By John Rhodes
Special to The Chatham Voice
On Feb. 6, 1966, I commenced training in the advertising department of the Chatham Daily News. The position had been obtained for me by my J.M.S.S. home room teacher, Stuart White.
After the program was concluded, I was given an account list which included the Town and Country Shop, 17 King St. W. Alas and admitted, mine were mostly inactive accounts that none of the senior sales persons wanted, but I was eager.
This store was operated by Herman Seltzer who was quite a remarkable person; he never bought any ad space from me but he was, nonetheless, interesting to talk to.
Herman was born in Poland, but I was not able to learn his birth date.
He was the son of Morris (1885-1949) and Faye Seltzer who, like so many other Jewish families of that age, had to leave their homeland due to the pogroms and hatred so prevalent in that age.
They settled in Windsor when Herman was a small boy.
At some point, post schooling, he trained as a tool maker and saw active duty in the Canadian Navy during the Second World War.
In the early 1950s he opened a men’s and boys’ clothing store known as the Town and Country Shop and located it in the Nathaniel Murray Block, King Street, north side, second building west of William Street. This building had been erected in 1890 and backed directly onto McGregor Creek, the flood waters of which were to cause its demise in 1968.
Herman was a talented man and was capable of making muzzle-loaded long guns, a number of which he made for the Centennial celebration of 1967. He also liked to direct and produce live plays and was the principal of the Chatham Little Theatre Company which was headquartered in an old silent movie theatre on the second floor of the Andrew Block, King Street, north side, at the upper bend. The Andrew Block was destroyed by an arsonist in the late 1960s.
After spending many years in clothing retail, Herman obtained a broker licence and became a real estate agent.
Herman died Sept. 29, 2013 and reposes in the Shaar Hashomayim Cemetery in Windsor. This burial ground is also known as Shaarey Zedec Cemetery.
