Miller's Market

My grandparents, Jacob and Luhlo Miller had a little grocery store in Kansas City. In the back was the butcher shop portion. They lived in an apartment above the store. I was about 3 years old when my parents and I moved in with them. We all lived there until after my brother was born, and then the store was sold and we all moved out to California so my dad could find work.

This picture is one I got on the Internet; it isn’t my grandparent’s store, but the layout is close. The floors were wood, and I remember when I got roller skates, my mom would push me up and down the aisles after the store was closed.

I remember when my grandfather cut his hand very badly in the butcher shop. He sat upstairs in the living room with his hand in a bowl of water. It was one of the few times I can remember him being still. He was always in the store. A few years after we moved to California, he had several strokes and after that, about all he could do was sit. Very difficult for a formerly active man.

There was a basement where my grandma did the laundry, and it opened out into the back yard where the clothesline was. I was scared to death going down to the basement. Not for anything in the basement, but the stairs were very steep (to my mind) and I couldn’t reach the handrail. I was terrified of falling down those stairs.

There was an alley on the side of the store, and my dad would take me on my sled there in the winter. I missed the snow when we moved. We first lived in southern California, and I didn’t expect snow there. When we moved north to Chico, I thought there would be snow for sure. I didn’t understand elevation. I did seem to know that north meant cold, and cold meant snow. Nope.

And that’s about all I remember. I sure wish I had some pictures of that store.