I thought about Dallis Hill just the other day when I traveled up to Helen for Rita’s interment at Queen of Peace Cemetery. As I made the left turn onto Chaptico Road, I checked out the old Hill’s Country Store, thought about Dallis and wondered how he was doing. I had heard that the store was now back in the Hill family and made myself a mental note to try and find out more about just who is now running it.
So guess who dropped into Buzzy’s Country Store yesterday? Dallis and his wife Betty.
Dallis has visited Buzzy’s Country Store several times in the past (see links below) so naturally I was pleased to have him and Betty drop back in for a visit. For me it is always an honor and great fun to talk to folks such as Dallis who grew up in and ran a country store for a number of years.
Note that during the course of our extended conversation, Dallas confirmed that his nephew David is running the store so it is back in the Hill family. (To check out their FB page (click here.)
I hit the Enterprise archives to find the following articles on the history of Hill’s store. This is a 1999 article featuring Dallis’ Mom Marie as she prepared to celebrate 60 years of running the Store:
In 2004 Dallas retired and sold the Store. The Enterprise ran this article discussing the transition to include this photo. (To read entire article (click here.)
Note – all these years I have been guilty of misspelling Dallis’ name in my previous posts on him. I wasn’t aware of his preferred spelling until I read in one of the above articles where he is quoted as saying “Be sure to spell my name with an “I” and not an “A” because I ain’t no Cowboys fan.”
Toby’s first hit song seems appropriate here. Ironically, he is cowboy hat-less when he is playing music here.