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.
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A few years ago, someone gave me the email address of one of my
boyhood friends, Bert Sawyer. He was living in California, and we corresponded for some time. I told him how much I enjoyed his dad, Elwood, when I was a kid. He was always doing funny things that made me laugh.
Bert said that, as a kid, sometimes his dad’s antics were embarrassing to him. He told me about a day in the 1940s, when he was to have lunch with his dad at Butler’s Restaurant. As they walked in the front door, Elwood had a copy of the morning paper in his hand. The first booth was full of Marysville businessmen. As they walked past that booth, Elwood bopped one of those guys on top of his head with the morning newspaper. Then he stepped back, and pretended like he wanted to fight. Everyone in the restaurant laughed, but Bert said he was embarrassed.
I think it’s not uncommon for a father occasionally to embarrass his kids … like the day my dad went swimming with me. I was about 11 years old, and he had never before gone to the swimming pool. I didn’t even know that he had a swimming suit.
When he stepped out of the bath house, I saw his swimsuit for the first time. It was right out of the Gay 90s. It was a two-piece suit. The top was red and black horizontal stripes. The black trunks had a wide white belt, with a large shiny brass buckle. When my friends saw that outfit, they all began to laugh, and I started to get embarrassed.
Then, to add insult to injury, my dad went to one of the diving boards. I think everyone at the pool that day watched as he walked to the end of the board. He stood there for a while, in that funny looking old swimming suit, with all eyes upon him. Then he dove into the water.
I had never seen anyone dive like that. Instead of entering the water with two hands, he entered with only one hand. He used the other hand to hold
his nose. I’m not kidding – he held his nose with one hand, as he dove into the water.
All of my friends laughed, and again I felt embarrassed. But my embarrassment didn’t last long. Much to my surprise, my dad was a pretty good swimmer … even in that funny looking old swimming suit.
Those wishing to contact Bill Boyd can e-mail him at williamboyd514@gmail.com