Bios: Wm. D. Temple, Winn Parish, LA Submitted by Greggory E. Davies, 120 Ted Price Lane, Winnfield, LA 71483 ********************************************** Copyright. All rights reserved. http://usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://usgwarchives.net/la/lafiles.htm ********************************************** >From the August 9, 1951 Winn Parish Enterprise "Uncle Bill" Temple Is Retired Cafe Man Back in the day of five-cent hot dogs, when the village of Dodson made a stronger claim to being a boom town that it does now, W. D. "Uncle Bill" Temple was in the cafe business there, and as befits a man in his older days, has come to be one of the well respected and liked men in the community. He has listened to many a good nature yarn, and has spun quite a few himself. He is known, among other things, for his quick wit, pleasant smile, and hearty laugh. Mr. Temple is known to people all over the parish for his most recentjob, dry goods clerk at Milam's Department Store in Winnfield, from which he retired last year. He now has gardening to take up his time, and the fine shape of his produce evidences good use of the time. Mr. and Mrs. Temple moved to Dodson from Gansville in the fall of 1922, when their son Harold, was one year old. Mr. Temple operated a cafe in four different locations while in business, a total of 16 years. He also ran a meat market in connection with his cafe most of the time. Sold First Hot Dog That old American institution, the hot dog, was introduced to Dodson by Uncle Bill Temple. He made and sold the first batch ever seen or heard about there, and to this day receives comment from people who remember to the effect that never before or since have they eaten hot dogs quite as good as the old originals. Uncle Bill, who himself had never heard of a hot dog, got the receipe from W. H. Lee, a travelling salesman for Rapides Packing Company. "Just get these weiners like I'm selling you now, and finger rolls from the bakery, follow instructions, and people will buy them," the salesman said. And he was right. A Sikes man who had been in a Shreveport hospital for several weeks following an auto wreck was being brought home, and when the ambulance passed through Dodson, he instructed the driver to stop at Uncle Bill's Cafe and have hot dogs made and brought out to him until he said stop. Uncle Bill didn't keep count then, but several years later saw the man, who remembered and told him that he had eaten 11 of the luscious dogs before stopping. Mr. Temple quit the cafe business in 1938, and operated only a service station in the building presently occupied by Henry Kornegay's service station. Mr. Temple sold the service station business to Mr. Kornegay in 1941. After going out of business in Dodson, Uncle Bill worked for a short time at Oakland Courts in Winnfield, and then bought a store from Mrs. John King near the Imperial Hotel in Winnfield. He operated this one year. In March of 1950, Mr. Temple had been with Milam's Department Store for six years. He retired the following June at 65 years of age to draw accumulated social security an old age pension. He is a deacon in the Dodson Baptist Church, a former Mason, and has been a member of the Woodmen of the World since he was 18. (Submitted by Greggory Ellis Davies, Winnfield, Winn Parish, LA.)