Cedar chest memories

In mid-January, Diane Sauer Hughes sent the following message along with photos to a few classmates:  “Looking for something today, I came across this little cedar chest (5”x 9”) that was a gift to all the VC girls from Sheppard’s store when we graduated from high school I believe – right, Barb?  Or was it 8th grade? Engraving is on the inside lid. Did the boys get something too? Today, my chest holds Nick’s (my husband) treasures. I have always loved this little box.  Once I get the story straight on this chest, I’ll ask Larry to please post it on the blog.”  Click on (or tap) pictures for larger images.

Barbara (Sheppard) Lang's 1958 cedar chest

Engraving on Barb's cedar chest

  
A week or so later, Diane wrote:  The comments below tell the story of the cedar chest as best I understand it after hearing from some of you.  Larry, noting that he owns a cedar chest, confirms that all classmates received this gift.  And Barb’s comments suggest that most likely we received these for 8th grade graduation.

Let us hear from you if you still have your cedar chest or if you remember anything else about this gift.  Fun memory of our small town and a great forever gift we received.  Thanks, Mr. & Mrs. Sheppard.

Barb Sheppard Lang….
Oh my gosh!  I do not know when you would have acquired the box, Diane, but if I were to guess, I would think it related to graduation from 8th grade, since I totally do not remember it.  Seems like mom and dad would have calculated that girls would want to start filling their “Hope Chests” during high school, and because of the gift, our female classmates would think of our store as the place to buy one of those full sized Lane Cedar Chests!    I have managed to acquire 2 of those little chests from S & S Antiques in Valley City when they were prowling around doing estate sales for their store. 

Mine did not survive childhood, (I’m guessing my mom gave it to the thrift store after I left home for college) but now one of the chests sits on my paternal great- grandmother’s dresser, and it has all the treasures I have from my mom – the handkerchief she got from Mrs. Barnes (which mom loaned to me for my wedding to Art).  I gave it back to her of course, then found it in a zip lock bag in her “funeral file” with my name on it!  Also have some small treasures of hers that I got from the house during our clean out.  Plus a dried rose from her funeral.  So, just like you, the chest is full of treasures.

My box is in North Dakota, but it runs in my mind that the store logo was stamped on the inside of the lid rather than engraved like yours.  Makes me think it was a special order that dad made to the Lane people.

Barb Sheppard Lang…
After visiting with my sister, I am pretty sure these cedar chests were given to all of my classmates during 8th grade, probably graduation time.  As you might recall, my dad’s store burned down in January of 1956, and he rebuilt and had Grand Opening things going on by mid-year 1957.  My sister thinks dad got the little boxes from Lane Cedar Chests because of the Grand Opening and the beginning of our distributorship of Lane products.  Little sister notes, dryly, that HER classmates did not get the little chests, just “perfect” Barb’s did.  Sometimes it does pay to be the eldest child, right?

Dorothy James Iwan…
Diane, yes my little cedar chest is on my dresser for my treasures.  I think it did come from Sheppard's as a graduation gift.

Larry Gauper…
We have my cedar chest in our master bedroom. I didn't receive this directly, it was my mother's. She passed away when I was three. My grandmother preserved the chest and, after she died in early 1961, my aunt Marian gave it to me when JoAnne and I were married in 1964. It's been in our home ever since filled with memories from both our childhoods.

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