Growing Up in Williamsport, Ohio

My Brother Bob
 
Blessed with good looks, blonde, blue eyed, six feet, four inches tall, Bob quite likely resembled the Skaggs side of the family.
 
Some of the early characteristics of his personality were demonstrated when he carried baby ducklings in a basket to show Grandma Frances Fyffe Skaggs. He told her they were his blossoms.
 
Of course, Mom Virginia said that when he was little, he would lie on the floor, stick his feet in the air and scream. Given his laid-back personality, that is hard to envision.
 
From his photos, it is easy to tell that he was better looking than the rest of us. Because Bob was her only son, my mother doted on him. Of course, he returned the favor to her and he doted on us as well. Everyone who knew Bob, loved Bob and frankly, he was worthy.
 
He was kind and had a sense of humor with a muffled sort of laugh. He was quiet and almost shy. We thought he was perfect but like the rest of us, he wasn’t. Probably one of the worst things he ever did was to start smoking at the age of 15.

Bob was always doing. And when he was doing, I was always there watching him.  When he was younger, he worked on his bike. It was probably not new. Later he worked on his motor bike which was popular at the time. He took industrial arts in school but his tools at home were rough at best. He was always hammering and sawing. When he was, he let me hammer and saw too. When you are young and a girl, it is pretty hard to hammer and saw but I did anyway. He and my mother were in a mother-son alliance when it came to making patterns. Not only did he make the outdoor furniture for Betty and me but he also made the yard decorations. Some of their patterns still exist as well as a “match box” and a “what not” wall shelf. He made drapery “tie backs” for our house which were in use until it was torn down in 2014. He painted much of his work in what was then called mahogany, which was not really mahogany. It was more of a mauve color similar to the background for the photos in my blogs. 
 
More to come on Bob.

©Marilyn Francis Ferguson 2020
Photography/graphics by Michele Ferguson Schuck