Depression until his retirement about 35 years later. A benefit of seniority then was a downtown 4 trip(daily)route(he always carried mail on his back door-to-door). My dad closed his postal career delivering mail to the Merchants Bank Building on Meridian St near the Monument Circle and practically across Ohio St from the Main Post Office.

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