French's Meat Market

Deer hanging from a hook out back as the Christmas parade went by — and one year the parade had to stop so the firemen could get their truck out.

— Mary Ellen Rippe

The old wood cooler had a dirt floor until the mid-90s, when it became the new processing room and break room. The parade always seemed to fall on opening weekend of deer season, and the route eventually moved over to Pearl Street. He bought the locker from Bea Frey, who had bought it from Virginia French. Bea and her partners had originally bought the place to process ostriches.

— Joe Bolser, who owned the shop later on

French's had the best summer sausage, and it was the place to get a deer processed. After the fire, her husband started processing their deer himself — a deer hanging in the garage at 6:30 in the morning was, in her words, a jump scare.

— Angie Dickman Bass

Worked at French’s for about five years. It started with a high school mentorship day — by his own reckoning, about an hour of actual work that day.

— Colin Gibbs

Single-digit temperatures that night, as he remembers it. He is checking whether he has photos from that night.

— Zach Koehne, who responded to the fire that night

When neighbors kept asking where French's other location was, she shared it: Westport Locker, West St, Westport, IN 47283.

— Michele LeMasters

He was running the pump on the tower the night of the fire.

— Stephen Macke, who ran the pump on the tower truck that night

One holiday parade, Santa was coming up the street right next to French’s — and inside, they were processing a fresh-killed deer. He thought it was kind of funny.

— Patrick Schene

Always got her eggs there — and she remembers the fire.

— Mary Nordmeyer

Her grandparents Clarence and Florence Schulte bought the locker from Ed Pickers — her grandpa had worked for Ed before buying it. Her mom, Mary Lou, thinks the purchase was in the 1950s. There was an old-fashioned grocery store connected to the locker, called Buckaves, and Mary Lou’s Beauty Shop went up next door in 1969.

— Randi Strin, Mary Lou’s daughter

Her mom and dad opened French’s Locker.

— Sonya French Hountz

Worked at French’s many years ago, back when Mrs French owned it — the Virginia French era.

— Terrie Rudolf

Watched the firefighting from her house the night of the fire, March 6, 2019.

— Norma Mayes

Judy Volz's two teenage boys had a part-time job at French's, cleaning the butcher room at night in 10-degree cold. The laundry they brought home was something else — but their mom and dad were proud of them all the same.

— Judy Volz