Mail Box Damage - 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

Mail Box Damage

Our mailbox was knocked off its post recently as shown in the photo above and the incident reminded me about frequent damage to Dad’s mailbox located at the end of our long lane on Friemering Road west of Ft. Loramie shown below.

Dad and his brother Bob who lived on the farm across the road from us were always frustrated to have their mailboxes damaged. The road was an alternate route between Minster and Ft. Loramie that avoided the busier and more patrolled SR 66. So kids cruising between the two towns would tend to use that route.

The typical damage was incurred by flying beer bottles, cherry bombs or someone accidentally hitting the mailbox with their vehicle. Anytime something happened, Dad or Uncle Bob would chase after the hooligans. One time Dad caught up with the car that had blown up our mailbox on the 4th of July and discovered the driver to be the son of our milkman, a close friend of Dad’s, so the kid was let go but not before Dad “confiscated” the fireworks. Our family had quite a 4th of July show later that evening! On another incident, Uncle Bob also tracked down some kids who had damaged his mailbox and discovered one of them in the car was his niece. Needless to say, soft hearted Uncle Bob let them go as well.

A few years later while taking a welding class in college, as my project, I welded up a metal mailbox as a Fathers Day gift for Dad. It was somewhat crude, heavy but very effective, as it would repel any beer bottle and withstand a cherry bomb. My friends and I in the welding class had even tested it to make sure! Dad mounted it on a steel post cemented in place, so that mailbox could survive anything. His best Father's Day gift ever, so he claimed!

As a teenager myself, I can recall doing some damage to mailboxes, mostly throwing empty beer bottles at the target with my friends before heading to Eagle Park in Minster for their infamous Friday night dances as documented in this past blog. One night around 1:00 am after Eagles, I must have fallen asleep at the wheel and hit a mailbox myself. Had it been a bridge abutment instead, you wouldn’t be reading this blog right now!

Regarding my current mailbox damage, a neighbor was walking her dog and noticed the garbage truck had stopped at the end of our driveway even though she knew we had no garbage since we were wintering in Florida. She then noticed the downed mailbox and sent me an email about what she saw. Since the garbage company GFL is contracted by the City, I called our City Manager about the damage and he promised to investigate the matter. A day or so later, an official from GFL called me and indicated they interviewed the two workers on the truck and both corroborated that the mailbox had been damaged prior to their arrival and was laying in the street so it had to be moved aside before they could get by.

Given that testimony, I checked our front camera doorbell as the mailbox can be seen from that view. Unfortunately, the doorbell camera can only record events when motion is sensed near the front door or when the doorbell is pushed, so that was no help. Our neighbors have a security camera facing their front yard and perhaps their camera caught something. Once the neighbors checked, the garbage truck had indeed hit the mailbox as shown in the still photo above.

The caretaker who checks our place weekly while we are gone also was dispatched to the scene to temporarily repair the mailbox. He did a quick and dirty fix as shown above and later came back to make a more palatable fix before I got a blight ticket. While remounting the mailbox, he noticed several witness marks on the door of the mailbox with the same green paint color as the garbage truck. Further confirming the situation, our mailbox has a sensor inside that sends us a signal when the mailbox door is opened so we know when the mail has arrived. At the exact moment the truck hit the mailbox on the security camera video time-log, we received a text alert. So with that evidence in hand, the City Manager was again asked to intervene on our behalf. He reviewed the “evidence” with the Police Department and agreed to escalate the matter to GFL, so we’re waiting for the next shoe to drop. At this stage it’s a matter of principle.

Blame my stubborn determination on such matters to my Dad!

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'50's Road Trip - 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

’50’s Road Trip

This video was sent to me by a friend this morning. The quality was so good I had to share it with Fish Report readers.The photo above really caught my eye as it definitely applies to me!

Click the following link:

1950's America - Vintage USA Road Trip in COLOR

The video is a colorized series of photos from various scenic sites around the country back in the 1950’s. Sites that I missed back then because of being raised on a dairy farm which meant no trips longer than a few hours one way could be taken squeezed between morning and evening milkings. That kept us close to home in Ohio.

And every scene shows cars from the 50’s, providing the inspiration for me to become an automotive engineer. So, enjoy!

Here’s another favorite scene:

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Ford Times - 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

Ford Times

Retirees and employees of Ford Motor Company receive a weekly update on company affairs and the most recent edition included this story about Ford Times, a magazine the company published for many years. Enjoy!

by A. Wayne Ferens
Images Courtesy of Ford Motor Company Archives
Published 4.5.2023

Ford Times October 15 1909

The first monthly publication produced by the Ford Motor Company was the Ford Times magazine. The first issue was published and provided to Ford dealers and customers on April 15, 1908. Initially, the publication was 4x6 inches in size but later increased to 5x7 inches. It mainly focused on Ford's automotive products and its expanding model line. In the 1910s, it featured color printed covers from graphic artists with articles on Ford's dealer organization, Ford owners and their travel experiences, Ford's overseas business and pleas for better roads. These small Ford magazines ceased publication in April 1917 with America's entry into World War I. It would not be published again until 1943.

Ford Times July 1914

When the Ford Times resumed production, it would last another 50 years and was similar in content to Readers Digest, a very popular national publication (est.1922), and the Yankee Magazine (est.1935), the only magazine devoted to New England. With the company’s growing business and customer base, Ford expanded its publication department that included such writers as Edward Weeks, Cory Ford, Bernard De Voto and Edward Ware Smith. The new monochrome issues would include articles featuring destinations for sports and vacations, scenic road trips, gardening and dining, food recipes, camping, museums and historic places across America, as well as information about current Ford vehicles.

After World War II, Ford Motor Company added a publication to include one for Lincoln-Mercury. One could subscribe for a free magazine through your local Ford dealer after purchasing a new car. In the 1980s, you could purchase them for a dollar, a price that increased in the 1990s to $1.50.

Lincoln Mercury Times 1951

In the late 1940s, Arthur Lougee became the art director of both the Ford Times and Lincoln-Mercury Times, as well as Ford's New England Journeys publication. Over the next several decades, the "Times" magazines featured many paintings and artwork from dozens of America's contemporary watercolor artists such as Frederick James, King Coffin, Maxwell Mays, John Whorf, Estelle Coniff, Edward Turner, William Barss, Eunice Utterback, Dorothy Manuel and Forrest Orr were often on the covers.

Ford Times August 1949

Contemporary photographers and painters were also contributors to both magazines including Henry E. McDaniel and Charley Harper. Harper was a Cincinnati, Ohio-based American Modernist artist. He was best known for his highly stylized wildlife prints, posters and book illustrations. He did more Ford Times covers than any other artist with his subjects mainly natural, with birds prominently featured. Harper passed away in 2007 and an exhibition of his work was held at the Cincinnati Art Museum that same year

Ford Times covers from 1952 by Charley Harper

The Ford Times magazine was last published and mailed to Ford owners and enthusiasts in January 1993. After 60 years of publication the magazine was most likely terminated due to consumer and cost cutting issues at Ford Motor Company. What started basically as a piece of advertising for Ford and its products evolved into an informative magazine for automobile enthusiasts and motorists across America. Below right is the cover of the final issue (upper left) of Ford Times dated January 1993.

Ford Times November 1990 featuring Arnold Palmer

Ford Times final issue January 1993

Ford Truck Times issue 1972

Ford also produced a quarterly series of Truck Times magazines that contained stories that revolved around trucks.

Click on this link to read the January, 1953 issue of Ford Times.

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Four Sisters - 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

Four Sisters

 Hoying Sisters:  Anna Marie, Louise, Regina, Dettie

My mom had three wonderful sisters shown in the photo collage above posted by a cousin recently on Facebook. The lower right baby photo was taken in 1920, the larger left photo in the late ’30’s during the Great Depression and the upper right photo toasting the end of WWII in 1945. Note the contrasting clothing styles in the Great Depression versus after the war! The sisters' parents, my grandparents, were Henry and Anna Hoying, pictured below with me on my first communion in 1954.

My grandparents owned this farm in St. Patricks on Hoying Road, of course!

Mom always reminisced about the challenging farm work her and her sisters had to perform while growing up, because their 7 brothers pictured below were all younger than her. And because the five oldest brothers all served in WWII, and since my mom was the only unmarried daughter at the time, she also performed lots of farm work during the war as well.

Hoying Brothers: Jerry, Ed, Hank, Pat, Gene, Lindy, Tony

The four sisters as well as the seven brothers are unfortunately no longer with us, with Uncle Gene just passing away last fall at age 92. All lived into their 80’s and 90’s, so longevity is hopefully in my genes as well.

Mom and her sisters all married and lived within 10 miles of each other, so the families routinely got together, creating many special memories for me, my siblings and cousins. A favorite photo is shown above of the sister's husbands solving the world's problems! Boy, could that foursome play a raucous game of euchre!

Starting with the oldest, Aunt Regina married Clem Aselage from McCartyville. The photo above was taken on their wedding day in 1939. Mom is the Maid of Honor on the far left. Clem and Regina had all boys, half older than me and half younger. They were a wild bunch for sure, as is very evident in the photo on the right above. The boys all enjoyed sports which they imparted to me as well. Given the age difference between them, our games were something to behold; with baseball in the summer, football in the fall and basketball in the barn during the winter. The competition was fierce, and it extended into high school playing Anna against the brothers closest to my age. The boys all had this contagious laugh, mimicking their father, as there was never a dull moment in that family. The nickname for the brother closest to my age was Speed, a fitting antonym nickname for sure! They also had a go kart with no motor we would push each other around a makeshift track the boys had built behind their shed.

My Aunt Regina was a saint, raising all those boys. Fun times for sure, at least for me when visiting, but maybe not my sisters, since there were no girls in the family, although from the looks of the above picture with both of our families, the Aselage boys were captivated by having girls around!

Aunt Anna Marie is next, marrying Greg Eilerman from Minster. They had 6 kids, including three girls, whom my sisters adored. We could ride our bikes to Minster so we and our Eilerman cousins had many fun times together.

Their place backed up to the Miami-Erie Canal as pictured above, which offered endless opportunities for adventure. My great uncle Louis Hoying also had a hardware store nearby where we would spend time checking out his wares, especially his repair room in the back loaded with all kinds of tools and spare parts. With current inflation hitting the price of eggs, check out the above informative ad for chicken feed published by my great uncle Louie's hardware store.

Last and surely not least was Mom’s youngest sister, Dettie, short for Bernadette. She married Paul Gaier in 1943 and they had 6 kids, 3 girls and 3 boys, all about the same ages as us, so it was especially fun to visit the Gaier’s, who resided in Osgood. We would occasionally ride our bikes to their place as well, and explore Osgood from one end to the other as documented in this past blog.

Gaier Family Circa 1966

Each summer the family reunion occurred which allowed all of us cousins to get together for the day at one place. Games were organized and competitions with prizes ensued. I never could master the three legged sack race, but excelled at any game with a ball, thanks to the many sporting events we enjoyed while visiting our cousins.

More photos of the four sisters - Imagine if these photos could speak about the memories they shared growing up through the Great Depression and World War II. The greatest generation for sure!

 Mom, second from the left, had some wallpaper in the kitchen like her dress!

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