From; http://www.carkb.com/Uwe/Forum.aspx/studebaker/8510/Class-of-1964-Reflections-not-all-OT

Bob Palma - 28 Sep 2004 14:03 GMT
'Returned to Paris IL last Saturday evening to attend The Paris High
School Class of 1964's 40th-year Class Reunion. Although our family
moved to Indianapolis at the end of my Paris High School sophomore
year, the class has thoughtfully considered me a member and included
me among the "graduates"  since I grew up in Paris with the class and
consider it my home town.

Paris is the biggest town in (just under 10,000 people) and the County
Seat of Edgar County IL. Edgar is on the extreme eastern edge of
central Illinois, sharing its eastern boundary with the
Illinois/Indiana state line. It is midwest, rich-soil farm country.

Our family moved to Paris in June 1953, when I was 7 years old. Dad
and his brother Milton had just bought the Packard
dealership/franchise. Papers Dad entrusted to me years ago show this
purchase requiring a capitalization of barely $10,000.

When Dad and Uncle Milt arrived, there were NINE franchised new-car
dealerships in town:

1. Paris Sales Company - Studebaker
2. Palma Motors - Packard
3. G&O (?) Chevrolet-Cadillac
4. D.R.Noonan DeSoto-Plymouth
5. ???? Dodge-Plymouth
6. ???? Chrysler-Plymouth
7. Ray's(?) Pontiac
8. Bishop & Gross Ford-Mercury
9. ???? Oldsmobile-Buick

GMC trucks, Nash, Hudson, Kaiser, and Willys/Jeep were not
represented. Dad added Kaiser, Nash, and Willys shortly after they
arrived. This gave them the lower-priced Nash and Rambler lines with
their excellent (for the time) factory air conditioning, and Kaiser
and Willys to get the added Jeep vehicles and little Willys cars that
Dad thought were cute.

Ironically, the GMC truck "road man" came around and tried to get Dad
and Uncle Milt to take on GMC trucks! What a good way that would have
been to get in General Motors' door for the coming industry shakeout,
but Dad said, "Nah, the Chevrolet dealer is right next door and his
trucks are cheaper than GMCs." (Never mind that, back then, GMC trucks
really were more "truck-like" with a better engine than Chevrolets.)

Interestingly, all nine of those Paris new-car dealers were within two
blocks -two BLOCKS, a short walk- of the downtown courthouse square.
The biggest dealers, G&O Chevrolet-Cadillac and B&G Ford-Mercury,
usually had fewer than ten new cars and trucks in stock. Dad and Uncle
Milt had about four. (In June 1955, they merged with the Studebaker
dealer to get his larger property before he went broke: The resulting
Palma-Rhoads Motors, I have learned from the paperwork, was
financially 85% Lu and Milt Palma and 15% Harry Rhoads.)

Fifty years later, 2004. Now, there are only four new-car dealers in
Paris: Paris Ford, a Chevrolet-only dealer, a Buick-Pontiac-GMC truck
dealer, and an "all MoPar" dealer. Two of the four are owned by the
same family. All four are located along a newly-developed area
southeast of town along U.S.150, maybe three MILES from the town
square...right in front of, as you would expect, the Wal-Mart and huge
Kroger store.

When we arrived in 1953, there were probably ten food stores in town,
including several "mom-and-pops" of fewer than 1,000 square feet,
scattered among residential areas. All were accessible to neighborhood
residents with no need for a car. Now, you have to have a car to get
to either of the only two in town: Kroger and Wal-Mart, who are right
next to each other. [If you can't say something good, don't say
anything...so I'll not comment on that reality!]

Mortality crept in when I looked over the "In Memory" list of Paris
High School Class of 1964 members who have passed away since
graduation: 20 of the 204. Eighteen others have not been located; some
of them may be deceased as well. Wow! Because I didn't stay in Paris,
all those names of deceased classmates were people I could only
remember as fellow "kids," hardly adults with infirmities that would
do them in. I noticed the name of the cute little blonde girl I had a
crush on in the 4th grade and inquired as to what happened. A blood
clot got away during a routine knee replacement a couple years ago and
she died as a result!

More vivid images are retained by many of the living. True story: One
would-have-been fellow Class of '64 graduate that I had not seen in
over 25 YEARS came up and extended his hand. Honest-to-gosh, this is
the FIRST thing he said, "Well, Bob, how many Studebakers do you have
now?" Hey, that'll put a smile on your face!

And on that note, it's off to work on the December 2004 Turning
Wheels' Co-Operator. BP