BY LINDSAY ECKERT
WWKI
As the winter air chills and the gifts start to sneak into hidden corners away from the gifts’ recipients, the pieces of the holiday season start to fall into place. The electricity that sparks into the atmosphere during the season usually spent bustling about is strongest at the We Care store in Kokomo.
Aside from an array of choices in trees, treats and a plethora of items there’s one gift that wraps itself in a story unique to Kokomo and it’s neatly boxed in its pieces.
Patti Host has painted a canvas into a puzzle, an annual tradition of the We Care store for 14 years – although Host has been painting the puzzle for the past three years, she understands the puzzle’s important part of We Care.
So, when Host first heard about a place that may be perfect for featuring on the puzzle she had to go see it for herself to see just how the pieces would fit together.
“We try to think of what would interest a lot of people in Kokomo and what they would be interested in,” Host said. “This particular year, [a We Care director] told me about a little gas station she wanted me to go take a look at; I saw it and just thought it was so cute.”
That cute little spot on the edge of town is the Waupecong Shell Station with a history dating back to the 1930s.
“I wasn’t sure if enough people knew about it, but I called [Allen Wilson, owner] and got a time to set up to go out and look at it,” Host said. “His enthusiasm for it and for the puzzle was just amazing; I came around the corner and here sits this cute little station with eight or nine old cars—oh my gosh, it was just beautiful.”
The image Host captured in her mind as she turned the corner to see Waupecong Shell Station instantly took her mind back to a time that was born from the ideals of Mayberry – ironically, an ideal the station most definitely identifies with.
Allen Wilson, owner of Competition Auto Body and Towing and now the owner of Waupecong Shell Station, said he bought the station because its history tugged at Wilson’s spirit for bringing the old back to life.
“I really wanted [the station] because it’s old and I like old stuff to bring back – it’s just a neat old piece of history,” Wilson said who has a personal history with the station’s stories. “My dad told me stories about it when I was a kid all the time; he said the guys who owned it would shine a move on the back of it and give the kids popcorn and Coke.”
It’s those original owners Wilson has named the newly remodeled station after.
“That’s why it’s called Fatz and Evertts I wanted it named after those guys who did all the good,” Wilson said. “People would tell me, ‘They’d change my tire and take care of me.’ They were like Mayberry a lot.”
And like Mayberry, the Waupecong Shell Station provokes some of the sweetest memories of a gentler time for folks whose footsteps take them through the front door.
“I have people come in and say they used to come here to get their candy as a kid,” Wilson endearingly expressed. “This summer we had a guy drive his street rod from South Carolina just to get a picture [at the station]. He told me he used to live here and come to the station and on his list for the summer was to drive his car here to get a picture.”
That picture can be put together piece by piece with your loved ones during the most spirited of seasons. The We Care puzzle is available for purchase at the We Care store for $10.
