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A Bit About Bo Cadle

Paul Harner

When I read the very professional and touching article by Jean and Bo regarding their decision to retire from the grinding tasks associated with publishing the DISPATCH, I decided to pass on my thanks for their wonderful effort. But first I want to say a bit about Bo.

I, like many Emmitsburgians, was delivered into this world by Doctor Cadle. Unlike many Emmitsburgians, I had an indentation in my skull and my birth interrupted Mrs. Cadle's birthday party. Between the indentation, bouts with scarlet fever, tonsillitis and appendicitis, I was seeing Doc quite a bit. Since I was spending so much time seeing Doc, I guess Bo and I became friends at a rather early age.

When I was around six, I was invited to Kump's Dam, where the Cadles had a tent. (Bo's family always had a love for that area.) I remember spending a lot of time fishing, catching some goldfish (I think), and getting the tops of my feet sunburned. My camping trip ended somewhat early with

Doc taking me home and carrying me upstairs to bed. Prior to my trip home, I remember the evening that Bo and I, while his parents were in town, peeking from behind the tent's flaps and seeing Tootie, Bo's older sister, skinny dipping with Harriet Stinson. We weren't quite sure how to handle this, but I believe we ended up tattling to Doc when he came back from town. As I said, we were about six years old.

When Bo was a little older, he had a very serious, but in some ways humorous, accident. Bo and Bobby Gillelan, practically a next door neighbor to Bo, were sledding in Bollinger's field behind where they lived. (At that time Bo lived, and Doctor Cadle had his office, where Doc Carr lives now.) The snow had a top layer of crust and Bo fell off the sled, sliding behind it down to the gully where the sled lodged in the bank. Bo slid into one of the runners of the sled, which happened to find its way up Bo's butt. Very serious. The humorous part came when Bo interrupted his mother in the reception room of his dad's office with the announcement that he had run a sled up his rear (I think he used a different term). His mother tried to shush him until he turned around and showed her a very bloody mess. As I recall, Bo was in serious condition for quite a few weeks.

In the early 40's, Boy Scout Troop 284 was in full operation. We had two patrols, the Beavers, which primarily included those east of the square and the Eagles from the west end. I was in the Beavers headed by our patrol leader, Eddie Houck. Bo was in the Eagles with Bobby Gillelan, the patrol leader, and other notorious west-enders such as Jack McCleaf, Kenny Keilholtz and Chip Corl.

Our time in the Boy Scouts resulted in many memories: getting flooded out while camping next to Middle Creek near Fairfield, playing "capture the flag" well into the night (at least 9:00PM), passing feen-a-mint chewing gum to our camping buddies and hiking miles and miles with 100lb. packs (!) on our backs. We also earned some merit badges.

During our high school years, it seemed like our life was centered on basketball with some diversion toward girls. Bo was a star at Frederick High School and had a basket on his garage. We had many a pickup game in that alley. Our nights, after homework, were spent sitting up pins in the bowling alley, again with some diversion toward girls.

Bo and I were roommates our first year in college. We had packed our things in Bo's car and headed for U of MD in September of 1950. Our room was in Calvert Hall, the oldest men's dormitory where we had a three room "suite" on the first floor. The "suite" consisted of two rooms with double bunk beds and a study (Ha!) room. Our two roommates were Bernie Faloney and Leo Coyne, freshman football players. Since our room was a "suite", our roommates very popular, and Chet Hanulak and Bob Laugherty (other players) roomed right across the hall, our room became a gathering place for the freshman football team and some on the varsity. The room was directly above the U. of MD radio station, and there were a few times when we would get a message across the airwaves to quiet down. Needless to say, my grades looked a lot different from high school and my hopes for an engineering career took a downward turn. We also had quite a few visits from our floor proctor, a senior on the wrestling team, who kept us in line (most of the time).

Bo and I went out for the freshmen basketball team, which included some really good players such as Gene Shue who later made All-American and was a star in the pros. Bo ended up making the freshmen squad and I ended up playing in the intramural league.

Bo was quite a lady's man; all of them very nice and very pretty. I remember going to John Hopkins to see one of Bo's former classmates who was going to nursing school there. A wonderful girl but I'm not sure I would make the trip again. I do not remember how we got there, but I do know we walked from Hopkins through Baltimore to the south side on Alternate Route 1by the Calvert Distillery before we got a ride back to College Park at about 4:00 AM. I also remember Bo dating "Spider" Jorgenson, a very striking girl about Bo's height. They were an item on campus for quite a while.

After our freshman year, Bo roomed with Bob Nicodemus, a friend from Frederick High School and a member of the ice cream family. Coach Jim Tatum wanted his quarterbacks to room together so Bernie roomed with Jack Scarbath. I then went on to room with Marty Crytzer, one of those players who had spent a lot of time in our room. In my senior year, Bobby Gillelan got out of the Navy and he and I roomed together down the hall from Marty and across the hall from Lew Weidensaul and Paul Nestor, a couple of other football notables of that Maryland era. Bernie went on to lead Maryland to its only national championship in 1953; Leo Coyne and Coach Tatum didn't see eye to eye and Leo got a boxing scholarship and proceeded to go to the NCAA semi-finals. Marty played end for the championship team and is now a retired orthodontist living in the Tampa area. Marty was one of many players who would not have been able to attend school were it not for a football scholarship.

In one of our later college years, Bo and I took our dates to Bo's cabin built by Doc Cadle and located near Kump's Dam across from where Bo lives now. We started a roaring fire and proceeded to drink something-called VAT 69. I did not fare very well and we decided that it was best that Bo help me home, hopefully before my parents closed the bowling alleys. At that time we lived in an apartment above Crouse's on the square, thus Bo helped me up the stairs. Unfortunately, the bowling alleys were closed. Needless to say, there were a few (maybe more) minutes of sincere disappointment expressed. It was very embarrassing for Bo and something I've remembered for a long time. Sorry, but thanks Bo. Needless to say, there was no more VAT 69 in my life.

After college we went on different paths. Bo, having taken ROTC, went into the Air Force as an officer. I went to work in Los Angeles as an engineer for Douglas Aircraft and, after a year, was drafted. I had also taken ROTC but did not get a commission - underweight. A skinny 121-pound six-footer could be drafted but could not get a commission in the Air Force. Actually, it worked out pretty well, Lil and I spent a year and a half in Europe.

Bo and I saw each other only a few times after school until I retired and both of us moved back to the Emmitsburg area, our roots. He and Jean started the Dispatch and, as the saying goes, the rest is history.

A few months ago, Bo and Jean put an article on the front page about me and the effort I put into the Council of Churches. I was naturally pleased but felt I received much more credit than I deserved. There are so many in Emmitsburg who have done so much more - the mayor, our firemen, its auxiliary, and members of the Lion's Club, just to name a few.

However, there are no two people who have done more for this community over the past ten years than Bo and Jean. The Dispatch was not a money making venture. It was an effort to share information and to keep the community informed about the town's progress or lack thereof. Bo and Jean succeeded in doing just that.

Thanks, Bo and Jean, for making a difference!

Read Other Articles by Paul Harner

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