KILGOROUND

They were called Big Wackers and Little Wackers and there were two of them in this town.

Wackers were considered the top of the fiveand dime store and everything could be purchased for a minimal cost.

The stores were especially a favorite place of the children who, entering with a few pennies clutched in their hands, could come out with enough candy to last the day. Well, almost.

"I started working for Wackers making ten cents an hour," said Mary Ellen Fambrough Taylor. "I worked at both stores and I was quite proud the day I started bringing home $11 a week in wages. The old store or Little Wackers was just a small cubbyhole located by the old Longhorn Drug Store and then they built the new one. The new one faced Main Street and the little Wackers closed down after we moved into the bigger building.

"Oh, it had such good stuff," she exclaimed. "It was just such a pleasure to work there. And to me, the best part was the candies that came in large containers and sold by the pieces or pound. The candy was real fresh and made with fresh ingredients. Marshmallows covered in coconut icing were one of my favorites.

"Mr. Middlebrooks owned the stores and the two Duncan brothers worked there, too. They eventually opened a store of their own, I understand," she said.

"Another girl and I, Edith Mitchell paid $1.50 a week for a room in the old Foultz Apartments. Every evening we would walk past the old Safeway grocery going home and that is where I met my husband, J.M. Taylor," said Mary.

Mary Ellen was born three miles out of the town of Kilgore now known as Fredonia road. Her parents were Virgil and Blanche Fambrough. Mary Ellen was one of thirteen children. "I was raised to pick cotton and other crops," she said. "And I loved to shake the peanuts. My father would put the peanuts on a long pole and put them out in the sun until they dried. Then we would shake the pole for the peanuts to fall and then we would make some fresh peanut candy.

She married J.M. Taylor in 1938, who became manager of Safeway grocery store. They lived in Kilgore for awhile and then through his work with the store, moved to Henderson then on to Mount Pleasant before returning to Kilgore.

"We saved silver dollars and hid them in the closet to buy land on Clay Street," said Mary. The couple built a home on the land and raised their three children until they decided to move back to the country. They bought a place near Mary's old home site on Fredonia Road.

Mary went to work at the Laird Hospital making one dollar an hour. "She worked for them until she retired," said her oldest son, James Taylor. "They would just call her when she was needed and she would always go. But, even then, making a dollar an hour, my mother always managed to save money and she always managed to tithe. She always tithed freely and it's been a valuable lesson she has taught her children.

James helped his father in the grocery store. "He paid me fifty cents an hour to keep the buggies out of the way. It sure became tiresome," he said. "And I eventually offered him a dollar an hour to let me find a job elsewhere," he laughed. "I went to work for the Kilgore News Herald making $1.25 an hour. I told the publisher, I will make you the best paperboy you ever had. He said, "How old are you, boy?" "Eleven, sir," I answered. "Well, you need to be 12," he told me. "But, he put me to work a little earlier than that," he laughed.

"Up until a few years ago, mother picked blackberries and picked up and burned pinecones, something she always loved to do," said James. Mary will be 94 years of age this coming Christmas day.

"Oh," said Mary. "I moved in with my daughter, Cathy, a little over a year ago. They tell me a 93 year old shouldn't be living alone. They think I might burn the place down or something," she laughed. Cathy is an airline stewardess and purchased and remodeled the family's first home on Clay Street.

Mary's other son, Des, is an attorney in Austin and James is a real estate broker. The family considers themselves fortunate to have been raised in East Texas and especially being raised in a town that can boast of having two Wackers at one time.

"Life is still a pleasure," said Mary Ellen Fambrough Taylor. And she is still quite proud of the day she started making $11 a week in wages.

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Blowing out the birthday candles today are Justin Mercer, Susan Reinbach, Traci Shafer Powell, Betty Vanderlinden, Todd Shelley, Theresa Walters, Melissa Dinger, Cody Eugene Herring, Dolores Brasher, Billy Squier, Jane Terrell, Rebecca Partain, LaQuinta Fuller, Ray Jackson, Athena Sampson, Kay Turner, Jonathan Ray, Melinda Payne, Mae Nell Dudley, Chance Bailey, Larry Rossum, Jon Ray, Dana Brightwell, Fannie Mae Smith, Colin Lance Nichols.