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Letter: Tom Pannabecker tells about his quarry test

The Icon welcomes viewers to share telling about taking their own quarry swimming test. Send your story to: [email protected]

Icon viewers:
I just watched the video from the Bluffton Public Library's presentation by Fred Steiner.

My  dad accompanied me (along with the lifeguard) when I took the Buckeye test. I figure dad didn’t trust the lifeguard. Also, I didn’t do this, but maybe my brother James did and Rob Strahm and others did: follow the rope from the raft down to the bottom of the quarry. Bring up a rock for proof of passage. 

They also gave Red Cross Life Saving courses at the pool. One requirement for passing the course was to haul up a huge steel wrench (must have been at least 3 feet long) from the ledge near the middle diving board up to the surface.

That was tough and I know I never quite got it … nonetheless, when I insisted I hadn’t completed that test, the instructor (I forget her name, but she lived in that NW corner house on Main and Riley) in return insisted that I had and I received the certificate.

Tom Pannabecker

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