A Country Store: Henry A. Wilgus' Piper Cub Adventures

            My mother, May, (May Wilgus Boggs Wetterau) told me that when she was about twelve, the stress of her mother’s illness caused her to lose the ability to speak for a short time.  It was a terrible ordeal of suffering.  Henry decided to take his three children, May, Bill and baby Grace,  to Washington, D.C. for a short trip to relax and give everyone a break.

 While there, May and her brother Bill both had five dollar plane rides.  The fee was expensive in those days, but Henry had curiosity for new things.  May said there was a sign in the plane that read “knock on the window if you want to do loop-de-loop”.  Henry asked her if she was brave enough, and she said yes, but, thinking about it again, Henry decided not to try it this time.  It was their first plane ride.

            It appears that a barnstormer came to town about eight years later.  The term “barnstorming” comes from the practice of flying over rural towns to attract people, and landing at a local farm.  It was typical for the pilot to make a deal with the farmer to offer joy rides for a couple of dollars, or sometimes there would be a show of aerial daredevilry.  Charles Lindbergh was an early barnstormer.

 Henry has a picture in his notebook of “the first plane to land in High Woods”.  The two men and little boy are not identified, but Henry is leaning against the propeller.  The field is probably across Glasco Turnpike from the High Woods store.  

Henry’s notebook indicates he took lessons and learned to fly that Piper Cub.  He also took aerial pictures of High Woods.  The pictures demonstrate the openness of the land in 1937.  The picture of the location of the store at the crossroad of Glasco Turnpike and Dutch Town Road shows the beginning of a town center.

 

            This Carpe Diem was, no doubt, the result of Henry’s experiences in the previous decade.  Huntington’s Disease takes a while to kill, and its progress includes both physical and psychological disintegration.  It is possible that my mother became the focus of her mother’s frustration and torment.  I will never know, because she rarely spoke about her mother.  Thanks to Henry’s notebooks, I do know he followed his interests with gusto.  He had a twinkle in his eye, and he loved women.  He flew a plane, and went to war as a sailor.  For a while, he was the center of the small community of High Woods.

            Henry loved High Woods so much that he made up a slogan “High Woods.  High and Healthy!”  He had it printed on a billboard, and fashioned signs from old tires painted white.  Before the 1960’s everyone took the slogan as a reference to the invigorating nature and beauty of the surrounding area.  After the 60’s, the signs were all stolen as an enhanced meaning came to the word “high”.