Veterans and Hotdogs - Iconic Gathering Place Remembered as Debris Removed

Photo By Sgt. Zoe Morris | Newman Hoyt's Dairy Queen restaurant during the June flooding. The business was started by his mother Geraldine in 1956. Photo courtsey Clendenin's resident  

CLENDENIN, WV, UNITED STATES

07.21.2016

Story by Sgt. Zoe Morris 

153rd Public Affairs Detachment

Sgt. Zoe Morris
153rd Public Affairs Detachment


CLENDENIN, W.Va. - “I like kids and dogs,” said Hoyt Newman as his grandson, two great-granddaughters and two dogs mingled around him in his Clendenin, W.Va. home. From a man who has been around the ice cream and hotdog business for 60 years, this statement comes as no surprise.
Built by Newman’s mother Geraldine “Gerry” Davis in 1956 and taken over by Newman after he retired from Columbia Gas, the Dairy Queen in Clendenin was destroyed by the June flooding. Members of the West Virginia National Guard were moving the final loads of debris to the landfill Thursday and Friday and were watched, as always, by a member of the Newman family.
“My dad’s been down here every day … picking through it,” said Newman’s daughter Angela Freyberg. “It’s been hard.”
This particular Dairy Queen was more then just another fast food restaurant, Freyberg said. It was the homemade coleslaw and homemade chili - her grandmother’s recipe. It was the hotdogs people grew up with, she said.
“It wasn’t about ‘The Dairy Queen,’ it was about the community,” she said. “This was a gathering place.”
Like all good gathering places, this one had regulars.
“My dad was part of the VFW here, and the American Legion,” Freyberg said. “He and his buddies used to sit out back and talk. Sometimes it was about their experiences. … Sometimes they like to talk about (being deployed) and sometimes they don’t.”
A Korean War veteran, Newman is a lifetime member of both organizations. He was named VFW Post Commander of the Year, Division 3, in 2001 while serving as commander of Post 8516 in Elkview. He later moved to the American Legion Post 61 in his hometown where he served as post commander and remains active in the Color Guard.
“The Dairy Queen meant the world to all of us, really,” said current Post Commander Richard Milam on Thursday, exactly four weeks after the flood. “We’d gather there almost every night.
“That was where we met to go on funeral details. In fact, we’re meeting at the Dairy Queen - or where it used to be - this morning for a funeral detail.”
Old habits can die hard, and the idea of meeting at the Dairy Queen - or some sort of hotdog stand - isn’t dying for the people of Clendenin.
“He says he isn’t gong to rebuild but we are hoping he may,” said Milam. “(I’ve heard) people were calling asking when has was going to re-open and offering to help rebuild.”
Freyberg also mentions the outpouring of support and memories that have been shared on her Facebook page. One man told her he’s coming home for a visit and the Dairy Queen was the first place he told my wife they had to go, to get a hotdog. With chili and slaw, of course.

• Date Taken: 07.21.2016
• Date Posted: 07.21.2016 15:17
• Story ID: 204643
• Location: CLENDENIN, WV, US