Milestones on Main Street: The Great Treasure Hunt of ‘69: April 2009

The Great Treasure Hunt of ‘69

 It’s a hot July morning in Sparta, 1969.  Armstrong and Aldrin have just landed on the moon.  But for the moment Bob Schwab is more interested in a station wagon pulling away from his dump, leaving an old couch behind.

 To anybody else it looks like junk.  But to Bob it’s a treasure.  Bob rolls the couch over and slashes the bottom lining with his jackknife.  Bingo!

 Among the lint and food crumbs are pennies, nickels and more.  A five dollar bill.  And a gold watch.  The kind bankers wear.  All lost items.  Bob knows every old sofa is a treasure chest waiting to be opened.

 From Trash to treasure.

 In the ’60s and ’70s, Bob Schwab’s garbage truck is a daily sight on Sparta streets.  He has a contract to pick up the trash and a permit to operate a dump on his Alpine property. 

 Bob knows everybody in town and loves a short chat with anybody, for both pleasure and business.  He’s a wheeler-dealer.  One person pays Bob to pick up the trash, like pallets or barrels.  Another needs pallets or barrels, and pays Bob to drop them off. 

 Bob Schwoop, born on a boat.

Bob Schwab grows up in Allentown, Pennsylvania, as Frank J. Schwab, the youngest son in a large Catholic family of German immigrants.  Born in 1912, he inists his birth certificate reads, “Bob Schwoop, born on a boat”.  He loves a good story.

 He is a relative of Charles Schwab, the millionaire founder of U.S. Steel.  His family includes Austrian-Hungarians in New York, among them a circus act called The Tumbling Nemos.  As a child, Bob tap dances for coins n the New York Streets.

 From Allentown to Grand Rapids

Bob joins the Navy in the 1920’s.  he leaves Norfolk on the USS Arizona to parts of call in Guantanamo, Port-au-Prince, and the Panama Canal.  Later in Life Bob would bear a striking resemblance to another sailorman- to Popeye, in voice, attitude and phical appearance.

 When the Arizona clears San Francisco, Bob and a buddy miss ship, officially AWOL.  They ride trains back east, landing in the brig at Pensacola Naval Station.

 The depression hits.  Bob hears there’s work in Michigan.  In Grand Rapids he gets a job as bellhop at the Pantlind Hotel.  Eventually the Shepherd Family hires him on the family farm. 

 True Grit

Bob marries Mildred Helsel, the daughter of a farm laborer.  He hunts and fishes with the locals, sometimes legally.  There’s food on the table.  Their only child, Joan, is born in the snowy winter of ‘37.

 In the 40’s Bob and Mildred buy some land on Alpine Avenue, which is rich in gravel.  Bob is a pragmatic American.  If you have a big hole, fill it.  He turns the gravel pit into a dump.

 There’s gold in them thar hills!

 Life in Sparta is good.  The American Dream is in full swing.  Buy new and throw away the old.  Bob is there to take it.  His dump becomes a mountain of gold.

 Everyone knows “Schwabby” as Bob is known.  When you need something, go see Bob.  If he ahs it, he usually gives it away free, together with a smile and a bit of hometown philosophy at no extra charge.  Bob loves to make people happy.

 Shooting for the Moon

In July 1969, standing in his dump, Bob can see the moon.  The Eagle has landed.  Thirty years later, America is more occupied with terrestrial challenges.  Like economic and environmental sustainability.  How to manage affluence and waste?

 Bob Schwab loved the simple things.  A good story, a friendly word, a smiling child.  He has his own ideas about wealth, about using and reusing material goods.  He was a garbage man.  A rich man.  A garbage man with a gold watch.

 In 1972, the Schwab Dump became part of the Kent County Landfill.  The county site later became a superfund.  Bob died in October 1990.  He is buried in Algoma Cemetery, far away from Allentown, Pennsylvania.  His wife, Mildred, lives in the family house on Alpine Avenue.  She is 93.

 Bob lives on as “Frankie” the emblem of ‘Round Again, Inc. in Sparta, a consignment/ resale shop founded by his daughter Joan in 1985 and still in business today.

 This Milestones on Main street article was produced specially for Sparta TODAY.  Input and contributions are welcome.  Please send your ideas to Dean Lettinga at hlet@hetnet.hl or contact Joan Lettinga at ‘Round Again in Sparta.  887-2414