This past week Piggly Wiggly closed its doors for good.
I stopped by and talked with Clayton and Trudie the other day. Most of the inside shelving has been torn down and it really looked totally different.
They said they were loading up the metal and hauling it to Waycross and selling it for scrap.
Bonnie and I worked there in the early 1980s when it was the Nahunta IGA. It was really sad to see it close down like this.
I also had a pool hall at the redlight across from Arthur’s liquor store at the same time.
Our manager was Kenny Thomason. We really loved working for Kenny.
Kenny and Freida lived down behind the Dairy Queen. Freida was always kind of quiet, but nice.
Sometimes we would see her and she would have bandages on her arms and there were rumors that she was cutting herself. Kenny never talked about it, but I know now he must have had a lot on his plate ... I just didn’t know how much.
Several years later, they moved up to North Georgia and somehow, I found out that he was a manager of an IGA there. Bonnie and I made it a point to find him on one of our trips to North Georgia.
We got in touch and met for lunch. Freida was not with him, so I asked him where she was.
I still remember the answer that he gave me, “I didn’t know that Freida even knew how to use a shotgun.”
Kenny said he was at work one day and when he got home, Freida had taken a shotgun, stuck the barrel in her belly, reached down with her big toe and pulled the trigger. He said when he opened the door of their home, the smell was awful.
He said Freida had tried to commit suicide several times, but this time she succeeded. We heard a few years ago that Kenny has now passed away.
I know the new Satilla Grocery is scheduled to open in January or February just across from the Brantley Telephone Office and that is not far down the road.
I am not sure what is going to happen with the Piggly Wiggly building. I personally think it would be nice for something to come in that would be good for the new generation of kids to have something to do.
I know that probably will not be where the money is, so that probably will not happen.
• Wayne Morgan is freelance wildlife photographer and author.
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