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.
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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 room of the Oakland Hotel. Carriers for all the newspapers were invited: the Columbus Dispatch, Columbus Citizen, Ohio State Journal, Marysville Tribune, and Union County Journal.
I had never before been in that dining room, nor had I ever been to a dinner party like that. We had a wonderful turkey dinner. Then Mr. Radabaugh gave a talk and thanked us all for the work we did. He told us how important our job was, and how much the people of Marysville depended on us. Then we sang Christmas carols. We all had a great time, and I think he later made that Christmas party an annual event.
Mr. Radabaugh owned land where the Green Pastures subdivision is located today. It was all farm fields and woods in the ‘40s. He set aside an area around a pond for the Boy Scouts to use. We could put up our tents and camp and fish there whenever we wanted. He even brought in a large pile of firewood for us to build our campfires. It was great for all of us boys.
He also got involved in other projects for boys. At one time, he sponsored a carving contest for members of Troop 101 of the Boy Scouts.
Each boy who entered could carve whatever he wanted, and then the carvings would be judged. A winner in several age groups would get a prize. I’m not sure who did the judging, but I think it was probably Marysville’s art teacher, John Strickler. Oh yes, the carvings were not done in wood. They were to be carved out of a bar of Ivory soap.
I entered that contest, and I decided to carve a polar bear. I thought a polar bear would look great, carved out of the white Ivory soap. But it didn’t take long until I switched to a turtle. It’s a lot easier to carve a turtle than it is to carve a polar bear.
The prizes for the carvings were awarded at a meeting in the library of the high school building on West 6th Street. The winner in each age group got a model airplane kit. Needless to say, I didn’t win a prize. That was no surprise, as my artistic talents were wanting.
All of us boys were lucky to have a man like Ed Radabaugh in town. But he wasn’t the only man who donated his time and efforts to help develop young boys. There were others. I can’t name them all, but some of those who affected my own life were Elwood Sawyer and Bill Faulkner, who both served as scoutmaster for Troop 101.
Then there was a man we all called “Pip.” His real name was Carl Pippit. He lived in the brick house at the corner of Fourth and Maple Streets. It was a place where boys could always go to play cards, or checkers, or chess … or just sit around and talk over a bottle of Coke. Pip was a good listener. If a boy had a problem, maybe with a course in school, he would listen. Seldom could he solve the problems, but it helped just to have him listen and understand.
There was also a man named Cliff Brown, who was active in the Golden Gloves boxing program. He sometimes came to our Scout meetings and taught us how to box. He saw a lot of promise in a Marysville boy named Bob Patterson. Cliff personally trained Bob, who became a very good boxer. I only saw him box once. It was in a Golden Gloves event. Bob won his bout with a TKO in the first round.
Cliff Brown continued to help young Marysville boys for years. In fact, when our son, Dave, was running track in high school during the 1970s, Cliff gave him rubdowns to loosen his muscles before important meets. He was really good at that, as he had done it for years for his Golden Gloves boxers.
Cliff had his own recipe for a liniment he used for these rubdowns. He took the recipe to a drugstore, and the pharmacist prepared it for him. I don’t know what was in it, but it really smelled great.
We were a lucky bunch of boys to have adults like Ed, Elwood, Bill, Pip and Cliff in our community. I’m sure there are also men like that in town today, men who give of themselves to help Marysville boys. I have been gone too long to know who they are, but I would bet the farm that they are there.
Those wishing to contact Bill Boyd can e-mail him at bill@davidwboyd.com