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| Little Georgenne,
Age 4 Rehobeth Beach, MD |
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| Lucille, Age 9 |
You may be wondering who exactly Georgie Lou is? Well, technically, she doesn't exist--there is no one person named Georgie Lou. The name is derived from our mothers' names--Georgenne and Lucille. When we were searching for a meaningful, retro-sounding name, I was inspired to dice and splice our mother's names' together . . . and Georgie Lou was born.
"Georgie" is my mom, Georgenne Fitzpatrick Loy. Named after her father, she was born in and has lived most of her life in Carlisle, Pennsylvania. She is a true baby boomer--a child of the 1950s and 1960s, and she and my pop, Len, have been wonderful resources while choosing candy and toys for the store. If they say they ate it or had one just like it, you can bet I've put it in the store. Our oldest son is also named George, so there's a lot of meaning for me in this name. You can often see my parents at the store, as they drop by to see what's new.
"Lou" comes from my husband's late mother, Lucille Palmer Gilbert. She was born in Texas and lived her adult life in Orlando, Florida. She was a child of the 1930s and 1940s, and we've tried to stay true to the candy and toys of those eras as well. We were unfortunate to lose her in early 2008, as well as my husband's sister, Cynthia Lou, later that year. In the last conversation she had with him, Cynthia told Harlon not to wait to experience what he wanted out of life. Their losses, especially Cynthia's, are the reason why my husband backed my crazy idea to open a candy store.
So, What's Our Story?
We
are the Gilberts (well the boys are the Gilberts and I'm a Patterson
Gilbert)--Harlon, Georgie, Tommy, Jack, and Stephanie. We're just
a regular family of way too many boys who love Americana and
want to share a small slice of it with you.
I, meaning Stephanie, hold an M.A. in American Studies and have taught popular culture and American Women's history classes at Dickinson College. Before that, I was the curator at the Historical Society of Dauphin County and have taught high school Social Studies and English. My family has been in Carlisle for more than six generations. I've wanted to open a retro candy store for years now and finally convinced my husband I wasn't crazy for wanting to--and Georgie Lou's was under way.
Harlon is a Home Delivery Manager for the Patriot News in Harrisburg. He and I met while finishing our English B.A.s at the University of Central Florida in Orlando, Florida, in 1993. Harlon was born and raised in Orlando, Florida, but all of his people are from Texas. Yee-HAW!
Georgie, Tommy, and Jack are our three boys, ages 15, 13, and 4. Georgie and Tommy are students in Carlisle area schools, and Jack attends pre-school at Georgie Lou's, so to speak. Jack is developmentally delayed, has low muscle tone, and isn't talking yet--he's not quite like your ordinary four-year old. But he's very social. If he gets loose, he's the one coming up to you and patting your leg at the store--he's a people person for sure! But don't be alarmed because that's just his way of saying "hello".