Thank you to the sweet reader who called to share her memories of living in Ridgeway:
“I am 90 years old and I remember when people had to start to pass a written driver’s test in order to get a license. All of the members of the class of 1953 went together in May to the Triplet Shoe Repair Sho[ in to get our driver’s license. He was the notary public and his building was across from the Farmer’s National Bank. Of course this man was the only notary public in town for many, many years.”
At that time, you had to apply for your driver’s license at a notary public. She said they all wanted to get their license before the state began requiring that you pass the exam. When she and I talked about the shop, we thought the notary might have been Ernest Triplet, but most likely (according to the Ridgeway: Then and Now centennial book ), he was probably Robert Milligan who was also a shoe repairman, tax collector and insurance agent. He’d had polio and used a wheelchair as did Ernest Triplet, the original owner of the shop who had been paralyzed in a farming accident. The notary had all the students take the written exam “so they could see what it was about”
She also recalled that she used to smile and feel happy when the train passed by the school and blew its whistle, because the teachers would stop what they were doing until the train had passed! It was a delight to talk with her for a while and listen to her reminisce about the past.
