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Typing Out A Memorable Story
Bob Fitch has been married 62 years and in addition to Mo – “most people struggle with Moira, a Scottish name” the husband points out – he loves, to a far lesser degree of course, HO gauge model trains, baseball and typewriters.
In an email, the longtime Thousand Oaks resident shared memories of the latter two, beginning with a high school typing class that changed his life.
“Our teacher, Emma Wrangler, used records to build our speed,” Bob points out. “One I recall most was ‘Tea for Two.’ In my mind’s eye, I can still see her taking the 78-rpm record out of the paper sleeve, putting it on the turntable and setting the needle arm on the record. Then, ‘Ready, Begin.’
“I did well and for high school graduation my grandfather gave me a Remington portable, which I took to college at Bowling Green State University in Ohio. I typed theme papers for other students at 25 cents a page and made some spending money.
“And my speed continued to build. When I reported for basic training at Ft. Dix, NJ, in July 1957, after the busses emptied our incoming class, we were assembled on the parade grounds about midnight.
“The 1st Sergeant yelled out, ‘Who can type?’ Up shot my hand with one other guy. We were told to take our gear to the company HQ dayroom. We typed all night in our ‘civvies’ doing the induction paper work for the rest of the guys.
“When Sgt. Fuentes saw how fast we were processing the men, we were told: ‘You guys are too valuable and your time here will be spent working in my dayroom. When you type duty rosters, i.e. guard duty, KP, etc., leave your names off.’
“The other guy, Steve Gelman, was a sportswriter for ‘Sport Magazine’ and he was a whiz-bang typist from typing all his stories. We hit it off well. We had a great deal and we knew it!
“We spent our entire six months of active duty making Sgt. Fuentes look good with no strikeover morning reports, no misspelling, etc. He was commended by the Commanding Officer for his outstanding paper work. He always thanked us for what we did for him. I’m forever thankful for that typing class. He always took us to the mess hall with him for coffee in the morning. He knew, too, he had a good deal!
“When our class cycled out after eight weeks of basic, in came another group of recruits and Steve and I did ‘our thing.’
Here, at last, comes the baseball memory of two Hall of Fame pitchers and a star second baseman for the Dodgers.
“My claim to fame,” Bob continued, “is that I typed the paperwork for
Don Drysdale, Sandy Koufax and Charlie Neal when they were called to Army duty.
“We each sat behind a beat-up wooden desk with our typewriter before us and there was a chair at the side of the desk where the individual sat. We would say, ‘Last name, first name,’ etc. as we tabbed to the blanks on the forms.
“Never looking up, I said, ‘Last name.’ I heard ‘Drysdale.’ ‘First name’ – ‘Donald.’
“I was a huge baseball fan and here I am sitting next to one of the best of that time! Two of the questions asked were, ‘Occupation’ and ‘Salary.’ Both Drysdale and Koufax said ‘baseball pitcher’ and ‘$10,000.’ I always admired them for not trying to avoid service time.”
And this email postscript: “I really had fun TYPING this – all that was missing was the clatter and hitting the return bar!”
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Woody Woodburn writes a weekly column for The Ventura County Star and can be contacted at WoodyWriter@gmail.com.
Check out my memoir WOODEN & ME: Life Lessons from My Two-Decade Friendship with the Legendary Coach and Humanitarian to Help “Make Each Day Your Masterpiece” and my essay collection “Strawberries in Wintertime: Essays on Life, Love, and Laughter” …
- Personalized signed copies are available at WoodyWoodburn.com