those dresses just smelled like grease . It was fun making all the ice-cream treats and learning to use the griddle and deep fryers . Only burned myself once touching the element from the fryer before it was cool . I learned to wait to clean it ,” she said .

Local artist Ron Cummings worked at the Pastime Theatre at the concession stand and as a ticket taker when he was 15 to purchase art supplies . Bud Spang ’ s first job was laying carpet with his dad , Herb . He was 12 and made his first $ 20 from Wayne Eick . He also worked at Buehler ’ s when he was older , as did Dennis Thompson .

“ My first job was at Olde Towne Drive-in . I was extremely shy , and my dad heard about the job . I got off the bus , and Dad said , ‘ You are going to go get a job .’ It was the best thing that ever happened to me . Rocky Roahrig was a wonderful boss . Oh boy , what I

would give for a Topper ,” Janice Reyzek Jones said .

Debbie McDonald also worked there as her first job . “ I worked after school in 1973-74 . I couldn ’ t ask for a better way to begin working . Loved Rocky and Susie . Those Toppers were awesome ,” she said .

Maxine O ’ Neal also worked there for her first job .

Tammy Mencer was 14 when she worked as a dishwasher / cook at Dun Rovin restaurant and made $ 1.25 an hour . Her husband , Sheldon , worked at Pizza Point when he was 16 and believes he made $ 3.10 an hour . Peggy Cramblett Bowman put together elementary school libraries for her dad , the curriculum director for Coshocton City Schools .

“ I was 12 or 13 . My dad had my friend Sabra McConell and I go to school over the summer and set up the libraries . There were boxes of books in each school that

we arranged in ABC order by author on the shelves ,” Bowman said .

Linda Hepner was 13 when she did a job that many wouldn ’ t even consider . “ Cleaning the landlord ’ s hog barn , shoveling liquid poo into a wheelbarrow and out to the manure spreader . I got paid $ 5 for a day ’ s work . I would smell so bad when I got home my mother wouldn ’ t let me in the house . She made me stand out by one of the buildings , have me strip down to my underwear and sprayed me with the garden hose . Sometimes , I think she enjoyed the torture , spraying me with that freezing cold well water for what seemed like a lifetime ,” she said .

Marcia Storm started working at Buehler ’ s as a cashier when she was 15 . “ My high school sweetheart worked in the produce department , so it made work pretty exciting . I saved nearly every dollar

and put myself through college with $ 15 to spare ,” she said .

Dick Cushman thought he had “ died and went to heaven ” for his first job . He was 15 and worked at the Old Warehouse restaurant in the early ‘ 70s and was surrounded by high school and college-age girls .

Delivering newspapers was the first job Sam Moore had . “ I just wanted spending money . Collecting payments each week was a pain .”

Deb Besst also delivered papers in Roscoe . She started by helping her brother , and then she and her sister took over the route . Brad Berlean delivered the Tribune in West Lafayette in fifth or sixth grade . John Brown delivered in the South Lawn area .

“ I can honestly say that was the best job I ever had , that and being in the National Guard . The first paycheck I got , I invested in my business and bought

a new seat and handlebars for my bike ,” Brown said .

Phillip Small also delivered the Tribune . “ On Denman Avenue . I rode a bike up that hill every day with a load of papers on my back — both ways in the snow and rain .”

Regina Nowak also delivered papers when she was in elementary school .

Lennie Jarvis picked apples for 25 cents a bushel , and Mark Snyder baled hay and earned $ 80 — enough to buy his first Schwinn bicycle in 1970 . Tom Dile also baled hay before he joined the Army and made that his career . Richard Christian mowed yards . Connie McCullough and Richard Laughlin picked potatoes for 6 cents a bushel when she was 15 .

Scott Woodruff lived on Kenilworth Avenue and decided one day to sell lemonade to the golfers at Hole 6 at the Country Club .

“ I asked for 25 cents a cup , and since they didn ’ t

have too many quarters on them , I got some nice 75 cent tips . I was able to meet a lot of people that played , then started caddying ,” Woodruff said .

Linda Young Wells walked out on her first job . She worked at the Dixie Boy Drive In . “ I made 80 cents an hour — enough to pay for gas and buy my lunches at school . Dixie and Loyal Cochran owned it . Loyal made us mad one night , so we closed the place and walked over to the bus station and called Dixie and told her we all quit . And that was the end of that .”

Wells said they all really liked Dixie , but they didn ’ t like Loyal putting limits on how much they could eat while working .

No matter what their first job was , most people have fond memories — maybe not of the job itself , but of the people they met , the lessons they learned and the money they earned .