The Candyman & Necco Wafers

Last night at work, it was a candy-eating kind of night; some nights are just that way.

A basket sits at the nurse's station, and on occasion, it dispenses treats to nurses that need to nibble. Sometimes, it has chocolate, sometimes there are lollipops (the Dum-Dum variety) or tootsie-rolls. After a holiday like Halloween, Christmas or Easter, the basket gets the leftovers from people's home stash.

Last night, it was Tootsie-Pops (I think?), a few Smarties, a couple of fruit slice gummies, and other miscellaneous sugar treats. But at the bottom of the basket, I found the best prize of all...

...a mini pack of Necco wafers.

What makes these the best is not so much the taste, but the memory attached to them.
You see, my Grandpa Bender was "The Candyman" and he would hand these out to children every Sunday after church. As soon as the last "Amen" was uttered, all the children up to age 12, 14, 18, well, okay 30, would go up to my Grandpa where he sat in the 2nd or 3rd pew back from the front of the church, and hold out a hand, palm-side up, eagerly awaiting their one piece of candy.

What color would it be? I would watch and if I saw that a color I didn't like was going to be next, and fall into my outstretched palm, I would sneak my hand back to wait for the next color.

Best to worst based on my childhood recollection?

Lemon (lemon is just yummy no matter how it is presented!)
Orange (tasted a little like a popsicle)
Lime (yummy, even if it always tasted like the smell of cleaning solutions. Weird.)
Chocolate (it took a long time to learn that the color brown didn't mean it would taste yucky)
Wintergreen (these were the white ones and they tasted a bit like toothpaste)
Cinnamon (I think that is what the pink ones are, although they always tasted like Pepto Bismal to me)
Clove (I thought purple should taste good, but these sure didn't)
Licorice (the ugly, least desired gray ones; these I would give to some other unsuspecting child)

The yellow and oranges ones are still my favorite and last night at work, I savored them just as I always did.

And I thought about Grandpa and I missed him. He thoroughly enjoyed handing out these candies and it just wouldn't have been a proper Sunday without him doing that. I can still see his hand in his suit coat pocket, pulling out a new roll, smiling all the while. I remember taking Valerie up when she was old enough to have the candy and not choke on it. I would've been around 12 years old and starting to get to the age where you couldn't go running to the Candyman, so having a little sister was quite useful in obtaining a piece of candy.

Ahh, the memories that are contained in one small roll of candy.

My uncle Gordon was a substitute Candyman during the times Grandpa and Grandma were in Florida. Now my uncle is the Candyman and he does a good job of continuing a favorite tradition; Grandpa taught him well.

I read that back in 1930, Admiral Byrd took 2 1/2 tons (yes, tons) of Necco Wafers to the South Pole to hand out as treats to the people he would meet there, and also for his crew. I wonder how many tons Grandpa and Gordon have handed out over the years and how many more tons there will be yet to come.

Love,
Dianne