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 good soul Back in the 1930s, my grandmother Tracy sometimes referred to someone as a “good soul.” She used that term to describe folks who went out of their way to help people who needed help. It…
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. ––– The doctor’s office I think there is a kind of “sameness” in doctors’ offices nowadays. If you have seen one doctor’s office, you have pretty much seen them all. They are sterile looking places with an examining table…
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. ––– “Human Flies” When I was seven or eight years old, like most boys that age, I enjoyed climbing trees. We had a good-sized elm tree in our back yard, and I spent a lot of time climbing in…
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. ––– Flameout A few weeks ago, I wrote about a man named Don Nicol, with whom I worked for maybe 20 years at Scotts. I talked about the flying lessons he took after World War II. His first flight…
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 “Blue Goose” In the late 1940s, after wartime gasoline rationing ended, several high school boys set their sights on a car … nothing fancy, just a set of wheels that would take them here and there around…
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 King And I When the Marysville swimming pool opened in 1936, the stone bathhouse had not yet been built. So a wooden structure was erected to serve as a temporary bathhouse. Later, when the stone building 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. ––– The aviator One of the first people I met when I started working at Scotts in the late 1950s was Don Nicol. Don, whose nickname was “Slippery,” was 10 years or so older than I was. He 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. ––– The pony girl In 1906, my future mother, Zoa Tracy, celebrated her 10th birthday. She was sure she was going to get something special as a gift, because she had seen her parents whispering about it for weeks.…
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 swimsuit My wife was going through an old photo album some time ago, and she ran across a picture of my dad wearing an odd looking straw hat. It was his favorite summer hat … a “boater.”…
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. ––– “Fairy cans” From time to time, when I write about my childhood, I mention a boy named Richard Liggett, who was a neighbor of ours. (He was the brother of local attorney Luther Liggett, and uncle of Dorothy…
Editor’s note: The following column by Bill Boyd is being reprinted because the accompanying photo was inadvertently omitted when it was originally published on Friday. ––– I was listening to a radio talk show the other day – I think it was a public broadcasting station. They were talking about the progress that has been made in gender equality in this country in the last 50 years. I have personally witnessed those changes, and it has been great. For example, our granddaughter, Taylor, graduated from college not long ago with a degree in economics. And she competed with 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. ––– The treehouse I was listening to a radio talk show the other day – I think it was a public broadcasting station. They were talking about the progress that has been made in gender equality in this country…
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. ––– Hank Every one of us has met some pretty interesting people in our lives … people who have been involved in some really special things. I’m not talking about celebrities or anything like that. I’m talking about regular,…
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. ––– Masquerade parties Some of the things I remember most fondly from the 1960s are the masquerade parties hosted by Jim and Lya Snider, at their home on Hickory Drive. There were some wonderful costumes, and many of their…
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. ––– Sunday School memories When I was around five years old, my mother took me to Sunday School pretty often. It was held in the basement of the Methodist Church. We didn’t go every Sunday, but we went pretty…