Memories Diner holds farewell party, says goodbye to customers

Memories Diner opened its doors to their customers one last time on Dec. 30.

Lori Gorman-Anderson and Scott Gorman, who both own and worked in the restaurant, held a semi-retirement party as a way to say thank you to their customers and the community for all of the years of support and business.

Memories Diner opened on its doors April 22, 2013. The diner was opened by Jessika Wolf and her mother Lori Gorman-Anderson. The duo spent numerous weeks renovating and decorating the business to prepare for its opening.

The idea of opening the restaurant stemmed from a dream of Wolf’s, who wanted to run a business with her mother ever since she was a child.

The vision for the restaurant was to create an environment filled with memories. Its walls were decorated with numerous historical photographs of Ritzville. Even the booths have images from Ritzville’s history, as well as trivia about local business, allowing patrons to opportunity to sample the city’s history past while they enjoy their meal.

During the party, the restaurant served a free meal consisting of a buffet-style spread that included chili, turkey chili, cornbread, mini corn-dogs and chicken nuggets. The restaurant also held a prize drawing and provided customers the opportunity to guess how much candy was in a jar.

Throughout the afternoon, Gorman-Anderson as well as the diner’s servers, greeted longtime customers, who in turn wished her good luck in retirement.

One of those loyal customers was former Ritzville Mayor Linda Kadlec. She acknowledged the generosity of Gorman-Anderson and her staff, and all they had done for the community during their years in business.

“They became such an asset to the community and they truly lit up our lives,” Kadlec added.

Another loyal customer who attended the farewell party was Dean Scroggie. He and his wife Patty Scroggie were also the restaurant’s last paying customers the day before the event.

Dean Scroggie acknowledged he has eaten at the restaurant over the years when it was previously Circle T and other restaurants. He said enjoying eating at Memories since it opened and hated to see the restaurant close its doors.

Past customers who could not make it to the retirement party had already said their goodbyes to Gorman-Anderson. Many of them had left written memories on tags on the restaurant’s Christmas tree situated near one of the booths.

This year, Gorman-Anderson left a box of gift tags at each of the booths to let customers write down their favorite memory of eating at the diner and place it on the tree.

The tree is adorned with memories from longtime customers, as well as first-time visitors.

One of the tags was from Sandra Fitch who wrote, “Thank you for all the tasty wonderful food - you will be missed.”

Gorman-Anderson’s children and grandchildren have also helped serve at the restaurant, including Wolf and her daughter Lexi Gorman.

Both Wolf and Gorman said they have enjoying serving and meeting customers over the years.

Gorman-Anderson said running and working in the restaurant has been fun and the retirement is kind of bittersweet. She said her favorite memory of owning and working in the restaurant was meeting people and building relationships with her customers.

Although Memories will be closed, Gorman-Anderson will continue to be busy. She and Scott Gorman own the purple building across the street from The Ritz Theatre and said she will complete some projects. They also plan to spend some time traveling.

“It’s been fun, but we’re excited for the new chapter,” Gorman-Anderson said.