Diamond Cab of Sault Ste. Marie, MI

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by Sharon M. Kennedy

In the late 1920s, Mom’s sister, Kate, married a tall gentleman from Illinois. I was never told how they met. I don’t think Vernor Larson was in the military, but I’ll never know for sure. As a kid, it didn’t occur to me to ask about the courtship of my aunts and uncles. Anyway, they settled in the Soo and Uncle Vernor decided to make a living as a cab driver. Believe it or not, there was a need for such a service in the town. He wasn’t interested in working for someone else. He purchased his own vehicle and named his service “Diamond Cab.” I think eventually he worked out of a “shack” on or near Portage Avenue.

The photo of the man leaning against the cab might have been called “Tilly.” That was the name written on the back of the picture. The cab license was 1932. Perhaps some old-timer will remember his parents talking about Larson and his taxi and who Tilly was. I think Uncle Vernor worked alone until he purchased another vehicle and took on a partner. My uncle used to say he didn’t have much use for religion because he saw firsthand how some “good” Catholics acted. On Saturday night, he’d pick them up from one of the Soo’s bars, and on Sunday morning he’d drive the same men to church.

Mom and Aunt Kate are sitting on the back of the vehicle. I can’t tell if it’s the same cab, but I don’t think so. It looks like an older one Uncle Vernor owned and drove out to the farm to visit Mom and my Grandmother who died five years before I was born. Mom was her parents’ youngest child. Both her sisters, Marie and Kate, treated her with kindness and love and showered her with gifts.

Notice the Wynn Auto Sales cover over the spare tire. It was a business in Sault Ste. Marie. Did it morph into Lynn Auto Sales due to marriage or some such thing? I don’t know but perhaps some reader will enlighten me. That’s today’s stroll down memory lane where there are many unknown trails that may never be discovered.

Mom and Aunt Kate

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