"Boone Norman, Sr. hired me to begin work at the soda fountain;
I remember waiting on Oden Reynolds, Ben Calloway, Vernon Ray and Dr. Marvin (Gentry) on a daily basis.
I discovered that the employees had to clean up the fountain, sweep the floors, and take out the trash before we
could leave for the day. On my first day at work, I was sent out with the large metal trash can (no trash bags then!)
full of banana peels; orange, lemon and lime rinds; coffee grounds and ice cream papers. About halfway down
the back stairs, I tripped and fell the rest of the way, spilling the contents of the trash can all the way.
I had started the day with a fresh, starched white cotton uniform, now covered in the garbage from the fountain,
and watching from the top of the stairs was a crowd of people! I vowed to my mother that I would never go back,
but she vowed that I would go back, and I did. I worked at the fountain for several months before
transferring to be cashier at the register. In 1956, I left the drug store to live in Colorado Springs
with my husband Darrel and daughter Juanita. We returned to Ava, and I worked part-time at the drug store
until 1961, when I returned to work full-time at the Rawlings plant. During that time, my son Fayne was born.
One evening in 1963, Boone, Sr. visited me to ask me to return to Ava Drug. I had put in my application that
very day to go back to work at Rawlings, but I accepted Boone's offer. When Juanita was 12, Boone Jr. wanted her to
work some at the soda fountain, and she has worked at the drug store off and on all these years.
"Through the years, many changes have been made at the store - I worked for Boone Sr., Boone Jr., and David;
the soda fountain was taken out; I have worked with hundreds of girls through the years, and the store was sold to
Bill Mackey in 1991. I worked for him for 12 years, and then he sold the store back to David in October, 2003. David
and his family have been there for me as they had been for many years, through good times and bad, when my husband
Darrel was diagnosed with lung cancer and passed away in January, 2002.
"I now work 7 hours a day, 3 days a week; the soda fountain is being rebuilt. I am 69 years old, white-headed,
and fatter than ever, and I thank God for the Norman family and Ava Drug Store and what they have meant to me."
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