MISTER SHIPLEY AND ME

It all began when Wolfe's Cleaners moved out of a one room building on a concrete driveway behind the corner house that faced 7-1/2 Street, Houston Texas. The cleaners business had faced the busy 2900 block of Michaux Street. When that happened Mister Shipley moved into that vacant cleaners building and I became his customer. The date was between 1937 and 1941 when Wolfe's Cleaners moved west to Studewood.

Born in 1931, I was as young as age 6 when occasionally my mom would give me money and say I want you to go to Mister Shipley's to buy donuts. From my home at 1016 E. 7th Street I would walk past 3 houses to the corner at Michaux .There I turned north to cross East 7-1/2 Street. Mother knew there would be a little waiting while Mister Shipley made our donuts. Often he talked to me while he worked.

As I think back Mister Shipley might have been about 40, like my father, and was a very efficient entrepreneur. His home was less than a block away in the 900 block of Euclid St. I used to see his daughter on their front porch. I think her name was Shirley but we never talked.

A few years ago I was doodling in my spiral notebook a 4X4 quad pad. I had picked up the pad to draw a carport modification. I hesitated about the design and could not begin. For some strange reason my thoughts were of Mister Shipley's Donut store instead of the carport. It seemed to come to me from out of the blue so I made a drawing of Mister Shipley's business layout.

To draw that was easy because he only made plain glazed donuts. I felt fortunate to see him make donuts many times. It was always the same. He would start with a previously made pan of dough about as large as my Checker Game Board. Taking about half of that dough he used a rolling pin to smooth it out to appropriate thickness for use with his donut cutter.

The cutter was made of a shinny metal that looked like half a donut. He'd stamp the dough with the cutter in his right hand and flip the ring of dough to his left hand. Catching it - he'd lay it down in a wire mesh basket.

When he had a dozen in the basket he would lower the basket down in hot grease. While the floating rings of dough were fried on their lower half the basket was submerged in the hot grease. The rings are now flipped over to finish frying. Next the basket was temporarily suspended above the frying grease to drain any grease back into the frying grease.

Next the basket and its contents of fried donuts are put into the glaze and flipped to finish the Plain Glazed donuts. Now the basket is temporarily hooked above the glaze to allow draining time to remove excess glazing liquid.

While the donuts were still pleasantly warm he packaged them for the customer untouched by human hands because all during the frying, glazing and packaging processes one-quarter inch diameter wooden dowels are the only items that touch the donuts.

Oh, yes, I am still Mister Shipley's customer.

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Mr. Shipley and Mrs. Hurley: Remembrance of Things Fried by Ken Rudine