I was fortunate to have grown up around a radio station and and an outdoor drive-in that were owned by my grandfather and uncle. I didn’t work at the drive-in like I did the radio station, although on occasion I would fill in at the ticket booth, or pop the popcorn. There was also a time when my brother, Mike, and I kept the grass cut. What I did do a lot of at the drive-in was hang out there almost every night. It was the best of times.

John D. Sloan, who ran the projectors through those years, died this past week on June 13th. He was 90 years old. To me, he was an icon. He was one of the things I loved about the drive-in. He always had a great story to tell about past history.

John also loved to talk about issues pertaining to local government. You see, in November of 1967, he had defeated democrat Walter Richardson in a special election to fill his brother Ivan’s unexpired term as first district magistrate. Ivan had died in 1966. John served the next seventeen years as magistrate, alongside people like Bill Byers, Charlie Tallent, Leo Edwards, Eugene Piercey, Guy Cross, Marvin Hay, A.V. Conner, Danny McFall, Donnie Massengale and others.

Not only had Ivan also been a magistrate, he and another brother, Arnold, had also run the projector at the drive-in, as well as at Clinton Theatre. That’s where John started his career as a movie projector operator.

When the drive-in closed in 1987, John told Clinton County News that he was 11 years old in 1942 when he started working for Ira B. Dyer at Clinton Theater, after Dyer had leased it from Everett Hassler and W.H. Nunn. He also helped Dyer build the outdoor drive-in, which he opened in 1953.

Dyer sold the drive-in to my grandfather and uncle. Along about the same time, they also bought Clinton Theater. By the time John retired, he had worked at both businesses a total of 45 years. Can you imagine how many movies he must have watched during all those years?

Since John, Arnold and Ivan were movie projector operators, it was only natural that John would bring his nephew (and my uncle), Archie Norris, into the business when Archie, like John, was 11 years old, and when he was old enough, John taught his son, Steve, who took over for his dad when he retired in 1982. So, it was a family thing.

I always admired the way John kept his cool when just about every person watching the movie would blow their car horn non-stop anytime the film broke. That would have made me a nervous wreck, but John always worked through it and had the movie going again in no time at all.

And speaking of family, during the day John was a popular painter. He eventually brought his nephew, Mark Sloan, into the business and today, through Mark, the family business remains in operation and is a success.

Another icon from my growing up years is gone. There seems to be a lot of that going on these days. But this time, it’s more than that.

John D. Sloan was family. May he rest in peace.

Randy Speck

Veteran Radio Announcer

WANY Radio Station

Albany, KY 42602

606-306-3619

“Visit my blog, The Notorious Meddler,

at randyspecktacular.com”