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[Saaam!]

This is the Did You Know? Thread. Anything unique that you think no one else knows, from Branson, you can post it here as a Did you know? question.


Did you know my friend's mom and dad owns Castle Rock Resort?

[Junior]

Hum...well, I've gotta TRY to top that!  Ah, Did you know the dad of my friend from high school owns Shepherd of the Hills Homestead? Did you know the dad of another high school aquaintance owns Silver Dollar City? Did you know I helped train Terry Sanders when he first got a job at SDC?
Did you know my parents helped care for Mary Herschend at a nursing home they operated in Branson in the months before she passed? Did you know that several Shepherd of the Hills play cast members are friends from my days at SDC? Did you know that the dad of another high school buddy and SDC coworker helped design the diving bell attraction? OK, OK! I'm gonna stop now, I am getting a bit long winded!  But everything I posted here is true!

[sanddunerider]

LOL!!!  ok Junior!!  Did you know that I have good friends that manage the Eagles Lodge in Branson/ And that we all get a great deal there?...........  LOL

[betamike]

My mom and dad went to college with a girl named Gwen Yeargain.  One summer while Gwen was performing at Shepherd of the Hills, she invited them as Guests to the show and then to a party at her house afterwards.  They were introduced to her boyfriend - a one Hank Williams Jr. (this is shortly before the two got married and went over a cliff).   

[Junior]

Well, I am going to have to try and top BetaMike and that will be hard to do. Did you know after my time in Branson and SDC, I finished college at Southeast Missouri State University at Cape Girardeau. I was involved in the mass communications dept. and in radio and TV production. A fellow classmate I worked with, and, in small part trained (with the stuff I picked up at SDC and Branson entertainment venues) was none other than St. Louis' well known (now) celebrity, Cedric Kyles...that's "Cedric the Entertainer" to the general public! Hey, indirectly, there is a little of Terry Sanders in Cedric the Entertainer, though neither of them probably would ever know it! By the way, after I found out about the success Cedric was having, I thought I'd go and see him perform at a Mississippi casino. Price to get in $75. I passed. So when college held a reunion and touted that Cedric was a special guest, I thought, well, I will just go to the reunion to visit with my old classmate. Price to get in $50! I stayed home. LOL!

[Junior]

OK, I'm going to try to top myself regarding the two entries posted previously:  Did you know I worked at the Vineyard Restaurant at SDC (now wagonworks) and that a coworker in the 1979 season was a nice girl named Jo? Jo attended Kickapoo High School in Springfield. I went to Branson High. We were both seniors that year. We swapped senior pictures, and during our conversation, Jo mentioned she had high standards for dating, and that she would NEVER go out with underclassmen, although she had a friend, a sophomore named Bradley, who was real cute. SHE WAS TALKING ABOUT NONE OTHER THAN BRAD PITT! I wonder, all these years later, how she feels now about having such high standards for dating? I mean, her high school buddy was Brad Pitt? She could have gone out with him! By the way, I met Brad...Bradley back then. I took my ACT test at Kickapoo, and somebody introduced us. I said "hi" and nodded, he did the same, and I just walked on down the hall. Well, back then, he was just Bradley...not Brad Pitt! 

[pintrader]

Come on Junior!  You've met Jack, Pete, and Mary Herschend.  What could possibly top that? 

[sanddunerider]

JUNIOR!!!!  your the winner no doubt!!,    next contest?   LOL

[eagle1]

LOL!!!  ok Junior!!  Did you know that I have good friends that manage the Eagles Lodge in Branson/ And that we all get a great deal there?...........  LOL

& thanks to you and your postings on facebook!

[Junior]

From time to time Jack and Pete would tour the park...but most of the time we saw Jack. Pete was more behind the scenes. When Jack walked through your area he would stop to pick up any piece of trash left on the ground, which always made us double our efforts to make sure everything was picked up around our area. Last memory I have of Miss Mary is about '79 or '80 when her grandson Bruce pushed her across the town square so she could review part of the park in a wheelchair. Later, in '81 she was gone. Bruce and I went to high school together. He now operates Talking Rocks Caverns, his wife has Butterfly Palace. Bruce is Jack's son. Ron Herschend is also Jack's son, and Ron was an area manager in attractions for a few years, and was my direct boss! He now is in politics and is a county commissioner in Taney County, and lives just north of Branson. I also have mentioned previously here that my parents operated a nursing home during that period, and Miss Mary spent her last few months living there, Jack and Pete visited EVERY day. That shows they have got pretty good hearts, cause my parents told me some folks dumped their kinfolk at the nursing home and never came by to visit them. Very sad. Although most of my contacts with Jack, Pete and Miss Mary were very brief, and I didn't get to know Bruce too well, I'm glad Ron was my boss for a few summers, and that I had a chance to work directly with a Herschend. I do regret all these years later that when Ron was my boss, I gave him trouble some times! I was a "spirited" fellow in my late teens and early twenties, and thought I knew everything, as many young fellows do. He was always a good guy, though, even though I didn't always show the respect I should have. Much water has gone under the bridge since then, and I have nothing but best wishes for the entire Herschend family. They are good people and have done so much to help the tourism in the Branson area grow. God bless them all!

[sanddunerider]

junior you so so fortunate to have the history with the city and with the herschands. i really admire your respect for the park and all it aspects.

[pintrader]

Those stories and memories are always really great to hear about.  Junior did you have any direct contact with Miss Mary such as conversations that you could pass along.  You know, like you broke a tree limb and she threw a rock at you...something minor like that  .

[LadyDrifter]

This is very interesting reading.  I am loving these stories.

[sanddunerider]

welcome ladydrifter!.  jump in anytime, all comments and opinions are accepted

[Junior]

One of the maintence men at the diving bell, Kevin McPhail (pictured in the diving bell photo spread on the SDCfans homepage seated in control room on the right) had a wonderful Miss Mary story he shared with me. in the late 1960's when they upgraded Sam the Miner's Shack to Grandfather's Mansion, Kevin was part of the workcrew. He said Miss Mary arrived on site, and told the men which trees to cut down and which to leave alone. Well, Kevin cut down one of them that she specifically said "no" about. She came to inspect the work site later, saw the tree gone, and asked about it. Miss Mary was FURIOUS! Kevin was fired on the spot. Miss Mary stomped off. Kevin approached the work crew leader and asked what he should do now. The crew leader said for him to go home for two days and come back the third day at the normal time for work. Kevin said "but Miss Mary said I was fired!" The crew leader said, "see ya in three days." So three days later, Kevin comes back to work, and all goes well. Midmorning, Miss Mary shows up and spots Kevin and says "I thought I fired you!" Kevin said, "yes, you did." Miss Mary, with a still not too happy look on her face, huffed a couple of times and said "get back to work!" Then, she stomped off again. Case closed. All was well after that, but Kevin made DANG SURE he didn't cut down any more trees he was not supposed to! Kevin left the city in the '90's, I think, and has a successful leatherworking business in the Ste. Genevive, Missouri area in southeast Missouri. I wish him well. As for me, sadly, no conversations with Miss Mary, she was retired by the time I got there, and only came to the park for an occasional inspection tour and to sit and visit in the administration office to talk a little business now and then. Her health was failing by this point in her life, and she was unable to walk and required around the clock care by about 1980, although she did get to the park every now and then. She passed away about a year later.
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