Mother's Cookies, a Bay Area mainstay and institution for 92 years, has closed.

Its passing was noted by San Francisco Chronicle staff writer George Raine this week. He wrote that Mother's owner, the Archway & Mother's Cake and Cookie Co. of Battle Creek, Mich., was seeking bankrupcy protection for the Oakland cookie maker.

In the Web version of the his story, Raine discussed the manufacturer's humble start: "According to industry lore, the company was founded in 1914 by a newspaper vendor, N.M. Wheatley, as a one-person shop."

Raine interviewed one of 60 drivers in Northern California affected by the closure: Frank Makely, 59, of Fresno, an employee for the past nine years.

Makely didn't appear pleased. "The owners came in to get rid of us, to chew us up and spit us out," he told Raine. "This is part of the economic crunch, with the CEOs taking the money out and not putting more money into the company.

"I'm too old to get a driving job. Who would hire me?"