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Virgil was my Dad. Virgil, Jr. and I helped with many of the store duties, especially clerking, as Dad also ran the farm. Mom,Sylvia Gagnard Tanner, was also very busy. As teaching was her profession, she was occasionally called to substitute teach in Evergreen. Also, it was during these years that my younger brothers, Michael and Lyle were born. When we opened, ration stamps were still necessary for items such as sugar. Besides the staples of sugar, rice, flour, and dried beans, we stocked lunch meat, cheese, bread, moon pies and soda pop for workers who stopped in for a quick lunch. We also sold sausage and canned goods, cigarettes and candy, gum, and cookies. Army surplus clothes were
popular. They were cheap and sturdy work
clothes. Of course, we sold kerosene and you
can see the pumps on the porch, along with the
bread box for the salesman to put the fresh
bread in before we were even awake. Later we had what-nots...some made in occupied Japan. I really enjoyed sorting, pricing and displaying them. I still have my miniature dog band that Dad let me keep. I also have the small kerosene lamp I bought for 25 cents from the Lannie Bordelon store. The slot machine was a popular attraction, until we were robbed one night. That is the only thing I can remember being stolen. We found it across the road in the bushes, broken and minus the money. By the early 50's, Virgil Jr. and I had left home. Lyle and Michael were still too young to help, so Dad, needing to spend more time on the farm, found it necessary to close the store. He used the building for farm storage and later moved it farther back from the road onto the property, where the remains still stand. Submitted by Carolyn Tanner Rabalais, EHS Class of 1952
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