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Jim was one of 12 children. It was a wild and happy family. His grandfather and then his father ran the local appliance dealership, and Jim helped service and install what they sold. He spent a lot of time with his dad and even more time with appliances. That's where Jim developed his appreciation of dated artifacts of living. People would bring in ancient wooden washing machines to trade in for the latest porcelain-finish models. Jim lived and worked around the older appliances and he became skilled at establishing dates and histories for them. Years later, as Jim would walk through antique stores and flea markets, he would buy reminders of days gone by. He would remember the happier times when his dad owned the store. He had a sharp eye for "the stove just like my grandmother had on the farm" and "the same coffee pot Wilma used" and "the same kind of refrigerator that Dr. McKee bought before anybody else had one," etc.He would engage in long conversations with people who still owned old appliances. People love to talk about the things they own.
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Jim is living in a house that displays over 20 Sunbeam mixmasters, representing the entire spectrum of the Sunbeam line! He continues to collect like a madman. As his wife, I feel it is my duty to put some sort of inventory control on his habit. I can"t complain too much though. Jim has collected as many friends as he has old appliances. I repeat, people love to talk about the things they own. Time keeps rolling and now the only affordable old appliances and collectibles are available by accident or coincidence. Jim continues to curb-shop for reminders of the golden days of his youth when his family owned the biggest store in town and he had more brothers and sisters than anyone else and people had time to freeze their own ice cubes. |
