Message from Robert Dilley

RIP Julia! You and your Parents will always be remembered in Mt Hope! For Julia's Sister here is a memory That I wrote in 2014 I wish to share with you. You bring back some great memories with this. We would go to Lansing’s when we got a chance and have a hay day. Our Uncle Albert that lived with us would tease us unmercifully when we got back. “Yep ole Slippery George can go fishing today. The Dilley boys came to town and he cleaned them out.” “He got all their money and now he can buy some worms and go fishing.” It just went on and on from there. I was amazed what a dollar would get you in Lansing’s store. The funny thing was no matter how old I was when I stopped in there, even after I had entered the military, Mrs. Lansing was always Mrs. Lansing. I never knew her first name. Mr. Lansing at first was Mr. Lansing, but the day came when we started calling him George. Julia was always Julia. The lady that worked there with the dark hair I cannot remember what we addressed her as. Just as you went in the door to the right amongst the coveralls was a toy rack. Hard to tell when we were little how many times we spun that around looking at all the toys. The dolls for the girls were to the left of the door along with the knickknacks that Mrs. Lansing had for sale for the ladies. The Wisconsin State Journal and the Telegraph Herald from Dubuque was stacked on the floor and on the little table to the left. There would be more wonders on another table right next to the papers. Then you came to the cash register station after passing an aisle that took you back to more treasures for fishing and hunting back against the west wall and a lot of dairy needs to include I believe a complete surge milk machine. There were pictures of the exterior of the store and other buildings in town above all the stuff on the west wall. To the right across from the cash register was grocery items . To the north of the cash register was a Freezer with another freezer across the aisle. Seems like one was for frozen foods and the one next to the cash register was for the most important thing in the store, ICE CREAM!!!!! The shelves above the ice cream were filled with odds and ends like pens, playing cards, and more. On the end cap of the cash register station was the pop machine, right across from the big heater vent that also served as a table for the Lansing’s and their employee or two they had and a rest area where the day’s issues were discussed by various patrons with the Lansings. The pop machine required you to lift a lid, find your selection and work it through the metal tray guides till you got it to the spot where you could lift it out. There should have been a money slot but I don’t remember one. I remember paying for the glass bottle of pop at the cash register. It was a red Coca Cola vending chest. As for the rest area over the heater you would find the day’s newspapers from Dubuque and Madison, an ashtray for George and Julie, maybe a book that Mrs. Lansing was reading. Straight back to the north behind them were shelves with canned goods, bread, paper plates. The shelves west of these were filled with Nails, Screws, tools, baling twine, and more stuff that George felt the local farmers needed. To the east of their break area, if you went to the wall and then turned left and went down the aisle, there was a door to the right that took you back into the meat locker and butcher shop area. Yes George was a butcher as well, cutting meat for local people that needed it processed. I first learned of this area going to town with Grandpa and Grandma Bunts. At first it was fun but then it was not so fun when Grandma went to get meat out of the locker they had there. It seemed like it got pretty cold on the arms. The store was truly a marvel for all they had in there. Comically I think back that if you needed something and George and his wife did not have it in the store then you really did not need it. What got me was the checkout station as people would call it today. There was an adding machine powered by 110 volts where the clerk would add up all your purchases and then refer to a tax chart where they got the tax amount and then add it to your total. Next to that would be baskets with fresh fruit for sale. The candy was mostly in this area and in jars on the counter. Great big jars of penny candy. Candy that would be put into little brown paper bags so kids could haul their treasures home in comfort. The main cash register where they put the money was something out of the 1930’s or 40s. It was gold in color and had keys where you keyed in the dollar amount of the purchase. There were 10 keys for cents, dollars, tens of dollars and hundreds. You keyed in the purchase amount and then pulled a lever on the right side of the register as you faced it and the cash drawer popped out and the clerk proceeded to calculate out your change in their head and then brought the change back to you counting it out back to you. There was a lot of stuff back there in the cash register area but the one last thing in the store that sticks in my mind was the black metal holder with numerous fold down metal pages with numerous slots in each page. This was where Lansings kept all the charges. They operated a lot on credit. Everyone in the community pretty much had credit and nothing was really pushed as long as you kept them informed on your bill. Credit was done on trust and a person’s honor. To test this fact, I ran a charge one time when I was home on leave just to see what it took. George informed me when I told him I was a might short that it would be no problem. He wrote me up a ticket and put it into his filing system. When I got back to my base in Mississippi, I got the money together for the bill, put it in an envelope and mailed it back to Mt Hope. It was all cash being sent in the mail on trust. There was I found out an overpayment and the next time I was home I had about 75 cents on credit at the Lansings General Store! I was floored as in the payment I included a short thank you saying keep the change. The Lansings General Store and my visits there will always be a very special memory.

A candle was lit by Roger & Mary Lou Reukauf on July 4, 2017 8:03 PM

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Our heartfelt condolences go out to Orlean and family. Mt. Hope as we knew it is getting smaller and smaller each year. Remember the good times. May she rest in peace.

Message from Mary Ann Plimpton Knappmiller Floerke

Julia was missed when she was no longer at the store... and she will be missed from the community now. Favorite memory of Mt. Hope has always been the candy counter at Lansing's store! and the Lansing's always being there. End of an era. Grandma, our folks, us kids, our kids AND our grandchildren have this wonderful memory to cherish! Until we meet again......

Message from Perry and Mary Cahoon

So sorry to hear of Julia's passing. Perry delivered Sunbeam bread to the Lansing Store for many years. We would often stop and see Julia when we were in the area. Always enjoyed our visits with her.

Message from monnie fagan

I'm so sorry to hear of Julia's passing. My parents were friends of your parents. I remember fondly visiting Mt. Hope as a young girl and going to Lansings' Store! May Julia RIP.

Message from Stuart and Mary Ellen Knappmiller

Remember her and her parents fondly, in the store. I saved pennies to buy candy when I stayed with Grandma Plimpton. A real treat from Grandma was a Strawberry Crush pop with a package of salted peanuts. That probably happened once a year, if that. A simpler time. I walked down alone to buy bread. One day I stole a golden small cap gun. The first night home I remember weeping with mom as she tucked me in bed. We drove back and paid for it. A simpler time. No need to ban me from the store. The end of another era, Julia.

A candle was lit by Perry & Mary Cahoon on July 1, 2017 8:33 PM