Growing Up in Mulberry-Part 3 of Many-The Freezette

One of the things I learned quickly about Texas after we moved there back in 1993 was that there was a Diary Queen (DQ) in practically every town.  A little research shows that there are over 600 DQ's in the state of Texas which makes up approximately 10% of all stores they have world wide.  The DQ tag line for their commercials in Texas is "DQ, That's What I Like About Texas" and the red DQ sign is often referred to as a "Texas Stop Sign".
I share with you all that useless background information to bring you back to that dusty little town of Mulberry, Fl. that I grew up in and remember so fondly.  If Mulberry would have been in Texas we would have been a shoo in for a DQ.  There were about 3,000 people in Mulberry back in the 70's and I've seen DQ's in Texas towns half that size. Well we weren't in Texas so we didn't have a DQ but we did have the Freezette.
The Freezette was Mulberry's version of a DQ with a touch of Arnold's Drive In from the old Happy Day's TV show.  It served burgers, fries, ice cream, shakes, etc and was a hang out for us kids growing up in that neck of the woods in the 60's and 70's. 
My earliest memories of the Freezette were from back when I was 8 or so years old and would sometimes go to the Freezette with my parents to get an ice cream cone.  That memory was a sad reflection of the times, probably an early indicator of my being incredibly naïve and  proof of my level of intelligence.  I remember there was a sign on the roof of the freezette that simply said "White Only".  In my eight year old simplistic and naïve mind I can remember thinking "why do they only serve vanilla ice cream and milk shakes"? 
The Freezette evolved a lot over the next 10 or so years.  At some point that terrible sign of racial divide came down, the Freezette was purchased by Homer and Louise Futch who were a really nice couple that lived right behind it. They expanded it putting in a pool table and pinball machines.  It was a great place to hang out after school and after ball games while in high school.  The cool thing was that by the time I got to high school I'd be hanging out there with both my black and white friends under the same roof having a good old time.
The Futch's have passed away and the Freezette burned down sometime after I left Mulberry but the memories of the good times remain.  I wished I could have found some pictures of the Freezette to include in this post but I haven't been able to run across any yet.  If any of my Mulberry brethren out there have one I'd love to include it.
Oh, by the way, the Freezette served really good chocolate ice cream and milkshakes too!

DQ-That's what I like about Texas!