A circa-1958 Miles City Star newspaper advertisement for Dibble Buick in Miles City.

I believe Jack Dibble is the guy on the left side of the photo. My dad, Don Schott, is in the center, and Bill Hann is the guy on the right side. My dad was 6 feet tall so that Bill Hann fellow must've been a pretty big guy.

According to his obituary, John "Jack" Dibble opened his Buick dealership in Miles City in 1956. He settled in Austin, Minnesota, in 1959, and opened Dibble Pontiac Buick GMC there. Jack passed away in 2005.

Dibble Buick was located at 625 N 7th St, which I believe is the old Jack's Body Shop building on the west side of 7th St.

Awesome story, Dave, of Miles City of yesteryear. Freely admit I never heard of Dibble Motors, sounds like Gribble pest control.

And....your dad was 6 feet?!? What happened to you and Don?

Gunnar Emilsson wrote:

And....your dad was 6 feet?!? What happened to you and Don?

Our mother was 5’ 0”, that’s what happened.

I remember Dibble Motors. I didn’t remember he left though. So the building became Jack’s Body Shop. If he was doing so well, I wonder why he left. What did your dad do when Dibble up and left?

[Edited by Nancy W. (2/25/2023 8:43:03 PM)]

This was before my time, Nancy, so I'm not sure of the exact timeline. My dad worked for Dibble Buick, Love Motors, and Deluxe Motors. I believe he may have worked for Love Motors first, Dibble Buick second, and Deluxe Motors third and longest (around 20 years).

Here you go, Gunnar, here's that height difference. This photo was probably taken on Easter 1966.

When I was in first grade (59-60), we lived on the corner of Hubble and N. Sixth.
The Dibble Buick building was there and I had to walk by it every day on my way to the Garfield School. I do not remember any activity there.
Bradley's Grocery was still in operation at the other end of that block, as well as the little cafe in-between.

My son had me looking for something last night that took me through a box where I found some old photographs. One of which is this baby photo (below) of my brother Chuck which would have been taken in the latter part of 1954. Looking closely I see he has a balloon that has CHEVROLET on it.

This makes me recall my dad talking about working for J.P. Johnson. This leads me to believe he probably worked for J.P. Johnson's Chevrolet dealership in the early 1950s. He probably got "poached" away from there to work at Dibble Buick which only lasted for a few years before the dealership closed. He probably went to work at Deluxe Motors after that.

So, I believe I was incorrect earlier in stating that he worked for Love Motors.

While I'm boring people with old family photos, though, I have one for Hal Neumann in particular. It's my brother Chuck and one of his childhood pals. Hal, do you know who this is? Is this Allan Scanlan?

Yup, that's Allan. I recognized him right away. Thanks for sharing the photo.

Allan went on to manage the amusement rides at Michael Jackson's Neverland Ranch. Here is an interview Allan did a couple of years ago. It's long and I haven't yet watched it all.

I knew Allan worked as a carnie for some time. He had a way with words, I imagine he was good at it.

Some years back, Allan sister, Sally, used to post on mc.com.

[Edited by Hal Neumann (2/27/2023 10:46:33 AM)]

I think Allan was more awestruck by the amusement rides than he was with Michael Jackson so that is probably how he landed the job.

That picture of the late Chuck and Allan is truly a Leave it to Beaver moment.