"The Lunch Bunch Story"

No one seems to know just how a group of men who regularly ate lunch together became known as the Lunch Bunch. Bill Talkington pondered the question and answered when asked, “It just evolved. No grand plan, it just evolved.” However it began, this group of men somewhere along the line came together inside the Court restaurant and became part of its history. Within downtowns most famous eatery, the walls exhibit silent witness to local history in hundreds of pictures. Autographed photographs of long ago movie stars hang alongside a couple legendary sports heroes. Old black and white prints of the town show it as it was many years ago. Hanging among the many framed photos is the lunch bunch, men forever frozen in position around their regular lunch table. Doctor LeMoyne Coffield may have written it best when describing the groups place in time. “Things don’t change much anymore except the weather.  The constants are, I awaken each morn. I go to the Court for Lunch, and the Ohio is flowing south.” That was true at one time, but LeMoyne and all the others have moved on in time, save one chair still occupied daily by Bill Talkington. Those chairs that once welcomed Bryan Wilson, Wells Eakins, Wayne McCaskey,  Herb Rothlisberger Jim Fitzsimmons, Harold Zohn and LeMoyne Coffield  now welcome  other  lunch guests. And those who now sit in their places may never know the contributions this fine group of men made to their community and it's proud legacy. 

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By Chuck Clegg