Monday, April 8, 2013

Jones Meat Market -- And a Few Memories




From the Don Jackson Collection at the LLF Library

These photos were taken in 1975 ... Not sure of the occasion, except perhaps a remodel?  Shelves look mighty empty for a once thriving store east of town.

Our family typically traded closer to home at Haley's Market for choice cuts of meat, wrapped neatly in butcher paper by Mr. "Hoe Haley" himself, but, whenever my brother killed a deer in the late 1950s, very early '60s, he took it across town to Jones' for processing and storage.  I, a mere kid back then, can remember accompanying my Momma to pick up packages of the deer meat whenever we had room in the home freezer. 

(Not that Mother ever liked deer meat, she would gag and turn all shades of green whenever she discovered that our housekeeper Carrie Lee had prepared it for lunch, artfully smothered in caramelized onions and cracked black pepper to disguise the inevitable gamey taste.)  

Beyond that, I can remember going to Jones' with my Momma and timidly asking for a pig's brain so I could put it in a jar of formaldehyde and offer it up as a paltry entry in the Lipsey Junior High Science Fair, which I knew I had NO HOPE of winning -- what with static electricity demonstrations, foaming volcanoes, and solar systems made to scale out of styrofoam balls.  

My more-than-lame entry was cringe-worthy in retrospect, but at least I didn't get a zero for failing to participate at all.  Hey, not all of us were cut out to be Future Scientists of America. I view it this way: sometimes it's wisest to realize you are outwitted and outflanked, admit defeat, surrender, eventually escape, and Move On.  
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But I digress.  Anyone with further information on the time and place pictured above is invited to comment here or on my Facebook page.  I believe the building has fallen into disrepair and disuse these days, but I could be mistaken.  Tried to take a Google Streetview drive down Old Highway 84, but the MacBook wasn't cooperating this morning.

2 comments:

  1. My dad, Van Hatcher, and Tommie Jones were BFFs AND oil and gas "wheeler dealers" in their spare time! Tommie and Mary Ellen Jones were partners in marriage and at work. I sent the blog link to Susie Jones Patrick...one of their two daughters.
    I think the building is still in use....will check.

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  2. Thank you Bettie for letting us know about this posting. These pictures were taken after the market burned and was rebuilt. The building was sold several years ago. I understand they have a food vendor in there now that serves some great wings. My grandfather built his business from the ground up and my father sold the market in 1990.

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