tingley's resterant and auto repair shop. north road, houlton

This is the garage known as The Tingley Bros. garage and that was the Toot n Tell restaurant that My Grandmother Ruth ran in the sixties when my sisters and i were little kids. We would drive up from Bangor all the time and stop in on the way from Bangor. Grammy Ruth alway gave us Cracker Jacks when they had real toys like rings and cars in the box. These buildings are all gone now and I have a wonderful painting my Grandmother did from a similar aerial photo.

My dad, Roy Lilley and Harold Getchell built the garage in the 1940's and sold it to the Tingley brothers (Clifford, Burton and Junior) in the late 40's. They sold Shell gas but also had a Quaker State oil for sale. The Shell rep went berserk until he found out from Thompson Oil (the local Shell distributor) that it was an independent station and could sell whatever oil or gas they chose to sell.

My uncles owned this garage and my Aunt Ruth ran the restaurant. Loved going there. Many fond memories. You wouldn't even know that there used to be a garage on that property.

This was my grandfather garage. I was told stories of us playing there when kids but cannot remember. Seeing this picture makes me remember gram, gramp, Clifford, ruth,Burton and how much I miss all of them.

My name is Macy Cram, and my mother's name is Gillian Tingley Cram. Ralph M. Tingley, was my great-grandfather (my mother’s papa) and he was first cousins with all of the Tingley brothers. Although they all preferred to say they were brothers. The brothers, Clifford, Burton, and Junior, were my great, great uncles. Sadly, I never met any of them, but I still hear tales about them. Somewhere along the line of this crazy family, we are related.