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4
Lytle Park
Swimming Pool
Another benefit
from living on Pine Street was the fact Lytle Park and the
community swimming pool was only about six blocks west of our
house. The swimming pool is a one million gallon pool built in
1921. It is still very much used during the hot and humid summer
months.
Prior to moving to Pine Street we lived on South 6th Street.
Many years after I was born Mom told me our house suffered minor
damage while she was in the hospital giving birth to me.
She said the front page of the newspaper printed a story the
following day with the headline “Firefighters Help Deliver Baby
Boy.” It doesn’t take much to make the front page of a small
town newspaper.
While still living on Pine Street I had a friend named Larry
Shadwick. One summer day when I was about five years old Larry’s
dad took us to the pool. It was a very hot and humid day and the
pool was filled to capacity; not to mention one million gallons
of water.
I found out later that I had dove off a small dock near the
shallow end of the pool and hit the bottom of the pool with my
head and knocked myself out. Though the lifeguards did not see
me Larry’s dad saw me lying at the bottom of the pool. He waded
in, pulled me from the water and saved my life.
I know this isn’t very interesting but years later, after
hearing the story, I found some irony to it. Larry’s dad was a
mortician. I hope the next time I find myself looking up at a
mortician he did what Larry’s dad did and saves my life instead
of having to do what he was trained to do.
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