E. H. Jennings

In about 1922 Elbert H. Jennings and his wife Ella left Iaeger, West Virginia, and relocated their family to a large, newly built house in Athens. They opened a “jack of all trades” store beside their house selling an eclectic variety of goods: patent medicine, school supplies, fire insurance, toilet goods, drinks, radios and notions plus sundry other items. Before becoming known as E. H. Jennings, it was called Jennings’ Confectionery, selling radios, school supplies, soft drinks and medicine.

The building sat at the corner of Vermillion Street and North State Street. There were apartments for rent upstairs. The steps to the front door were well worn with hollows where many feet had left depressions over the years. Elbert Jennings died in 1965. In his will he left his estate, including the store, to his wife Ella for her lifetime. Upon Ella’s death the store was sold and the proceeds divided between his children in equal shares. Ella Harmon Jennings died January 11, 1977, at the age of 95. The business had already  closed; the building was demolished in 1986.

Henry Friedl, who grew up in Athens, liked the smell of the Jennings store. It was an old store smell, not an unpleasant smell, just an odor of "oldness." There was lots of wood; the old worn wood floor, the two long wooden counters with glass fronts, one of which ran almost the length of the store down the left side of the building, the row of three or four wooden booths with wooden tables on the right side, made up the interior. 

The ceiling was the old style metal tiles that are sought after today.  Huge tall wooden cabinets with glass fronts packed with an assortment of items for sale filled the rest of the store. The second wooden counter was along the back wall. There was a beautiful big mirror hanging behind this counter. It was the first thing your eyes were drawn to when you entered the store. This was the lunch counter where townspeople could get a milkshake,  or a grilled cheese sandwich that was cooked to perfection. 

The students from the nearby Athens High School were allowed to leave the campus at lunch time. The guys mostly hung around on the street. Several of the girls would take their bagged lunch, or their quarter they were supposed to be using to get a nice hot lunch from the cafeteria, and head to Jennings store. Each would buy a pop, or a pop and candy bar, or a pop and a bag of chips and spend lunch time laughing, talking and just enjoying the freedom those few moments offered.

There were several Jennings children: Aileen, graduated from Athens High School, and Concord College. She became a teacher for the Mercer County School System. Blaine, worked in the store and handled most of the electronics. Sisters Eula and Becky took care of the lunch counter and the sale of the odd assortment of items that the store carried. Alma was the fourth sister. There were two other brothers, E. Jennings Junior, and Olen. Junior always wore bib overalls, was very quiet, hardly talking at all. Olen did not work in the store, he painted for people around the area and also worked at Concord College. Becky was quiet and mostly kept to herself.  But Eula, Eula loved to joke around, loved to laugh, and had a smile that could brighten the dreariest day. Eula was married to Raymond “Boob” Martin. 

Two of the young guys, as they did back in those days, would call the store. When Eula answered one would ask, “do you have pop in the cooler?” Knowing exactly who was calling, Eula would answer, “yes.”  Well he would say, “you better go let him out.”  Eula would let out a loud laugh and hang up the phone.

Those guys are fathers and grandfathers now. They grew up in Athens and spent time in the Jennings’ store. When asked about their memories of the store a questioner might get widely different responses. Henry didn’t hang out in the store that much. He would just go in for a pop, or to purchase radio tubes or other items he might need. He said he would never have been comfortable joking around with Eula. He remembered that his father bought their first television set, an 18 inch, from the Jennings’ store. The family used it for years and when he went to college he took it with him.

The Jennings were all very friendly with the kids who hung out in the store. They were respectful and did not talk down to the kids as some adults do.  Garland and his good friend David Baxter often hung out at the store, drank their Pepsi Colas they had loaded with a pack of peanuts and generally had a great time. 

Blaine started selling and repairing televisions and other electric appliances in the 1950s. Remember the old tube type televisions?  Recognizing Garland’s interest in electronics, Blaine would sometimes take him on house calls to repair a TV. Blaine would show him how to test tubes to find the bad one and actually let him replace it, thus repairing the television. This was a big accomplishment for a pre-teener, just getting a feel of the work world.  In addition to Garland’s parents, Blaine was instrumental in instilling in him pride of a job well done, good ethics, and a love of technology that influenced his career and hobbies for life.