This last week I had the pleasure of speaking at the North St. Paul Branch of the Ramsey County Library System, and what fun it was! I was thrilled when some of “my Tenney people” showed up. They seem to pop up everywhere!
The “Hardie girls,” Marsha and Sherry, who grew up in the upper floor of Leonard and Opal Hardie’s Store (formerly the Larson Store, where my mother grew up), were there. It was a pleasure to meet Bill Kath for the first time, the son of Edward Kath and grandson of William and Anna Kath. Bill had sent me a photo several months ago of the little line-up of Tenney baseball players which I posted on this blog. Jack and Amy Richardson’s youngest daughter, Char (Anderson), and her husband came, as did Dar and Betty Lundeen. Betty is the daughter of Tenney-ite Ann Janke. Ann was a contemporary of many of the women I feature in my book. My cousin, Owen Polifka, the son of Tenney tavern owner Clifford Polifka, also attended.
The above photo shows Owen with my parents, Earl and Helen Jo (Larson) Leaf, whom I lovingly refer to as my “groupies” because they are at nearly every TENNEY QUILT book event. After hearing me speak perhaps 25 times, I’m sure my father, a historian and researcher himself, could get up in front of a group and talk about the Tenney Quilt and the audience would never even miss me.
For the benefit of the Tenney people present at the library in North St. Paul this week, I talked a bit about a memory that many Tenney folks have told me about, both in the process of interviewing them for the book, as well as when I have run in to them during various speaking engagements. It amazes me how many people, when reminiscing about Cliff’s Tavern, remember the SMELL! This smell, as they describe it, was a combination of beer, ice cream, and the spittoon that sat just inside the door as one entered the establishment. This smell was a nasal bouquet of sweet-salty-grainy-staleness that has somehow remained in their auditory memory for decades. It must have been very distinctive, given the number of different people who have mentioned it on separate occasions. All a part of the Tenney experience. Does this conjure up any “Cliff’s Place” memories? Do you remember the smell? Tell me more!
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