This nostalgia post by Duane Harbert,
Class of 1951, sparked memories of swimming spots for Monongah High alumni,
including me.
Duane’s post:
“This is a picture a friend took of the
Worthington dam when we were recently in West Virginia. As
reported in an earlier article on this blog.
What an
improvement in the water quality from when I was a child. When we lived in
Worthington the water was filled with acid mine drainage. There was no
vegetation or aquatic life in the river.
The water is clear
and there were mussel shells on the shore. I was glad to see the
improvement in the water quality but I was saddened by the fact that no one was
enjoying the beach and river like we used to when I was a kid.
Seeing this site
brought back a flood of good memories. I didn't realize how photogenic this
site is until I saw this picture.
Duane.”
I had two favorite memories of my
teen swimming days.
1. Coal Hole, which was so deep that we could NEVER touch bottom because coal operators dug it out so deep. So much sulphur still in it that my
mother sent me there when I had poison ivy because it dried it up much faster
than slapping calamine lotion on my body.
2. The Twelfth Street Swimming Pool with its purified water that
was an oasis for Monongah’s children till polio hit. Then Coal Hole became a
safer option. Less crowded. Less chance of polio.
As the decades rolled by my late
wife, My Mona Lisa, decided she wanted a swimming pool on our Cuyahoga Falls,
Ohio property.
It was natural for her to think that
way.
Her grandfather owned a lake atop a
mountain in West Virginia. Her father was a lifeguard keeping an eye on the
customers. In fact, that’s how her father suffered his hearing loss, by diving
into the water and striking a hard, maybe rocky bottom.
Anyway, I could never say no to My
Mona Lisa.
We bought two lots, one on the corner and
the adjoining lot, when we first purchased our Cuyahoga Falls home on Morrison
Avenue.
The house sat on one lot. We had a
swimming pool built on the other lot. I personally designed the shape by laying
out the tubing provided by the construction company. No rectangular pool for
us. Very artistic irregular lines.
Half the pool went from 3 to 4 feet deep so
that beginners could enjoy it without fear of drowning.
The other half went quickly from 4
feet to 9 feet, perfect for diving and swimming.
My Mona Lisa would swim the length of
that pool, back and forth, for hours. Not for speed. But for pleasure and
exercise.
All seven grandchildren learned to
swim in that pool with one simple rule. If you couldn’t swim non-stop the width
of the pool and back then you weren’t qualified to go to the deep end.
It’s called motivation. Seeing an
older grandchild having so much fun in the deep end had grandchild after
grandchild making the non-stop round trip in the shallow end.
Many a plastic, inflatable pool toy
took a beating in that deep end. High leaps, loud plops and another toy lost
its air completely.
But everyone in our family – 2 grandparents,
3 children and 7 grandchildren – became proficient swimmers in that pool.
Just as Duane has heartwarming
memories of Worthington Dam and many Monongah High students have happy thoughts
of Coal Hole and the 12th Street Swimming Pool in Fairmont the
Olesky extended family to this day basks in nostalgia talking about the family
pool in Cuyahoga Falls.
It was built in 1983. And it was used
every summer, with 2,500 rhododendron blooms surrounding it (yes, my grandsons
and I counted all the blooms one summer), until My Mona Lisa passed away in
2004 and Paula and I sold our homes in Cuyahoga Falls and Akron in 2006 and
moved into our jointly owned condo in nearby Tallmadge.
But the memories of Coal Hole, the 12th
Street Pool and the Olesky family pool will always be swimming around in my
memories.
Just like the Worthington Dam swirls
around in Duane Harbert’s mind.
Thanks, Duane, for opening the floodgates of happy memories for both of us!
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