Remembering Rita Wheeler

(The following is my column for this week's Newton County News.)

As much as I love Newtonia, I would be hard pressed to make any claims about the community’s nightlife. That pretty much came to an end in the late ‘60s when Carroll Gum’s store stopped closing at 6:30 or 7 p.m. and began shutting its doors at 5.

Oh, there was the occasional rousing game of bicycle soccer with the Letts brothers, the Oxendines, Danny Hilton, and Larry Wheeler in front of the store until there were either too many injured players to continue or until Herb Troxel called the Newton County Sheriff’s Department on us. We were always gone long before the deputy arrived…if Mr. Troxel really made the phone call.

Things changed on Jan. 10, 1969, with the opening of the Brown Derby, just one mile west of the town. It was open until 9 p.m., with fast food (or complete meals), soft drinks, and a back room with a pool table. Nightlife options had greatly improved. It was also close enough that we could walk there, even though it was highly discouraged due to the traffic on Highway 86.

It wasn’t until I started driving that my options were increased. I was introduced to the joys of Neosho, and even better, as far as I was concerned, I was able to escape from the back room pool table of the Brown Derby and sample the new restaurant on Highway 60 in Granby, Reta’s.

I don’t remember anything about the food at Reta’s in those days. After all, I was an East Newton High School student and one thing all of the boys at East Newton knew was that the best looking girls at the high school worked at Reta’s.

My first date was with a waitress from Reta’s, my first kiss came from a waitress from Reta’s (different girl, better results).

And though the young females were my primary interest at that point, there were other pluses about Reta’s. Often those of us who were fortunate enough to be there were entertained by stories from City Marshal Duane Beaver, or entertained ourselves with spirited, often noisy discussions on sports or politics.

I was usually not there when Reta’s owner, Reta Fullerton, was in the building, but there was another Rita who came to symbolize the restaurant for me and for most of its patrons.

For many of us, Rita Wheeler symbolized Reta’s. As the ownership changed, from Reta Fullerton to Pat and Vern Styron, and whoever followed them after I moved out of Newton County, Rita’s ever-present smile and unfailingly courteous manner was the one constant.

Long after I last stepped foot in Reta’s, when the owners after the Styrons changed the name of the establishment, (it seems like it was Charley’s for a while and then something about a hillbilly) if I happened to run into Rita in a store or downtown, she always greeted me by name, as if she had just seen me yesterday. I have a feeling there were very few people whose names Rita didn’t remember.

Rita Wheeler died Sunday at age 97.

Reta’s was an important part of life in Granby and this area during my teen years.

The building that used to house Reta’s is an empty shell of what it used to be with a for sale sign that may stay on there forever, but the memories linger on. Now it is nearly four decades later, and thinking of Reta’s and thinking of Rita Wheeler bring back memories I will cherish for a lifetime.