Jubelt's Bakery & Benld Class of 57 Reunion

We made our annual pilgrimage to Jubelt's Bakery in Litchfield IL this morning and had a great breakfast.  We ordered the country omelet, coffee and a great pastry for breakfast.  It was great and we thoroughly enjoyed the meal.  I had the misfortune to be seated facing all the goodies in the showcase and my mouth watered for the pastries.  I really like the long johns and they had 5 showing in the case and I was worried they would sell out before we got a chance to buy some.  It got a little more scary when a young boy who was about 100 lbs overweight started looking at them.  Thankfully, he selected a plate of other pastries to eat.  Close call.

We talked to the last remaining Jubelt family member who owns and runs the bakery/restaurant now.  She said they still make the donuts and such at the store and would continue to do so.  They haven't sold the old bakery in Mt. Olive but it is for sale.  Not a good time to be selling bakeries with so many of them going out of business.

Today was the big day for Gerry's Benld Class of 1957's 55th year reunion.  Gerry was part of a class of 25 graduating seniors and 11 members of the class showed up for the reunion.  7 member have passed away and there was a moment of silence  to remember them.  They weren't able to track down a couple and the remainder didn't make it for one reason or the other.
  

They had a really nice cake that actually tasted quite good to help celebrate the occasion.

A number of members of the class are going to meet for breakfast on Sunday morning at the hotel and we plan on joining them.  

The afternoon and evening was non stop talking among the various class members.  Gerry's best friend from high school, Marilyn was there and they chatted and caught up on what's been going on these past few years.  Marilyn and her husband Terry are sitting on the right side of the table.  Terry was a year ahead of me at Gillespie High School and we knew each other from attending classes together.  Larry & Kathryn are seated on the left side and Gerry and I are in the back.  Marilyn and I share the same birthdate and probably were in the same hospital at the same time.  I don't remember her from that time, though.

We all managed to fit into one picture and it turned out fairly well.  Getting a bunch of senior citizens to all focus on the camera is a little like herding cats, but we came close. 

As my FSILINC would say, look for me in the red shirt.  Yep, that is me with Gerry standing right behind me.  As it turned out, 3 of the 4 people sitting for the photo were from Gillespie and attended school with me.

It was a great day and we had a very nice time seeing everyone and getting caught up on our life events.  Now we have to wait until 2017 for the 60th reunion.  Hope to see you all then.

Gerry received a phone call from our grandson Ryan who was attending a gender revealing party in regard to Dee and his upcoming birth of their first son.  The party was split 6-6 on what the sex the child would be and it came up a boy.   This will be our first great grandchild and he is due to arrive early Feb 2013.  Now I am beginning to feel old.  Well done Ryan and Dee.



 

End of a Historic Landmark

Gerry grew up in Benld, IL and lived there until we moved to Washington, DC once we were married.  I first talked to Gerry at the Coliseum Ballroom in Benld at a dance there in 1956.  The chat didn't go very well but I persisted and chased her until she caught me.  That is my story and I am sticking to it.

The Coliseum Ballroom was built in 1924 and had many big name bands of the era play there for many years until 1996 when it was converted to an antique mall.  Fats Domino, Tex Beneke, Louie Armstrong, Tommy Dorsey, Duke Ellington, Kay Kyser, Count Basie, Everly Brothers, Ray Charles and many others played there and people came from all over Central Illinois to hear them play and to dance.  It was mainly a dance hall with a 10,000 sq ft dance floor and not a concert hall like now days where you listen but don't dance.  

Well, that all came to an end last night when a fire broke out and the place burned for 3 hours and it took 16 firefighting units to put the flames out.  The roof is gone and I would imagine most of the interior is gutted also.  My niece took the attached picture from her cell phone early on in the blaze.  The quality isn't very clear due to darkness and the smoke, but you can clearly see it going up in smoke.  Sad night.  

Newspaper Article on Fire 

The naming of Benld is an interesting story.  A wealthy land owner wanted to build an addition to Gillespie and name it after his daughter, but didn't get very far with that.  So he built the town and named it after himself; Ben L Dorsey.  As far as I know it is the only place in the world named Benld which makes it easy to search the internet as a key word.  Since it is located in Macoupin County, IL and there is only one Macoupin listed, that makes it even easier to search for events there.  Great for genealogists.