Well, you never know who will stop by at the BillowHouse. Today we had Donald Wheatley and his wife, Carol, come by for a quick visit. Donald use to work at the BillowHouse during the summers of 1938 and 1939 as the night watchman. He shared with us some of his memories of working here then; such as making friends with the cook so he could get something to eat, so he would peel potatoes. Back then the BillowHouse had a restaurant which was also open to the public. His sister, Harriet, was a waitress. He told us that he use to live in the basement and his shoes would get moldy and that he earned $5 a week. He served in WWII and was overseas for 38 months as a radio operator and then continued in that line of work with the Voice of American in Washington.
Since we are talking numbers, we currently have two guests who are racking up their number of years staying either in Ocean Park and/or the BillowHouse. One "young" lady has been coming to Ocean Park for 88 years; another has been coming to Ocean Park for 77 years and has been staying at the BillowHouse for the last 17 years. Our oldest guest was here last month at the tender age of 101.
Who will be our next interesting guest?