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The Key

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in the Victoria Gazette.

Located at www.VictoriaGazette.com.

Whitey sounded just like himself, after all these years. “You sound good,” I said to him over the phone.

“I am good,” he stated. “I’m good from the waist up.”

Whitey Wellens, former longtime resident of Victoria, called from Florida to make a correction about Victoria’s first grocery store. On the front page of the Gazette last month, in “More Than 100 Years later,” I contrasted Victoria’s first grocery store (Notermann’s) with the new Fresh Seasons Market that was constructed in 2009, over a hundred years later.

I knew that back in the very old days there was a woodframe hardware store located on main street next to the Notermann store, in what is today the Notermann parking lot. What I didn’t know -- and no one has mentioned it before -- is that the woodframe was constructed in 1895 and housed Victoria’s first grocery store, in a father-son venture called Diethelm & Diethelm.

Notermann’s then built the large brick store next door in 1898 and at some point Diethelm went with Notermann, while the woodframe building was leased to Kirsch & Kirsch Hardware (John and Irvin), then Kirsch and Wellens Hardware (Irvin and Frank), and then Victoria Hardware.

Ownership of the woodframe building transferred from Diethelm to Notermann, probably in the first decade. Whitey bought the woodframe building from Schneider and Noterman in 1954 for $1,800 and continued to operate the hardware store.

“I tore it down in 1964 and sold the lot back to John Notermann for about $3,500,” said Whitey. “John said he could use it for parking.”

***

“Tell me about your hardware store,” said this editor. “It was gone by the time Allan and I found Victoria in 1971.”

“It was an Our Own Hardware store,” said Whitey. “My dad’s name was Frank. My mother’s name was Mary Kelzer. She would be Clarence’s aunt. Where Clarence Kelzer lives today was my mother’s home place. I’m related to Wendelin and Ottilia Grimm the same as Clarence is. They’ve got a stained glass window in the old St. Victoria Church with their name on it.”

***

“So why do you say you’re only good above the waist, Whitey?”

“I broke my leg a while back in two places and I’ve got arthritis and a hip replacement and they put my foot together wrong. I broke my foot and ankle and laid on my living room floor for nine hours. So from the waist on up, I’m good. I use a cane. I can’t walk very fast so if you call, let the phone ring a while. Takes time to get there.

“What’s the weather like in Florida?”

“It doesn’t stop raining,” he replied. “It started raining a week ago and we’ve had eight inches already. It’s supposed to rain for another week so we’ll probably get another eight inches. That’s okay. We need it.”

***

Whitey was a prominent active member of the Victoria Lions, serving as its Secretary practically all of the first years of Lions history, and was also active in city government. Does he miss Victoria?

“I like where I’m living,” he said. “I’m 77 now, almost over the hill. It’s beautiful here. I’ve been the Secretary of the board of directors of our homeowners group for eight years, a member for nine years. Eight-nine percent of the people voted for me. Even the blacks call me Whitey. One guy told me he didn’t like my name. I told him I didn’t like his either.”

“So you’ve made a lot of friends in Florida.”

“Three people a night stop by my place to visit,” said Whitey. “They stop for a beer. I keep a frig in my garage. They walk in and help themselves.”

***

“Well, it’s nice that you called to set us straight on Victoria’s first grocery store,” said I, not adding outloud the obvious -- that Notermann’s is the grocery store that made the mark in Victoria.

“There was a double stairway in the middle of the Notermann’s store that went down to the middle of the basement,” continued Whitey. “They sold coffins in the basement. There was no funeral home in those days. My mom was laid out at home. That was in 1934. I was two years old then and that’s all I remember of my mom is in a coffin.”

“Gosh, Whitey, I recall hearing that your mom died so young.”

“They had a good selection of Christmas decorations and toys in the basement. When they put the butcher shop in the store, they moved egg candling to the basement. Remember the butcher shop? Pat Aretz was the butcher.”

“Yes, Whitey, in those very first months of our move to Victoria, Pat Aretz was behind the meat counter and John Notermann was behind the checkout counter at the front door. Thanks for the memories. I miss you and John Notermann and a whole bunch of other guys from the old days. Call me if you come to Victoria this summer.”

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