Editor’s note: This is another column in Bill Boyd’s new series, “The Way It Was,” about growing up in Marysville. Bill continues to work with the Union County Historical Society to obtain information for his stories. With Marysville and Union County celebrating Bicentennial anniversaries in 2019 and 2020, respectively, these articles help depict what life was like in those early years. ––– Both of my sisters, Betty and Maryann, were several years older than me. When I was in the first grade, one was in high school and the other was in junior high. They both liked to dance, and…
Author: Bill Boyd
Editor’s note: This is another column in Bill Boyd’s new series, “The Way It Was,” about growing up in Marysville. Bill continues to work with the Union County Historical Society to obtain information for his stories. With Marysville and Union County celebrating Bicentennial anniversaries in 2019 and 2020, respectively, these articles help depict what life was like in those early years. ––– During World War II, the federal government sold War Bonds to help finance the war. It was a way to give average people an opportunity to do their part. The bonds, at maturity, ran from $25 to $1,000.…
Editor’s note: This is another column in Bill Boyd’s new series, “The Way It Was,” about growing up in Marysville. Bill continues to work with the Union County Historical Society to obtain information for his stories. With Marysville and Union County celebrating Bicentennial anniversaries in 2019 and 2020, respectively, these articles help depict what life was like in those early years. ––– When I was about 12 years old, I got an aquarium. It wasn’t very big, maybe five gallons. I got it in a trade with a boy named Lloyd Gordon. He was getting a bigger aquarium for his…
Editor’s note: This is another column in Bill Boyd’s new series, “The Way It Was,” about growing up in Marysville. Bill continues to work with the Union County Historical Society to obtain information for his stories. With Marysville and Union County celebrating Bicentennial anniversaries in 2019 and 2020, respectively, these articles help depict what life was like in those early years. ––– During World War II, I think every kid in town knew someone who was in the Armed Forces – maybe a brother, cousin, or next-door neighbor. I knew several Marysville boys who were serving, but I was closest…
Editor’s note: This is another column in Bill Boyd’s new series, “The Way It Was,” about growing up in Marysville. Bill continues to work with the Union County Historical Society to obtain information for his stories. With Marysville and Union County celebrating Bicentennial anniversaries in 2019 and 2020, respectively, these articles help depict what life was like in those early years. ––– In 1947, my dad was granted a dealership to sell Raytheon TV sets. He didn’t have a retail store, but he sold them out of our house. Television was brand new, and I think the set in our…
Editor’s note: This is another column in Bill Boyd’s new series, “The Way It Was,” about growing up in Marysville. Bill continues to work with the Union County Historical Society to obtain information for his stories. With Marysville and Union County celebrating Bicentennial anniversaries in 2019 and 2020, respectively, these articles help depict what life was like in those early years. ––– A few weeks ago, I got an email from a man named Don Coder. He was commenting on one of my columns. He told me he is 10 years younger than me, and as a boy, he experienced…
Editor’s note: This is another column in Bill Boyd’s new series, “The Way It Was,” about growing up in Marysville. Bill continues to work with the Union County Historical Society to obtain information for his stories. With Marysville and Union County celebrating Bicentennial anniversaries in 2019 and 2020, respectively, these articles help depict what life was like in those early years. ––– My first column in the Marysville Journal-Tribune was titled “The Escape.” It dealt with the day that I and four other boys captured an inmate who had escaped from the Ohio Women’s Reformatory. I was 12 years old…
Editor’s note: This is another column in Bill Boyd’s new series, “The Way It Was,” about growing up in Marysville. Bill continues to work with the Union County Historical Society to obtain information for his stories. With Marysville and Union County celebrating Bicentennial anniversaries in 2019 and 2020, respectively, these articles help depict what life was like in those early years. ––– When I was about five years old, I had an aunt named Berna Lockwood. She lived in Columbus, but she and my mother were very close, and she visited us often. During one of those visits, I got…
Editor’s note: This is another column in Bill Boyd’s new series, “The Way It Was,” about growing up in Marysville. Bill continues to work with the Union County Historical Society to obtain information for his stories. With Marysville and Union County celebrating Bicentennial anniversaries in 2019 and 2020, respectively, these articles help depict what life was like in those early years. ––– In 1978, the Columbus Zoo got a new director, a man named Jack Hanna. I think that was the best thing that ever happened to the zoo. He immediately went to work transforming the small antiquated facility into…
Editor’s note: This is another column in Bill Boyd’s new series, “The Way It Was,” about growing up in Marysville. Bill continues to work with the Union County Historical Society to obtain information for his stories. With Marysville and Union County celebrating Bicentennial anniversaries in 2019 and 2020, respectively, these articles help depict what life was like in those early years. ––– When I was maybe 12 years old, I was nuts about basketball. There were several hoops around town, and I would like to tell you about a few of my favorite places to play. The place where I…
Editor’s note: This is another column in Bill Boyd’s new series, “The Way It Was,” about growing up in Marysville. Bill continues to work with the Union County Historical Society to obtain information for his stories. With Marysville and Union County celebrating Bicentennial anniversaries in 2019 and 2020, respectively, these articles help depict what life was like in those early years. ––– A teenager’s senior year in high school is a pretty busy time, especially in the spring as graduation day approaches. That’s the way it was for me in 1950, and I would like to tell you a bit…
Editor’s note: This is another column in Bill Boyd’s new series, “The Way It Was,” about growing up in Marysville. Bill continues to work with the Union County Historical Society to obtain information for his stories. With Marysville and Union County celebrating Bicentennial anniversaries in 2019 and 2020, respectively, these articles help depict what life was like in those early years. ––– Every year during the late 1930s sometime in August, my parents took me to Columbus to buy school clothes. I really looked forward to those shopping trips because there was so much to see in Columbus. We did…
Editor’s note: This is another column in Bill Boyd’s new series, “The Way It Was,” about growing up in Marysville. Bill continues to work with the Union County Historical Society to obtain information for his stories. With Marysville and Union County celebrating Bicentennial anniversaries in 2019 and 2020, respectively, these articles help depict what life was like in those early years. ––– During the late 1930s and early ‘40s, a carnival came to Marysville almost every summer. Sometimes it set up in the playground just east of Walnut Street along the railroad track. Other times it used the Union County…
Editor’s note: This is another column in Bill Boyd’s new series, “The Way It Was,” about growing up in Marysville. Bill continues to work with the Union County Historical Society to obtain information for his stories. With Marysville and Union County celebrating Bicentennial anniversaries in 2019 and 2020, respectively, these articles help depict what life was like in those early years. ––– When I was a kid, I remember my parents talking about things that were common when they were young, but had disappeared over the years. They were talking about things like buggy whips. Everyone had a buggy whip…
Editor’s note: This is another column in Bill Boyd’s new series, “The Way It Was,” about growing up in Marysville. Bill continues to work with the Union County Historical Society to obtain information for his stories. With Marysville and Union County celebrating Bicentennial anniversaries in 2019 and 2020, respectively, these articles help depict what life was like in those early years. ––– A year or two ago, I wrote a column about a friend of mine named Ashton Ritchie. We worked together at Scotts for years. Ashton was featured in many Scotts TV and radio commercials. In that column I…