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Arthur Lee Waggener in the M&W Auto Parts 2015-04-04 - Theatre Walk off the Square, Columbia, KY - Photo family photo. A reader wrote to ask, me, after seeing a Waggener listing in Adair County, Kentucky, Veterans List, if Arthur were related. He was the first born in our family, and the only one of six children of the late E.P & Audrey Chelf Waggener no longer living. Found this photo of Arthur Lee taken in the late 1950s at M&W Auto Parts, located on the Theatre Walk off the Square in Columbia, in a building which had been, originally a bakery, later a bowling alley Arthur Lee, ran, later or earlier the Columbia Utilities office and warehouse, and later a pool room/lunch counter under a succession of owners, and lately, Moore's Pool & Lunchroom. M&W was owned by L.G. "Peanut" McKinley and my father, E.P. Waggener. At the time, the building also housed the late Joe Johnson's radio shop and my Schwinn dealership. Arthur Lee left Columbia for work in Indianapolis and later joined the United States Air Force, a career he loved. M&W Auto Parts was a great preceptorship for an ambitious kid, especially when Joe Johnson was about. He taught me much of what I know today. I still rely daily on this principle for cooking, "A bushel of wheat makes a might big hoecake." The photo reminds me of an amazing feat which might sold the problem of the debris under the Russell Creek Bridge: The post behind Arthur Lee had to be removed to make room for House of Billiards pool tables. My little brother, Ralph Roy engineered with the help of Henny Sandusky and may advice from Joe Lynn Barbee, a plan to use I-Beams to support the ceiling and take out the posts. The plan worked. A surprise to all pedants, nary a one of them had a degree from MIT. But the installation came off without a hitch. If I remember correctly, the I-beams slowly leveled the ceiling and the floor. - EW Permalink | Comments?

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