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 kids are five or six years old, I think they often set their sights on what they want to be when they grow up. A girl might want to become a dancer or an ice skater. A…
Author: Bill Boyd
Pictured above is the cigar lighter from Earl Chiesa’s soda fountain. (Photo submitted) 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 my wife and I moved to Columbus several years ago, we took along a few mementos of our many years in Marysville. For example,…
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 late 1930s and early ‘40s, Marysville had a dog warden who drove a red pickup truck. In the back of the truck were a couple of heavy wire cages. If someone complained about a stray dog…
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’ve always had an interest in nicknames, primarily in how people got them. For some it’s pretty obvious. If a boy has a nickname like “Shorty” or “Stretch,” you know immediately how he got that nickname. Take “Red”…
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 the end of Marysville’s 1949-50 basketball season, and we finished with a season record of 19 wins and 1 loss. That one loss was a squeaker to Westerville High School. But now it was time to…
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 have always had a fascination with old cars. When I use the word “old,” I’m talking about cars from the 1920s and early ‘30s. I love the look of cars of that vintage. From time to time…
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 dad loved the out-of-doors. When he had some spare time, he spent much of it fishing, hunting and trapping. His favorite activity, I believe, was fly-fishing, and he made most of his flies himself. He said it…
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 a Saturday in December of 1938, and my parents took my sisters and me to Columbus to do a little Christmas shopping at Lazarus Department Store. While we were there, I could sit on Santa’s lap…
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 early December in 1938, and my sister, Maryann, had recently celebrated her 15th birthday. She was already starting to feel more “grown up.” She had never before attended a formal dance, and she thought it was…
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 Saturday nights during the mid 1940s, I sold newspapers on the streets of downtown Marysville. It was an early edition of the next day’s Sunday Dispatch. It was a great place to sell papers because all 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. ––– There is an elementary school that is close to our house where we live today, maybe a couple hundred yards or so. It is a parochial school called St. Catherine’s. One day last spring, I walked past 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. ––– In 1938, when I entered Marysville’s West Elementary School, I think it was a lot more common than it is today to require a boy or girl to repeat the first grade if he/she wasn’t quite-ready to move…
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 during the 1930s, one of my favorite persons was our mailman. I never knew what his name was, but to me he was always just “the mailman.” He was never too busy to…
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 the mid-1940s (I’m not sure what year), when a Marysville man named Ed Radabaugh did something really nice for all Marysville’s newspaper carriers. He put on a Christmas dinner party in the dining…
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 1949, I had a job working at Otte’s clothing store. It was a family-owned haberdashery that had served Marysville customers for years. Their selection of men’s clothing was pretty broad – everything from suits…