Stories: Ferrell's Diner

Service with a side of sass since 1929.

Doug Scisney acompanies Robert Hughes in the alley outside Ferrell's diner in downtown Madisonville. Both men are frequent visiters of the restaurant.
   
Frank Cheet, 82, eats his breakfast at the counter at Ferrell's diner before going to church Sunday morning. Cheet has lived in Hopkins county his whole life.
   
Lydia Dutton steps into the middle room for a smoke during the second shift at Ferrell's diner.
     
  
James Stum, 69, and William Burden, 87, sit side by side as they eat their breakfast at Ferrell's diner in Madisonville. Both are regulars at the Main Street establishment, which opened in 1929.
   
Robert Hughs bursts out in laughter as he enters Ferrell's diner in downtown Madisonville. Hughes visits the diner at least twice a day and entertains the regulars with his acustic guitar.
   
"I come in every morning just about," Jim Blair, of Earlington said, "even when I work." Blair, an EMT in Madisonville , said the only problem with the place is he has trouble getting strawberry jam. "Everyone likes the strawberry," he said.
     
  
Brian Shelton kisses his daughter Dahlia, 7, as they wait for hamburgers at Ferrell's diner. Brian takes his daughter to the diner every other weekend when she comes to stay with him in Madisonville. The rest of the time she lives with her mother in Central City.
   
Ferrell's diner manager Debbie Hale peeks in on a lunch-hour rummy game among a group of customers who gather regularly in the downtown Madisonville diner's back room.
  
First shifters Cheri Spainhoward talks with Elisha Buchanan and Charlotte Collins during downtime at the diner. Spainhoward and Collins are sisters and Buchanan in Collins' daughter.
     
  
Ferrell's manager Debbie Hale clears away breakfast dishes left by a customer.
   
Marsha Tompkins rubs her eyes from exhaustion. "You know what I'm gonna do, crawl up on this counter and go to sleep," Tompkins says during her second 15 hour shift in two days.
   
Elisha Buchanan rests her feet about an hour into her six hour shift. Buchanan started at 5 a.m. and works til 11 a.m.
     
  
Chuck Lynn orders the earlybird special to go. He stops by every now and then on his way to work at Airgas in the the early morning hours.