Stranded on a cabin cruiser

March 21, 2017

I was 12 years old. It was August of 1948. We were on vacation in Delaware. I didn’t like crab cakes. I was awakened after a cold, fitful night of sleep on one of the two bunks in the bow of the little cabin cruiser. There were no blankets. I had heard footsteps on the decking overhead. It was raining hard in the early dawn. My 12-year-old buddy, Ron, was sound asleep in the other bunk. I quickly got up and opened the door from the little bow cabin to step up into the main cabin. Water was streaming in through the dome light in the overhead. I turned and looked forward through the ...

Picturesque trek cause for envy

March 7, 2017

It was mid-May 1947, and I was finishing up the sixth grade at Garfield Elementary. I overheard Dad talking to Mom about a proposed “business” trip that he was planning. It turned out that he and his boss, Mac, were planning to take Mac’s newly re-fitted cabin cruiser from its small shipyard on the Nanticoke River near Seaford, Delaware, to the Henlopen yacht basin close to Rehoboth Beach, Delaware. This would require a somewhat arduous nearly 300-mile journey down the Nanticoke River to the Chesapeake Bay, up the Chesapeake, across the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal to the ...

Pretty g-i-r-l-s sure are perplexing

February 21, 2017

I’ll not use real names in some parts of this little epistle to protect the innocent and the not-so-innocent. It was late spring of 1951. I was a sophomore at Harding High. I noticed this very pretty freckle-faced blonde girl named Jill in my study hall. I found out her last name. I was too shy to talk to her directly, but I would smile and wave at her. I looked up her phone number and screwed up enough courage to call her. It even took more courage than you would suspect, because Mom’s ears would perk up as she fell silent in the kitchen so that she could hear every word. I ...

Frederick Douglass’ amazing job

February 10, 2017

“When in doubt, quote Frederick Douglass,” observed a historian at a professional meeting several years ago. Through multiple autobiographies, speeches and editorials, Douglass’ words remain inspirational well into the 21st century. As the most prominent civil rights activist of the 19th century, Douglass’ name and his words are especially prevalent every February as Americans reflect on the contributions of African Americans to this great nation. After all, Douglass really did live an amazing life. Escaping from slavery at the age of 20, he taught himself to read and ...

Good memories of old friends

February 7, 2017

I’ve lost track of my old grade school and junior high buddy, John Strommer. He and his family moved to Youngstown in 1950 after he finished ninth grade. I made a few attempts to contact him after that, but I heard nothing. I first met John when he was a newcomer in the fourth grade at Garfield Elementary. He got into a mild bit of trouble with the teachers because of his wise cracking. I’m sure he did it to get attention and the other kids loved it. He and I became fast friends because we were both recognized as the best artists in the class. We were forever painting ...

Lip reading inspired wonder

January 24, 2017

It was about 10 p.m. on a windy spring Saturday in 1946. I was 10 years old and home alone. I was in bed and had just turned off my radio and the light on my night stand. What was that? I heard something in the attic! There it was again! It was a loud click or two and then a creaking sound. Added to this, Dad had installed some metal weather stripping on the back door, and the wind blew through it making a harmonica-like moaning sound. I had goose bumps. There were more strange noises. That did it! I turned the light back on, got out of bed and crept my way to mom and dad’s ...