Ma's Kettle -- Savage Staple

Ma's Kettle is a restaurant that lives here in the Big Town of Savage along with the rest of us. Ma's is at the end of the street that I live on, probably 500' from my house. I was standing in front of Neighbor Chris's house when I zoomed in for this foto. Being the car guy that I have been most of my life, I took the foto because of the 'Vette parked there for lunch, not because Ma's was there. :-)

I really enjoy my own cooking, so I'm not a regular customer of Ma's, actually I don't recall the last time I ate there. But, I'm reminded of it regularly by my neighbor 'Crazy Ray'. He's not really crazy, that's just a nickname I threw on him due to his many idiosyncrasies that I harass him about. Ray's a really nice guy, but he will always be 'Crazy Ray' to me.

One of Ray's idiosyncrasies is that he doesn't really like to cook or eat at home. When he's not working, Ray has many of his meals at Ma's. I suspect 'Ma' knows when Ray walks through the door what he's gonna order and likely has it cooking before he even finds his favorite seat.

From what I can tell, Ray loves Ma's...but he often tells me that he loved it a whole lot more when they also served dinner in the evening instead of just the current Saturday breakfast/lunch and weekday lunch schedule. He loved his evening meals at Ma's. My observation is that Ma treats Ray very well, filling him with good food and making his dining experience like a home away from home. Ray is definitely a 'regular'.

Crazy Ray aside, the main reason that I recently thought about Ma's Kettle is that I had read an obituary for a fellow named Richard Sealock. According to the obituary, Richard's family lived in Savage and he worked for his parents at a family store that was located in the building now occupied by Ma's Kettle. As a youth in the late 40s and early 50s, I recall the store being known as "Sealock's". To me, Sealock's was a place to go buy penny candies out of a glass case at the end of the soda fountain counter right in the front of the store.

Like most families in Savage, we didn't have much money when I was a little kid, but it seemed like those pennies would buy a lot of little candies at Sealock's. My recollection is that Sealock's had a grill and did regular food for hungry folks. But for me it was a place to get a soda pop and some candy. I loved Sealock's and for me that building will always be known as Sealock's even though Crazy Ray knows it as Ma's Kettle.

JD