Pages 33-52
Canby News, Canby, Minnesota May 5, 1982
POPCORN, CARMEL APPLES, SHACKELTON SPECIALTIES
By Florence Anderson
"The inviting aroma of hot buttered popcorn filling the air every Saturday night was enough to draw every kin in town (and country) to the spot whre Earl Shackelton had parked his popcorn wagon. The price of popcorn was .05 cents a bag and even then, some kids spent their weekly allowance for this one treat, but it was worth it!
Saturday night ws the big night when all the country folk came to town to sell cream and eggs and buy their week's supply of groceries. Earl would sell as much as $40 of popcorn on a good night and that was 800 bags! When the price of popcorn increased to .10 cents and .25 cent boxes took the place of bags. Now the bags are larger and cost .20 cents.
Earl bought his first popcorn wagon sixty years ago. He first started out with a popcorn machine for a few years then he "got fancy" and bought the wasgon so he could be under the roof.
At one time Earl and his wife Ruth traveled with the popcorn wagon to as many as 15 county fairs each summer. Now they attend only two, Yellow Medicine and Lac qui Parie at Madison. The wagon now being used was built in 1937 from odds and ends and the running gear of an old Hudson car he had.
Earl and Ruth have lived at their present home 1 1/2 miles north of Canby for nine years. They moved there after selling their motel they owned in Canby for 14 years. At one time they owned a paint and wallpaper store. Now retired from all but the popcorn business, they spend their spare time fishing, gardening and traveling.
Previous to his popcorn career Earl was a street car conductor in Minneapolis and also painted buildings. Earls love of nature is evident in his yard which is filled with flowers and shrubs.
Esther Shackelton of Lake City, Michigan letter (dated 3 June 1982)
She writes that her grandson, Daniel and his wife, Marilyn Shackelton announce the birth of their son, Benjamin David Shackelton. Also that her granddaughter, Gloria Jean Vance, m. Galen Yoder. She also sent in the obituary of Earl Whipple, husband of Edna Della Shackelton.
Earl Whipple Obituary
Earl Whipple, 90, of Route 1, Lake City, (Michigan) passed away at Lakeview Manor in Cadillac Saturday morning, February 13, (1982).
Born September 2, 1891 in Kalamazoo, he was the son of William Henry and Ella Whipple. He married Edna Shackelton on November 1, 1911. She preceeded him in death on February 4, 1970.
On January 23, 1975 he married Hilda Stanley Fales.
Mr. Whipple moved to Lake City at the age of seven and was a farmer here. He moved to Muskegon in 1941. He worked as a guard at E. H. Sheldon during W.W. II. He retired from Maning, Maxwell & Moore of Muskegon in 1956.
Surviving are his wife Hilda; four sons, Kenneth, Doyle and Merle Whipple all of Muskegon, and Lauren Whipple of Merritt, four daughters, Mrs. Irene Omans of Houghton Lake, Mrs. Laurel Snyder of Merritt, Mrs. Marvel Brakenell of Fort Meyers, Florida, and Mrs. Delma Gresley of Rogers, Arkansas; four step children, Kenneth Robinson of Alanson, Robert Robinson of Levering, Edward Robinson of Freeport, and Glenn Robinson of Berrian Springs; 35 grandchildren, 54 great-grandchildren, 29 great-great-grandchildren; and 10 step grandchildren.
Funeral services were held Tuesday at 2 p.m. in the Young Funeral Home. Burial will be in the Stittsville Cemetery.
