The Old Skatin' Pond

     The Kornerman hasn't heard a thing this season about the ice skating pond at McHose Park but former resident Larry Lindmark has some fond memories of that experience.
     When the Kornerman returned "home" from a service stint in 1958, I was talked into what, eventually, became a 25-year coaching job in the Boone Babe Ruth baseball league and in that early time, one of my standout players, a standout both on the field and off, was Larry Lindmark.
     I hadn't connected with Larry for quite some time and was very happy to receive a letter from him this week. Boone folks will remember the Lindmark family I'm sure. Larry said his mother, Connie, recently celebrated her 92nd birthday. Longtime Boone National Guardsman and Boone Community School employee Bob Lindmark, Larry's dad, passed away in 1988. Larry also has sisters, Beth and Christy, and his mom is living in Kennewick, WA where Beth resides. Larry lives in Red Wing, MN.
     Actually, the Kelley's, Jo and I, purchased our current residence from the older Lindmark's close to 30 years ago.
     Back to the skating pond. Larry wrote, "Roy Coffman, the park director at the time, always did a nice job of getting the pond ready for another season, which only lasted about six weeks. He and his helpers would have a fire for us in the warming house along with some concessions. Whenever I hear the song, "Peggy Sue," I  think of the McHose pond. It was a popular, peppy tune and it was fun  to hear it over the PA system so the skaters could sway to the music. I've always been obsessive about recording statistics. My junior and senior years in high school, I recorded the days I skated. In the 1961-62 season the pond opened on December 27 and the last day of skating was February 10. In the 1962-63 season the pond operated from December 12 to February 15. In those days, instead of wooden steps from the warming house to the ice, there was one long ramp so skaters loved to build up speed going down the ramp and shooting right out into the ice. One winter, a couple of brothers moved from Michigan to Boone and they were hockey players so Roy built two hockey nets/goals for those who wanted to play hockey, even though some of us still wore figure skates. The goals were painted red and the whole netting of the goal was metal so those goals were very durable. We didn't have much padding but I remember taking a couple Life magazines and some rubber bands to use as shin guards. At night, there seemed to be "fireflys" here and there on the pond as we skated up the creek. A.C. Jensen, father of Pat and Tom, could, oftentimes, be found skating doing "grapevine" figures over and over. I still figure skate, mostly indoors now. I belong to the Red Wing, MN Figure skating club and I still like to jump rope on ice and do some comedy routines such as nutty professor, Tiny Tim, Charlie Chaplin and the Church Lady, along with duets. In our show program, I always like to include word that my skating days started on the McHose Park pond in Boone, Iowa. Thank you for your continued coordination of Boone memories."
     The Kornerman remembers that Larry missed some of his Babe Ruth career due to a broken leg. I don't think that had a thing to do with his skating but beware Larry, that jump rope on ice sounds dangerous to me.
     One other note: The Kornerman has always heard of the ice skating prowess of A.C. Jensen. The word I heard was that he was quite a renowned champion in his early skating career. A.C. and his wife are still Boone residents.
K-----K
     We had mentioned in the last edition that former resident John Buntsma has entered the political world after many years as a newspaper editor in Orange City. John is running for a seat in the Iowa House of Representatives in an upcoming special election to fill a vacancy.
     Bill Wallace answered our plea for additional information on John. Bill noted, "I remember John, he was a classmate of mine........BHS-70. Keep up the good work. Have a healthy and happy 2015."
     Thanks Bill.
K-----K
     Barry Wills sends some interesting material every so often. He writes about some important facts of life such as.......death is the number one killer in the world; give a person a fish and you feed them for a day, teach a person to use the internet and they won't bother you for weeks, months, maybe years; health nuts are going to feel stupid someday, lying in the hospital, dying of nothing; don't worry about old age, it doesn't last that long and in the 60's, people took acid to make the world weird. Now, the world is weird and people take Prozac to make it normal.
K-----K
     Boone Area Deaths: Jennalee Sturtz, 45, Boone............James Jones, 77, Panora, formerly of Ogden. OHS-56. A 39-year employee of Northern Natural Gas. No Boone area survivors.
K-----K
     Worldwide Korner headquarters are located at 710 Aldrich, Boone, Iowa 50036-4703. Phone number is 515-432-1530. To email your stories/memories/comments/support.......
kelleyskorner1@gmail.com.