European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - September 17, 1988, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Webster s treasure land by Lisa Perlman associated Pressy of won t find Webster mich., on any map. Bui you won t come across Many in those parts who Don i know of Webster and its founder Cloyce Webster. "1 guess everyone knows about me Webster says hands thrust in the pockets of his warn overalls. Webster is proprietor of a ramshackle general store on a dirt rond 7 Miles North of Fremont a sign outside reads Webster Michigan open am to 10p.m. Closed sundays to has no Post Ohio in his Stoiu. But he s so Well known locally that mail addressed to Webster. Mic reaches him since first setting up shop there in 1932, Webster has been collecting do relict automobiles and gadgets pop bottles and hubcaps batteries and milk jugs toasters and sewing machines All kinds of litter that together comprises something of a scrapbook of the 20lh Century indeed. 0 in to Webster throws the visitor into a time Warp Bach to the Days of coca cola thermometers and scent soda pop. Cloyce Webster a you Shtul looking Joy ear old pack rat. Storekeeper Cobbler Mechanic storyteller artist husband and father surrounded by Dairy arms Hal Dot Iho rolling Hills of West Central Michigan some might Call Webster s 27 acres a junkyard but among the rusting hulks of 1930s and 40s automobiles Are some treasures. Sure. I  some of those things Are Worth a lot he says an l i sell some of pm to rummages through a Boi Lull of antique bottles. Here s one of them old or Pepper Bolles betcha never Scercy one of them  Webster Wil sell you anything you want. But in you can t pay he s been known to make a Deal. Cut him some Wood and hell lit a gallery tree of charge. Batteries Oto his specially. But. He says he can tix just about anything in i can gel the  chances afe to has it already even Mote remarkably he knows where it is Imon Ery i keep it us up Here Webster says pointing to his Soi cd. Green Cap indeed there a c touch of organization amid the apparent chaos. Sec that 36 Hudson Webster asks pointing to the Moss covered automobile partially imbedded Niho ground outside the Back of his shop it s filled with table Morel radios that 35 Chevy Over Iacre filled with gaskets. Only Gaske  Webster bought most of the old cars and bicycles although some were abandoned after being dropped of Lor repairs. I used to buy everything that came along he says All Are or Sale. "1 can make any one of pm run Webster insists entangled in vines and weeds Are probably 500 bicycles and cars Webster estimates not including All Erma Bombeck i cannot believe that Lor the urst Lime in my Hie. I am in the right place of the right time. Listen to this. The hottest career Tor women m 1988 Isth envelope please hazardous waste Export salaries Range irom $30.000 to $70.000, is this crazy or what hazardous waste is my life. I be been disposing of it since the Day i was married you re looking Al a woman with 39 years of experience As the top shoveler in the business. The Irick in disposing of waste is that no one knows where you put it. No one wants to know. I discovered that after the birth of our first baby. Everyone Cloyce Webster pokes about among some of the mating can from the 1930s and 40s on bit property. She ones in hundreds of pieces. About 21/ ions of hubcaps Are piled up reaching the branches of the Trees. I d clean it All out. But even it 1 look 10 tons a Day out in would still Sake seven or eight years to get rid of in All Webster says. Inside the weathered building is a cluttered Maze of spare paits and cases of soda Colllns stacked to the ceiling dark and narrow aisles leading to several rooms. There s a grocery Section and a shoo repair Section where Webster uses car tires to make rubber soles guaranteed not to Wear  this is where i do my painting Webster says indican ing a cramped area by a window. There Ara enamel paints on a cluttered. Hat Surl acc but no room to sit Down. Ii is hero that Webster gets away irom it All painting wildlife scenes on aluminium printing plates. Ten dollars apiece. I sell lots of pm Webster says pointing to the hundreds of finished products piled in his Art department his subjects come from postcards photographs other paintings or irom memory. I snarl about 30 Olem at a  to says proudly displaying his favorite nature scenes. I started drawing on Little scraps of paper when i was in 1he air Force so i d remember what everything looked  Webster says taking out a pile of the aging Pencil drawings on a Shell. Anil the Grade dropout Webster spent Lour years in the air Force from 1942 to 46, closing the shop while he was gone. When he returned he married and he and his wife Elaine have been running the store Ever since living in a rickety House next door. Webster 3 94-year-old lather a former Farmer lives Down the Road. The websters have three grown children one of whom lives nearby and sometimes helps out at the store and eight grandchildren. Asked ii any of his children might Lake Over the business after he retires Wobbler hesitates As though in was the first Lime he s thought about in. I Don t know he says. But i m no retiring any Lime  that s Good news to his regulars. I be been a regular Tor five or six years says customer Floyd Chris incr who was Here ills Lime Lor a gallery part. Whenever i gel a Hal lire Cloyce always fixes them he lines  and though some Days Are slower Ihan others Webster insists he Joes a Hearty business especially considering he does t own a Telephone. Ii someone wants something they d better see me directly he says. On sundays shaven and spruced up Webster closes shop and Heads Tor the United methodist Church of Hesperia where he sings in the choir. I think i m Prelly Good he says smiling exposing his two Teeth both on the Bottom. Wanted a diaper changed on the spot but no one wanted to take responsibility Lor relocating the used a Sapir who got. Stuck moi1 for years i got rid of the no t hazardous waste in the country boys gym shoos. You can t just dump those Little suckers in the Ocean and exp ocl them to float out to sea. No Siree. Iii Hod deep fixed pm they d have washed up on the exact Beach where the kids were. The kids would claim them and Start wearing them again. First you have to sneak in during the dead of night and get them of the Teel of the boy and then Bury them they rank no Pun intended right up there with gym clothes thai have been in a locker Lor nine months i m not padding my resume but i be had to cart away Chicken Bones left under a bed while we were of on a two week vacation a Cage holding a dead horned Toad which look us a month to find under the wet Kowols. And a collection of rocks covered with Moss and seaweed entombed in an re for three weeks. I read stories in the papers All the time about these so called experts roaming around the world with Traiges full of garbage looking Tor a place to dump in. I never had thai problem. All t had to do to gel rid of anything was to Pul a broken toy on top of in and place it Al the curb. By Nightfall the Box was dragged inside up two flights of stairs and stored. My finest hour was probably leftovers i had some real risky stuff in there. Some of them used to get restless and 1 could never turn my Back on them. They weren t something you could gel careless Wilh. I d dump Thorn carefully in newspaper zip lock them in plastic bags then encase them in a Largo garbage bag before sealing them in the garbage can dogs would Fly in Al reduced air arcs to get to it. Actually i May be overqualified. E8s Emma Bombick Page 16 the stars and stripes saturday september 17,1988