WWII

As a father of a new baby born a few days after Pearl Harbor, I doubt Dick was anxious to march off to war. In 1943 he moved his growing family from Marion to Akron to take a new job. Could it be that during these years of the war he was working in a job that had some deferment from the draft? At 29 years old was he too old for the draft? I don’t know. But in 1944 or 45, at 32+ years old, he went off to boot camp. Was he drafted or did the enormous sacrifice of friends cause him to look beyond his family responsibilities and volunteer? I don’t know. But I can remember standing at the door, weeping with Mom as he walked off to the train station. I think Nana and Jim might have been there also, to help mother cope. But not too many days or weeks passed before he returned, a health reject. Not much was ever said about this until much later. In what appeared to be a very fit, healthy and handsome man, it seems that the army doctors saw something abnormal in his eyes – something that would eventually balloon into multiple sclerosis. At least that was the way I heard Dad tell about it.

This summer Kathy shared some pictures and mementos that she had found in Mother’s picture albums. One was a letter that Dad’s friend, Ernie, wrote to Kate from the front lines – saying how bad war conditions were and hoping that Dad would not have to join the army.

Music – the Piano

Hazel Mae, growing up in the flapper era, loved popular music and played the banjo and the piano. She took piano lessons for several years from her Uncle Herbert (everyone referred to him as Uncle Bootie), Nana’s youngest brother. She also enjoyed classical music and went to ballets and concerts with us in the 1980s.

Around 1952(?) when ‘Aunt Ida’ died, Dad inherited a Baldwin baby grand player piano. Ida and Art had a home on the shores of Lake Erie, not far from Cedar Point. They (along with Ida’s sister Rose and her husband Leo) were not related to us, just very good friends of Kate; childless couples who adored Dick like a child of their own. The piano had been used at the Cedar Point ballroom at the time when big bands played for the summer crowds. The piano became Mom and Dad’s prized possession although it dwarfed our little dining room. Jim and I were immediately signed up for piano lessons. Uncle Bootie sent sheet music and Mom started practicing and regaining her skills as a pianist. And Dad spent hours teaching himself to play by ear the melodies of his favorite songs. He never did learn how to read music but eventually learned enough chords that he could pair up with his pecked out melodies that his music was presentable and recognizable. It takes an enormous amount of concentration and effort to pick out a tune when you have never played an instrument or read sheet music beyond the church hymnal. I’ve often thought that this hobby provided a lot of enjoyment and diversion from his health problems for the last 15 years of his life.

As Dad’s balance became more impaired, Mom became more and more concerned that one day he might fall under some part of the piano, knocking the extremely heavy piano on top of him, and she would not be able to lift it off and help him. Finally she convinced him that it should be sold. Can anyone remember when that happened?

Music – Big Bands

Dick especially, but Hazel Mae also, loved swing music from the Big Band era. He had a large collection of 78s (the purist’s media for the original recording) stored in a large glass enclosed display case. He organized the records into albums that held maybe a dozen or more (20?) of the 78s. He would decorate the outside of each binder spine to show the name of the artist represented by the enclosed records. He favored Benny Goodman, Count Basie, Artie Show, some of the Dorsey tunes, etc. He fancied himself a drummer and had a little practice pad, sticks and wires that he would play along with the songs.

I can remember as a young teenager, maybe 8th or 9th grade, going out with Dad on Saturday mornings to scavenge the used records bins at Clarkins on South Arlington Street and other stores. These would be mostly 45s. The records had been removed from jute boxes around town – rotated out with fresh product. Dad would let me pick out a few pop tunes from the 50s to buy and he would search for some big band music to add to his collection. Once I got my driver’s license (I qualified at 15 because Dad was disabled and Mom needed help driving) I became his designated driver for these excursions.

Other sports and recreation

Although Mom and Dad followed the Cleveland Indians baseball and Cleveland Browns football teams, I don’t remember them as being avid fans who had to stop everything else to listen to or watch the game. Maybe I’m wrong??

Mom and Dad were both good swimmers and enjoyed this sport. They shared their love of water and sun with us at our Lake Erie beach holiday each summer. They were our first swimming teachers. While growing up, Mom took us out to Sandy Beach on Main Street Extension (?) on [one of the] Turkeyfoot lake(s) for formal Red Cross swim lessons during the summer. And Dad swam laps daily at the downtown Akron YMCA as a measure of physical therapy after he was diagnosed with MS.

But I’m willing to bet that if we could ask them, they would both claim that dancing was their favorite thing to do. When we lived on Forge Street, and before MS took away this pleasure from them, I remember that if there was a babysitter taking care of us on Friday or Saturday night, it was probably so they could go out dancing: Myers Lake, Chippewa Lake and the dance hall that predated Borie’s Bowling Alley on Market Street where Big Bands would play when they came to town.

Hazel Mae enjoyed golf and racquet sports

I seem to remember that Mom took up golfing for a while in her 60s but I’m kind of vague on this. It runs in my mind that she might have used a set of clubs that Cindy didn’t need anymore. I suppose she played with a woman’s league but I’m not sure. I don’t remember hearing that she played golf when she was younger. I do know that she enjoyed watching golf and tennis matches on TV.

She had enjoyed tennis since high school, although there might not have been such a thing as a girls’ tennis team back then so she probably played informally with friends?? I can’t remember ever hearing that Dad played tennis or seeing Mom play with friends when I was a child like I can remember Dad playing golf with his friends. But I think she got a kick out of trying to teach us how to play the game as we children got old enough. I can remember trying to play tennis with her at the Firestone Park courts in the mid-1950s. And those old wooden racquets were sooo heavy compared to today’s equipment. She took great pleasure in watching Rick take up the sport and play well on the Garfield HS team.

I do remember both Mom and Dad playing badminton with friends at summer picnics and even after Dad couldn’t participate anymore you could usually talk Mom into joining a game. For several years we had a ping pong table in the basement at Ido Avenue. It was tough to play down there because the heating pipes were only slightly above our heads so shots that bounced too high would boomerang off the pipes at crazy angles. Seems like Dad could play a ‘mean game’ even when he was holding on to the table with one hand for balance. I think Mom was pretty good too – but I don’t remember playing with her as much.

Dick and golf

I’m not sure when Dick took up the sport of golf. Maybe it was after he joined Akron Advertising Art and found friends there that introduced him to this game? But I do know that he owned a set of golf clubs and somewhere in the 1940s, if I was very good during the week and he didn’t have a golf partner (or maybe if I was getting totally on Mom’s nerves and she needed some time away from me), once in awhile I would go out with Dad on Saturday morning for his practice round of golf. I would walk the course with him, he would let me wash his ball after each hole and maybe, if there was no one close behind us, he might let me take a practice putt or two. I can’t remember him using a golf cart or caddy – I’m guessing that he carried his clubs. I certainly was too little at 7 or 8 (?) to carry them. He probably played only 9 holes on any given day. Although I’m not positive where he played, I think I remember going to a course on Bailey Rd between Cuyahoga Falls and Tallmadge and Akron (MapQuest says it is called Brookledge Golf Course) and maybe to a little course “down in the valley” on Peninsula or Ira roads. Maybe. Golf was one of the first things that Dad had to give up when MS destroyed his balance but he always maintained an interest in the sport and loved to watch golf matches on TV. And it puts a smile on my face to think of the pleasure he must get from watching Jim’s near-professional golf game.

My parents – my heroes

I would like to echo something that Rick said recently. I was so blessed by God to have the parents that He gave me. Before I start to remember all the little details and stories about them I need to acknowledge the love and stability that they rooted my life in, the brave way they faced their own devastating health problems. If they despaired and wept over their broken dreams, it was in private. They never reached out in anger to hurt those not suffering as they were, to blame God for deserting them. They accepted those imperfections of the world that could not be changed and got on with their life, enjoying the family, friends and hobbies that made them the fun and personable people to be around that they were. They provided a model that I hope I will always remember to strive to emulate.

Hazel Mae Bock – the basics

She was born Hazel Mae Malkmus on 4 Jul 1915 in Tiffin, Ohio. She loved having a birthday that coincided with our national holiday because it was always an occasion for a picnic and gathering of family. She graduated from Tiffin High School and attended the Business School at Tiffin University for a year (I’m not sure, http://www.ohiohistorycentral.org/entry.php?rec=2572&nm=Tiffin-University ). Her schooling was interrupted by a lack of tuition (this was during the Great Depression) and she found a job working as a secretary in Columbus in various State offices. It was in Columbus that she met Dick Bock. She married on 13 Apr 1940 when 25 years old and devoted herself to being a full-time homemaker and mother from that time forward. After Dick died in 1972, Hazel Mae rejoined the work force as a clerk in the Summit County Treasurer’s office. After ten (?) years of service there, she retired to enjoy time with her family and travels with friends. In the early 1990s as it became apparent that Hazel Mae’s memory was failing, she was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease. She died at Rockynol Nursing Home on 30 Nov 2000 at the age of 85.

Dick Bock – the basics

He was born Charles Richard Bock on 8 Nov 1911 and died on 26 Mar 1972 at the age of 60. As a child at home in Sandusky, Ohio, he was called Dick so as not to be confused with his father, Charles Bock (1881 – 1947). Dick graduated from Sandusky High School where he participated in sports, prepared to go to college, and pursued his hobby of drawing. After graduation he attended Ohio State University for a semester or two, studying to become the [family recommended] engineer. But finding that his talents lay elsewhere, he switched to the Columbus Art School (I’m not sure, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Columbus_College_of_Art_and_Design ) and studied commercial art. In 193n he officially changed his name to Richard Charles Bock to reduce the confusion about what his name really was. In 1940 he married Hazel Mae Malkmus. They began married life in Marion, Ohio, but soon moved to Akron (1943) when Dick took a new job with Akron Advertising Art. Together, Dick and Hazel Mae raised a family of four children: Judy, Jim, Kathy and Rick. In 1950 (?) Dick was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis. He continued to work at [modified] art jobs with AAA but eventually had to take early retirement because of the severity of his disability. As this disease progressed he managed to stay mobile using a walker but in the spring of 1972 he fell and broke an arm. He was hospitalized at Akron General during the beginning of his convalescence but died there from a stroke on Palm Sunday.

Let's get started....

This posting will start what I hope will become a family effort to collect remembrances about Dick and Hazel Mae Bock in one place. So many times when we think of preserving genealogical records for our children we think of researching great-great-great grandparents, finding out when and why they immigrated to this country. This is important but we should not neglect writing down what “everyone” knows but what will be gone with us in a few short years. I hope that everyone who knew them, or who has heard stories about them from others, will take a few minutes to add to our record.

Don’t think of this as having to write an entire chapter of their biography all by yourself. Don’t keep a story to yourself because you are not sure if you remember it correctly. Think of this blog as a scratch pad where we can jot down notes as we think of them, correct each others [sometimes fading and failing] memories, fill in the gaps between what others write, etc. Perhaps some day when one of us has the time, this material can be organized into a true biography. But even if that day never arrives, at least we will have given a glimpse into the lives of these two wonderful people to the grandchildren and great-grandchildren who never knew Dick or Hazel Mae.

I’ll try to illustrate this blog with some scanned and digitized pictures, music and links to places on the Internet that illustrate the area and history when Dick and Hazel Mae lived. My aim is to start a new thread (topic) every week and my hope is that everyone who feels so moved will take up that topic by using the “Comments” button. I’d also appreciate your suggestions about future threads.