Aha Moment - Dave's Midwestern Ohio Memories

Series of Guest Blogs by an out-of-state Fish Report reader originally from this area about fond memories of growing up in Midwestern Ohio during the 50’s & 60’s

Aha Moment

Did you ever have something occur that leads from one thing, to another and another? Well, recently that’s exactly what happened to my wife and I as we were walking around our yard this spring checking out what landscape plantings survived the winter. We came upon two ornamental plums pictured above next to our deck that I’ve been trying to nurture back to health for the last couple years. Once a farmer, always a farmer, I guess!

The plums have a fungus in the form of a black canker on many of the branches and this spring the seriousness of the problem was much more evident than it had been last fall before the leaves fell. My wife concluded it’s time to “pull the plug” on these plums, as the only effective treatment is to prune out all the branches with cankers, which would leave nothing but the trunk.

As we continued around the yard, my wife had an aha moment and said that when she’s on her deathbed, I’d be pushing the doctors to try anything to prolong her life and would never “pull the plug”, just like my desperate efforts to save our plums and many other plantings around the yard over the years. To my chagrin, she was probably right! So I wondered out loud what was actually stated in our “advanced directives” document about such end of life decisions.

That moment led us to conclude we not only should check our estate planning documents, but also review them as it’s been about 15 years since the last update. And if we were going to do that, let’s look for a younger female estate planner as several of my wife’s widow friends wished they would have had such an arrangement when their spouse passed away, since statistically the wife outlives her the husband by 12 years.

So once our yard tour was over, I opened up the safe, pulled out the documents and began searching for a new estate planning attorney. We found one who several friends recommended and met with her yesterday to kick off the process, including updating the wording in our advanced directives.

All this end of life talking got me thinking about our life together and suddenly the wall in my office with all the framed mementos had more meaning. I took a closer look at each item and thought about the consequences, especially how one step led to the next and to the next; and before long here we are talking about end of life stuff! The framed birth certificate, high school and college diplomas and marriage certificate shown below definitely set the stage for the rest of my life. How lucky I feel to have been guided to attained those early milestones (study hard and marry a Roo-shee girl!).

Shown next are some of the framed mementos from our married life and my working career with Ford. From building our lakefront home to traveling the world for both business and pleasure are reflected on that wall. Also include are keepsakes from playing and watching sports of all kinds.

And finally are items reflecting my work after retirement such as running for public office, becoming Mayor in our small city of 2200, some charitable work and various projects that came along since I had the time. The wall is full and that’s just fine at this stage of my life.

Just before Covid another fortunate occurrence involved fully retiring from most everything except the charitable work, a few unfinished projects and of course the honey do’s which will continue until the unfortunate day comes when my wife “pulls the plug” on me!

Speaking of that, the “plug has been pulled” on the ornamental plums. Aha!

PS: Check out my Roo-shee frog ornament - lower right.

~~~~~~~~

Receive a weekly email whenever there is a new blog post. Just click here to send me an email request and your name will be added to the distribution.

Auto Vue Drive In - Dave's Midwestern Ohio Memories

Series of Guest Blogs by an out-of-state Fish Report reader originally from this area about fond memories of growing up in Midwestern Ohio during the 50’s & 60’s

Auto Vue Drive-In

While my wife was visiting her mother this past weekend at the Landings Assisted Living Center in Sidney, I decided to explore the old Auto Vue drive-in located just down Russell Road from the Landings. It’s been about 55 years since my last visit to the venerable old drive-in way back in my high school days. Pictured above is the vintage marquis with the big screen and concession stand in he background.

Several cars parked next to the concession were surprising as I had assumed the old drive-in was abandoned and due for the wrecking ball. So curiosity got the best of me as I drove to where the cars were parked and went inside, running into Teresa Rees, who I was pleased to discover is the current owner of the drive-in. She’s pictured with Bill Smith, as both were preparing the concession stand for the upcoming season.

Teresa is the second generation owner of Auto Vue, taking over from her parents as described in the following blurb from their website:

The Auto Vue Drive In was built in 1956 by the late Russ Negelspach. Russ, along with brother Norm and sister-in-law Betty, ran the Auto Vue until 1987, when it was purchased by Sam (Kathryn) and David (Kelly) Rees. Many of you may remember Mrs. Shue, who met you at the ticket booth for years, working for Russ and staying on to work with the Rees family as well. Generations of the Rees family still operate the drive in today.

During the almost three decades our family has owned the Auto Vue, we have survived significant obstacles. December 1987 saw the drive-in lose the concession stand after a winter storm ripped off 1/2 of the roof and cracking walls, requiring the demolition and rebuilding of a new one.

In June 1994 another storm tore almost 1/2 of the all-steel screen away, with special made panels having to be trucked in from Georgia for the repair. A few years later, the neon sign and one of the marquis fell victim to yet another storm.

We are one of only about 310 left in the entire country. It is the love of the drive-in experience that keeps us working, year after year. We are committed to providing an affordable family-oriented experience to our communities and know you'll create those "special" memories. It's a night like no other!

Auto Vue will be opening soon for the new season, featuring wholesome family movies. During the off-season, Teresa sells the handmade items her mother makes as outlined in this video, which also gives you a sense of how the concession stand looks these days.

The movies are projected using a state of the art digital video projector pictured here. I found it interesting that the cost of the $60,000 digital projector was partially paid by GoFundMe donations from customers and supporters who wanted to make sure the drive-in survived the digital revolution. It’s a far cry from the old reel-to-reel projectors of the past, that as I recall could be readily seen when visiting the concession stand back in the day as the door was wide open. Likely the same person running the concession stand had to change the reels periodically. Made sense since the concession stand was mostly vacant while the movie was running, and during intermissions, an ad track always ran, with a big countdown to the end of intermission.

Having also worked at a drive-in along Salem Avenue in Dayton during summers while in college to earn some extra cash, I wrote this 2017 blogpost about those and other memories from the era.

After leaving the drive-in, I headed west on Russell Road having recalled a junk yard that Dad and I would frequent for spare parts. It was a fun place back in those days seeing all the wrecked cars and to scrounge around for whatever we were looking for. Lo and behold, it was still there just like the drive-in. About the only difference noticed were the junkers from the 2000’s rather than the 1950’s, plus you can scrounge for parts on-line instead of the muddy junk yard. That’s no fun!

Russell Road was a real roller coaster of a highway as I would go to work at Copeland's (now Emerson’s) the summer before college driving from Ft. Loramie to Sidney, usually running late. At the time, there were no stop signs the entire way, but since then several have been installed; maybe because of resident complaints about the noise from the Thrush mufflers salvaged from a junker and installed on my 1962 Chevy that I was driving just a little over the speed limit early each morning? My father-in-law-to-be always commented that he could hear me coming a mile away!

Speakers are another thing of the past, as now each customer simply tunes into the radio for the dolby sound broadcast by the new digital projector. So they gave away the old speakers to their patrons, and here’s one Fish Report’s Craig was given by Teresa's mother Kathryn back in the mid-90’s now on display at his place.

Teresa, thanks for the tour and renewing my drive-in memories.

No these are not junk yard dogs! 

PS: Here’s my favorite view of the old drive-in, with my bother-in-law Fred and his brand new Mustang Mach 1 in the foreground.

~~~~~~~~

Receive a weekly email whenever there is a new blog post. Just click here to send me an email request and your name will be added to the distribution.

Spring Sports - Dave's Midwestern Ohio Memories

Series of Guest Blogs by an out-of-state Fish Report reader originally from this area about fond memories of growing up in Midwestern Ohio during the 50’s & 60’s

Spring Sports

It’s a great time of year to be a sports fan, with an exciting March Madness, Opening Day for MLB and the Masters golf tournament. Basketball, baseball and golf are my three favorite sports, going way back as both a player and as a fan. As evidence, since starting this weekly blog in 2015, I’ve written 5 posts about basketball, 6 about baseball and 7 about golf. Fortunately, over my lifetime, I’ve had the opportunity to attend several March Madness games, a number of Opening Day games, and a couple of Masters rounds. All were a thrill to attend in person, literally absorbing the crowd's excitement and enthusiasm.

The NCAA Tournament games were in 2000 and 2001. The first was at the Palace of Auburn Hills, seeing the MSU Spartans beat Syracuse and Iowa State in the Regionals on their way to a National Championship. The second was the first play-in game at UD Arena with Northwestern State beating Winthrop.

The Opening Day games included the Reds and two with the Tigers. The Reds’ Opening Day was in 1973 during the Big Red Machine era when as a newcomer to my in-laws family, I was invited to attend the game as they had season tickets. The first of two Tigers Opening Days were in 1984 at old Tiger Stadium when the team eventually won a World Series and the last was the inaugural game at Comerica Park in 2000. Read more about these memorable ball games and check out the photos in this blogpost.

The Masters golf tournament is totally different than the stadium scenes during March Madness or Opening Day games. The golf course is spectacular and the fans are in so much respect for the history and tradition of the Masters. I attended a Thursday round in 2000 including the Opening Ceremony and a Sunday finals in 2006 when Phil Michelson won (that’s me tipping my hat just to the left of Phil doing the same). On my bucket list is a return someday with my son. Here is the blogpost about the two Masters events I had the privilege of attending.

To my knowledge, Michael Jordon is the only person to play each of these three sports professionally, which is an amazing accomplishment if you think about it. Jordon was definitely an outstanding athlete to be able to master those three sports at the professional level so effectively. Had he been able to focus on baseball and golf like he did basketball at a young age, he likely would have been a hall of fame baseball player and golfer just as he is in basketball. But it could have been four professional sports considering this video of Jordon tossing a football 65 yards in the air, tongue out and all.

Enjoy spring, Fish Report readers! Take in a round of golf, watch some high school baseball or just go for a walk outside after the long winter.

Postscript: Really enjoyed Craig’s outstanding blogpost this past Friday about his visit to Rich Romie’s shop in Ft. Loramie. Check out this previous blogpost from 2016 about Rich’s father John and many other Loramie proprietors from that era.

~~~~~~~~

Receive a weekly email whenever there is a new blog post. Just click here to send me an email request and your name will be added to the distribution.

Romie Sporting Goods - A local slice of Americana

Romie's entrance is an invitation to a time machine for guys like me

Like a stranger wondering if anyone was home, I slowly pushed open the front door of Romie Sporting Goods at 19 North Main in Ft. Loramie last Saturday morning. Sunlight from a far window partially blinded my view once inside. Then I recognized a familiar face in the back of the store. Owner Rich Romie looked up from his work bench and approached his lone customer. Prior to Saturday, I last spoke to Rich while picking up a new Ft. Loramie Baseball jacket to wear on my high school team. That was 35 years ago. Looking around his building though, it felt like just yesterday.

I quizzed Rich on my identity to see if time affected his memory like it had mine at age 50. He confirmed I was the "Fish Report guy" and added that I liked to talk about fishing. I laughed and agreed I liked to talk fishing, occasionally, and also high school sports. However, my reason for stopping wasn't Fish Report related. I just wondered if he still fixed high school baseball gloves like he did when I was a kid. Nestled under my arm was a Russia Raiders ball glove belonging to my teenage son that needed repair. "Oh, we toss those Russia gloves in the trash here" Rich said, unable to hold back his grin.

I handed him the blue leather Rawlings and he looked it over, front and back. While Rich examined the broken strings, I explained my son actually told me I could throw it away, because he had a spare glove that was just as good. Rich rebutted that mentality, stating this one was in fine condition and just needed some new laces. I should have expected that response from the man who took care of my generation of athletes and so many others over the years.

Rich took over operating Romie Sporting Goods from his father John and Uncle Martin, who took it over from their father in the 1920's (examine the prize ticket on the left). Around the time of World War II, John and Martin made harnesses for horses and sold some sporting equipment like baseball gloves and bats. Although Rich explained, 'good wood' for baseball bats was hard to find, as most valuable commodities had priority with the military. Before the Romie's came to town and the Miami-Erie Canal was across the street, legend has it their property was originally a tavern. Nowadays, Romie's work consists mainly of repairing soles and heels on shoes, selling Ft. Loramie letterman jackets, fixing ball gloves, and sewing. Rich doesn't sew, rather that job is done by another worker, Nancy, who happens to be Rich's wife. The couple raised six children, none of which works at the family business, but that business helped support their life living on Monterey Drive in Ft. Loramie since 1966.

I told Rich he might be interested to know I had a 24-year old daughter living in Pennsylvania and working at the global headquarters of Dick's Sporting Goods. He wasn't interested. I doubt his lack of enthusiasm was about her, but city megastores like DSG are why small town shops like Romie's are almost extinct these days. Once I sensed that topic getting awkward, I ended it by pointing out the closest Dick's wouldn't even repair ball gloves, but I was sure happy Romie's in Ft. Loramie still did. Rich didn't express any opinions on how folks shop in today's world, perhaps content with the realization his business is a fading slice of Americana from a bygone era. 

For the next 30 minutes we covered approximately 30 years of Ft. Loramie High School sports history. Rich remains an avid Redskins fan and one of his proudest moments is on display behind the front counter. Above a 2007 autographed uniform from Ft. Loramie's state baseball championship are a couple framed photos of his grandson, Andy Long. Andy was a pitcher on that inaugural title team. The southpaw also became a Redskin legend, throwing a complete game 4-hitter at the state semifinal in a 4-1 win over Fremont St. Joseph Central Catholic. I was excited to tell Rich that the coach of that team, Bill Sturwold, once told me my son's pitching reminded him of Andy Long. Rich quickly asked, "you mean he doesn't have any speed?" I laughed, but explained he keeps hitters off balance. Rich said, so did Andy.

#3 is the top memory from Ft. Loramie's 2007 state title for his grandpa

As we continued to reminisce about the good ole days, my eyes couldn't stop gazing at the museum around me. We talked about the old cameras on display and Rich's interest in photography when his kids were in school. I pointed out other memorabilia and he gave me the stories behind everything I inquired about. Finally, I gravitated into his work shop and was fascinated by the tooling and supplies that aided him as a craftsman. All I can say is Santa Claus would be jealous. 

Polaroid, Kodak, Vivitar, but no iPhones on this shelf

D&M closed their factory in 1937, making this Joe Cronin glove a real antique

The view for one man over seven decades 

At age 82, I was surprised to learn Rich still worked five days a week. I questioned if he ever enjoyed any hobbies like golf. On that particular day he exclaimed if it weren't so cold, he would be golfing. Rich also still actively enjoys bowling and the occasional Ft. Loramie Liberty Days 5K. Back in 2016 he finished the race and was resting afterward in some bleachers when he had a sudden heart attack. One stent and 10 days later he's proud to confess he golfed nine holes. In 2017 he even participated in the same 5K against the advice of some family members, but Rich says he now walks the race and it takes around 40 minutes. When he's not competing though, he still enjoys the sporting goods business. He summed up his explanation stating, it gives him something to do.

My time with Rich flew by, but it also stood still if you know what I mean. As I told him I had other errands to run that morning and made my way toward the front door, I questioned when I could come back and pick up the glove. He asked when I wanted it by. I assured him it was no rush, but stoked the Ft. Loramie vs Russia rivalry by joking we just needed it in time for the big game. Rich said it would be ready and once more tried holding back that ornery grin as he finished with, "I just hope I don't leave a hole in it".

Brand new strings and most important, no holes!