: 'Toughest part of town' Continued from Page 2. which was connected to the building. If nobody was manning the till when a customer strolled in, the bell above the door let the Wards know they had visitors. At Christmas time the bell rang frequently. Woodley recalls stacks of chocolates piled high on the counter that customers had ordered. There were also bags of candies Woodley made by scooping them into bags and weighing each. Of the huge amount of chocolates purchased, Woodley says, "It would be amazing. I don't know how people got through them all.11 The day be- Employee Doug Adams. fore Easter, the Wards stayed up all night baking hot cross buns and began delivering them at 4 a.m. or 5 a.m. Easter morning. The rest of the year Woodley made grab bags of candies that sold for one cent. The store was open six days a week. Frank never opened on Sunday. "He wouldn't even let me ride my skateboard on Sunday," says Woodley, explaining it was too noisy. However, on Saturday nights the business officially stayed open until midnight and people coming home from card games, the theatre or bingo often strolled in and bought their groceries for the next few days. This sometimes kept Frank there until 2 a.m. But there was never any worry of late-night robberies. Woodley admits Foster Ward was "the toughest part of town" but notes she was never afraid to walk the streets at night. For people who couldn't or didn't want to make the walk to the store, the Wards delivered in their truck, emblazoned with the store's name. The family ran the store until Frank's death in 1956. Their son, Bob, took over the business for a few years afterwards, but then sold it and went into the insurance business. Today it is owned by Joanne Belnap, who took over the business from her parents Tom and Nadine Belnap, after her father's death in 1989. The word grocery has been changed to variety and the store is now open Sundays. Frank Ward loved children, treated them at Halloween Customer Betty Smith leaving Ward's grocery store.