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Charlie Campbell Tribute

  It has been a whirlwind few weeks. One  father's friends from high school passed away earlier and we made an expected trip down to Murrells Inlet for the celebration of life. They have kept in touch over the years. Charlie moved around a lot during his eighty plus year his roots remained n Allendale, NJ! He and his wife Bev were a fixture a t DeeDee and Anth ony's Fourth of July Parties. I   know their kids,John and Annie.Charlie also had to sons from a previous marriage and it was recently discovered he has another daughter. Charlie was the CEO of several companies, like Floor Shine shoes and Munsingwear, a golf clothing company.  The family moved around a lot from  Allendale,NJ to  Connecticut to Minnesota before finally  settling in Murrells Inlet SC, founding the Dead Dog Saloon, a fixture on the Murrells Inlet Marshwalk, he later built the Claw House next door. Ironically Charlie and Bev brought a second house in Cape May which meant I spen...
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Charleston Collecting--Part I

Well I continued my streak of attending ALPCA conventions, this makes my fifth in a row and seventh overall. This year I dragged my folks down to Charleston, West Virginia. We did the trip down in two days stopping halfway in Maryland at Rocky Gap State Park and Resort, it was such a nice resort I almost didn't want to leave....I said ALMOST. Every year that I arrive on Wednesday instead of Tuesday I also think going I am mmissing something but not being there as soon as the hall opens. This year wasn't any different, however the exception was I was setting up a table for the first time and didn't want to miss any sale. I found some friendly faces behind the registration desk handing out welcoming packets to members. I grabbed mine and hunted for my table. The covention center layout itself was a bit weird but doable. They had the bathrooms sort of in the middle, in a separate room that divided the hall up a bit meaning you had to go around the bathrooms to get to the other side. Since this was the first time I got a table, a new challenge was balancing the time I spent cruising the hall with the time I spent trying to make some money. I wasn't expecting to make a killing but I figured I needed to recoup the entrance fee, didn't quite make it, but it didn't really matter.
On the first night of the convention there's usually a social gathering. This year it took place on a riverboat on the Kanawah River. Instantly I renewed friendships I made in Texas, even prior conventions. One in particular was with famed drummer, Jim Fox of the James Gang. A former president of ALPCA, Jim and I enjoyed a chat and even snapped a picture. More to follow...

Location: Charleston, WV, USA

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