Personalities

We like to stop in from time to time to look at the prominent people of the Fishing Creek valley, and this section is about one of those "personalities," Jim Vance. A similar article recently appeared in the church bulletin of the Shiloh Bible Church, Church Street, Almedia. We have taken that document and with the knowledge and consent of the person we are talking about have added to it.

James Vance was the last of six children born to Agnes and John Vance. He was born in West Calder, Scotland in 1910. Six months later the entire family boarded a ship and made the long voyage to America. As he grew up, James worked in Wilkes-Barre at Beers Meats, an upscale meat market. Jenet was a beautician in the Miners National Bank building nearby. Their meeting took place during a flood in the valley and daughter Carol says she always "pictured them swimming by each other."

The Vance family moved to Benton in 1944, renting a small cabin with no inside plumbing and a hand pump on the back porch to draw water. There was a "crick" outside the back door, known as Fishing Creek and the banty roosters that the family kept loved it there. The cabin has now been enlarged and is the home of Robert and Margie Kline, just inside the Borough line south of Benton.

In 1945, the family moved to a two-story store attached to a three-bedroom house on Market Street. Jim's father had always wanted to own a meat market, Carol remembers. He always wanted to make his own scrapple and sausage and bologna, to cure his own meats and smoke his own ham and bacon. Jenet put away her combs and curlers from her business as a beautician and joined in running the store. She learned to cut meat and slice liver. She added home-baked roasts to the meat case, as well as cold meat. She pickled eggs and balogna. Benton Sausage and Scrapple became a favorite of the Wyoming Valley where it was sold extensively.

Jimmy Vance was born in the family home on Market Street on February 7, 1947, born upstairs in the purple bedroom. Jim's father came to this country from Scotland with his parents in 1907. His mother was Irish; her parents migrated here from Ireland.

Jim has one sister, Carol, nine years older than he is, who continues to live in the family home. James and Jenet Vance, Jim's parents, owned and operated the Benton Meat Market, a small general-purpose grocery store attached to their home. Jim has vivid memories of his dad making scrapple and souse, delivering them to the Wyoming Valley area from 1942 to 1957.

The story goes (our way of saying we have no idea how much truth there is in the story that follows) that when Jim was a little boy, in desperation his sister put him in a baby carriage, pushed him out into the middle of Market Street and left him there, hoping somebody would come by and take him home.

Jimmy with his aunt Catherine When Jim was about two years old, his hair was long, blond and curly.

His mother wouldn't let his dad take him for a haircut, but he became tired of everyone mistaking his son for a girl, so he took him to Main Street and had the barber cut his curls off.

Jenet once decided to visit her mother in Florida in 1951, and after five days of travel and far too many grits and hushpuppies the family made it to the Sunshine State. The first night out, little Jimmy realized that they would not be Back Home in Benton, PA, to spend the night. The little four-year old boy began to cry as they looked for a motel that rainy night. Jimmy cried out, "I bet the sun's a'shinnin' in Benton," he sobbed. His homesickness went away after a few days.

When Jim was about four years old, he would leave home early in the morning and would walk up and down Market Street, visiting all the old ladies and especially three or four special ones. He also visited the bread bakery and the cookie bakery and everyone in town knew him. In those days, the town was like one big happy family. His parents claim they never knew where he was from the time he learned to walk until he left town when he was older. His father knew where Jim was whenever someone had to get him out of trouble--and that was often!

When Jimmy was about four years of age, he chased sister Carol around the house with a pig's tongue. This was about the last day in his life that he didn't work. His working career began when he was nine and he has not been unemployed since that time. During much of his school years, he milked cows both before and after school. He also delivered milk, and worked for several farmers.

Jimmy fell in love with his cowboy boots with their high heels. He spent hours hopping from one foot to the other banging the heels as hard and as fast and as loudly as his little body allowed in a mean version of tap dancing. Jenet interpreted this activity as talent and sent him for dance lessons, but the instructor sent him home early without completing his first session.

		Jimmy Vance and his father, Jim Vance, Sr.
		Jimmy Vance with his mother, Jenet Vance. A stern finger is pointed at Jimmy, even at this tender age.

Benton kids walked to school when Jimmy was growing up. The lad would leave in the morning, but he didn't arrive at school. After three or four days of this, the principal paid parents Jim and Janet Vance a visit, asking why they weren't sending Jim to school. Janet explained that she sent him off every morning. The next day they followed him to see what he was doing. Jimmy stopped at a neighbor's house and put his hat, scarf and book bag in the bushes and hid in the back of a (coal or fertilizer) truck. Jimmy said that when they reached Huntington Mills, he beat on the roof of the truck, and the driver would stop and let him ride up front with him. When he returned to Benton, he went back to the bushes, put on his hat and scarf, got his book bag and home he went.

After his little scheme was discovered, he was made to attend school, but later in his school career he waited until the teacher left the room, seized the opportunity, and out the window he went

Some of the elderly men in Benton used to take Jim fishing with them. He fished along Fishing Creek, under the bridge, near what is now the Hoboken Sub Shop. After it was discovered what he was up to, the principal came along and took him back to school.

Jim skipped school quite often. If he wasn't with his truck-driver friends he would go to a farm, wherever they would keep him, just so he didn't have to go to school. He passed every grade without having to repeat any of them, possibly because the teachers didn't want him back.In second grade, Jimmy put tacks on his second grade teacher's seat. She never flinched or said a word when she sat down. She then got up and walked out of the room with her skirt tacked to her bottom. She returned with the principal and together they called his parents to come to school, and he was expelled for a couple days.

Jim admits that he was really bad when he was a kid. He hung around all the garages. He tells about the time he got "lubricated" when he was hanging around the woodworking shop located behind his parent's store. The workmen took his jeans off and greased him because he was such a pest! Needless to say, when he arrived home his mother was not happy. He also got greased at the GLF feed store after he threw corn cobs at the guys and teased them. They caught him, removed his pants, greased him and rolled him around in the dust and dirt on the floor, then sent him home.When he was about 10 years old, he was at the corner gas station, being his usual pesky self. The employees caught him, tied his hands together, tied the rope to the tire rack and pulled him up so his arms were well over his head, stuffed his pant legs into his socks and tied string around them, then stuck the air-operated grease gun into the top of his pants and tied the handle open. When the men walked by, they would pat the grease down every once in a while, and when he was clear full, they cut him down. It was a long walk from the square in Benton to Fourth and Market, with his pants full of grease.

One afternoon, the boys in town were having a "Who Can Make Who Give" contest. Georgie Confair twisted Jim's arm until it broke, but Jimmy didn't give! He walked to Dr. Morris's office who put a cast on it, free of charge, since George lived with the Morris family.

		Jim was about 7 when he became impressed by the Mohawk haircut that his sister's boyfriend, a Boy Scout leader at Camp Lavigne, was sporting. Jimmy wanted a haircut just like that, and after pestering his mother for some time she gave him money and told him to get his hair cut.
He went to the barber shop on Main Street and got a Mohawk. Janet cried when he returned home with his new addition, and later Jimmy did the same thing when he discovered that his head sunburned very easily when exposed to the sun. He remembers the blisters to this day.

Jimmy Vance at the age of ten

Jim wasn't old enough to drive when his dad would send him for wood to be used in the smokehouse. On one occasion he was supposed to build a fire but couldn't get it going. Jimmy asked his dad for help, but he yelled at him. Jim then got five gallons of gas and dumped it on the fire. It burned very well, smokehouse and all!

When Jimmy's driver's permit came in the mail, he celebrated by skipping school. A friend took him for his driver's test. By 1:30 that afternoon, he had destroyed the friend's new Jeep pick-up truck--a total loss.

When Jim turned sixteen, he got an old car and mornings on his way to school he would see Police Chief Claude Lewis sitting at the square. Jim would squeal his tires and drive to the upper end of town just outside of the town limits to wait for him, because at that time a policeman didn't go into adjoining districts. Jim sat on the fender of his car parked in the Township one morning, waiting for the Chief. The police chief didn't come with lights flashing. He just drove up, stepped out of the car, asked Jimmy if he had read the Morning Press, and, of course, at 16, he hadn't. Chief Lewis said, "While you read this article, I'll write this ticket out for you." The article concerned the police now being able to cover adjoining jurisdictions. That was in 1963. The fine cost Jim $25.

After graduating from high school, Jim was met by the Benton Township and Benton Borough police chiefs who asked him to get into their car to talk. They told him that it takes approximately 30 minutes to get from Benton to Bloomsburg, and gave him the choice of going to 721 Iron Street (the jail), or the recruiting office on Market Street. He chose the recruiting office.

Jim didn't like to walk, so joining the Army was out, and he didn't like to swim, so the Navy didn't work. He knew he couldn't handle the discipline of being a Marine, and the only thing left was the United States Air Force, which he joined in March, 1966. He went to Lackland Air Force Base for basic training, then to Denver where he learned how to load bombs. He said, "This was a job they only gave to crazy people."

He returned home and married the girl he fell in love with when he was 17, the former Ruth Ruckle. Together, they went to England for the next three years, courtesy of the United States Air Force, where he was promoted to Staff Sgt., E5, in three years. When they left England in 1969 there were three of them, including their son, John, born nine months prior to that time.

While Jim and Ruth were in England in 1969 courtesy of the United States Air Force, they paid a visit to relatives living in West Calder, Scotland, relatives with whom there had been no contact in 60 years. They drove to West Calder from England, pitched a tent with son John and on a Sunday morning stopped at a gas station and asked an elderly, toothless gentleman where they could find some Vances. The man looked Jim square in the eye and told him that "you have to be the grandson of John and Agnes Vance who left here 60 years ago." The man gave directions to where Jim's father's only remaining aunt and all his other relatives lived. No one was home at the first house they visited, but at the second house a lady answered the door. Jim asked if she was Mrs. Daisy Dick. The woman was, and acknowledged that she was formerly a Vance. Jim and Ruth stayed in the area for a week and learned about their heritage, met all their relatives, have returned a few times over the years, and still stay in touch.

Jim was discharged from the Air Force in January, 1970, and went back to work delivering milk. They lived in a house on Market Street in Benton, and it was during that time that a Benton pastor paid them a visit and he and Ruth accepted the Lord as their Savior at that time. In March, 1971, the Vances went into business with McDowel1 Oil Co., at the intersection of I-80 and Route 487, Lightstreet running an ARCO gas station.

Their daughter, Misho, was born in 1971, and shortly thereafter they moved to Old Berwick Road, Bloomsburg, and lived there unti1 1990. In addition to running the gas station, Jim had a used car lot, car convoys, rollbacks, wreckers and service trucks on the road. He had a SkiDoo dealership, sold and serviced lawn mowers and chain saws and rented Ryder trucks.

Jim told a story about Al Kupsky who collected the money and credit cards from the three daily shifts. After a one long Memorial Day weekend, the station had a large sum of money. On Monday morning when Jim arrived at the station, Al, with his hair standing straight up, yelled at Jim, "Did you find it?"

Al had set over $10,000 on the top of his car, forgot about it and drove off, and it was lost. The township and state police were of no help and things looked grim. Later, the state police called after two men had turned in the money. A relived Al later recalled, "Do you have any idea what it's like to think you have to work for Jim Vance for the rest of your life--for nothing?"

In 1971, Jim, Ruth, John and Misho started attending Shiloh Bible Church, Church Street, Almedia. The church, and we suspect that Jim had some input here, decided Shiloh should enter a car in the Bloomsburg Fair's Demolition Derby. For the next three years, Shiloh Bible Church ran a car in the Derby. Pastor Hummel took Jim under his wing and often rode to car auctions with Jim and his father. Pastor Hummel "was never pushy, just bumping me in the right direction. If it weren't for Pastor Hummel and my wife I don't know where I would be today," Jim confides.

In 1980 Jim became an auctioneer with Gale Derr, remaining with him for two years while he got his Pennsylvania Auctioneer license. During that time, he began selling cars in New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania, covering 3,000 miles of driving a week. He continued in that capacity for four years.

		Jim once asked his mother-in-law, Betty Ruckle, "Grandma, what did you think when your daughter came dragging me home? I bet you thought she didn't know what she was getting into."
Betty Ruckle

Betty dug into the recesses of her memory and replied, "Jimmy, I want to tell you that it wasn't the first time I ever heard about you. I was delivering eggs to be sold at the GLF store. When I got there they were closed. This was early in the morning. I set the eggs on the store's front porch and went on into town. As I was driving back out Market Street, I noticed all the street signs and telephone poles had eggs on them. When I returned to the GLF store, I discovered that the top layer of eggs was gone. I told the storeowner, 'Those eggs were there when I dropped them off.'" He said, "I'm sure they were. I know who did it, and his dad will pay for them."

It was a difficult transition from a wild little boy to becoming a deacon at Shiloh and a member of the Transportation Committee of the church, a member of the Board of Directors of the Northern Columbia Community & Cultural Center, a licensed, professional auctioneer, an influential property owner in several states, the owner of an on-line sales organization and a devoted father and grandfather.

Credit must go to his wife, Ruth, the steady progress made at the Shiloh Church and the couple's children, John and his wife, Heather, and Misho.

A high point in Jim's life was the marriage of Misho. Misho's new husband's 11 year-old daughter, Devin, and Julia Catherine Vance were the junior bridesmaids. John and Heather's boys, age 4 and 6, wore tuxedos with gray brocade vests and ties.

Julia and Devin handed out the hand-done programs thanking parents and grandparents for a lifetime of love. Devin and Julia read from the bible. Misho's sister-in-law, Heather, was her maid of honor and Jim served as his son's best man.

After Misho and her new husband were pronounced man and wife, a Highland Band with bagpipes marched into the church, filling every space with music.

The reception was at the Vance home high on a hill south of Orangeville, in two beautifully decorated tents connected by a 40' covered walkway. The Highland pipers played against a backdrop of lush cornfields, with the Endless Mountains of Pennsylvania in the far distance. The bride and groom did a lovely first waltz to At Last, My Love has Come Along, complete with all the ballroom moves. Tiered wedding cakes, topped with fresh flowers, decorated the tables of eight. Bottles of wine were brought to each table, toasts and the blessing offered--and the wedding feast began.

As dinner was winding down and guests were sipping their gourmet brews, a magnificent sunset suddenly painted the sky pink, purple and orange. Surely, it was a blessing. As light slowly faded over the hills, the trees came alive with twinkling lights, making the hilltop setting a starry wonderland. A wedding to remember, just one part of a personality we should all remember.

Jim Vance