A Holiday Memory: The Christmas Candle

     When I was growing up in East Memphis, Tenn., I attended Sea Isle Elementary School which was only a couple of blocks from our house.  Back in those days in the early 70's, you could walk to your neighborhood school with your friends without the fear of being kidnapped by a child molester or serial killer.  This particular school year, I was supposed to be in the fourth grade but I was placed into a special education class because the educators determined that I had developed a learning disability.  My teacher's name was Mrs. Pollard and she was a very special teacher and lady.  She was kind, patient, loving and funny.  Mrs. Pollard always went the extra mile for her students and went to great lengths to spend the proper amount of time to help us develop fully and to enable us to learn what we needed in order to catch up with our classmates in the other classrooms.  I remember that she always brought us food, cakes and cookies and other treats from her home to give to us especially during the Christmas holiday season.  But the one thing I remember most about Mrs. Pollard was her faith in God. She always said a prayer with her students.  Apparently, that was something you could get away with in the public schools in those days.

    Before school let out for Christmas break that year, I remember she gave all the students a candle and a piece of paper with a printed version of the "Lord's Prayer" on it.  She told us to light the candle on Christmas eve and place it by our bedside and then read the prayer to ourselves aloud. The world was in turmoil then like it is now.  Things have not changed a lot in some ways. America was still dealing with the Vietnam war and the civil rights and hippie movement was still going strong.  A lot of families in the nation's suburbs and inner cities were beginning to struggle with domestic social issues such as alcoholism, drugs and divorce especially after women's lib and the sexual revolution had surface in the concourse of America's landscape.  However, that Christmas eve, I did light the candle, read the prayer aloud and I fell peacefully asleep shortly thereafter.  Now I can still see the candle's bright, misty glow in my mind when I shut my eyes.  It takes me back, long ago when I was just a little boy and it helps me remember all those warm and special teachers such as Mrs. Pollard who made a big difference in my life. Thank you, Mrs. Pollard, and Merry Christmas to you wherever you are.  I'm sure you are in heaven now.  I will light a candle this Christmas eve in your honor and place it by my bedside. Then I will say the "Lord's Prayer."

Krystal Restaurants Are Still Going Strong In The South Since "The Great Depression" In the 1930's

    I was visiting our local Krystal in Bowling Green recently and I noticed some literature about the history of their restaurant that they were handing out to their customers.

    Immediately, when I started reading it, I thought back to my childhood days of growing up in East Memphis, Tenn.., and my first experience of eating at the Krystal located on Popular Avenue across from East High School in the 1960's.  It was probably around 1966 or so and I would say that I was four or five years old.  I remember that there was always a line of customers waiting to get their little, hot burgers with the tasty steam onions on them.  I remember that the small building was built with black and white tile on the inside and exterior with a big silver, "Krystal" ball on top. I also remember one time that my father took brothers and I to a Memphis State (University of Memphis now) football game at the formerly Memphis Memorial Stadium which is now the Liberty Bowl in the late fall in the mid-1960's when was freezing cold outside.  We played Mississippi State and won! Anyway, after the game, we rode in the back of a pickup truck on the way back to our friend's house located in mid-town and we stopped at that Krystal to pick up a couple sackful of those hot, little burgers to warm us up.  Wow, what an awesome memory!

    Here's what the literature says about the restaurant's history. "It was Oct. 24, 1932, when the nation's first Krystal restaurant opened its doors on the corner of Seventh and Cherry Streets in downtown Chattanooga, Tenn., amid the harsh financial times of the Great Depression. Its founders, Rody Davenport Jr. and J. Glenn Sherrill, believed that despite the severe economic upheaval of the times, people would patronize a restaurant that kept spotlessly clean, provided courteous service and offered a good meal at the lowest possible price. Proving this theory true, the restaurant's first customer, French Jenkins, ordered six Krystals and a cup of coffee, all for a bargain price of 35 cents."

    Also, Krystal is a restaurant chain that is based in the South. "A passion that has been passed down from generation to generation, Krystal has become an experience that nearly man, woman and child in the South has shared. As a result, many "Krystal Stories" that directly relate to the company and its products. For years now, customers have been sharing their favorite memories by writing letters and sending emails to the company's corporate office. Recognizing the passion, in 2004, Krystal began recognizing its most devoted customers by inducting them into the "Krystal Lovers Hall of Fame." To commemorate the inductions, each inductee's illustrated likeness is placed on more than one million of the restaurant's famous Krystal Hamburger and Cheese Krystal boxes and used in restaurants across the Southeast."

    And Krystal has been around for years and is still going strong. "Krystal is also keeping an eye to the future as the company invests in new restaurant designs, develops new, unique menu items and expands into new markets across the South-upholding its legacy as a Southern icon by offering that one-of-a-kind taste and personal connection you can't find anywhere else."