These anecdotes of family history and the shop have come to mind thanks to my son, Ian, who recently saved a bunch of paternal family letters and photos from doom, including my grandparents' marriage certificate; followed with a surprise visit to the store by some of Grandma's kin.
Grandpa, Harold "Hal" Murray Bonnett, married Grandma, Ruth Adella Guy, on October 7th, 1930, during the World Series match-up between the St. Louis Cardinals and the Philadelphia Athletics. Their honeymoon was spent the next night watching the Athletics win the series in game six on a manually updated scoreboard mounted to the side of the Dayton Daily News building. Plays were called in via phone(?) and the board updated for the crowd of local baseball fans in the street below.
The last time the Cleveland Indians won the World Series was 1948 and "Bonnett's Back-Issue Magazines" was 9 years into our, now, 77 years at 502 East Fifth Street. Better luck next year, fellas!
The letters Ian found were mostly notes to home from an ancestor with Great Grandma Ruby's maiden name, Murray, who was serving in Europe during the World War (that's WWI to us today). I have yet to dive into them, but one letter, an outlier, was postmarked 1902; six years before the Chicago Cubs last World Series Championship. It's a shame our old friend, long-time customer, and die-hard Cubs fan, Bob Yaple, is no longer here for us to share the Cubs' victory with. We didn't give him an easy time of his fandom, this being "Reds Country" and all.
After 108 years, what's a little rain delay? A sign from above, perhaps; signifying the end of professional baseball's longest drought?
It was a well-earned win and I'm glad to have been around to see it! Congratulations Cubbies! Major League Baseball's World Series Champions for 2016!
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