It is winter and in our family we celebrate the new year with my father’s birthday. This year was his 80th and we observed it by unearthing stories about his life, compiling them into one document and presenting the final product complete with pictures and old newspaper clippings on his birthday. There were dozens of stories contributed by family members and friends across the decades. One of my favorite stories is from his childhood growing up in Ellsworth, Maine.
Thin ice is always a problem in winter. That’s been true this year and it was also true in December of 1944 when my father was twelve. One afternoon when young Bobby Christie was supposed to be chopping wood, he decided to play hooky taking off with his canine companion, Tippy, and his friend, Freddie Mack. They were exploring along the frozen shore of the Union River when disaster struck. Tippy ran out onto the ice and broke through. The water was deep and she was unable to scramble back onto the ice.
Bobby knew she would drown. He also knew if he went out to save her, he would go through the ice, too. But he didn’t hesitate. He quickly stripped off his clothes and edged out onto the ice. On shore Freddie was jumping about and Bobby told him to make himself useful and go find a long tree branch. He did so just as Bobby went through the ice. Bobby grabbed Tippy and the tree branch that Freddie pushed out to him and while pulling on the branch and pushing Tippy, managed to get them both out of the water safely. The trio hurried home and Bobby went back to chopping wood relieved that his little adventure had gone undetected. His luck held until the next issue of the weekly town newspaper, the Ellsworth American, ran a (mostly accurate) story describing the whole event. Freddie Mack had squealed.
Many more adventures would follow and as he begins his 80th year, and it’s pretty clear they’re more still to come.
