John K. Brown, a former clerk at the now-closed Deck’s Hardware in Ambler, a retired University of Virginia professor and the author of three books, published a lengthy memoir of his days on Main Street in the late-1970s.

An excerpt:

The buildings, the displays, and the business itself were all the work of a strong-willed figure, the father of those four brothers and the title character of G.M. Deck and Sons. When I showed up in 1977, the old man was long-gone and seldom mentioned. But his influence touched everything. To my mind, he was a riddle that demanded questions. Why did the man (and his wife?) choose rhyming names for the sons? Tuck was really Truxton, Nels stood for Nelson, Cliff was Gordon, and Tiny Dawson. Their dad, Garnett M. Deck, had built a business and a dynasty. At 19, the question that really pulled at me, but one I had sense enough not to ask aloud: Why did the four brothers choose to devote their entire working lives to this, their father’s creation? For myself, born lucky with a pile of advantages, just 19 with college and life’s opportunities ahead, I really didn’t get it. With time, that would change.

The family-owned hardware store was founded by Garnett M. Deck in 1908. It closed its doors for good on December 23, 2023.

You can read Brown’s full memoir here. His faculty biography is here.

Photo: Hopkins Press