Earl and the Swimming Hole
My dad, Earl Moore was orphaned at 5-yrs-old. His oldest sister
was an adult but unable to raise him, so he was sent to the PA Masonic
Orphanage in Elizabethtown, PA to live. The orphanage was a good place unlike
most in the 1920s (think Lil Orphan Annie). A retired Army colonel was in charge,
so it was fairly regimented. The houses were new and quite nice, made from gray
stone. There were underground tunnels so that you could travel from building to
building underground during bad weather. They had a basketball court in one of
the buildings’ basements. There was a music room and more. There was also a
small pond. I’m don’t think it was for swimming but instead for the crops and
animals. The children’s and senior homes complex were totally self-sufficient,
raising crops and animals for food.
When our family went to reunions there, I would hear
stories about how they got a swimming pool. Apparently, my dad was skinny
dipping one day in the pond and was caught. The home decided it wouldn’t do for
the boys to be swimming naked and get caught out by one of the girls or
seniors. So, it was decided to put in a regular swimming pool that the children
could wear bathing suits and go for a swim. Dad also had a nickname of Bertie
or Birdie that may have come from this incident.
#Earl Moore, #Pennsylvania Masonic Home, #Swimming, #Skinny
dipping
