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…
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. ––– I started playing golf some time in the early 1960s at the Marysville Golf Course. I played my last game of golf on that same course, maybe four or five years later. So why was my golfing career…
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 growing up in Marysville, I had a friend named Bill Miefert. He was probably five or six years older than I was, and I think I first met him at Bert Sawyer’s house, at the…
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. ––– On my 10th birthday, Feb. 22, 1942, U.S. auto manufacturing came to a halt. For the next four years or so, instead of civilian cars, car companies produced military vehicles of all sorts for World War II. There…
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. ––– Tom and Hettie Tracy In the early 1900s, my grandparents, Tom and Hettie Tracy, were part of a group of Marysville couples who did a lot of things together. They had parties and dinners and things like that.…
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. ––– It was some time in 1944 when I was 12 years old, and one of my sisters brought home a book of poems by a man named Robert Service. Both of my sisters really liked his poetry, and…
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 fall of 1944 when I was 12 years old, Saturday was my favorite day of the week. That’s because, as a Boy Scout, I served as an usher at all the Ohio State home football games.…
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. ––– Some time during the early 1980s, a car race came to central Ohio. It was called the “Columbus 500.” The cars were those big racers like you see at all the NASCAR races. Instead of a racetrack, they…
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. ––– Some time ago, I wrote a column about a boy named Max Biederman. He was a first grade classmate of mine in 1938. He sat right across the aisle from me, and we became friends. Max was kind…
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 the summer of 1944, I got a job working at Oakdale Cemetery. I was one of several boys who did the mowing and upkeep of the place. They needed quite a few boys, because we had no…
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. ––– Sometime during the mid 1970s, I bought a canoe. Don’t ask me why I did that, as I don’t have a clue. Nevertheless, it seemed like a good idea at the time. I didn’t know the first thing…
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. ––– The Ohio Women’s Reformatory has been a part of Marysville for a long time. When I was a kid growing up during the thirties and forties, it looked more like a small college campus, than a penal institution.…
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. ––– One of the nice things about living on West Fifth Street during the 1930s was the parades. Whenever there was a parade in town, the route often took it right past our house. We could sit on 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. ––– With the exception of Christmas, my favorite holiday as a kid in the 1930s was the Fourth of July. What I remember most was the fireworks. I’m not talking about organized nighttime displays. I’m talking about the firecrackers…
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 1942, Marysville High School got a new football coach named John Ehlen. I heard some of the older boys, who were on his team, talk about him. They really liked that guy. I could see why after…