This thank-you card from a grateful Robert F. Stauer arrived during the Canteen’s fifth and last Christmas season.
is my view that the Canteen should be contin- ued until the big movement of these returning servicemen is over. “You women have done a great job in the North Platte Canteen and it would be too bad to have that record marred by an untimely closing. — Bill Jeffers.” Telegraph | Dec. 18, 1945 The arrival of evergreen sprays at the Canteen Saturday filled the officers of the day and regular workers with the Christmas spirit, and work on decorations began in earnest. Wreaths of evergreen,
centered with large red crepe-paper bows, were made and hung in every window, both on the plat- form and the street side of the Canteen. A continuous string of evergreen sprays hang on the four walls and overhead and also are trimmed with red bows made by the Saturday workers. On behalf of the entire Canteen staff, the Saturday officers of the day expressed appreciation to the Chamber of Commerce for the donation of the evergreen. Mrs. M.R. [Blanche] Buchtel donated another string of lights for the tree.
If the Canteen closed earlier than planned, it wouldn’t be due to the Union Pacific or its North Platte born-and-bred president. Telegraph | Dec. 11, 1945 William Jeffers, in a letter to Mrs. Adam [Helen] Christ, today dispelled any rumor that the Canteen will be forced to close in order to facilitate a Union Pacific restaurant in the depot, and [he] also en- dorsed keeping the Canteen open. … “As far as I know, there is no possibility of the Union Pacific utilizing this space for a restau- rant in the immediate future. Most certainly, it
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