George ‘Soapy’ Showalter poses for a photo in front of the Richwood Lake. Showalter has been taking care of the lake for the past two decades in one capacity or another.
(Journal-Tribune photo by Sam Dillon)
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In the heart of Richwood,there is a lake and at the heart of that lake there is a man. His name is George ‘Soapy’ Showalter.
Soapy has been in the park, Richwood Lake Park, or on the lake for 18 years and it all started out as a mere coincidence.
Showalter originally hails from Kentucky, but everything changed on the day Showalter went for an interview at the Proctor and Gamble Company in Lexington.
“My car broke down,” said Showalter.
Fortunately, Proctor and Gamble offered Showalter another interview, but he would have to travel to Dayton.
Showalter was offered the job with the option to be a travelling salesman of hygiene items in either western Ohio or the Marion area. Showalter choose Marion.
The job eventually earned him the nickname ‘Soapy’ considering his items of sale.
Showalter continued to work for Proctor and Gamble for 30 years and eventually found his way to Richwood in 1981 when he became a full time resident.
“It is a nice community (Richwood), but 90 percent don’t know what my name is, they know me as Soapy,” Showalter added.
Once established in Richwood, the village council asked him to fill in for a board member that decided to step down from the park council in 1999. The move brought Showalter closer to his true passion of the outdoors.
About this same time, Showalter started a fishing club in Richwood called the Richwood Anglers.
The group was composed of local fisherman that came together for the love of fishing and to help support the lake.
“We asked council if we could put on fishing tournaments,” Showalter said. “We agreed that half of the funds that we got in, we would give to the village, the other half we would use to update certain things in the park.”
The funds came from catfishing tournaments Showalter and the anglers club would host every weekend.
“For 10 years we ran it (tournaments) every weekend and then it got down to there was only being about three of us running it and we eventually had to stop it in ’06,” stated Showalter.
The club would use their earnings from the tournaments to make improvements to the lake.
“We spent the money on the banks, to make more fishing access,” Showalter said. “One year we dugout a whole section of the lake by the ball fields, we would buy more fish to stock in the lake. We just wanted make it a nice place to come and fish.”
As time wore on and with less people interested in the cat fishing tournaments, the anglers club disbanded, but this didn’t stop Showalter from offering fishing opportunities to the public.
The annual Richwood Bluegill Tournament is something that was going on long before Showalter ever got involved 24 years ago.
“(Gary) Ledley and his wife started it to get people to buy bait at the baitshop,” Showalter said. “It got to much for them and I took over because I liked it and I like kids. I decided, ‘Yeah, I can do this.’”
The tournament is normally held the first Saturday in June every year, when children are out of school.
“The kids ask me all the time, when we having the bluegill tournament and they start asking me in January,” Showalter said.
Richwood uses the bluegill tournament as an outreach program to get younger people involved in what Showalter calls “one of Richwood’s best attributes.”
The park council invites Union County Soil and Water along with members from the Ohio Department of Natural Resources division of wildlife to come and provide some education along with the fishing experience.
But at 87 years old, Showalter has his concerns about the future of the fishing tournament and the lake.
“What worries me is that if I don’t do it, who will?” Showalter said.
Even though Showalter doesn’t have an official job title with the Richwood Park, he still provides a majority of the maintenance for the park.
“When they took me out of the park, they didn’t put anybody else in,” stated Showalter.
His age hasn’t stopped Showalter from persuing his passion of improving the park and providing an outdoor retreat for all of Richwood to enjoy.
“I have a meeting with the trails committee tonight,” Showalter said Tuesday. “We are trying to expand the trail around the lake and provide more walking paths.”