By Maggie (Eaton) Gurley, granddaughter*
*Relation to Andy and/or Flora Lehr
Hi neighbor! This is how dad greeted customers who walked into his businesses. I am certain we have all had messages and sayings that our parents said. Maybe some are still being repeated to this day. Here are a few I remember.
Mom and Dad had many businesses and they knew many people. Remembering names of customers is never easy. But Dad came up with a short, but friendly greeting to prevent his customers from knowing he wasn’t so good with names. Thus, ‘Hi Neighbor’ was the perfect answer! Pretty clever if you ask me. I still use this technique when greeting some of our customers at work.
There were occasions when we would go with Dad to run errands or run something into grandma Flora‘s house. As we got out of the car, he would say, “I’ll wait on you if you’re not too long.” Sometimes we were not sure if he was teasing or not. Either way we didn’t dawdle and as far as I know no one never tested his statement.
If things didn’t go as planned or we were feeling sorry for ourselves dad would remind us, “It’s better than a kick in the butt.” He was normally right. Along those same lines Dads answer to us if we would stub our toe or even break a bone was, “100 years from now you’ll never know it.” I cannot count the number of times I heard those words, Lordy! Plus there was “Quit your belly aching.” as well.
There was one lesson in particular that seemed to take me longer than most to learn. “Everything in moderation “. I hear that even today from health professionals, preachers, and even myself sometimes.
Mom, well Mom had such a quick wit! It was hard to keep up with her sometimes. One thing she used to say to her grandsons was “When I think you’re ready I’ll find you a nice girl.” She said that to my son I don’t know how many times, and Trey very politely said, “Alright, Grandma.”
“`Good Night Irene” was a song written and recorded by Hadley “Lead Belly” Ledbetter in 1933. It was a blues rendition at that time. ‘The Weavers’ recorded it in a choral style, more Mom’s style. There were so, so many evenings Mom told my girls and me, “Good Night Irene.” She always had a little lilt her voice when she said it. Honestly, I can still hear her say it sometimes.
Lastly, and perhaps the funniest thing, I think Mom and Dad must have rehearsed this ‘act.’ Sometimes When my Dad would give me a hug he’d say “Maggie Darling, I wish I had a dozen just like you!” Mom would then put the back of her hand to her forehead and exclaim, “Oh God!” Quick witted Mom indeed.
P.S. “6 O’clock comes awfully early in the morning.
By Roger Eaton, grandson*
*Relation to Andy and/or Flora Lehr
When my dad would say, “Six O’clock comes awful early.”, that meant it was time for bed.
He used to say, “Hit a lick.” when I was leaving for work. By that he meant that I need to give my employer their money’s worth.
When they would leave for the house for “parent time”, my dad would say that he was “Going out to blow some stink off.” It meant, to get out of the house and find a diversion for a while.
My first jobs were with my dad. He would repeatedly tell me, “Rog, don’t do a half job.” That meant that I hadn’t completed an assigned task to his expectations.
A couple of my brothers, my dad and I had two limited partnerships. We mainly invested in real estate projects. When I would negotiate the purchase or sale of a property, my dad would say, “Rog, they need to make a live’n too.” That was his way of telling me not to be greedy.
If I misbehaved and my mother learned of it, she would say, “Rog, is there something that you need to tell me?” When I heard that, I knew that she was aware of my misdeed and that I had no chance of talking my way out of the consequences.
My dad had a sign in the Lil’ Duffer, El Dorado. It read, “Treat the customers like they were paying your salary, because they are.” The sign was posted next to the work schedule, so everyone would see it.
While watching the Lawrence Welk (TV variety show), my dad would say, “If you kids could sing like that, I wouldn’t have to work so hard.” I’m still working on that!
“Better than a kick in the butt” is what my dad said when he thought that we should be grateful for what we had.
“I’ll wait for you if you’re not too long”
My dad’s favorite activity was to rock kids and grandkids. As he rocked, he sang songs. Sometimes he would make up a personalized song, but his standard song was You Are My Sunshine.
For his funeral, we had the grandchildren record “You Are My Sunshine”. The sound system in the church was poor and the song was barely recognizable. Twenty-six years later, at my mother’s funeral. I wanted to use the recording. The church sound system had not been upgraded, but I could play the song through the organ. That would require a USB (thumb) drive.
I needed to convert the 8mm tape recording to an MP4 format on a thumb drive. A business in Wichita was able to make the conversion. As a family, we collaborated on final services for my dad and sister, Cathy. In this case, I didn’t share my plan for the song with anyone. The priest and organist met me at the church to test the equipment. It worked perfectly. I prepared instructions for playing the song – in case I froze.
Maggie’s husband, Ron, coordinated the original recording and had the opening solo part. Just before the funeral mass, I advised Ron of my plan. Aside from the priest and organist, he was the only one that knew of my plan. At the conclusion of the mass, I discretely made my way to the organ. I inserted the thumb drive and followed my instructions. The small display presented me with a media not found error. I removed the thumb drive and tried again. Only about ten seconds had passed, but it seemed like hours. The priest made eye contact with me. Without thinking, I instinctively restarted the organ’s electronics and tried again. The song was a dud at my dad’s funeral mass and I did not want a repeat of that experience. After another few seconds, Ron’s voice filled the church with “You Are My Sunshine”.