James Laird - Adventures on a Bike at Lark Ellen Home for Boys- Page 3

At one of these get togethers I was presented a Good Citizenship Award by the D.A.R. which was a great surprise as I did not know who they were or that they did such things. Every year during one of these occasions the boy of the year would be announced and the big silver cup with his name engraved on it would be presented. He did not get to keep the cup as it had all the prior winners' names on it, and it was on display in the front office. I have no idea how they arrived at the winner each year and was pleasantly surprised when I was named the winner in about 1939. The winner the year before was Tommy Box who was great guy, and had just graduated from High School and was leaving to join the Army Air Force. They also named me the winner again the next year and it was the last name to be put on the cup as they had run out of room for more names.

The last two semesters I went to Emerson Jr. High School. If you had a perfect attendance record for the semester you got to go Ice Skating at the Tropical Ice Gardens in Westwood for the afternoon. It was just a short walk down the street to the skating rink which was out in the open air with just a big canvas cover over part of it. Some of the boys in my class knew the place well as they played hockey there after school. They had their own skates and I was lucky to get a free rental pair that fit well. They gave me some good pointer on ice skating and I was soon doing pretty good.

They then started to teach me how to do fast turns like they use to play hockey. On one of my practice tries I went racing down the ice as fast as I could go and just started my turn when a little girl about five in a fancy skating outfit came by doing one of her things and our skates just touched each other. That was the last thing I remember for a while. The next thing I remember is someone holding me up on a bench at the side of the ice rink. They kept me there until my head cleared before letting me back on the ice. I don't remember seeing the little girl again. My friends said she did not even fall and left soon after our collision. I got to go skating the next semester also. I tried skating a couple of times while in the Navy and stationed in Rhode Island a few years later. Between the rough ice and dull, loose skates I did not do so well. A strong wind was blowing across the pond one day which helped push me across but made it very hard to get back again.

Jim Laird