Ice skating

Ice Skating

Everybody had ice skates but me. I was 17-18 years old and lived near an ice rink by John Marshall School. My older sister, Dorothy, who worked in Milwaukee had had the same experience of not having skates. Green and inexperienced as she was, she bought a pair that had long points on them. They were racers! The person who sold them to her should have known better, but probably wanted the money. She had tried using them unsuccessfully for some time, and finally they landed at home in the basement. So I took them to town to try. This was in the days when we had no slacks. Later, snow suits came into vogue. I needed a jacket of some kind, so Mother took me jacket shopping. All the warm jackets were too expensive to buy, so I ended up with a short unlined suede jacket, in which I froze every time I went ice skating. But I had a jacket and was happy about that, and I wore it faithfully every time I went ice skating.

Every day after supper, I would walk over to the John Marshall ice rink, don my racers, and alone, without any instructions, I ambled onto the ice. Time and time again I tried and time and time again I fell down. Since no one was there who would help me up, I would crawl on my hands and knees out to the snowbank around the ice rink. With the help of the snow, I was able to get up and try again. After many nights of trying that winter, I finally abandoned them as my sister had. I never did learn to skate with them.

The following year I went to the Normal School. Again, everyone had skates and went skating in the evening. This time to Marathon Park, as I was living closer to it. One day I saw an ad in the paper where I could sell five magazine subscriptions and thereby earn a pair of Sonja Henie ice skates. I sent in the ad and waited for my material. It soon came and I set about trying to sell my subscriptions.

I was not a salesman, but I did manage to sell my 5 magazine subscriptions after spending many Saturdays going up and down Grand Avenue, and knocking on many doors. I still remember the excited feeling I had when I came home from school one day and found my skates. I can't remember that I was ever any happier. Many evenings after that, I eagerly tried my skates again and again, and after falling repeatedly, I finally learned to skake. "Where there's a will, there's a way." I used these skates for many years and finally gave up skating when life's other responsibilities took over.

In 1980, I had retired from teaching, so I decided to take up skating again. By this time my Sonja Henie skates didn't fit me any more, even though I used them a few times for old times sake. I decided I would have to get another pair. Not knowing how much I would use them, I checked the want ads in the paper and found a pair in my size for $5.00. I went with my friend, Sylva to the multi-purpose building at Marathon Park where they were giving skating instructions at the time. That winter we had fun relearning out skating techniques, and we even got our picture in the paper. After that, we were even able to try some of the rinks around town, but found that they were not as interesting as the multi-purpose building at the park. We spent quite a lot of time cross country skiing too.

About three years ago, I decided to abandon the idea of skating altogether, as I didn't want to end up with a broken leg or hip. So with some hesitation I took my skates and skis to "Play it Again Sports" and got rid of them. I didn't even keep my Sonja Henie skates which were autographed underneath, as I didn't want them "sitting around" if I couldn't use them anyway.

I am spending my time now doing things that are not quite as reckless, such as: tripping, computering, line dancing, jury duty, tutoring kids, knitting, crocheting, and writing the story of my life. Besides that I have my grass to cut in summer, leaves to rake in fall, and snow to shovel and plow in winter.