St. Clair County Courier
6 May 1976
Forrest Hotel
Monegaw
The picture of the old Forrest Hotel at Monegaw Springs calls to mind an Easter
Sunday of long ago when my father loaded the family into the Model T and took us
to Monegaw for dinner at the Forrest Hotel. Old timers will remember Bess
Farmer, the genial and jolly woman whose presence behind the counter in my Dad’s
store brightened everyone’s day. Miss Bess was just like family and was included
in the Sunday outing.
In those days, scarcely a female lived who did not have a new hat for Easter
Sunday and Miss Bess and the Faurot Millinery had outdone themselves. You seldom
just picked out a hat, you selected a shape that was made up to your order and
the Faurot girls were masters of the art of decorating. And, even for those
days, they were not cheap and were purchased with the idea of a full season’s
wear.
While we waited on the porch to be called to dinner, for some reason Miss Bess
removed her hat and placed it on a chair. In the rush to get a table, she
apparently forgot to put it on again. And what happened while we were gorging on
fried chicken and accompanying goodies doesn’t bear telling. A hungry, stray
dog, no doubt driven to desperation by the odors of good food, fell upon the
only delectable thing in site and utterly demolished Miss Bess’s hat. We
returned to the porch to total disaster. The saving grace was her fantastic
sense of humor and soon it became a big joke and a story to hand down even to
1976.
Submitted by Cheryl Bell