The photo of Charlie Hankish triggers a host of fond memories: his story as a boy accompanying his father or uncle on a wagon trek conducting tourists from Beirut to Jerusalem and Holy Land sites. . . .

his making a circuit as a peddler in northwest Ohio, falling in love with Bluffton and deciding to make it his American home. . . .

Hankish children - Theda, Rita, Junior and others - helping their dad in the family business. . . . Charlie's legendary strength: his ability to take a deck of cards and rip them apart with one mighty stroke. . . .

those Depression bargains in 5 cents sundaes with chocolate syrup and nuts - 10 cents for a double dip sundae. . . . in wintertime dipping a pint of oysters into an ice cream carton from a container out in front of the store. . . .

the enticing cornucopia of fireworks he laid before us on the eve of the Fourth of July. . . . Charlie's solid financial status in the town, being a member of the board of the Citizens National Bank. . . . in an era of lingering anti-Catholicism, our genuine respect for the good Hankish family, one of the few Catholic families then in the community. . . .

the drama of the Hankish annual harvest of ice for storage at the back of the store. . . . Charlie's eternal good and friendly spirit. . . .

In my boyhood days of the early '30s, Charlie one of the throng of merchant giants standing tall on both sides of Bluffton's Main Street: Noah Basinger, Menno Bixel, Armin and Edgar Hauenstein, C. Henry Smith, C. F. Niswander, the Biglers, Lee Greding, Ed Reichenbach and more. . . .

learning from his family at the time of Charlie's death that he carried with him in his pocket a postcard I had sent him from the Middle East after visiting his home town in Lebanon. . . .

It takes a village of Charlie Hankishes to raise a boy.

-Robert Kreider

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