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Show UIIIJHI.)III,MIIIJU .111 uip Luella Mangnm keeps track of accounts at Fair Deal Store in Tropic. Mrs. Mangum has operated the store for the past 39 years and has seen many changes come. However, she still maintains the "old country store" atmosphere of the general store. . Fair Deal Cash Store An 'Institution' in Tropic TROPIC The Fair Deal Cash which was built and opened June 27, 1937 has been owned and run by the same women the past 39 years. When Mrs. Mangum had the store built she was a divorced woman with one child, Richard Hobson, and they were living in a small home back of where the store was built. ,, q r. , "My" first order was; candy from the Schupe Williams Candy company," Mrs. Mangum said. 'The salesman was here taking the first order ever given and wondered what I had named the store, I told him I didn't have a name for it for him to name it." Because she paid cash for the first order he thought that was a Fair Deal cash which is what name he gave the store. "One time two guys got in a fight in here over water," Mrs. Mangum stated. They knocked the adding machine and cash register off the counter. They hit the floor and left a big hole where they lit "That was the same spot I usually stand in, I could have really been hurt had I been there," she recalled. Luella married Harvey Mangum, July 1939 and they had four children, Ward, St. George; Laura Cottom, Cedar City; Paul and Kay both of Tropic. "When the power came In December 1939 we made a lot of money selling light fixtures, appliances and built us a house with this money, half a block West of the store. "At one time we were going to borrow some money and build the store larger but the banker stated that a lot of small businesses were going out of business, he would advise us not to build any bigger. We took his advice and have ,wver felt sorry about the .decision," she said. She added, "We have never gone in debt, even when we built the house, we raised five kids, had food on the table, clothes on their backs, sent one on a mission and two to college. The store has been good to us," she added. When she was 15 she talked her brother into teaching her how to cut hair, she told him she would do his milking for two weeks if he would teach her, "I learned how to milk and cut hair all at the same time," she said. The buys come In and I'd give them a good hair cut and tell them a dirty story," she said. "I was around when Billy Petters owned the Garfield County News, he was quite a character," she said. He seemed to really care about the Garfield County citizens, she added. She has an old telephone book she keeps the charge account tickets paper clipped to each page with the name of the person charging on the top of each slip and adds the amount spent each trip into the store. The names aren't in any special order, Just when they happen to charge their groceries. She said she isn't worried about her customers, they will all get their bills paid as soon as they can. Mrs. Mangum is 67 years old, past retirement age but the f tore helps pass her time away and 'she enjoys the association with the people, her husband passed away 11 years ago. She remembers the first car that came into Tropic, the old "under the dump" road. She remembers her father trying to get the car out of Tropic on that road the first time but because the gas system had a gravity feed and when the Model T Ford tried to go up the hill forward all the gas would run back so they had to go up backwards. "Once a delegation from Tropic went to the .Garfield County Commissioners about building the Tropic road so it would be easier to get into and out of the town, the commission said, 'you moved over there for climate, you can Just climb it." "I had three brothers and four sisters but the first three children were girls so I had to learn to do the work of a boy. I would farm, ride for cattle, I used to be a hard worker," but my working days are over," she said. But ask one of her family or a close friend, they tell you she is still a hard worker and a good story teller. |