The Late Gilbert (Gil) Louey--Hanover, PA

[Rastus10]

It’s been a long-held desire of mine to know who else transacted with this gentleman and to briefly share my experience, as I’ve known of no other individual who held so many 78’s for sale. Please enlighten me with your own story, if there was another. I’d love to hear it.

Mr. Louey resided in Hanover, a town of about 15,000, in south-central Pennsylvania. He had a modestly-sized home south of town. In back, there was a two-level building that he built with his father in the early 1950’s, and that contained a wonderland of records. Stacks and stacks of 78’s, both upstairs and down. Upstairs, stacked on shelves, downstairs, quite willy-nilly and spread about. 45’s almost up the ceiling if I remember correctly. By his estimate, he had 50,000 78’s and half a million 45’s for sale—for a quarter each. Yes, twenty-five cents.

I made my first visit when I was thirteen, and continued visiting him even after I was college, a good 2.5 hours away, until I was 22, when Mr. Louey developed kidney trouble and was no longer able to leave his house. He passed away in May 2002 at the age of 77. The core of my Victor acoustic and early electric collection, as well as many obscure (but not valuable) Columbia A1-A1000 discs, was purchased at his establishment. I wish that I could describe the sense of wonder that was present in my mind, the thrill of getting up early, making the long drive, and then searching through stacks and stacks of records. Everything was new to me, and to this day, I look upon those experiences as a golden period of discovery that I know will never be repeated. As was new to me in regard to buying 78’s, and there was a goldmine (again, to my young mind) just waiting to be patiently searched through.

Mr. Louey’s interest was early country music, and he had shelves of records which I believe were donated to one of our national museums or repositories. Indeed, while I was searching, he would sit and talk with me and listen to taped broadcasts of country and bluegrass music from a Washington, DC station. As his health declined, he sold me his last-remaining outside horn machine for a price that was very affordable for a twenty-one year-old. I confess to not purchasing any other since then. There’s nothing really special about it, but the gesture remains that I had gained some level of trust to him that he let it go for a ridiculously low price. I also purchased my first pre-dog Victor there, as well as my first ODJB records. They were not a quarter, but for a nineteen year-old to purchase a 1902 pre-dog Victor for a few dollars in the 1997 pre-eBay days was a defining moment. Again, battered, but I had something to listen to and increase my yearning for more music.

My only regret is that I did examine what appeared to be several thousand blue-label acoustic Columbias in the basement. Unfortunately, every time I approached the area, I had difficulty breathing, and the amount of dust on them was tremendous. Likewise, there were stacks and stacks of records in the garage that I never examined saved once, when he said it contained some John McCormack Red Seals, and I pulled forth a battered copy of Victrola 1092, which contained Moonlight and Roses, and fueled my McCormack obsession.

I often wonder what became of such a large quantity of records upon his demise. I would certainly like to hear if any of you transacted/visited/talked with him to any degree.