Events and Activities : There was no Monkeying around at Center Point Library's 1st Friday With Friends

Mary Jane Gustoff enjoying coffee at Center Point Library's First Friday With Friends July 7.

At the July 7 free coffee gathering at the Center Point Library there was no talk of kids, cooking or crochet. Instead, Mary Jane Gustoff told the group about her mail-order monkey.

She and the late Ed "Gus" Gustoff got married in 1956 and the young man's fancy also turned to monkeys. So, of course, they got one-from the Spiegel catalog. Mary Jane was teaching Third Grade at Troy Mills at the time and during her noon break ran to the Walker depot to pick him up from the train.

The monkey's name was Jo Jo and Mary Jane said, "I would put him on my shoulder and walk around town with him. We got along fine. I could even give him baths."

While most of the listeners were still drop-jawed about a monkey from a catalog, head librarian Janine Walters, as librarians do, researched.

The late-Fifties Spiegel catalog listed: "SQUIRREL MONKEY. Cheerful, lively, almost as small as a squirrel. Brightly colored…. See shipping information…. Sorry, no sex choice….(10 lbs.) $5 monthly….29.75"

You could also order skunks, mynah birds, flying squirrels, 46 different dog breeds, raccoons, alligators, ponies, Mexican burros, and pigs.

Eventually, Jo Jo went to live with a relative and had a fatal encounter with a shop heater. The Spiegel company died in 2019. Mary Jane and Gus moved to Center Point in the late Sixties, and Gus worked for the city and volunteered with the fire department and ambulance. Mary Jane taught 45 years, 35 at Central City, and finished up as a reading teacher at Center Point.

Another fun fact: When Mary Jane took a teaching job at Walker, brother-in-law Jay Simmons pulled their house trailer from Troy to Walker with his tractor, and they rented space in Dan Mahoney's yard for $5 a month plus Mary Jane helping Mrs. Mahoney in the house.

First Friday With Friends, sponsored by Friends of the Center Point Library, happens from 9-10 the first Friday of each month with free coffee, sometimes baked goods, and maybe never again such a good story.