Final Blog
Since 2015, I’ve been publishing this weekly blog on Fish Report about memories during my childhood and young adulthood; however, this will likely be my final post; not that I’ve run out of memories, rather today unfortunately is the last day Fish Report will be published. Had it not been for the encouragement of Fish Report founder Craig Fiessinger, none of the 400 blogs generating almost 300,000 hits would have been posted. Fish Report will be missed by its many readers like me who checked the site first thing every morning for local sports news. Thanks Craig for outstanding reporting and for your dedicated support for local high school sports. The good news is the website of searchable, archived blogs will remain active at http://fishreportonline.blogspot.com.
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| L-R: Siblings: Ann, Luke, Sara, Lucy, Dave |
Growing up in the 50’s and 60’s on the farm surrounded by my family and friends while actively participating in sports created the genesis for most of my blogposts. Many times my four siblings offered stories from the past that turned into blogs. I’ll be forever grateful for their inspiration and support. Lucy was especially helpful as she is the keeper of the old family photo albums and provided many, many blog photos.
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| L-R: Tom, Dave, Doug, Frank |
Three of my best high school friends from Ft. Loramie, Tom Meyer, Doug Barhorst and Frank Schafer, were avid blog readers and always had a comment or two to add about this or that blogpost. The good news is all four of us winter in the Naples/Ft. Myers area of Florida so we can reminisce about old times year around. Coincidently, one of our classmates, Linda (Luttmer) Fiessinger is Craig’s mother! She and husband Buck have a place in Florida as well but on the east cost.
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| L-R: Francis Family Cheerleaders - Sherry, Joan, Laura, Debby |
My Rooshee connection came about initially from my uncle and aunt Legs and Mary Francis and their 5 kids. Aunt Mary was my dad’s sister, while Legs was Russia Mayor and founder of the business that is now Clopay. But the town really got on my radar during our high school basketball games against the Raiders with me gazing at their cheerleaders, one of whom, Debby Francis, I luckily married over 50 years ago. She’s been the proofreader for every blog, in addition to offering great ideas and improvements. Thank you, sweetheart!
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| Hilda at Family Wedding - 2017 |
Debby’s mother Hilda is 93, whom we enjoy visiting at Fair Haven in Sidney on a regular basis. Her husband Doc, before passing away in 2009, was actually the inspiration for my Fish Report blogposts as we conspired together on a little blurb called “True Stories from the Archives”. Here’s a sample:
True Story from the Archives: While vacationing in Florida one winter years ago, Doc & Hilda were walking barefoot on the beach while Doc spied a bikini-clad girl in his peripheral vision. He backed off a step to get a better view of the young lady so Hilda wouldn’t notice him turning his head. However, Doc accidentally stepped on Hilda’s heal, breaking his big toe! No more walks for Doc during the rest of that vacation!
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| L-R Francis Family: Laura, Joan, Doc, Debby, Ken, Dave, Hilda, John, Sherry |
The Francis family welcomed me openly from the first moment I rode my motorcycle with Debby to their Russia home one Sunday in June of 1971. My long hair and hippy clothes did not deter them one bit once Hilda found out I was Alfred Boerger’s son, as she and my Dad grew up on adjacent farms west of Ft. Loramie. Here’s a past blogpost about those times.
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| Hoying Reunion - 1997 |
With 46 uncles and aunts and almost 100 first cousins from both the Boerger and Hoying families, the memories they inspired formed the theme for many blogs. Literally every weekend, we would have one of the families over or we would go to one of their places. They all had kids about our age, so it was always great fun to get together, playing sports and enjoying games, while chowing down on wonderful food and drink. Aunt Ruth, age 94, is our only surviving family member from that greatest generation.
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| Miss Quinlin - First Grade Music Lessons |
My education formed the foundation for the blog, thanks to the nurturing and training provided by a host of teachers over my 20+ years of formal learning, starting especially with timeless Miss Quinlin pictured above in first grade. Amazingly, she happened to also be my Dad’s first grade teacher! Coupled with the religious education provided by the priests of St. Michael’s parish and two years studying for the priesthood at Brunnerdale Seminary, as well as the engineering/business degrees from General Motors Institute and the University of Michigan, I feel very fortunate to have been trained by some of the best educators.
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| My Nickname was Otis - after a Bar in Buffalo NY |
Speaking of school, belonging to Theta Xi fraternity in college was a hoot that helped me relax between engineering classes. Our nickname was Theta Zoo, so you tend to get the picture!
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| Favorite Car Ever - 1965 Corvette - bought from and sold back to my brother-in-law Ron Simon |
Beyond family, friends and sports, cars and music were the subject of many blogs, as classic cars and rock & roll were in their heyday during the ’50’s & ’60’s. My most-liked cars were Corvettes, Tbirds and Mustangs, while my favorite artists were John Fogerty, Bob Seger, the McCoys and the Beach Boys. As an automotive engineer, a favorite Fogerty song was Hot Rod Heart.
Speaking of cars, Ford was the subject of several blogs as I worked there as an engineer for most of my career. It was the best possible job, that is until I rose to upper management and had to deal with too much BS! Time to retire the first day I was eligible. Now I enjoy regularly attending several Ford retiree get-togethers; no stress and all fun!
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| Reggie and me next to our 2004 Thunderbird at Car Show |
Thanks to the blog, our son Reggie has gotten some insight into my life before he was born. He’s mostly surprised about what transpired, not really perceiving his “old man” was that young (and cool?) at one time. For that reason, I’m glad Craig has decided to keep the blogpost link alive. Who knows maybe I’ll post again in the future if some compelling topic surfaces. In case you’d like to be on the mailing list, send me an email at dhboerger@hotmail.com or click on the link below.
Thanks for rousing all those memories, Craig! In my view, Fish Report has been a major factor in Russia's outstanding sports success as well as overall community spirit. Bravo!
And finally, thanks to all the Fish Report readers out there in cyberspace who have hopefully enjoyed the blogs over the last 8 years. God bless.
Dave
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