ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Tuesday, March 18, 1997 TAG: 9703180007
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 1 EDITION: METRO
COLUMN: Beth Macy
SOURCE: Beth Macy
In the small world of South Roanoke, here are two things Lipes Pharmacy is known for:
A soda fountain that, for 50 years, served up homemade chicken salad, ice cream and burgers, not to mention some notable memories. One of my best buddies learned to tie his shoes there - on the coveted first stool - under the tutelage of longtime fountaineer Cleo Vanness.
Tom Harvey's controversial decision to close down the beloved soda fountain in 1988. As Cleo told a newspaper columnist at the time: ``I believe they're going to tar and feather Mr. Harvey.''
A week ago, all was forgiven - finally - or so it seemed. After 48 years of pharmacy work, 22 of them at Lipes, Tom Harvey retired, turning his trusty pill counter over to his son, David.
Counting pills, not sheep
On that final day, Harvey talked about the fly-fishing school he planned to attend. He talked about the 15-day driving trip out West he and his wife, Angie, were finally taking after too many decades of too short vacations. The Harveys raised five children, four of whom were in college at the same time.
He pointed to a slew of awards he'd earned from his service at the Bradley Free Clinic, where he's a board member and where he plans to devote more time in retirement.
Harvey, 64, did not talk much about the soda fountain debacle that rocked South Roanoke, culminating in a failed petition drive and many tearful pleas. Nor did he mention the time a drugstore cowboy blew into Lipes to steal morphine and money, along with his vast collection of wheat pennies.
After all the pills he's counted - five at a time, his metal spatula scooping them smoothly onto the tray - leaving the profession is a little like saying goodbye to an old friend ... one you know a little too much about.
Harvey could mix amoxycillin in his sleep. He knows 19 out of 20 customers by name - and not just where they reside, but who lived in their homes before they did.
Hold the suppositories, please
At Lipes, customers still get a free Coke while their prescription is being filled. And if you can't get out to pick it up, nearly all of South Roanoke knows ``B.M.'' - the nickname for Lipes' longtime delivery man, Robert McGeorge - who will bring the drugs to you in his white Ford Escort.
Harvey is even credited with helping a number of area women conceive children.
It's not what you think.
Harvey is among a handful of pharmacists in town who'll hand-mix progesterone suppositories, which are sometimes prescribed to help women get pregnant.
``One woman sent us a picture of her baby,'' says David Harvey, 31, who will continue the service.
The concoction is made by melting cocoa butter and mixing it with progesterone powder. A standard procedure taught in pharmacy school - though Lipes gives it a down-home twist by melting the goo atop a coffee-pot warmer. ``It's one more thing we do that the chains just don't have time to do,'' David says.
The soda-fountain scoop
Here are answers to the two most-frequent questions David Harvey is asked these days:
Yes, he plans to serve his customers in the same small-town manner.
No, it's not financially feasible to reopen the soda fountain.
For his dad's retirement celebration last week, longtime Lipes clerk Sheila Lovern brought in biscuits, slathered with the same-recipe chicken salad that was once so popular at the fountain. ``People were saying, `I never thought I'd be eating chicken salad in Lipes again,''' David said.
He sighed, ``They're already asking me to bring it back.''
LENGTH: Medium: 83 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: STEPHANIE KLEIN-DAVIS THE ROANOKE TIMES. 1. David Harveyby CNB(right) succeeds his father, Tom (left), as head pharmacist at Lipes
Pharmacy in South Roanoke. 2. Dick Smith (left), a neighbor of Lipes
Pharmacy, congratulates Tom Harvey on his retirement. 3. Sheila
Lovern (left) has worked at Lipes off and on for 15 years. Her
mother, Jo Taylor (center), has worked at the South Roanoke pharmacy
for 31 years, and Robert ``B.M.'' McGeorge has delivered
prescriptions for 35 years. color.