The Candy Lady

Do you remember the Candy Lady? The D & C Store’s candy counter was a frequent stop for kids and their parents for decades and one face was always there to serve them. If you said you saw the “Candy Lady”, everyone in town would know you meant Esther Haueter.

She was hired in 1944 at the age of twenty-one. She and her sister Ethel Peabody had worked together at Beedle Brothers, another dime store down the street at 308 S. Bridge, where Ethel was the manager. Both sisters left that store and went to work for D & C, but Ethel would soon leave to become an upholsterer at the Chair Co.

Esther remained working at the candy counter where most of the candy sold was in bulk. Customers would come to the glass counter and look over the wide selection. They sold wonderful candy like: chocolate stars, chocolate chunks, chocolate bridge mix, chocolate party mix, chocolate covered peanuts, jelly beans, sweet tarts, roasted peanuts, robins eggs, butterscotch and many more. When customers decided on what they wanted, the Candy Lady would scoop out the candy, and then very carefully drop the candy piece by piece into a scale. If you wanted 25 cents worth of chocolate stars, she would weight them out perfectly until it reached 25 cents worth. Your candy would go into a small wax paper bag and you would take it up to cashier to pay.

Employees at the Dime Store got a discount; she would buy yarn and crochet baby blankets and afghans for family, friends and VFW veterans. She worked Saturdays but had Tuesdays off. As kids we always knew we could count on her on Tuesdays to take us to appointments or drive us to Lansing. Esther remained with D & C until she turned 65 years old. She retired after 44 years of service as the town’s Candy Lady. At the time of her retirement, the State Legislature in Lansing passed a resolution honoring her for her years of service.

Esther Haueter, my great-aunt, was born just north of Grand Ledge on State Road in Eagle Township. When she was thirteen, her father Fred bought a farm on Tallman Road at the end of West Main Street. She would continue to live there for the next fifty years. She passed away in 2004 and would have been 86 years old this year on March 16^th.