Growing up in McDonough in the 50s and 60s is probably the time of my favorite holiday memories. That was a time when we all came together to enjoy the southern events on the Square.

There were a lot of stores in town and around the Square. This was before shopping malls and people walking around with a phone in their hand, so we all purchased our presents right here in town.

Most of the stores were family owned and operated, if not all of them. My favorite store to shop in when I was eight years old was Conkles five and dime store. They had such a good selection of all kinds of things.

I spent a good amount of time at my grandfather’s theater. Most people back then would say, “I’m going to the picture show tonight,” but it was always the McDonough Theater, and the only store in between the theater and Conkles was Hammock Hardware. (Today Eddie Ausband has an insurance agency located there.)

Through the years I would always go to visit Mrs. Martha Hammock in Conkles. That made it very convenient to visit the store from the theater. I was always asking her about Conkles and how they bought their goods and how they got them to the store in the old days.

She told me a lot of their things would be ordered and they would drive to the railroad depot and pick them up. She said that they received most of their things at Christmas from New York. They would take the things to the store and put them together there.

Another person at the store was Mrs. Jewel Wilkerson. Her husband, Mr. Bill Wilkerson, worked at the First National Bank across the street for many years. Conkles was a magic place with so many different things to buy. I believe that there are still a good many people that would remember that store as well as I do. When you entered the building, on your left was this wonderful candy counter. It had a slanted showcase with all kinds of different candy to buy.

They had scales on top of the showcase and you would tell the ladies what kind of candy and how much you wanted to buy. They had red hots, peppermints, chocolate candy, bubble gum and coconut patties. Money was kind of scarce in those days, so one of the ladies would ask you what kind of candy you wanted. You would tell them how much money you had to spend. Say for example, if you had 13 pennies in your hand, they would weight it exactly to the penny. At that time, they had an old metal scoop and would put the candy into a small sack and hand it to you.

Not only was I getting candy for myself on Saturday when there would be a double feature at the picture show; I was also taking orders for my friends at the show. The reason I had to go for them was this: if you left the theater during a movie and went outside for anything, you had to pay an admission to get back in, so some Saturdays I would be pretty busy and miss some of the cowboy movie.

The way that Conkles was set up, they had shelves all along the wall with dishes and whatnots on them, and in the middle of their store was what seemed huge at the time, with all kinds of merchandise neatly laid out for you to pick out whatever you wanted. Of course, the candy case and the toys were my two favorite things.

I do remember that one Christmas I told my mother that I wanted to go Christmas shopping by myself so I could surprise everyone. I must have been seven or eight at the time. I had saved up around $1.00 to spend on my family, and needed to buy items that were in my price range.

My mom dropped me off at Conkles, and she was going over to Ward Drug Company to see Ruby Norton and Dr. Ward. My mom had promised me that we would go back over to Ward Drug and have lunch there after I finished my shopping. You could get a grilled ham sandwich and a Cherry Coke there. It was the best lunch counter in town. I remember a man named Mr. Shaw that supplied the ham for the sandwich.

Now, back to the shopping at Conkles. Well, I started to look for something for my mom. I found a card full of buttons for 15 cents. Next, I remembered how my dad would comb his hair back and that men at the time would use Brylcreem, (A little dab’ll do ya!) and it looked like some kind of oil was in their hair, so I got him a comb for a dime. My two sisters both got small handheld pinball games where you pulled back a spring and tried to hit the little balls into a high score position. Then I got my younger brother some balls and jacks for 20 cents to play with, and I bought myself a bag of marbles for 10 cents to play marbles with my dad. He was so good at playing marbles and he told me that during the depression they would play for keeps. If you lost all your marbles, the other player would get to keep them all! He was so good; at school they gave him a marble trophy.

What a great time it was to live in Henry County.

The total for my purchases came to 92 cents with tax. I still had 8 cents in my pocket. Pretty good, I thought, for a beginner! My mom just pulled up to get me so I’ll see you later. Merry Christmas!

Thanks to all the readers who have followed me in The Henry County Times for these last six years, and to all the newcomers as well.

I wish you a merry Christmas!
I wish you a merry Christmas!
I wish you a merry Christmas!
And a happy New Year!
Ho! Ho! Ho!

I like Christmas time because I believe in Santa Claus.

Jeff Reeves is a lifelong resident of McDonough. He and his wife, Betsy, have one son.