Memories of Morgan Creek Road by Dick Rifffle
For the next few weeks, I will be copying some of Dick Riffle's "The People of Lindley As I Knew Them (from 1922-1940)". Dick lived on Morgan Creek Road where the Lindley Woodworks is now located. He is now 91 years old,lives in Washington State and shares his memories with Lucia Loughridge Huels-a relative . I would like to thank Dick and Lucia for letting us share his memories. The following is as he wrote it.
"My earliest recollection begins with those who lived on Morgan Creek Road.Colonel Morgan ,Civil War Veteran ,who lived in a big white house near some sulfur springs. He was a close friend of my Dad ,George Riffle . I recall him visiting our home occasionally. The photo is of my Grandfather Jerome Riffle (smoking a cigar) and Colonel Morgan at a Riffle reunion at our home in 1923. Going up Morgan creek Road, there were two arch bridges over the creek. Before the first one a Dorothy Robinson and Mother lived. Dorothy had a deep male voice and muscles to match.When she worked at the Milva Inn as a maid, she also served as a "bouncer" when a man had too much to drink became unruly. Later her home was occupied by a single man,Mike Miller. He was a little short man with a beard and considered as one of the town's characters.The standing joke was that he never took a bath, but that he was never sick because the germs couldn't get through the dirt. Sometimes when working in his garden,he would be wearing a woman's dress.When asked why,he would say, "Because there"tooler"(cooler). He could not pronounce a "c" or an "s" but the word always came out with a "t" sound . Anyway, he had good logic about the dress. Sometime before Mike died, my brother Mel told him about God's love for him and Mike accepted Christ as his personal Savior. I expect to see him in heaven.
"My earliest recollection begins with those who lived on Morgan Creek Road.Colonel Morgan ,Civil War Veteran ,who lived in a big white house near some sulfur springs. He was a close friend of my Dad ,George Riffle . I recall him visiting our home occasionally. The photo is of my Grandfather Jerome Riffle (smoking a cigar) and Colonel Morgan at a Riffle reunion at our home in 1923. Going up Morgan creek Road, there were two arch bridges over the creek. Before the first one a Dorothy Robinson and Mother lived. Dorothy had a deep male voice and muscles to match.When she worked at the Milva Inn as a maid, she also served as a "bouncer" when a man had too much to drink became unruly. Later her home was occupied by a single man,Mike Miller. He was a little short man with a beard and considered as one of the town's characters.The standing joke was that he never took a bath, but that he was never sick because the germs couldn't get through the dirt. Sometimes when working in his garden,he would be wearing a woman's dress.When asked why,he would say, "Because there"tooler"(cooler). He could not pronounce a "c" or an "s" but the word always came out with a "t" sound . Anyway, he had good logic about the dress. Sometime before Mike died, my brother Mel told him about God's love for him and Mike accepted Christ as his personal Savior. I expect to see him in heaven.
This is so interesting as it is about the corner of the world I knew for many years. I'm so glad that Mr. Riffle was so generous in sharing his recollections and the photo. As we all know, history is soon gone if it is not captured in some way for the succeeding generations.
ReplyDeleteKitty:
ReplyDeleteMr. Riffle's stories are terrific. And to actually see a photo of Colonel Morgan! I hope there's more stories to come.
Sally
My name is Robert Riffle. So glad to see that my Uncle Dick is sharing some of his memoirs. I have read some of them and learned much about my dad, Gordon "Scoop" Riffle, that I never knew. It's amazing how Uncle Dick, at the age of 92 can so vividly recall even small details of his early years. I can hardly remember what happened last year. By the way, I was born in the Riffle home on Morgan Creek along with my two sisters, Anne and Helen and my brother Jim. I attended the Lindley school to grade seven then transferred to North Side for grade eight and nine. Then we moved to Addison. I graduated from Addison Central High in 1952, then enlisted in the US Navy. I now am retired and reside near Dayton, Ohio.
ReplyDeletePlease keep encouraging the input from my Uncle Dick as you will learn much about the early years and happenings around Lindley.
Thanks for your comments. When Mr. Riffle's stories were shared with me,I decided they would be a great addition to the blog and that others would enjoy reading them .So with his permission,I am posting them.
ReplyDeleteSo much of Lindley's history has not been recorded --that stories like these help fill in the gaps.
I encourage anyone who has a story or memories that they would like recorded in the town files or to share on the blog to send them to me.
You can reach me by snail mail or by e-mail.