Spectator Skating

Growing up in Superior I was a clutz. Learning to ride a bicycle was an adventure with a lot of crashes! Only when Dick Wall and Tom and Jerry Cooper were enlisted by my mother to help me did I master the balance to ride without mishaps.

The recent flurry of interest in the Simic Roller Skating rink brought back memories of another disaster - roller skating. My experience was at the old skating rink south of the Burlington tracks near the Armour Creamery. I tried to learn to skate without success, but I did hang out at the skating rink where young people congregated. I met my eighth grade first love Patty Simmons there and later the lovely Melba Bridwell who then lived in Cadams. I would sit and watch as others went round and round effortlessly. Melba ended up marrying our high school classmate Delbert Sibert and they had many happy years together. In later years, I would cross paths with another Cadams girl who I ended up going steady with in high school.

But, back to skating. One night I was spectating as usual and Catherine Burge, Jan Giger and Barbara Ann Anderson coaxed me to rent skates and go out on the floor. With one of them on either side and one behind to guide me and keep me from falling, we made several rounds successfully. Apparently, the girls thought they had me “trained” and they all let loose. I was going at a pretty good clip and came to the end of the rink where I would have to make a turn -- something I had not mastered. I crashed into the wall at high speed to the amusement of the other skaters. That was it for me and roller skating! I resumed my spectator role and have never put on a pair of rolls skates since.