Roof collapses on historic store
By SHARON KERR Staff Writer

Newsboy photo/Charles Kerr SATURDAY'S RAINS led to a roof collapse at the P.N.Ashy store on Houston Street. No one was injured but a lot of the merchandise had to be moved from the store's location.

Last Saturday started like any other for Mary Ashy, owner of the P. N. Ashy Store on Milam Street, where it has sat across from the courthouse since 1938.

The air show was cancelled by bad weather, rain was coming down by the bucketfulls, but Mary was looking forward to the Pilot Club's Taste of Jasper Saturday night.

About 11:30 a.m. she heard a creak and a groan, and then what happened next is a blur. The back west side of the roof collapsed, sending torrents of water rushing all the way to the front door.

Dot Scheibe of Shy-Bee Electric said she rushed down as soon she heard the news. She arrived just as Father Ron Foshage of St. Michael's Catholic Church reached the scene.

"That really scared me," Scheibe said. She feared the priest had been called because Mary was buried in the building.

Mary, on the other hand, remained calm but stubborn. She called the fire department, thinking they could help get the water out of the building, which they did, but then Mary refused to leave.

Newsboy photo/Charles Kerr THE CEILING AT PN ASHY came crashing down Saturday afternoon.

Foshage had to talk her out of the building, and all the while Mary kept reassuring everyone, "I'm all right, really, I'm fine."

Scheibe said Mary even thought to give her the gift basket she had prepared for the silent auction.

"She told me she was sorry she could not be there (at the Taste of Jasper). Even in the middle of all that, she was thinking about others," Scheibe said.

By Sunday, word was all over Jasper. At least 50 people showed up to help, many from

St. Michael's, Hillcrest Baptist and other churches. They tried to help salvage inventory from the back of the store.

"I can't tell you how grateful I am for all the people who came to help me," Mary said.

Many of the shoes and clothes were moved to the old Winton Sims building east of the Ashy store, which is already full of vintage, but brand new, clothes and shoes.

The Ashy store is known far and wide for having clothes from any era. When the junior high held a fifties rally, all the teachers went to the Ashy store for their poodle skirts and sock hop sweaters.

Jeanette Coffield of Lakes Area Hospice, which owns the old bank building on the corner of Main and Milam, gave Mary the keys to the building and told her. to "use it." Coffield said Mary has always supported the hospice and often gives donations.

But 50 people moving cartloads of merchandise hardly made a dent in the inventory.

By Monday Mary was sitting in her soggy storefront, waiting for roofers and insurance inspectors to decide what needs to be done.

There was no electricity, but light from the windows and the new "skylight" gave enough illumination that Mary was selling shoes. As long as the inventory remains in place, she knows where everything is, size, style and color.

"It didn't hit me until today," Mary admitted, but even then she was still in denial that she might have to move everything out of the building. The damp water line was creeping up the stacks of boxes on the floor.

City inspector Bo Duckworth stopped by about 11 a.m. Monday. He advised Mary that she needed to have the ceiling braced up to prevent further collapse.

Family members, cousins from Lake Charles and West Virginia, came to help Mary, and a constant stream of locals was stopping by to see if they could bring Mary lunch or run any errands.

Mary said, "I hate that I missed the Taste of Jasper. It's the first one I've missed." She is a charter member of the Jasper Pilot Club, which was founded in 1966, and the P.N. Ashy store is arguably one of Jasper's more famous landmarks.

Retired Jasper Newsboy publisher Willis Webb complained in an editorial last year that visiting Governor Rick Perry didn't have time to visit the local media, instead "(Perry) opted to visit one of our better tourist attractions, the P.N. Ashy Store."