Archive for the ‘pharmacy’ tag
McLeskey Todd Pharmacy, and my Papa’s “Red Oil”
My Grandfather, George Donnan, use to keep a bottle of red oil in his medicine cabinet. Nobody ever really knew what it was. It was in a small plastic bottle, and the only marking on it was a hand written sticker reading “Red Oil.” If you got a paper cut, you put red oil on it. If you scraped your knee or elbow falling off the skateboard, you put red oil on it. All we ever really knew was that he had gotten it from the JP Stephens factory he worked at in Whitmire. And we knew that it worked.
It worked like a charm. How did nobody else know about this?
Like all things, time forgot red oil. Well, at least I did.
Last year Jennifer and I were at the Farmer’s Market off Rutherford Road in Greenville, and I saw a bottle of red liquid behind the counter. I was telling Jennifer about Papa’s red oil, and that I thought that might be it. The guy behind the counter told me his own story of red oil, and that no, this wasn’t it. “But next time you head up to the mountains, stop by McLeskey Todd Pharmacy in TR. He’ll have it.”
Well, I drove by the pharmacy a few hundred times before I stopped in. Its only a mile or so from our home. The first time I stopped in to pick up some poison ivy ointment, it felt like a FAMILY pharmacy. Good, friendly, knowledgeable people sit behind the counter counting pills or answering phones. When you start talking to them they treat you like family. There is genuine concern for your health and well being. They take the time to explain answers to your questions. You never feel rushed, never feel like ‘just another customer.’
So yesterday when I stopped in, I told them about Papa’s bottle of red oil. The youngest man behind the counter said, “With my grandmother, nothing ever happened that she didn’t put red oil on.” I had this vision of the Greek man with his Windex bottle in “My Big Fat Greek Wedding.”
In a city with a Walgreens under construction, a WalMart, a CVS, and RiteAid, all within 2/10 mile of each other, I would take McLeskey Todd anyday. It is one of the few remaining “family pharmacies” in our area.