Remembering Kay’s Café
Kay’s Café in Cambridge has a special place in many of our memories. Numerous subscribers will look back with a fondness for the café, the owners, and the townspeople who frequented its booths and chairs. Kay’s Café was built on a dream and hard work, by two people who loved their family and the community. A place where friendships were made for a lifetime, and homemade pies, milkshakes, and other delicious foods were on the menu. A hangout for school kids to go after school or sports practice and enjoy fries and a soda, while waiting for a ride home.
Kay VanOrder and Sharon Gladhart visited with me about the café and their memories of their parents, Elizabeth and Grant Banks Williamson. (Most of the people in town will remember Grant as Banky.) Kay said that she remembered her parents talking about purchasing the building that would become Kay’s Café. Inside the building was a grocery store, and the guy that owned the building had talked to Banky about trading him the building for Banky’s 40-acre farm in Payette. He told Banky that he wanted to raise chickens on the farm. Banky told Elizabeth that he wanted the building in Cambridge so that they could turn it into a café. Elizabeth answered that she had never even eaten in a café and who was going to be the cook? Banky’s reply was that the hay crew loved her food and she would be doing the cooking and it would be just fine. The decision to have Elizabeth be the cook turned out to be a great plan, as many future customers would be able to enjoy Elizabeth’s amazing pies and other specialties.
One of the reasons that Banky and Elizabeth wanted the store was so they could spend more time together as a family. Before leaving Payette, Banky worked at the sugar beet factory in Nyssa and Elizabeth worked at the Payette bakery. Their 40-acre farm was unable to produce enough to support the family. They moved to Cambridge in January of 1957, after the building and farm were traded. Sharon was in the ninth grade and Kay was in the seventh. The move was hard for Sharon. She missed her friends and the horses that they had on the farm. Kay was excited about the move and looked forward to having a soda fountain available. Living on the farm meant money was tight, so their parents would give each of the girls a nickel when they went to the store once a month, and Kay would buy a pop with her nickel.
It would be a while before the soda fountain became a reality. The family ran the grocery store for a full year, until the beer license ran out, and then they began building the café. They didn’t think the beer license was a good fit for their plans, and so the license wasn’t renewed. Sharon remembers making trips to Boise with her dad to purchase the needed equipment. Sharon said that she was her dad’s sidekick and enjoyed making those trips with him. Once the café was finished, Kay thought she was in heaven as they installed a complete soda fountain with every imaginable flavor. The school kids also loved the soda fountain, which helped the café to become a favorite hangout for the local kids. Over time, they would add the softy ice cream machine, which everyone loved.
Some may have wondered why the café was named Kay’s, when there were three other names in the family to choose from. Kay said her name was chosen because it was the shortest name. The sign for the café would be expensive, and every letter added to the cost. Banky told Kay that her name would be on the sign, so she would be expected to put a lot of work in at the café.
Another question people had was about Banky’s nickname. Some thought he maybe packed a lot of money around in his wallet, leading to his nickname. Kay said that wasn’t the case and she laughed when she heard that people could have actually thought that. Banky’s nickname evolved from his middle name Banks. When they moved to Cambridge, Banky had planned to use his first name, Grant, but Elizabeth kept slipping and calling him Banky.
There were many customers who came into the café over the years. One of those customers was Clyde Snell. Clyde became a regular at the café and a good friend to Banky. Clyde even had his own table, a round table, that was in the perfect location for him to see across the street and watch for customers at his service station. Kay said Clyde was quite possessive of his table. However, Clyde did make room for a few local men including Bob Richel, Bill McCadden, Joe Wilson, Stu Dopf and others over the years, who would drink coffee and visit with Clyde and Banky about the day’s events.
Mildred Snell (Clyde’s wife) and Elizabeth, were also good friends, who enjoyed playing cards together. Banky passed away in 2008, and a couple of years later Elizabeth decided she would join her friend Mildred down at the Salubria Center. She said that way they could play cards every day. Elizabeth passed away in 2012.
Kay’s Cafe was sold years ago and is currently the home to Li’s Chinese food.
