Dano's Two

The best thing about Dano's was Dan and Lavora. I think they know everyone for fifty miles. They had a knack for being there when folks needed them. I know of at least one instance where a regular customer needed to put her car in the shop for a week, and Dan and Lavora gave this person a Cadillac to drive. It goes much deeper then that though. One of the regulars was stricken with lung cancer. He used to clean the bar on weekend mornings. Dan cut his grass while he was recovering from surgery. I remember watching someone bug Dan about betting on a football game. When the man lost, he wanted double or nothing. Dan agreed, and told the man to pick his game and team. There are about a million stories, but two are near to my heart.
My wife retired from her day job to type for a living. The service she worked for told her that she wouldn't need anything but a dial up Internet account. As luck would have it, they didn't have enough work for her without high speed Internet. (satellite wouldn't work) I suggested that she try to rent space from one of the businesses on the main road. We couldn't pay much, as it came right out of her checks. Dan was her second stop. She went in for lunch and asked Dan if he knew of a place she could rent from someone local for cheap. Yes he said,"you can rent from me." She was there two years while I worked out the technology for her to work from home. While I was blind, a buddy came over to take me fishing. We stopped at Dano's for lunch. Dan came over to chat, asking me how I was holding up. I said I was having trouble being stuck around the house all day every day. He said "Your not! I'll come and get you any time you want."
We went to a party a while back. It was for another regular and sometime bartender that had taken a job out of state. I had gotten to know David a couple of years ago. He was from Illinois. We had both wrestled at Northern Illinois University though not for them. So as the party was coming to a close I got to thinking about us. David was from Illinois, the man with lung cancer and his wife were from Minnesota, and Me from Michigan. I asked Dan how all of us northerners could find a home in that bar? He said "I have never met a stranger, and I know only friends."
Thank God. Thank God for the both of you!
Dan and Lavora gave up the fight to keep the place open in a time when profits were very hard to come by.