Friends and Neighbors: Sue Leininger

This week marks the sixth anniversary of the fire that destroyed the nationally registered historic stone building located at 126 S. Chestnut after nearly 115 years of operation.

Once the "old stone store," the building was built from locally quarried limestone in 1894 and opened on January 5, 1895.

History states that the building was first a general merchandise store at the ground level and a community dinner and dance floor on the second level of the building, owned by John Biggs.

At the time of the blaze, on January 2, 2010, the building housed The Corner Bar, as it had for more than 70 years, and was operated by Sue Leininger.

Born Myra Sue Enlow in Phoenix, Ariz., Sue moved with her parents and brother, Norman, to an area north of Scottsbluff, which she referred to as the Lake Alice community. She and her brother attended elementary schools in Lake Alice where her parents ran a grocery store and a gas stations and her mother, Faye, taught second grade.

At the end of her brother's sophomore year of high school, in 1956, the family moved to Kimball where her mother taught and she worked for Dr. Bob Sherrerd, the local eye doctor, as well as her cousin.

Leininger, a 1960 graduate from Kimball High School, met and married Richard "Dick" Leininger in 1962.

She immediately began helping her husband with the family business, the Corner Bar, which was purchased by Dick's grandfather, George Leininger, in 1936.

In the early years, Sue said, women were not allowed in the establishment and she recalls a time when families would come into town from the country – dads would go to the tavern and moms would go do shopping while the children were at a movie.

After the shopping was done local moms would pick up the children from the theater and together they would sit outside the bar in the vehicle and wait for dad.

Sue and her husband took over running the establishment in 1972, and even then she said it was unusual for her to be seen in the bar during working hours, as before she was only there after hours to clean and do other work.

Through the years Sue and Dick had two daughters, Denise and Diana.

When their daughters were young, she stayed home with them and ran a daycare and when the girls began school she worked at the West Elementary as a teacher's assistant for a couple of years, before working at the Corner Bar full time, beginning in 1972.

Their daughters grew up in Kimball and graduated from Kimball High School as she did and now their oldest, Denise, resides in Washington with her family while Diana and her family live in Ainsworth.

Sue has five grandchildren and three great grandchildren, and another great child due at the end of February.

Presently, Sue resides with her friend and partner of thirty years, Clem Moler. She has seen many changes in our community in the past 55 years, and she has concerns that it will ever see another growth spurt, as it did during the oil boom days.

"Kimball used to be 'old money' until the oil boom. By 'old money', I mean that most people that were here were generations that were born here and farmed here," she said. "I don't know if Kimball will ever see another boom. It doesn't look hopeful."

Despite the declining population of Kimball, Leininger enjoys her community and is especially fond the people. She continues to work part-time as well as volunteer at the Eagles Club each Thursday.