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Remembering Uncle Willie, the Shoe Cobbler of Russell Springs Heels and Half Soles:Uncle Willie Garner ran the only shoe shop in Russell Springs, KY, on Main Street for a while, then Dan Street. The writer remember many details of the shop, including his signs: 'He had two hand-lettered signs that never failed to amuse me. One, which hung above his work area, stated (verbatim) Cat's Paw hell taps, 25c. The other, which went on the door at twelve noon sharp every day, read (verbatim): Gone to Lunch. Bee back at 1 p.m.". Click on headline for story and photo(s) by a Russell County Native Chuck Hinman's great article about half-soles brought back a flood of memories about my Uncle Willie Garner, who ran the only shoe shop in Russell Springs for nearly a quarter of a century, from 1955 until his death in March, 1980. Uncle was a big man, every bit of 6'3" tall, who possessed enormous strength and had the biggest hands I've ever seen. (I can't imagine what havoc he would have wreaked on anyone who tried to rob him. On occasion, he would playfully shake his huge left fist, and growl, "Adair County Hospital!" He would then repeat the process with his right fist and growl in an even deeper voice, "Certain death!" I for one quite believed him!) It always intrigued me that someone with such huge hands and immense strength could do such delicate work -- and make it look so easy. He let me try it a time or two; it wasn't nearly as easy as it appeared to be! In addition to shoe repairs, he also worked on purses, bridles, belts, and just about anything else made of leather. According to an article in the Russell County News, c. August, 1974, Uncle bought the equipment used (from Abner Fox, he told me) in 1955 and ran the shop on Main Street (where Abner's shop had been) for a about a year before moving it to Dan Street. The article described the Dan Street building as 14 x 20 (it felt smaller!) and stated it was heated with a sheet iron stove and illuminated by three lights hanging from the ceiling. Much more than that, however, I remember the hum of the equipment (some of it old when he bought it), the quiet, measured clickety-clack of the ancient upright foot-powered sewing machine, and the hammers, knives, boxes of heels and half soles, nails, tacks, and other paraphernalia of his trade, not to mention the huge bobbins for the sewing machine. A couple of the hammers Uncle used were so old the hickory handles had worn to fit his hand, and he kept a blackjack handy in case a "customer" wanted something besides shoe repair. He had two hand-lettered signs that never failed to amuse me. One, which hung above his work area, stated (verbatim) "Cat's Paw hell taps, 25c." The other, which went on the door at twelve noon sharp every day, read (verbatim): "Gone to Lunch. Bee back at 1 p.m." Most of all, I vividly recall that the shop smelled of shoe polish, leather, and sweet chewing tobacco. Uncle Willie always wore a long sleeved gray work shirt, carried an old fashioned wallet chained to his belt, and most usually had a toothpick in the corner of his mouth. He could be -- or at least sound -- awfully gruff sometimes, but he never charged me for repairs, and if he needed to replace a sole or heel or to put on a set of those good "Cat's Paw Hell taps," he charged me only what the material cost him. And too, memories of the shop loafers remain. The most frequent ones were Mr. Tom Simpson, Mr. Willis Absher (Uncle Willie's uncle by marriage), and a Mr. Collins. They and others (including myself) would come by to visit and have a grand time swapping watches, jokes, knives, and outrageously funny lies. I miss Uncle terribly. As friend said of him this morning, "That seems so long ago." - Russell County native This story was posted on 2014-03-31 01:30:30
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