Don Wemple, a lifelong New Philadelphia resident, has been collecting interesting items for 37 years. While some collectors have coins or stamps, Wemple has accumulated numerous pieces that are unique, organized, and tell a story.

“My mother,” said Wemple, “Erma Lesjak, had a collection of at least 200 wind chimes hanging from her patio rafters. When she passed away in 2002, I decided to bring a few home.”

After 23 years as a crane operator for Empire Detroit Reeves Steel, Wemple retired following an onset of MS (multiple sclerosis). He and his wife, Fran, moved into town from their Baltzley Valley home.

“I had to do something,” said Wemple, “now that I wasn’t working.”

He began adding to those wind chimes he had brought home from his mother’s collection. The collection blossomed into not only other wind chimes, but old bicycles, advertising signs, thermometers, gasoline and oil cans, gas pumps, 2,000 tie bars, 300 belt buckles, and a host of other things.

“I have a chest that came from Italy in 1902,” said Wemple. “There are papers inside it from the man who owned it. He had been sending little amounts of money to pay for his trip and the chest. In 1919, it was noted he paid the final $1.25.”

When area businesses closed their doors, Wemple bought memorabilia from the stores. A thermometer hangs on the wall of his garage that was from a funeral home that stood where Dantes is located. Another thermometer that says East End Dennison has a three-digit phone number on it.

“The inflatable spark plug I have hanging,” said Wemple, “is from the Packers Garage on First Drive in New Philly. It’s three generations old, and I bought it when Kelly went out of business.”

A large Aberths Bakery and Restaurant sign also hangs in the garage. With that sign that had been hanging in the store is another that reads: Hi Diddle, Diddle, the cat and the fiddle, Ma Jones could jump over the moon. She was happy and gay, no baking today, she bought cookies from Aberths at noon.

Another thermometer on Wemple’s garage wall shows how dated it is-Columbus Dispatch First Pictures by Wire Photo. Wemple estimates the porcelain thermometer is from 1920 to 1925.

A World War II small parachute hangs with 1942 stamped on it, a Reeves scrub board that was used so long, it is permanently warped, is displayed, and a gas station bell from Uhrichsville looks like it was just used yesterday.

“I met a lady at a garage sale one time,” said Wemple, “who had a wind chime in a box. She told me it was from the Philippines, was made of shells, and was five foot tall. I didn’t even have to lift it out of the box to know I had to have it. It’s the longest item hanging from my garage ceiling.”

The myriad of collectibles in the neatly arranged garage flow into the inside of the Wemples’ home.

“Our television table actually used to be an organ top,” said Wemple, “and we have two old stoves that were called water heaters or laundry stoves that we use for end tables.”

On the wall hangs a crank telephone with an original New Philadelphia-Dover phone book dated 1953.

Wemple likes to restore things he purchases for his collections, including an old ice box and a butcher block from Herman’s Market in the 50s and 60s that was located between Midvale and Brightwood. He also restored Fran’s chair she had as a young child.

Don Wemple’s love for collecting interesting things has been passed on to his wife, Fran, as well.

“I had a dear friend who died in April,” said Fran, “who got me started on my indoor collection.

“Polly Vitt was 99 and collected dolls and china, and her husband, Frank, who lived to be 100, collected trains and clocks. Polly always told me there was room for one more thing.”

Fran’s collections include hand painted plates and vases, salt and pepper shakers, roosters, cookie jars, yard-long pictures and what she calls her “little people.”

“They are fake Hummels,” said Fran, “but they have increased in value over the years. I have 500 of those, 275 cookie jars, and about 15 yard-long pictures from the 1920s and 1930s. Also, in order for me to have something in the garage, Don has a miner’s hat and lunch pail, because I am from Midvale, and he has my saxophone that I played in high school hanging from the ceiling.”

The Wemples have annual garage sales, but Fran mentioned that people get more interested in Don’s collections lining the walls and hanging from the ceiling.

“I had a man come to my garage sale,” said Don, “who bought three or four milk bottles from me, so I bought some shoes from him that were made in Canal Dover. They sold for $5 new, but had a sale sticker on them for $1.50. The shoes were never worn.”

Don Wemple has been asked if he would sell any of his collectibles.

“He always says as he laughs,” Fran answered, “that he will sell only if he is broke or dead.”

The Wemples have only had a few bouts with vandalism.

“For all we have,” said Wemple, “not too much goes missing. I don’t buy it to hide it. I have these things to display them. We’ve had a few things taken. Fran’s junkyard art cow that she really likes was in the front yard. Someone took it during a storm late at night. Surprisingly, three weeks later, they brought it back.”

Don Wemple continues to keep busy finding places for his collectibles and keeping active riding one of his six antique bicycles, like his old Monark. He bikes 350 miles each year.

The Wemples like everything the way it is now and do not expect to be adding much more to their collections.

“That is,” winks Don, “unless I don’t have it already.”