Biography of Dick Bock (by Hazel, 1989)

DICK BOCK (from album compiled by wife, Hazel, probably around 1989).

Born on November 8th, 1911, in Sandusky Ohio, he was baptized about 4 months old in a gown that was subsequently used for all his children and grandchildren (except Beth who was born in Tehran). It is said that the gown was made by his grandmother. We have a picture of his mother (about 9 months old?) in what appears to be a baptismal gown. Also pictured are his maternal grandparents, Elizabeth and Ed Miller, and his great grandfather, Issac Miller. His mother always called him Richard. We have pictures of Dick with his grandmother Christine Bock and his father. There is a childhood picture of his mother, Kate, with her brother, Elmer, and sister, Mabel. (Elmer eventually became a professional baseball player with the New York Yankees and other teams.)

Dick grew up on Lockwood Avenue in Sandusky, Ohio. His father was a shipping clerk. He liked to fish and took Dick and Kate with him every Sunday. Since he had to accompany his parents every weekend, he never wanted to fish again after he left home. His mother’s best friends were Ida Harbauer (husband Art was the head of a ketchup plant that was later bought out by Heinz) and her sister Rose Schieffly (husband Leo was a policeman). Neither of these women had any children so they were like second and third mothers to Dick. They would give Dick whatever his parents couldn’t afford.

We have a picture of him in the 2nd and 3rd grade class at Sycamore School. There are various pictures of Dick with members of the family as he grew up. He was athletic and joined several teams in high school: football, basketball (league champs in 1927-28) and track. He excelled at the high jump and had a pole vault set in his back yard to use for practice. Dick was elected to his high school student council in his senior year. During the summer he liked to visit Ida’s house on Cedar Point Road which fronted on Lake Erie. He had a job driving a speedboat from Sandusky to Cedar Point for the tourists. One fall he spent repainting the Cedar Point merry-go-round in preparation for the next summer. His mother worked at the dance floor taking tickets. He graduated from Sandusky High School in 1929.

All during his grade school and high school days, Dick loved to draw cartoons and experiment with other kinds of art. Also, in the summers the Bock family enjoyed annual reunions on Lake Erie. The first was in 1919 at Winobaga, the second at Cedar Point, the fourth at Monroe Piers, and the fifth at Ruggels.

He went off to Ohio State to study to become an electrical engineer (as advised by his Uncle Ralph who had studied that field at Ohio State earlier and was the only college graduate in the immediate family). He pledged the Theta Kappa Phi fraternity in 1929. But the studies proved “boring” and his love of drawing won over so he dropped out of Ohio State and began classes at Keans Art School in Toledo, Ohio. While in art school he joined the Myoptic Sketch Club in Toledo. He apartment in the same building as Keans School was like an art gallery with his paintings. While in Toledo he met and dated Hazel Mae Malkmus. They married (in Tiffin) on April 13th, 1940, and set up housekeeping at 364 ½ S. Prospect St. in Marion, Ohio. He had a job as commercial artist with the Howard Swink Advertising Agency. Their first daughter, Judy, was born in Marion.

In 1943 he joined Akron Advertising Art and they moved to Akron. The rented a house on Lamont Street in Goodyear Heights and he commuted to work on a city bus. Their first son, Jim, was born while they loved there. In 1945 they moved to 66 S. Forge Street near downtown Akron. Judy started Kindergarten at Spicer School, and Dick could walk to work and see her safely to St. Bernard’s school when she entered 1st grade there.

In 1945 he was drafted into the Army (WWII) and left for boot camp on the train. But within a few days he was back home because he failed the physical. His eyes were the reason he was rejected.

About this time Kate gave up driving and gave her car to Dick. After that the family enjoyed Sunday drives around the area every weekend. They would visit the train station, the airport, the model plane club’s flying field, etc. Sometimes on the weekend Dick would drive out in the countryside to sketch; sometimes he would play golf. In 1948 their second daughter, Kathy, was born. The family belonged to St. Bernard’s Catholic Church.

When Ida Harbauer died in 1952 she bequeathed a baby grand piano to Dick (that she had purchased from the Cedar Point Crystal Gardens Ballroom where it had been used for many years by famous bands of the era). He had a keen ear for music and taught himself to play many melodies even though he couldn’t read music. Dick loved the big band sound that had been so popular as he grew up in the 1930’s. He also loved Lake Erie and the family spent many summer vacations in a cottage beside the lake in places like Port Clinton, Ruggles Beach, Vermillion on the Lake, etc.

About 1950 Dick was diagnosed as having Multiple Sclerosis. In 1951 the family bought their first home and moved to 268 E. Ido Avenue in Firestone Park. The family joined St. Paul’s Catholic Church and the children attended school there through eighth grade. In 1954 their second son, Ricky, was born. Also in 1954, Dick and Hazel Mae attended his high school 25th reunion in Sandusky. In 1962 Dick retired when it became too difficult for him to walk safely. For several years he swam daily at the downtown Akron YMCA for exercise. In 1972, at the age of 60, he died.