Josephine Boney Blackwell - Chamberlain, So. Dakota
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Derby Cafe: Chamberlain's greatest cafe These are the recollections of Josephine Blackwell who worked at the Derby Restaurant. Josephine was the grand daughter of Mary Ryan and John Boney. Mary was Batt Ryan's sister. |
On the "freshness" of Derby food
According to Josephine Blackwell, Orie (Derby) would walk through the restaurant in the morning carrying a couple of geese, getting the hunters fired up about the day's hunting prospects.
Babysitting Donna Derby
It was easy to tell when the Derby was busy on a particular summer day. People would be lined up all the way around the corner, at the current location of Gregg Drug (Neal Fuller Drug in those days), and Orie could always be seen passing out menus to those waiting to get into the cafe. "So they wouldn't get away," says Josephine Blackwell, who baby-sat Donna Derby, and spent many an hour in the Derby. Baby-sitting Donna, Josephine would be responsible for supplying the child one meal, and then she and Donna would have one meal at the Derby, something Josephine always looked forward to. Donna also spent a lot of time with "Grandma Derby," as she called Hulda.
The Boneys Boarding House
The Derby stayed open 24 hours a day, in order to feed
the railroad men as they came through. Across from the Derby's original
VFW location was the Merchant's Hotel. Where McDonald's is now, stood
the Taft Hotel. The Mussman Hotel stood at the present site of Thiel's
Body Shop.
These were the only lodging places in those days, except for
places like Josephine Blackwell's
Lulu, Josephine, Jim and James Boney
Josephine Blackwell, Rapid City
Josephine Blackwell 88 Rapid City
formerly of Chamberlain died Friday July 28 2006 at Fountain Springs
Nursing Home Rapid City. Funeral services will be at 11 a.m. Thursday at
St. James Catholic Church Chamberlain. Burial will be in St. Margaret ’s
Catholic Cemetery Kimball. Visitation will be from 1 to 5 p.m. Wednesday
at Hickey Wevik Funeral Chapel Chamberlain. There will be a 7 p.m.
Scripture service at the church Wednesday. ...
Tuesday, August, 01, 2006 - The Daily Republic
See more on family history, go to BONEY
Babysitting, in general
Blackwell remembers babysitting for those who participated in couples bridge club on Sunday nights. The food was so cheap at the Derby, she said, that people just came there during bridge club.
Working at the Derby
There was really only one other place to eat downtown in those days, according to Blackwell - "a hamburger joint where burgers were a nickel."
She also notes that there was a shortage of help
because of World War II, when a lot of people moved to the west coast to
work in factories. "Yes, it was like a ghost town during the war,"
Blackwell agrees.
Blackwell
explains that the Derby was very busy during the typhoid epidemic of
1932 because there was no school, no movies, etc. They decided that the
typhoid was from the water, Blackwell says, but the Derby filtered their
water. "They were very strict about cleanliness," she says. "We always
had to have clean shoes and white uniforms. They were very fussy - you
could never leave a spoon in a salad."
"I never heard of anyone getting sick from being at the Derby,"
Josephine said.
Where did they live in Chamberlain?
Beemer, who is now 82, did payroll during the busy months in those days. She says the peak was 31 employees, one of whom was their son Doug (longtime optometrist in Pierre), who started as a bus boy not long before (going into eighth grader) the Beemers moved (they bought the Cable house, and the Blackwells lived between them and Sophie Derby).
Donna figures her dad
always wanted a son, sportsman that he was. He bought her a gun for trap
shooting and hunting, but she never shot a pheasant. Josephine
(Boney) Blackwell, Donna's baby-sitter knows this to be the case. "Orie
thought he was going to have a boy, so he bought this huge buggy," she
says, "and I had to wheel Donna all over in that thing."
Josephine baby-sat Donna from 7th grade until she graduated from
high school. She says she didn't make much money, but came out of it
with a lasting friendship. "Donna was so good," she said. "My mother and
brother really liked Donna." Josephine's father died when she was eight.
