Transcription
Irene: I’ll phone you upon my return to Akron in about ten days of so.
Bill
Tuesday, 5-3-77.
Dear Bill,-
Your “HEAR YE - HEAR YE” proclamation on the launching of your new Slickcraft was “prima-superba” - particularly the name you chose for the christening: BOOLY TWO. That was an inspiration - because of its carrying on one of our Up North traditions, fond , sentimental memories of our first boat named BOOLY. Your grandfather was the one who chose that name when you were about 6 months old. When you were born your sister, about 1 year 10 months old, pronounced “Billy” as “Booly” with the result that it became your nickname. Now I have a good example of the value of keeping a Treasure Chest: It is a letter to your Mother on July 14, 1927, dictated to Miss Johnson and typed on Seiberling Rubber Company letterhead. I am going to give this “gem” to you for your Treasure Chest. For the benefit of the other members of the family receiving this F.L., here are the first two paragraphs of the letter: from your grandfather:
July 14, 1927.
My dear Mary:
Delighted to receive your note. I am especially pleased to know that your appreciation of Isle Caug-ge-nah-gwah grows with the years that you return to it. To my mind, no place on earth could beat it for the summer months.
Little “Booly” is bound to grow huskier and get a better color tone as the days go on, and in the years to come he may be able to say that from the first year of his life he always
spent his summers in the Cheneaux Islands.
(Sorry! Miss Johnson would have remembered to press the TAB key.)
Your letter also was “prima-superba” - giving us a “blow-by-blow” account of it all, in chronological sequence, and showing your excitement, with “wide awake nights.” Knowing what an immaculate skipper you are, I appreciated your proceeding “to spend the rest of the week cleaning, polishing, determining where gear would be stowed, etc., and having the name painted on the boat.” And then your detailed story on how you finally arrived at the perfect name: “I could write an entire page describing what/we have gone through, selecting a name.” Which prompts me to agree with Judy’s comment about naming a boat “by committee” and her reference to the Aesop’s Fable of the old man who tired [sic] to please everyone. I found in my Treasure chest a list of 26 Indian names with their English equivalent which I had submitted to our Family Committee, to no avail. All three of you have suggested your ideas on names, but with no unanimous agreement. So this summer I am going to have a name on the stern of the Etchells, not permanently painted on but with removable letters, so that if my choice does not make an enthusiastic hit, we can “try again.”
Now about my coming cruise with you on the Mississippi: I’ll try to arrive in Freeport before one o’clock Saturday afternoon so that if the weather forecast for Sunday is RAIN, with the Sat. weather good, we can make a quickie cruise that afternoon. If the weather is going to be good for both days, how about a day and a half cruise, with overnight at La Crosse or even as far north as Winona? I’ll want to get back Sunday afternoon in time to drive to Greenbay [sic] for the night as I have a business appointment there for Monday morning and another business appointment in Petoskey for Monday afternoon. If the ferry from Kewaunee to Frankfort is running, I won’t have to make the long drive up to St. Ignace, across to Mackinaw City and down to Petoskey.
Jeannie, I don’t have room to tell you how welcomed your good letter was, so I am going to enclose a separate note to you with this F.L.
All aboard for the BOOLY TWO,
WTranscriber
Cindi RokeLanguage
English