Thrusday, January 07, 1999
Service with smile, never a coat
Gas station owner has built-in antifreeze
BY JANICE MORSE
The Cincinnati Enquirer
HAMILTON — In the coldest weather, Freddy House warmly greets his service station customers — dressed as if it's summer.
“He's been doing this for years,” said Russell Roberts, as Mr. House, wearing a blue short-sleeved shirt, pumped gasoline into Mr. Roberts' postal service truck around noon Tuesday. “People won der, "What's the matter with him?' I wonder whether there isn't something wrong with the rest of us. We're the ones who have to bundle up.”
Mr. House, 48, who has run the station at Main and E streets since 1976, said he's worked coatless for about 20 years.
“I'd take care of people out there, then run back here inside the station — and I'd burn up,” he said. “So I just stopped wearing a coat.” And no gloves, hat, or scarf.
His distinct lack of winter wear draws stares.
“When I saw him out here in his shirt sleeves, I couldn't believe it,” said Jane Pen nington.
Ms. Pennington, who drove her station wagon in to have the antifreeze checked, said Mr. House gave her personal attention that is rare at service stations nowadays. “There he goes again!” she said, watching as he scurried to wait on another customer. “He's got some kind of heater in him, I guess.”
Mr. House knows he's a hot topic of conversation at Lakes Coffee Shop across the street.
“We talk about it all the time. People think he's nuts. They really think he's crazy,” said the shop's co-owner, Paul Lakes. “And I say, "No, he's perfectly sane. He's just really warm-blooded.'”
“We sit there and marvel at him as we're pouring coffee down our gullets. It's reading "zero' on the thermometer, and that man's out there talking to people, scraping their windshields and pumping their gas, dressed like that,” said City Councilman George McNally, a patron of the coffee shop. “He'll stand out there and not even get a goosebump.”
It's true. Even after several minutes in the frigid wind, Mr. House's burly forearm is still warm to the touch.
That's how Mr. House got the nickname “Iron Man.”
More ice, snow coming
January is fattest month of all
Library funds lacking
Plea deal for driver angers injured boy's family
Rape charges dropped against ex-chief
Schulenberg friends fill church
Beyond the bunny hill
Lucas bolts party ranks on first day
Sen. Bunning shares glory at swearing-in
Voinovich is no stranger to challenges
From 'backwater' to beltway
CONGRESSIONAL NOTEBOOK
Helping children to heal - gently
Allen Sapp was CCM dean and composer
Area author tells teens how to help themselves
Boone emergency-phone system can warn 12,000 people per hour
Dispatcher's return likely to stand
Fire and life squad kept busy
Hearing on Ohio 741 zoning
'Intranet' to send assignments to homes
Local health insurance cost increases vary widely
Networks fine tune lineups
Rescuers slip, slide, save the day
Schools asked to allocate money on per-pupil basis
Service with smile, never a coat
Study to revitalize Lawrenceburg begins
Tech colleges sell value of education
Thousands miss mail because of snow, ice
TRISTATE DIGEST
UC union leaders want diverse board of trustees
