Remember when small town Kansas had filling stations instead of convenience stores?
Today we will meet an old time filling station, but this one is not about filling your gas tank. Instead, it’s about filling your stomach.
Nancy Fife-Eagle and her daughter Beth Stockebrand are co-owners of Hys Filling Station, a diner in Yates Center. Nancy is vice president and compliance officer for GNBank in Yates Center. Beth is a nursing home administrator. Nancy and her husband live in the house where she grew up, in the nearby rural community of Toronto, population 281 people. Now, that’ s rural.
For decades, Yates Center had a small diner named Tip-Top Café. It had great memories for both Nancy and Beth.
“Tip-Top was my first job at 15 and I could barely drive,” Beth said. Her late father worked in the restaurant industry and even ran a small carryout place. “My dad was a really good cook.”
The Tip-Top Café closed and became another restaurant briefly, but was then abandoned. Beth attended Emporia State, married a Woodson County guy, and returned to the community.
In 2016, Nancy and Beth decided to purchase, remodel and reopen the old diner. “My husband is a car guy,” Beth said. “He runs an auto body shop in Iola so we wanted an automotive theme.”
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