Jeweler replaces clock lost in fire at Fuller's Restaurant

Bill Longnecker, far right,with Janelle Williams, store operations manager at Longnecker Jewelry, have donated a "Melodies in Motion" clock to Val Fuller and Linda Thayer at Fuller's Family Restaurant. The clock is identical to one lost in a July fire that destroyed all the contents and the restaurant on West B. (Lorri Sughroue/McCook Gazette)

McCOOK, Nebraska -- Time is on the side of Fuller's Family Restaurant, thanks to a new clock donated by local jeweler, Bill Longnecker.

After a fire in July destroyed the nearly all the contents and building at Fuller's restaurant at 218 West B, Fuller's moved to its new location at 110 Norris Ave. In addition to losing half of her massive cookie jar collection, Linda Thayer of Fuller's also lost a clock in the dining room that was given to her six years ago by the owner of the restaurant, Val Fuller.

The clock, which lighted up with songs, was a favorite among customers. "Its always got lots of compliments," Thayer said and became as much a part of the restaurant as the cookie jars.

Since moving into their new location, Val and Linda have been kept busy decorating as well as serving customers. The new location includes a restaurant, plus a larger dining room, lounge area and outdoor covered patio. The distinctive wooden booths from the former restaurant were salvaged, refurbished and are now in use at the new one.

But the restaurant doesn't include a clock, which is where Longnecker stepped in.

"When I heard of the fire, I first thought about the cookie jars," he admitted. "Then later, I remembered the clock. I wanted to donate this new one, they have enough expenses now as it is. This is something we could do for them. I'm just glad we are able to do this."

Finding the same kind of" 'Melody in Motion" clock by Seiko was a bit of challenge, he said, as a fire in Singapore a few years ago wiped out much of the clock inventory. Still, Longnecker kept trying and was able to find and donate the clock to Fuller's on Thursday.

It now hangs in a place of honor in the dining room, facing diners. And every hour, it puts on a show for customers.

And like the former one, this is no ordinary clock. On the hour every hour, it lights up, a song starts to play and the face of the clock separates into four pieces and rotates. About 10 to 12 different songs are played, Thayer said, with Christmas music during the holidays.

All of her Christmas cookie jars, about 500, were lost in the fire, Thayer said and "for a long time, I didn't even want to look at a cookie jar."

But as time goes by, this may change -- Thayer said she and Val recently attended an auction where she looked at a few cookie jars for sale.