CHARLES AND CHRISTINA HUDDLESTON

When Lyndale Avenue was being built, it was necessary to feed and water the mules and horses, which were used to provide the power. One of those contracted for this job was Charlie Huddleston, and the Arie Streefleand farm was the source of water. There, Charlie met his wife to be, Christina. It all began so simply...she was picking strawberries in the field, when Charlie happened by. He liked the luscious fruit and especially the girl who offered it to him. In May, 1923, Charles Huddleston and Christina Streefland were married in the family home.

On a section of the Streefland farm, they built a home and store located on the newly constructed Lyndale Avenue. Folks said that "a business there would never last". 53 years later it was still very much in business. There were few stores in the area at that time so Huddleston's store provided not only groceries but was a stopping place for gasoline for many travelers passing through. A lunch counter provided homemade sandwiches and pie. It was a favorite stop for truckers who needed directions and a meal.

Charlie began a milk route hauling milk from his dairy farm to Minneapolis and to farmers in the area. He also drove a school bus for the Orchard Lake School.

There does hot seem to have been a local organization in which Christina did not gen involved. An early member of the Lake-Burn Citizens League, a charter member of the Orchard Lake Mothers Club (though she has no children of her own), a former treasurer of the Orchard Lake School Board, one of the founders of that school's hot lunch program, and an active participant with the Sanford Hospital Board and the Orchard Lake Women's Club were among her many civic contributions. Polio seemed her prime concern even before the "March of Dimes" was formed and she has been a volunteer for that foundation since 1938. She became County Chairman of the "March of dimes and recently resigned the post.

As Chairwoman of the County Republican party, her precinct is thought to be the tops in the county for per capita donations in neighbor-to-neighbor campaigns.

When Charlie Huddleston died on 1971, Christina kept the store open with the help of young people in the area, but has now donated her 70 acre homesite to the Y.M.C.A., which plans to develop the property for recreational purposes. The plans include saving the buildings and renovating the barn and the windmill. Mrs. Huddleston continues to live in her home behind the never-to-be forgotten landmark, Huddleston's Grocery Store.

June Dille

The Huddlesons