Agnes

AGNES

Agnes Timko was the host and owner of the Grand Midway Hotel for years. She was also the Postmaster at the Windber Post Office for years as well. After Agnes passed on the hotel was put up for sale. She was often mentioned by all the new people living here as she was such a part of the Grand Midway's history. Agnes is considered a presence here as much as any other aspect of the hotel so she's referred to pretty regularly.

Agnes' family, the Timko family, is a really fun group. They have a pretty fascinating family history. One night two of Agnes' family members came back to visit during one of the hotel gatherings. This is them speaking to author Katherine Ramsland during the large public Ghost Night event. They were so cool. They told us all kinds of wonderful stories about their family hotel, and then of course everyone begged them for any kind of ghost-like story about the hotel or Agnes. So, being good sports, they told a few.

"When Damien and Blair bought this place, they actually bought it on E-Bay, it was my Aunt's place. And my brother, and I, and my wife had spent a year after she died in April cleaning the place out. And it was very unusual because after this place closed down as a hotel all the rooms were kept exactly the way they were. They had bedspreads on the beds. The furniture was there... I didn't experience -we never experienced any- we always joked about it, about when you find something, you know, Agnes would be looking over our shoulder. But the unusual thing is, well one unusual thing was walking into those rooms the first time just seeing everything the way it was... Gives you a feeling... I don't know if it is a haunted feeling, but it's just a feeling...

"The thing I wanted to tell YOU is that about ten years before my Aunt died, this was about eleven years ago, I remember our family trying to get her to move out of this place and get into a nice house because it was just dilapidated. And she told me in very angry words: 'No one! No one is going to buy a Timko property!' And what I'm thinking is it's okay for a Timko, but YOU'RE in trouble."

"I just wanted to add you have to understand, if you didn't know her, she was very much involved with the family properties. And because theirs was a family that had had business here in town for close to a century. She just felt like she owned the town, in some sense. And people that knew her will say that. And we used to call her the Queen of Windber. -Sorry Agnes. And that's why she felt that way. She just felt that this is a family property and it was going to stay in the family no matter what. So I think that maybe WE'RE in trouble TOO because we sold the place!"

It was a great night of storytelling. Then Katherine Ramsland added a story to compliment the Timkos' story: "I heard a story and it was like that and it was by a guy who writes about ghosts in Deleware. I think his aunt was dying and she told him, 'Don't you sell my house to the funeral director next door. Under no circumstances may you sell it to him.' And they had the property for a year, and it was really a drag on them. And they wanted to get rid of it. And the only offer was from the funeral director. So they finally sold it to him.

"And then the next family funeral they had he felt a sharp RAP!!! on his back, and no one was there, and he was sure it was her. -So we're probably going to get."

So then to everyone's delight the Timkos shared yet another story: "When Agnes died there were a lot of things that we kept for the family.
And other things that we have now boxed and we're eventually going to sell and whatever, aside from the ones we're keeping. But we had everything stored in one of our bedrooms at one time. And that's all that was in that room was just Agnes' possessions.

"And the one other thing in that room happened to be was our ironing-board and our iron. And it always worked. And I never had a problem with it. And one evening I had to get ready for a Christmas party for my job. And that iron would not get anything more than just warm to the touch. And I checked the plug and I flipped switches and I did everything. Nothing. I could absolutely not wear what I wanted to wear to that party. And to know Agnes, she was a clothes horse. We took about five thousand items of her clothing from this building.

"So in any case, her things were in this room, and I think she just wanted
to give me a rough time about it because the very next day I mentioned to him, 'I think I have to get a new iron, honey, so when you go in to iron your shirt for work it's probably not going to work.' -Has been working ever since."

When asked if Agnes died here in the hotel, they said she hadn't. "But her brother Andrew died in one of the rooms here. I'll show you. The one in the back here, second floor, back corner. I hope someone is staying in there tonight."

	AGNES Agnes Timko was the host and owner of the Grand Midway Hotel for years. She was also the Postmaster at the Windber Post Office for years as well. After Agnes passed on the hotel was put up for sale. She was often mentioned by all the new people living here as she was such a part of the Grand Midway's history. Agnes is considered a presence here as much as any other aspect of the hotel so she's referred to pretty regularly. Agnes' family, the Timko family, is a really fun group. They have a pretty fascinating family history. One night two of Agnes' family members came back to visit during one of the hotel gatherings. This is them speaking to author Katherine Ramsland during the large public Ghost Night event. They were so cool. They told us all kinds of wonderful stories about their family hotel, and then of course everyone begged them for any kind of ghost-like story about the hotel or Agnes. So, being good sports, they told a few. "When Damien and Blair bought this place, they actually bought it on E-Bay, it was my Aunt's place. And my brother, and I, and my wife had spent a year after she died in April cleaning the place out. And it was very unusual because after this place closed down as a hotel all the rooms were kept exactly the way they were. They had bedspreads on the beds. The furniture was there... I didn't experience -we never experienced any- we always joked about it, about when you find something, you know, Agnes would be looking over our shoulder. But the unusual thing is, well one unusual thing was walking into those rooms the first time just seeing everything the way it was... Gives you a feeling... I don't know if it is a haunted feeling, but it's just a feeling... "The thing I wanted to tell YOU is that about ten years before my Aunt died, this was about eleven years ago, I remember our family trying to get her to move out of this place and get into a nice house because it was just dilapidated. And she told me in very angry words: 'No one! No one is going to buy a Timko property!' And what I'm thinking is it's okay for a Timko, but YOU'RE in trouble." "I just wanted to add you have to understand, if you didn't know her, she was very much involved with the family properties. And because theirs was a family that had had business here in town for close to a century. She just felt like she owned the town, in some sense. And people that knew her will say that. And we used to call her the Queen of Windber. -Sorry Agnes. And that's why she felt that way. She just felt that this is a family property and it was going to stay in the family no matter what. So I think that maybe WE'RE in trouble TOO because we sold the place!" It was a great night of storytelling. Then Katherine Ramsland added a story to compliment the Timkos' story: "I heard a story and it was like that and it was by a guy who writes about ghosts in Deleware. I think his aunt was dying and she told him, 'Don't you sell my house to the funeral director next door. Under no circumstances may you sell it to him.' And they had the property for a year, and it was really a drag on them. And they wanted to get rid of it. And the only offer was from the funeral director. So they finally sold it to him. "And then the next family funeral they had he felt a sharp RAP!!! on his back, and no one was there, and he was sure it was her. -So we're probably going to get." So then to everyone's delight the Timkos shared yet another story: "When Agnes died there were a lot of things that we kept for the family. And other things that we have now boxed and we're eventually going to sell and whatever, aside from the ones we're keeping. But we had everything stored in one of our bedrooms at one time. And that's all that was in that room was just Agnes' possessions. "And the one other thing in that room happened to be was our ironing-board and our iron. And it always worked. And I never had a problem with it. And one evening I had to get ready for a Christmas party for my job. And that iron would not get anything more than just warm to the touch. And I checked the plug and I flipped switches and I did everything. Nothing. I could absolutely not wear what I wanted to wear to that party. And to know Agnes, she was a clothes horse. We took about five thousand items of her clothing from this building. "So in any case, her things were in this room, and I think she just wanted to give me a rough time about it because the very next day I mentioned to him, 'I think I have to get a new iron, honey, so when you go in to iron your shirt for work it's probably not going to work.' -Has been working ever since." When asked if Agnes died here in the hotel, they said she hadn't. "But her brother Andrew died in one of the rooms here. I'll show you. The one in the back here, second floor, back corner. I hope someone is staying in there tonight."