October 6 - Ed Robertson and the Greater Watahatcha Gift Shop

Whenever politicians and nostalgists idealize small towns, Watahatcha is probably what they have in mind: Fourth of July parades with combines and guys from the local VFW, high school football, 4H booths at the county fair, church on Sunday, picnics. That's Watahatcha, the quintessential American small town.
And make no mistake, it was small. So small that it only had one gas station, one supermarket, and one high school. There were no strip malls--no shopping centers of any kind. And except for a Tastee Freeze, no fast food restaurants.
There was, however, the Greater Watahatcha Gift Shop, the only shop of its kind in the Greater Watahatcha area.
Among their merchandise: Watahatcha t-shirts, mugs, hats, and spoons. Watahatcha baby bibs, salt and pepper shakers, and snow globes.
There was a book on the history of Watahatcha, the unimaginatively titled The Story of Watahatcha.
There were 8 1/2 by 11 black and white prints of important people and moments from Watahatcha history--the arrival of the railroad in 1892; a parade for the town's veterans after they had returned from WWII; a portrait of the 1962 Watahatcha Braves High School State Champion basketball squad; the time when then president Jimmy Carter visited the town; a shot of Watahatcha native Jim Navine, who flew a mission with Space Shuttle Atlantis; the time when Steven Spielberg shot a couple of scenes from Always in Watahatcha; Hands Across America.
There were calendars, recipe books, refrigerator magnets, maps, license plate frames. All kinds of stuff.
But after the new interstate highway was built well away from Watahatcha, the one thing the Greater Watahatcha Gift Shop didn't have was customers. Some days--and sometimes for days on end--the shop didn't have one visitor.
But that didn't stop owner and sole employee Ed Robertson from opening for business at 8 am every day of the year (except Christmas) and keeping it open until 8 pm.
His routine was always the same: arrive at the shop, get the register ready, sweep the sidewalk, put up the American flag, brew a pot of coffee for visitors to help themselves to, and open the doors at exactly 8 am. Even on days the shop didn't get customers, people from town would stop by and say hi.
Ed was more reliable than the US Postal Service. Even during the Great Blizzard of 1983 when everything was closed for more than a week, Ed Robertson trekked into town to open the shop just like he did every other day. He joked to his wife Connie that you never knew if somebody might need a Watahatcha snow globe--even in a blizzard. Incredibly, he got a customer on one of the days, a claims adjuster who'd gotten lost and was grateful that any place was open. After Ed gave him directions back to the interstate, the guy bought a Watahatcha hat and went on his way.
The shop didn't make a ton of money, especially after the new interstate opened. But it was enough for Ed and Connie to raise two sons and send them to college.
Ed worked at the Greater Watahatcha Gift Shop until the day he died of a heart attack shortly after taking down the flag and locking the doors at the end of the day. That was exactly one year ago today.
After he died, the Greater Watahatcha Gift Shop was demolished and a 7-11 was put in its place. No Watahatcha snow globes, but the coffee isn't bad.