Dear Editor:

I grew up on the streets of Marlinton.

Okay, that may be a bit misleading; I grew up on Main Street, Marlinton. I was born on Main Street, lived on Main Street and spent most of my pre-teen years in the windows of my parent's store on Main Street.

This may be a bit confusing but, I was born at Pocahontas Memorial Hospital and I lived over the American Legion Building and then over Bob Sharp's Men's Clothing Store (where the First Citizen's Bank is now. Remember when the banks had Marlinton in their names?) So if you go from one end of the town to the other that qualifies as Main Street in my book. However, I have little memory of those places. Where my memory stems from is the time I spent in Moore's Auto Supply.

Why it was called Moore's Auto Supply is still confusing to me to this day. We weren't the Moores we were the Paynes - Don, Oleta and Terry (me) and why we were an auto store when we sold coloring books and refrigerators is beyond me, I guess there may have been an oil filter or something lying around for a car, but I digress.

What is really the point of this little story is my view of the world from those two front windows of Moore's Auto Supply. Until I was around 10-years-old, I along with Peanuts, and later Popcorn (my furry dog companions), would sit in these windows for hours and wave to people as they walked by. We would watch people come in and out of all the stores across from us. First to the right was the Pool Room - wow, there was a lot of traffic in and out of there especially on the weekend. And let's not forget that they had the best hot dogs in the whole wide world. Right across from me was Martin's Store with the steps leading up to the front door and they had the big clock above the door that chimed. Remember the clock? I just loved it when the clock would sing and chime. That clock was around for many years before the First National Bank had their first clock. Then a bit to the left was Lang's Dress Shop and my ,oh my, how pretty those ladies always looked. I loved it when they changed their storefront window - they had a really long, street-front window. Those ladies would have never been caught in the
tie-dye t-shirts that I wear today. Next, I remember the Shoe Shop; there was always a lot of traffic there, too. I'm not sure if everyone who went into the shop looked for a cobbler or a little conversation, but you could always count on people disappearing into that tiny store. I can remember all the shoes stacked everywhere and somehow "Toad" always knew where to find the right shoes. However, to my left was the reason I am writing this little tale.

To my left was French's Diner. It has been there since my beginning of time as all these other places I have mentioned have disappeared. I guess that is what happens when you get older, but to hear that French's Diner is closing is a bit shocking to say the least. I watched a lot of people go in and out of French's Diner. What was so great about French's from my window point of view was that there was always something going on there. They were open before our store opened and they were open after our store closed. The light from inside spilled out onto the street so even if there were no people on the street to watch, as an extra bonus you could watch the people inside French's Diner.

My memory of French's Diner goes beyond people watching, of course. On Saturday's, as an extra treat for a kid who grew up on Main Street, I would cross the street to go to French's Diner for the biggest pancake in the world. This pancake covered the entire plate and was so good. I would sometimes sit at the counter, but I liked to get a window seat so I could see my world from another point of view. I could sit inside French's Diner and look at my windows on the other side of the street and watch people go in and out of my store.

This was a time when Marlinton was so packed on Saturday nights that you would have thought somebody was giving away something free. This was a time when Marlinton really was a town bustling with people and stores. This was a time when Marlinton was my world and to see the last remaining store from my window disappear is just heart breaking.

Teresa (Terry) Payne Tysarczyk
Amherst, Virginia