John Sheda

I lived in perhaps the greatest period of time, the 50s & 60s, besides all the other great things of this era, we also lived and were raised in the period called “Small Town, USA.” The small town where there were no upper, middle, or lower classes. All the same. Band Concerts, Wedding Dances (everyone went), Town “fast-pitch” softball teams, Little League, Detassling (we all did at $1 an hour), and a lot of just doing nothin’ on those long hot days of summer. Every small town, Tama, Toledo, Montour, and all the others, had its own specific “character.”

And for a town to have “character,” every little town had to have its own “town characters.” Here are a few of Chelsea’s town characters. Not an exhaustive list for sure but some of the ones this little boy remembers:

– Charlie Ludvicek, aka, Samber Pete. Charlie lived north of town near the cemetery and drove around town in his beaten-up old truck collecting people’s garbage. An interesting character, for sure.

– Jim Smith was quite a guy who shelled corn, hay, and oats and was a piolet. Being a good friend of Dad’s, Jim took this 10-year-old kid for a plane ride, and somewhere up in the wild blue yonder, Jim “feigned” a heart attack. Yepper! And he did a good job, clutching his chest, breathing hard, and slowly allowing the plane to descend. Seemed like an eternity as I screamed & cried, but then Jim laughed and enjoyed this “teasing.” After arriving safely on the ground, I cried, yelled, and ran to my Dad. Boy, was Dad mad a Jim!!

– Another character was Lawrence Hayek, who was our local mechanic. As far as I know, Lawrence was an excellent mechanic yet seldom took much care of his own. He also had some interesting pictures pinned up on the wall in the back of his “office.” I learned a lot by looking at those pictures.

– This leads me to his son, Jim Hayek. Jim is much younger than all these other men, but gotta tell ya that what facts of life I learned (long before Dad gave the talk), I learned from Jim. And in very detailed language. I was amazed that such things happened, but Jim assured me they did!! By the way, he was right I found out years later!!!

– Other characters included Jim Ferguesen, Phil Fetter, Milo Petra, Dorothy Musel, Rod Emerson, Vernon Musel, and a guy nicknamed “Possum.” Can’t remember his real name.

– But the two last characters I mention here are two of my Uncles; Uncle Chuck Lebeda and Uncle Ludy Sheda. Don’t need to share details on the “Master Character, Ludy’ but Chuck owned the local little restaurant and soft ice cream shop in town. At noon every day, all the Tama & Toledo kids (that were bussed to Chelsea for school) would pack this tiny little shop and buy burgers, chips, and ice cream like it was going out of style. Wonder if any Tama News readers remember going there??

So there are just a few characters of Chelsea. I bet you have your share in your hometown too. Anyway, You’ll Figure It Out. Let me know your thoughts at jsheda@indytel.com or call me at 319.327.4640