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Owners of Ingersoll Gas/Grocery

Vol 6, Iss 36 Ingersoll, Oklahoma - Ingersoll, Okla... "Does anyone remember the names of the old couple that ran the old gas station on the north side of the highway in Ingersoll? You can see the store in the picture." -- Mark Seevers - Email: markssurgicalasst@yahoo.com
[Editor's Note: We are informed that the owners of Ingersoll's Gas/Grocery on north side of Hwy 64 was Raymond & Nettie Mantz. They were quite a couple. Nettie liked to chatter.] View/Write Comments (count 0)   |   Receive updates (0 subscribers)  |   Unsubscribe

Mantz in Ingersol, Okla

Vol 6, Iss 37 Ingersoll, Oklahoma - "I remember the Mantz's very well, but I never heard Mr. Mantz called 'Leonard.' Their names were Raymond and Nettie Mantz and they opened that filling station around 1949 or 1950. Raymond was a fishing buddy of my dad's and we went on many outings (fishing, picnicking, sand plum and wild grape picking, etc.) with them when they lived in Alva in the late forties.

Raymond had a brother who sharpened one-way plows, but I can't remember his first name. Raymond was usually self-employed during that time, and took part in the annual broomcorn harvest in the southwest Kansas - southeast Colorado area. My older brother John went out there and worked for him for two years at harvest time. Raymond also had a commercial fishing license and dealt in live minnows, and my brother was his right-hand man in that operation, also.

As it was the twilight of the broomcorn era and Raymond was getting on in years, he invested in the small station at Ingersoll. At the time, Nettie's mother (whom I knew only as Mrs. McGee) was still living with them. Mrs. McGee was very thin and frail and was not very talkative. The station (Mantz' 66 Station) had three rooms: a small front room where they sold beer, candy, cigarettes, ice cream bars and a few non-perishable grocery items; a room immediately behind that contained a table and chairs, small stove, refrigerator and a day bed for Mrs. McGee; and there was a tiny bedroom in the west end where Raymond and Nettie slept.

Later they lived in a building across the street, but I was never in it. Along with the three people, they also had an indoor dog named 'Grumpy.' Grumpy was an old, short-haired, short-legged mongrel with a large wart on his head and pretty well lived up to his name.

Nettie and Raymond had no children of their own, but I think Raymond had at least one child by a previous marriage. I don't know much at all about his earlier life nor Nettie's. There were still quite a number of families living in Ingersoll at the time, and I remember going with Raymond once as he ran a milk route. I don't know what else he did, but he was a varied small entreprenuer in the years I knew him. The last time I talked to them was in 1978, and I think Raymond died not too long after that. Nettie lived for quite some time after that and I would see her occasionally near her home as I passed through town on the highway." -- Jim Barker View/Write Comments (count 0)   |   Receive updates (0 subscribers)  |   Unsubscribe

Ingersoll Station

Vol 6, Iss 37 Ingersoll, Oklahoma - quot;You have really struck a responsive chord. The Mantz's were dear friends of my family and all of us kids looked forward to a cold drink (bottle of pop) and a candy bar at the station when we were on a fishing trip. My father, E.M. Barker, considered Raymond (not Leonard) to be a prime source of fishing information for his Sports Spasms column in the Alva Review Courier . He also went on many of our trips and was an accomplished fisherman. He had a splendid wry sense of humor and you always left him chuckling at some witticism that he uttered usually about the foibles of the local populace.    Nettie was a mother confessor and was always ready to lend a sympathetic ear to any problems we had at the time. Both of them were the best friends that a person could have." -- Bill Barker View/Write Comments (count 0)   |   Receive updates (0 subscribers)  |   Unsubscribe

Ingersoll Stores

Vol 6, Iss 37 Ingersoll, Oklahoma - "Somebody gave you a bum steer about the Ingersoll store! The business on the east side (north side of the highway) was owned by Raymond (not Leonard) and Nettie Mantz.

The old structure is located directly across the street from the Smok Shak. It is true that Nettie liked to visit, but she didn't drive so was sort of stuck in a tiny little building all day. They both liked animals and there were assorted dogs and cats which had to be moved to retrieve milk, beer or bologna out of the cooler.

They had no children of their own but often babysat some of the neighbor children. Nettie's elderly mother, Mrs. Percintina lived there also. Toni Hawkins Fox's maternal grandparents were Glen and Pauline Tucker. Glen was a brother to the Tuckers living in Kiowa and Pauline was originally from Boston. They had the War Surplus and Gas Store also on the north side of the highway, but one block west. The business was unique and customers gasped at the amount of STUFF in that store.

Tuck (as everyone called him) advertised having anything anybody needed, if he could just find it.  Pauline told me one time that shoes were sometimes bought by the truckload, tied together in pairs but there would always be a bunch for just one foot! There were literally tons of tools in that store.

The old adobe building has collapsed but part of it remains. A cactus still blooms there in the spring. Since both proprietors sold gas competitively, folks in the community often referred to them as Nip and Tuck.
When Glen retired the Tuckers moved to a new home in Cherokee. Glen died not long after they moved but Pauline lived there several years before she passed away." -- Bonnie View/Write Comments (count 0)   |   Receive updates (0 subscribers)  |   Unsubscribe

Ingersoll - Tucker's Army Salvage Memories

Vol 61, Iss 37 Ingersoll, Oklahoma - "Sorry for not getting this to you sooner, but I just returned from Utah and Idaho where I was visiting my kids over the holiday weekend. I remember one novelty about Tucker's Army Salvage Store.  If you ever went there, you had to wade through the boxes and piles of inventory.  They had a sign at the entrace proclaiming, 'Welcome to Tucker's Wonder Store.  You wonder if we have it... We wonder if we've got it... And everyone wonders how we find it!'" -- Terry Smith View/Write Comments (count 0)   |   Receive updates (0 subscribers)  |   Unsubscribe