Many visitors who have been to my many music programs in Hamilton and the surrounding Mercer County area, along with the many who have read my columns over the past 30 years, wherein I refer to my favorite teachers. One of them was Ruth Margerum. It was she who instilled in me the beginnings of my intense interest in music. Shirley Whitebread was Tommy Glover's singing partner in a little kid's song which I usually sing during my music programs. It's called "Tying apples on a lilac tree." Shirley and I "wowed" 'em way back during World War II when we sang it in one of Kuser School's Friday assembly programs. Miss Margerum took us both to Walson Army Hospital to sing our song for the wounded and hospitalized World War II soldiers.IN A ONE IN A MILLION EVENT THAT WAS COMPLETELY UN-EXPECTED, MR. JOHN VAN WAGONER CAME TO THE HAMILTON LIBRARY TABLE LAST WEEK AT SEPTEMBERFEST TO VISIT ME. HE RECALLED THE MANY TIMES I HAD WRITTEN ABOUT RUTH MARGERUM AND MY YEAR IN 3RD GRADE. IT TURNS OUT THAT HE IS A RELATIVE OF RUTH MARGERUM AND HAS LOANED ME A NUMBER OF PHOTOS TO DIGITIZE AND INCLUDE IN THE KUSER SCHOOL FOLDER IN THE LOCAL HISTORY COLLECTION. THE ABOVE PHOTO WAS AMONG THE NUMEROUS PHOTOS IN THE COLLECTION.
Were they related to the folks that once had a Margerum's Deli on Hamilton Avenue in Villa Park?
ReplyDeleteNot to my knowledge, Mack. I asked John Van Wagoner and he said he didn't think there was a connection. By the way, Margerums's also had those "side by side" double dip ice cream cones. I used to stop there on my way home from Tony Amato's barber shop down on the corner of Park Avenue.
ReplyDeleteTom