Walt Warmoth's Story - Part 2

This article contains some of the same or similar information with others posted before; however it also covers a little new ground.

(February 21, 1964). “Walt’s Boys Succeed . . .” Eastern State News, p. 3.

http://thekeep.eiu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1005&context=den_1964_feb

As far as college “hangouts” Eastern takes a backseat to none. Many students find that Walt’s, the Ko-Op and Little Campus provide good places to while away their their leisure hours before, between and after classes. Evenings are no different. Many a coke date has been spent at one of these “hangouts.”

A history of Walt’s, the Ko-Op and Little Campus also consists of a history of Walter Warmoth, better known to Eastern students as Walt.

Walt came to Charleston 1935 on an inventory trip for Walgreen’s Drug Store. He returned in 1937 and opened the Little Campus where he had worked during his school days at Eastern. With increased enrollment, he soon found it necessary to build and additional room to accommodate his patrons.

In 1939, Walt further expand his business by buying the Ko-Op. The Ko-Op had been a grocery store, but it was not long before it was converted into a popular Eastern “hangout” serving sandwiches, fountain goods and hot meals.

When Lincoln and Douglas halls were built, Walt recognized the need for another “hangout.” In 1953 Walt’s expanded. For the 1st year the additional room in Walt’s was used for dancing, but the following year tables were placed in the room to accommodate more students.

Ivan “Ike” Kennard became the proprietor of Little Campus in 1948. “Ike” had worked for Walt in 1940 at the Ko-Op.

In 1952, Larry Mizener, an Eastern graduate became the proprietor of he Ko-Op. He had also worked for Walt at the Ko-Op during his college years.

According to Walt, students were most interested in buying complete meals that would “fill them up” when Little Campus first opened, instead of buying odds and ends as they do today. Complete meals then cost 25 to 30 cents.

Little Campus received its best competition from another Eastern “hangout,” when the Panther Lair, then located on the corner where Lincoln Hall now stands, opened.

Walt recalled that the Panther Lair, then directed by Hobart F. Heller, present vice president of instruction, always seemed to undersell him. The present Panther Lair in the University Union is operated by Tim Mitchell, also a former employee of Walt.

Other former employees of Walt manage and own restaurants, snack-bars and cafeterias. At the present time, Walt knows of seven former employees who are connected with university snack-bars and cafeterias.

Walt has a great interest in Eastern students and enjoys working with them. “They’ve always been easy to deal with,” he said.

Walt also said the he’s “in the most pleasant business. My greatest appreciation is that I am able to associate with Eastern students and faculty.”

Walt feels that students today are “smarter” than when he went to school. “Whether it’s due to television or what, I don’t know but I think they’ve learned much since my school days,” he said.

Eastern “hangouts” are always busy, but busiest hours seem to be noon, late evenings and float periods. Sunday evenings, especially in the winter, tend to bring additional business, according to Walt.

The “hangouts” used to be busy during the entire evening, but now it seems that students don’t begin to come in until later. Walt attributes this change to the increase in activities for couples in the evening and to the availability of transportation to other places.

“The total traffic count for a night is not very different though,” he said.

EIU Campus Hangouts

I have been searching Eastern's online archives, The Keep, for information related to the Ko-Op. This posting is my first installment - an article written by Jack Ryan in October of 1957 in the Daily Eastern News. Note that I have not made any corrections, especially in punctuation - have tried to leave the article exactly as published. In the coming months, I will share other articles from the archives.

Ryan, Jack (Oct. 2, 1957). "Eastern’s Campus Hangouts". Daily Eastern News; p4.

In the everlasting tradition of college campus hangouts Eastern takes a backseat to no one. From sitting on the benches watching all the girls go by to jiving it up at a little campus jam session the student clientele spends its carefree hours of relaxation.

On three sides of the campus proper the students are accommodated by the Little Campus, Ko-Op, and Walts (commonly called the Open).

A history of the Ko-Op, Little Campus, and the Open consists also of the history of Walter Warmoth.

“Walt” bought the Little Campus in 1937, after having worked there during his school days. With the increase in enrollment, Walt soon had to build an additional room to accommodate its student patrons.

The converting of a grocery store to establish the Ko-Op soon followed, serving sandwiches, fountain goods, and hot meals.

When Lincoln and Douglas halls were erected, ‘Walt’ saw the need for one more “hangout” for the Eastern students, so, in 1953, he built the Open which has since become another favorite spot for the coke crowd to assemble.

Under the proprietorship of Ivan “Ike” Kennard, the “Little Campus” has become one of the most popular meeting places on campus. ‘Ike’ a navy pilot in the second world war, took over the “Little Campus” in 1948.

Also under the proprietorship of an Eastern graduate Larry Mizener, the Ko-Op is growing in popularity among Eastern students. Larry received his B.S. at Eastern and took over the Ko-Op in 1952.

November 1964: Got a Job

Back then, I was running out of cash and needed to find a job. One of my roommates suggested checking at the nearby Ko-Op Cafe on Lincoln Avenue near 7th Street. So one day between classes, I entered and asked if help was needed. Soon as I filled out an application form, Larry Mizener came out front, sat with me and asked a few questions. Once he had my schedule of classes, he lined-up about fifteen work hours for the remainder of that week. A short time later that same day, I worked my first shift.

In those days, guys wore their white tee shirts and were supplied a long-white apron tied around the waist that swept below the knees. Student workers were all male (Jean Mizener and the children, Little Walt, Debbie, Bette and Marty also worked shifts). As a new employee, I began serving ice water (Every customer received a glass of ice water delivered to where they sat), clearing tables / picking up dishes, glassware and cutlery. New workers, the latest hired began working on the far right of the cafeteria-style counter, a section with bar stools on the other side. Behind the counter on the worker side was a deep double stainless steel sink and drain board. Here we dumped paper, garbage and trash into a garbage can, and stacked dirty dishes and glassware onto an infeed table surface on the left side of the wash sink. Frequently needed to change the wash water, keeping it as hot as possible, adding fresh soap and disinfectant. As soon as possible, as soon as one had a small stack, we washed cups and dishes and dunked them into the hot rinse basin, placed on the drain board on the other side. After silverware was washed, filled into a flatware cylinder, and then rinsed, we sometimes second-rinsed them with scalding hot water from the coffee urn.

Grill at Clyde's Drive In, St. Ignace, MI

Having never worked in a food business before, every procedure was new. As a beginner, another worker with at least a few or several weeks more experience demonstrated new tasks and monitored / corrected my performance. First lessons, move . . . don’t follow a slow, deliberate pace. As I worked, keep a watch on customers sitting at booths, tables and the bar stools. Also be aware of people coming in, proceeding down the cafeteria-style counter, placing their orders, paying at the cash register, and finding a seat. Clean and clear away tables as soon as students leave. Procedures: how to grab, dunk and clean a coffee cup. How to carry seven filled ice water glasses to a table. How to pull an empty glass off the tray, flip it over upright, scoop ice out of the bin, and hold under the spring loaded water spigot to fill - all in a smooth fluid motion, never stopping until one had the number needed.

Inevitably a cup or glass dropped and crashed to the floor, breaking. One learned to stick a foot under the falling item, slowing its descent and sometimes saving a cup or glass. A few weeks later when I moved up the line to work around the grill, sandwich board and steam table area, I learned to apply the same technique on a dropped egg. Of course once in a while, one only succeeded in breaking the egg onto your shoe.

Clyde's prepares fresh burgers on the grill.

Other newbie tasks; move cleaned cups and glasses to the head of the cafeteria line (left side of the line) where the drink fountain, shake machine, ice cream freezer, coffee urn and cash register were located - - or plates to the middle grill area where food was prepared and delivered. In those earlier days, the Ko-Op was still mixing drinks from syrups and the soda fountain delivered carbonation (CO2 gas). Memorize the number of squirts needed for a coke, cherry coke, vanilla coke, chocolate soda, root beer, green river (lime phosphate), cherry phosphate, etc. Within the coming year, the soda fountain was augmented by the addition of pressurized drink tanks (Switched to Pepsi) in the back room. It seemed that the drink taste was never the same. Other tasks, keep the ice bins full, the floors cleaned up, empty trash bins and move trash to the stockade out back in the alley.

Payday was on Friday. On that day the Ko-Op closed down at 4 p.m. and workers came in to complete a weekly cleanup (One and a half to two hours). Cleanup tasks for the new worker included cleaning the grill and emptying and cleaning the grease catching basin off the back. Also cleaning and oiling the big exhaust fan in the back kitchen. Floors were swept and mopped, the same as they were done every night at closing time. Floors were spot-cleaned / mopped as needed, anytime of day.

Cheeseburger with O-rings at Clyde's

Weekend hours were different than opening weekdays at 7 a.m. and closing at 10:30 p.m. Monday through Thursday (Someone check me on those hours?) Saturday mornings, the Ko-Op re-opened but closed at 2 in the afternoon. Sundays - opened at 8 and closed at 10:30 p.m. Added menu item on Sundays, a fried chicken dinner that brought in an after-church crowd. And Sunday nights found all the workers back for a meeting at closing time. Sunday nights’ team meeting included sharing ideas, problems and training.

Sometime I learned that the Charleston three (Walt’s, Ike’s Little Campus and the Ko-Op) were based on the Walgreen’s lunch counter model. Walt Warmoth was the youngest Walgreen’s manager during the Chicago World’s Fair (1933).

Clydes Drive-In 2 in Manistique, MI (The UP)

A move up was to work at the sandwich board and the steam table area, then the grill and finally taking orders for food and drinks at the head of the line. For the new guy, you first learned to recite the list of sandwiches for a customer: hamburger, cheeseburger, Bar-b-que, ham, ham and cheese, ham salad, grilled AC, grilled tenderloin, hot beef - - summertime, a BLT was added and later an egg salad sandwich . . . on white bread, toast, a bun, whole wheat, and also added later was a corned beef on rye. Before one ever worked the head of the line, the cash register, you practiced taking orders, adding them up in your head, including sales tax, taking money, and giving back the correct change. Seldom used paper (Rarely if you had a large group with single payer) - there was one right way to do almost everything.

The Lemon Drop in Anderson, IN

In ’64, the Saturday morning crew usually pounded out forty to sixty pounds of burger patties in the back kitchen. Mix the ground beef with onion, pepper, salt and pancake batter for binding. Three or four guys around the cleaned butcher block table. One person covered the table with small squares of wax paper. Lead worker grabbed a large handful of burger mix and used an ice cream scoop to cover each piece of wax paper with a standard measure. Another worker followed right behind with a hand burger press, slamming down over the ball of burger and using a twisting motion to shape and release the completed patty. Goal was to make eight or more burgers per pound of ground beef. Another pulled the patties on wax paper off the table, stacked and boxed them for the freezer. In a few years, we no longer pounded out our own burger patties . . . Pearcy’s Meat Market purchased equipment and could custom produce them to our specifications.

Grilled tenderloins (Un-breaded) at The Lemon Drop

A smaller Saturday morning chore was to assign a newbie to clean, wash and grind a fifty pound bag of onions. Start the process in the large double sink in the back room and complete using a hand-operated food grinder clamped onto that same butcher block table. I can guarantee that everyone’s first encounter ended up with red-eyes watering a river with 20 pounds of onions left to finish. Ground onions were packed into clean plastic buckets and stored in the back cooler - ready to use.

Counter chatter - the worker at the cash register taking orders from lined up student customers, yells out the food orders and pulls any drinks that are needed:

     Cheeseburger! Cheeseburger!

     Make that a pair with fries
     Burger

     Cheeseburger

     Hot beef manhattan

     Spagetti with a combination salad

     Grilled AC

Proprietor of Chicago's Billy Goat Tavern
Click here to view a longer related video clip 

Opening up - turn up the grill and the fryers, brew fresh coffee in the urn, fill up the ice bins. Check the egg, bacon, ham and bread supply at the grill. Open the doors at 7 a.m. - often one or more persons were waiting outside. By 10 a.m. you made fresh salad, sliced a few tomatoes, and prepped the steam table.

On the job, you learned other practices. “Work both ways” - for example, when you head out from behind the counter to deliver water or food at a booth, look around and see other things that needed to be done in the nearby area as you go out and return. Clear away some empty plates, take out a fresh water glass, replace an empty ketchup bottle, empty and clean an ash tray . . . keep busy, look around, there is always things that need to be done.

Ko-Op Crew in the Fall quarter of Sixty-Four:

Kel Thrush, Walt Stine, Carl Nosbisch, John Ganley, Carl Finfrock, Gary Cook, Russ White, Michael Black. By Spring quarter of Sixty-Five, Michael Black and Carl Finfrock had dropped out. Ken Kirby and Gus Pekara were added. Kel Thrush graduated. Sixty-Five and Six brought Ken Lowry, Sam Steinman, Lyle Mowery, Bob Warnsley, Allen Yoder, and Dale Fruendt on board. Walt Stine graduated. Carl Nosbisch graduated. John Ganley graduated. By Sixty-Seven, Tom Baylis was working at the Ko-Op. 

More chatter:

Need some ice here - got it.

Check two o’clock.

Hot, boiling water coming right behind.
Heads up!

Beaver at nine o’clock.

Late Sixties was the era of mini-skirts and short shorts!

Ivan S. Kennard, March 29, 1922 - April 4, 2015

Don Gher shared this information:

Obituary for Ivan S. Kennard
(Excerpted from Moore Funeral Homes, lots of great photos in the Tribute section)

Ivan (“Ike”) Kennard, 93, died Saturday, April 4, 2015, at his home in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Ike was born on March 29, 1922, in Lawrence County, Illinois, to Ephraim Henry Kennard and Hattie Leora Schrodt. He married Joan King on April 23, 1943. She survives along with their daughter Marlys Fallen and husband Carl, Tulsa, Oklahoma.

Ike attended Eastern Illinois University and was a World War II Navy pilot and flight instructor. After the war, he returned to Charleston where he lived until September 2011 when he and Joan moved to Tulsa. Ike was the owner of "Ike's Little Campus" across the street from Eastern Illinois University. He was a longtime supporter of EIU.

Besides his wife and daughter, Ike is survived by his older brother Joseph Kennard, Coral Gables, Florida, and many nieces and nephews. He was preceded in death by his parents, his sisters Phyllis Copeland, Kathryn Hacker, Elaine Mahon and Frances Brooks; and his brothers Hayes and Rex Kennard, and his sons Stephen Wayne Kennard and Michael King Kennard.

Click here for more from EIU: 
https://eiupanthers.com/news/2015/4/7/GEN_0407153229.aspx

03 Sept. 2018: more about Ike Kennard:
https://ko-op.blogspot.com/2018/09/walts-ko-op-and-ikes-little-campus.html

Kept that Jukebox Playing . . .

While working hours at the Ko-Op Cafe, the one almost constant presence was the Jukebox. From opening up at 7 a.m. till closing at 11 p.m. (Or was that 10:30 ?), most of the time - tunes were playing. Samuel Music of Effingham, owned and maintained the Jukebox and the pinball machines. Their two workers came by every few weeks to empty the till, load some new vinyl and clean / maintain the machine.

Once we had worked there long enough, Mize granted a few of us the privilege of sometimes taking a few quarters out of the cash register to play some of our favorites. A good time to exercise that special right was when a crowd of students came in - - what we called a 'rush.' Many of us also kicked in more from our own pocket; we loved pop music and truly kept the jukebox playing.

When I started work in November 1964, the Folk Music Revival was winding down as the British Invasion was firing up. And somewhere around 1966, Soul Music and Motown were having an impact. Put your dancing shoes on; here's one of my favorites from Jackie Wilson.

Jukeboxes are largely a memory today, but what was your favorite tune from the Sixties? I'll see if it can be spotlighted from here.

The Beatles in 1965 with "I Feel Fine."

The Animals in 1966-1967 . . . those tunes were our 'anthems' in the hall! The 'Mow' and his roommates in the 'Bahamas' wore out the groove on his album.

John 'E J' Ganley

Sometime during the mid-seventies, I heard that John Ganley was severely injured in a car wreck - - I thought it was in the Memphis, TN area, but I never learned the outcome. But like with the Mongoose, Whitey, and some others of the Ko-Op days, I continued to search. Last fall I came upon an alumni site for Newton High School, and discovered a recent small photo taken of John (No address or way to contact him, but I recognized that face). Led me to further searching until I discovered him and his wife on Facebook. Here are John's remarks shared from our recent email exchanges:

"After graduation from EIU in 1967, I taught and coached at high schools for 35 years. At first, I moved around quite a lot including jobs at Chicago Mt. Carmel (IL), Memphis (TN), Baton Rouge (LA) and St. Petersburg (FL).

John Ganley on the sidelines (Photo in the 1966 Warbler Yearbook)

Yes, I was in a serious car accident in Normal, Illinois, and it was a close call back in 1975. I was in the hospital with a head injury for a week. There were no lasting effects (My wife might disagree with that one).

Early coaching days (John on the right)

In 1976, I got married and stopped the moving. First our daughter, Shawn, was born. Then the twins, a boy and girl - - Erin and Chuck. They were ten weeks old, when their mother suddenly, unexpectedly died. That was in 1986. I was a single father for thirteen years. 

John with the twins (c. 1997)

Today my oldest daughter teaches high school and is an athletic trainer in Clearwater, Florida. In college, Shawn majored in health and athletic training but she teaches Algebra, health, English or whatever they need covered. My youngest daughter, Erin just graduated from college in December. She always wanted to travel and hopes to teach in South Korea. My son, Chuck graduated from Durham, England in January with his Masters in Finance and a 3.5 overall average. He is currently job-hunting in the New York area. None of my children are married; I encouraged them to travel and see the world first!

Dining in Hot Springs, AR  (Nov.  2011)

I had a heart attack in January of 1998 and after thirty-plus years had to retire from coaching. I almost kissed the world good-bye. Doctors implanted a defibrillator in my chest, and I am good as new. More recently, I have had a knee replacement (2004) for an old football injury. I take good care of myself. I bike ride daily and have gotten my wife to join me.

In June 1999 I married Dianna. She is the reason I moved from Florida to West Monroe, Louisiana. We have a good life. She is an artist and teaches art at West Monroe High School, her alma mater.

I enjoy watching the local teams play. West Monroe High has the 5AAA state championship football team, and I don't miss a game. I substitute teach there almost daily. Dianna says that she will retire in five years. I want to move back to Florida if that can be worked out. Dianna has lived in Louisiana all her life and her family is here, so this may take some convincing.

We travel back to Illinois every year. My mom (92 years old) and two of my brothers live in Decatur. Dianna and I go to Charleston and look around the old neighborhoods. The Ko-op is still there, but it appears to be unused. We also visit friends in Newton. Dianna's former pastor is retired in Springfield, and we have visited him.

EIU Football Reunion in 2008 (John seated at the table)

Back in 1974, Walt Stine was living in Normal, IL and was fixing to move to West Virginia - - last I heard of him.

I guess at the time I didn't know it, but my experiences at the Ko-op were some of the best years I ever knew. It's hard to believe I complained as much as I did then and have such good memories now. The best people I ever knew came from there, customers and co-workers alike. I think a reunion would be great."

Back in Florida (Summer 2011); enjoying retirement

John, you've had quite a life journey so far, and I'm glad that I and other Ko-Op workers have reconnected. Hope to see you sometime later this year. lj

Mongoose - Where Have You Been?

Over the years of using the Internet, I've tried to find Gary Cook many times. Gary was usually the person that other former Ko-Op workers wanted to locate and reconnect with, but I could not find a trace. That was until February 2012 when I finally located another Cook with a hometown of Dupo, Illinois on Facebook. It was his younger brother Brian; a quick email exchange and Brian gave me an address for Gary. Here's an update of what the Mongoose (His nickname: I believe Gary always said he was a furry little critter that was unusually fast!) has been up to all these years:

Note: At the end of this posting from Gary, there is already a comment from Lyle Mowery (Click on it to read). Add one of your own.

After graduation from EIU (Aug 1968 - I thought I was the only one who graduated in the summer rather than Spring, those pesky credits needed for a degree), Gary enlisted in the Air Force in November '68. In his words (From here on out), "I wanted to be a pilot, but my eyesight wasn't good enough. I ended up working in a military pay unit, became a fighting accountant. After training, I was first stationed at Scott AFB in Belleville, Illinois and lived in Dupo, where I'd grown up, played basketball, and finished high school. I married my wife, Becky, in March 1969. Spent my last year in service (1971-'72) stationed in Thailand, and Becky went back to Eastern that year to finish her degree in Education.

When I returned from overseas, Becky and I lived in Dupo, where she taught school and I got a job as an auditor in the Commercial Dept. of Safeco Insurance Company in St. Louis. Work called for me to travel a lot, and I was promoted and moved to Cincinnatti in 1978. In 1985, I was again promoted and moved, this time as Branch Manager in Washington, DC.  Next in 1987, We moved to Orlando, FL, again working as a Branch Manager. In 1991 I moved up to become the Southeast Division Manager in Atlanta, GA. One of the things I liked to do when I had some spare time on the road was visit college campuses. I've seen 55 in total, from Washington to Yale and Minnesota to Florida.

In 1993, I was diagnosed with Muscular Dystrophy and continued to work until 2000, when I took a medical retirement - - completing almost thirty years working for Safeco. More recently only a few years ago, I contracted Lymphoma. I got through the Chemotherapy and have been in remission for about 6 months. I am doing well. I still get around albeit with leg braces and forearm crutches. The Mongoose may be slowing down physically, but my mind still operates about on a par with an 18-year-old.

In 2010 we downsized into a small ranch to eliminate any stairs (Lives in Buford, GA). Becky had back surgery 3 years ago. That didn't turn out as well as we'd hoped, so she uses a cane to walk - - between her with the cane and I using my crutches, we make quite a pair. But we feel blessed to be doing as well as we are. We still get places, it just takes a little longer. It is fun racing those carts up and down the supermarket aisles! (Note: Former friends and workers from the Ko-Op days wanting to get in contact with Gary can email me for his address information  larrjoh@gmail.com)

Gary, Becky and David at a Georgia football game

We have one son, David (In photo at right), who lives about 20 miles away, and a grandson, 7 years old, who lives with his mother a couple of hours from us. Our grandson spends a weekend with us every 3 to 4 weeks, and we really have a good time entertaining each other. As for other interests, I used to like to play racquetball, golf, swim, and work out. I can't do any of that anymore, but spend most of my time watching sports on TV, particularly college football and basketball, and reading.

When I remember the Ko-op days, I particularly think of the great guys with whom I worked and lived. I believe Lyle said it best in that it was like a fraternity. Every day was exciting and you just knew there were going to be laughs and good times to be had.

Some random memories:

▪ Late night card games - - Western Style Guts as I recall (Did we call it IL Guts?, a variation of draw poker: 3 cards down, look at your hand, bet - dollar bets were the norm, discard then draw - - up to three, final bets, show hand, loser(s) who bet & stayed in had to match the pot; serious poker when eight or nine players circled a table in the Bahama room; sometimes the games went all night long).

▪ Listening to those Dale Carnegie records on Friday evenings (After closing at 4 p.m. and the weekly cleanup), when what we wanted was to get paid and get going.

▪ Drinking quart bottles of Meister Brau all evening, and Lyle never cutting a class.

▪ EJ Ganley drinking those milk shakes with the raw eggs mixed in them (John was trying to get his weight up for football).

▪ You and me drinking that home made wine the grad school guy brought that summer (Cannot remember his name, but he brought back the best hootch from IN. His girlfriend's father was bootlegging, and every Sunday night he brought back one or two bottles and gave them to us. Wow, what a supply, a college student's dream - - we got so that we were waiting for his return).

▪ Whitey, Lyle, and I roasting in the Bahamas, until we'd open the windows in the middle of  winter to cool down.

▪ Working out on the pin ball machines every spare minute.

▪ Jack Worthington (Now lives in Beaverton, OR) getting smashed on Mogen David (MD) between tennis matches and then throwing his racquet during the next match.

▪ Then there were the regulars, in addition to the ones Lyle mentioned (Earlier posting). Can't remember the names now, but the guy who used to smoke the long thin cigars and always had something witty to say (Believe his first name was Milt, cannot remember his last name). Joe the postman, who ate lunch there regularly and was a real nice guy. The old lady, with the open sores covered with scotch tape (My first encounter with what was probably Alzheimer's. She did love to dance and flirt in front of the juke box - - of course that was a bit discombopulatin' to us young undergrads, oh-my-heck she was in her eighties).

▪ Carl Finfrock slicing off a thin piece of his thumb into the salad during rush hour and Mize not finding it, but going ahead and putting the salad out anyway.

▪ Someone spilling hot water on Mize's chest and seeing nothing but his butt and legs sticking out of the ice machine (I was the one who turned to dump a full pitcher of scalding water out of the coffee urn, and caught Mize in the stomach as he was scurrying through!. Damn that had to hurt, but I learned of the value of immediate application of ice. Later useful when I slipped on a slick floor and put my hand into a deep fryer with oil smokin' hot at 475 degrees. Maybe I was just accident prone?).

▪ The BBQ, with ingredients like cracker crumbs, Catsup residue, chopped up day-old burgers, and the gelatin from inside the canned hams. Mize always said 'it gives it body.' To this day every time I eat BBQ, I wonder what's in it. What an energy level that guy (Mize) had, and I gotta say I sure learned a lot from him.

My wife, Becky still has a brother and sister in the Robinson, IL area, and we get up there once a year or so, but haven't been back to Charleston since I graduated. Would like to do that some day."  Gary
It's great to be back in contact with Gary; love seeing his family, reading about his life, and learning that he has not lost any of that wonderful spirit and unique sense of humor. He made me laugh and smile.

Ko-Op Konnections (706 Lincoln, Charleston)

     Welcome to a blogsite for posting information about the Ko-Op Cafe and Short-Stop Drive-In; both located on or near corners of 7th and Lincoln in Charleston, Illinois.
     The Ko-Op was a cafeteria-style establishment that catered mainly to students, faculty, and staff of Eastern Illinois University. The Short-Stop was built and opened in the mid Sixties and was a faster-food establishment that also served EIU students and the larger Charleston community. Both businesses were operated by the Larry and Jean Mizener family.
      Today the Ko-Op building is used for activites of a neighboring church, and the Short-Stop is now a Domino's Pizza business. The former Mizener residence (located on the third corner of the intersection) is a Christian bookstore.
      I invite former workers and customers of both establishments to re-introduce themselves, post their memories here, and reconnect to friends and co-workers from their EIU days.
     Myself, I worked at both the Ko-Op and Short-Stop from November 1964 until graduating from EIU in August 1968. You can visit my profile section here to learn more . . .
Larry Johnson
larrjoh@gmail.com
http://eduscapes.com

Updated information (Fall 2011): Son, Benjamin tells me that an eating establishment of some kind is now operating in the old Ko-Op location. Have to check that out the next time I am in 'Chucktown.'