Chester Chatter: The first opening day at Magic

By Ruthie Douglas
©2019 Telegraph Publishing LLC

It was a step back in time as I entered the cafeteria at Magic Mountain. Closing my eyes, it was 1960, and opening day at the Base Lodge.

I was the first ever food manager.

I saw a young Bruce Meyer greeting folks and selling lift tickets. I saw a handsome blond skier, Jerry Stewart, teaching some girls how to ski. Ed Amsden was running the ski lift, Jack Golden helped me in the kitchen, where he also was building shelves and countertops.

That day, we all became a work family. We got along so well working together and helping where ever needed.

We played music over the outside speakers, making folks feel like they were in the Alps. Come 4 p.m. and the trails were closed for the evening and most of the skiers had departed.

We were happy as was most every visitor. That very first day, we were so exhausted. We had sold 200 tickets.

Seen and heard

It’s beginning to feel a lot like Christmas, in part because the American Legion Band from Brattleboro gave a Christmas concert at Chester American Legion Post 67. The concert was open to the pubic and was conducted by Susan Lemei. Great job!

I returned home from the concert and started decorating my home. Going from a large farmhouse to a small home, I have too many decorations!

Thanks to my dear friend Jason Hurd I now have pink tennis balls for my walker.

The Annual Senior Citizens Christmas Dinner was held Saturday at Chester-Andover Elementary School. Eight turkeys, 70 pounds of potatoes and 40 pounds of squash were cooked. And the ladies from the Andover Church prepared 22 pies including pumpkin, apple and cherry! More than 140 meals were served, 75 of which were served in-house and the rest were delivery/takeaway.  It is put on by volunteers and they do such a wonderful job. Congratulations to Pat Budnick and all.

Brian Morris of Chester, a transplant from Liverpool, died unexpectedly on Saturday. He was a fixture of the Chester Rotary and a wonderful musician. Our sympathy to his wife Karen. Brian will be missed.

Happy birthday to my daughter Jeanie.

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Answer to last week’s trivia question: The private kindergarten school, located in the old American Legion Building across from the former Jiffy Mart site, was run by Lena Rogers.

This week’s trivia question: Who started Chester’s annual Overture to Christmas event and when did it begin?

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Street Talk

What are your favorite Thanksgiving dinner leftovers?