NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — The variety of a thrift store is something Kyle Hill loves.
"70s leisure suits. Records. You name it, it comes through here at some point," he said.
Hill's the executive director at Hendersonville Samaritan Center.
"There are four African stargazing chairs that are here," he continued, touring around the Center's thrift store. "Why's that here in Hendersonville? I have no idea."
In another spot sat a set of vintage Pepsi bottles containing vintage Pepsi itself.
"Would you drink a 1992 Pepsi?" I asked Hill.
"Uh, no. I'd probably put it on a shelf," he answered.
Probably for the best.
Sometimes Hill gets something that takes a little detective work. Hendersonville Samaritan Center just watched one of those things come in through the door.
"The family told us, 'this is Uncle H's uniform,'" Hill explained. "'It's been in a box. We don't know what to do with it.'"
It was a World War II-era uniform for someone who served in what was then the US Army Air Corps.
"Sgt. Harold Goodrich is the name that has come out," Hill said of the uniform. "This store tries to generate things for the community, with everything we do going to our crisis center and food bank, but this belonged to somebody. It's, like, I can't sell that. I've gotta preserve that."
Hill wondered what they should do with Goodrich's uniform. He turned to VFW Post 9851. That's where the uniform is now under the care of Bob Underwood.
"When he had the staff sergeant patches in [his pocket], it looks like he was expecting a promotion real soon," Underwood said.
Hill said the family who donated the uniform didn't tell him much about it, so he's posted on the Hendersonville Samaritan Center Facebook page hoping for more details on Goodrich.
"He has a little novelty we found inside his shirt pocket," Underwood said. "It's his attendance to Arthur Murray Dance classes. It even has specific instructions for dance steps."
"In November 1945, he was paying for dance lessons and trying to figure out how to dance," Hill added. "He was trying to learn how to do the foxtrot! At that point, it took on a personality. It wasn't something on a hanger. It was real."
Underwood said he's going to make sure the uniform gets to a good place, maybe a museum.
"We have not forgotten those who have gone before us, and we want to make sure their stories continue to be told," he said.
"Everything in here has a story," Hill continued, talking about items in the thrift store. "It was owned by someone. It was loved at one point."
At any moment, really, something else could arrive that commands the thrift store team's interest. In fact, it just happened.
"This came in quite literally yesterday," Hill said, holding up a card. "Clyde William Marr. This is his WWII draft card. January 15, 1943. This was in a billfold that was donated."
Sounds like something else that might need a little detective work.
Do you have a positive, good news story? You can email me at forrest.sanders@newschannel5.com.
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