Gayle’s Memory

I grew up in Ashtabula, Ohio that had an Isalys store. We used to get ice cream cones there but mostly we would get the best tasting chipped chopped ham ever. Until one winter there was a huge fire and it burned down. No more Isalys and the community lost a favorite landmark. Years later we all grew up and moved away. We later found out another store in Ashtabula called Albinos was selling the ham. When we returned to visit Mom in a nursing home we would go to that store to buy pounds of the chipped ham to take back to our local state where we live. Then, for some reason I googled where you could buy the ham and found out it couldn be bought in Maryland where my brother lives so on a visit to him lately, I stopped at a local Wal-Mart and purchased a few pounds and surprised my brother with it. He was real excited to know he didn’t have to go to Ashtabula just to buy the ham as Mom has recently passed away.