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'''Raymond J."Grandpa" Wessel''' ([[1905]]-[[2003]]) was the longtime co-owner, along with his son [[Bill Wessel|Bill]], of [[Jerry's Drive-In]]. He moved his family to Pensacola from Indiana in the early 1950s and purchased the restaurant, which was opened by [[Jerry Glass]] in [[1939]].
After about 45 years of operating the popular eatery, Wessel sold the restaurant to [[Robert Halstead|Robert]], [[Jimmy Halstead|Jimmy]] and [[Pam Halstead]] in June [[1997]], but maintained a residence in the upstairs apartment. When the building caught fire in May 1999, a restaurant worker had to run upstairs to evacuate Wessel. "I sure hate for it to happen," Wessel said of the blaze. "With all of our family, it's been like a second home. If they didn't have a job, they wanted to come and work for Grandpa for a while."<ref>"Fire closes Jerry's for few weeks." ''Pensacola News Journal'', May 16, 1999.</ref>
In his later years, Wessel would take twice-weekly bus trips to the casinos in [[Biloxi]].<ref>"Jerry's Drive-In's Ray Wessel celebrates 97 at the casinos." ''Pensacola News Journal'', September 8, 2002.</ref> He passed away on [[August 22]], [[2003]] at age 97.
==References==
