TATE TOWNSHIP, Ohio — Bill Bick tries to stand up from his couch. He grabs his cane, and his wife of 74 years grabs his arm.
“Are you OK?”
“No,” he said.
Janet Bick had told him to stand up earlier. She wanted to look at old pictures in their dining room. Now, she tells him to sit back down.
“We’ll bring the pictures to you,” Janet said.
She is 93. Bill is 101.
“They are a treasure,” said Judi Adams, president of the Bethel Historical Society and Museum.
And you couldn’t tell the story of Bethel and Tate Township without them. Stories about a time when students had to climb the fire escape to get to music class. Or stories about children crossing the street to go to the bathroom.
Stories about the past, and all the ways their community has changed over the years.
This year, residents are celebrating Tate Township's 220th anniversary. As part of the celebration, officials are collecting stories from longtime residents like the Bicks.
Hear directly from Bill and Janet Bick in the video below:
“We are trying to find bits and pieces of history that helped make the town of Bethel,” Adams said. “Maybe we can make a difference in the community by sharing this history with future generations.”
As Adams stands in the historical society’s museum in the center of the small village, she points to Mrs. Bick’s wedding dress, one of the most prominently displayed items. She says the teacher’s desk used to be right over there.
In another room, Roma Ritchie is looking through old yearbooks. The secretary of the historical society picks one out, the year 1962, and flips through its pages.
“There’s Mr. Bick,” Ritchie said.
She reads all the jobs he had that year:
- Ohio history teacher
- U.S. history teacher
- athletic director
- basketball coach
- baseball coach
- visual arts teacher
Ritchie takes a breath and smiles. Adams laughs from across the room. Bill Bick also drove the school bus and eventually became the superintendent. He now has an elementary school named after him.
“I don’t know anyone who doesn’t like Mr. and Mrs. Bick,” Adams said.
Back at their home, east of Bethel in Tate Township, Janet Bick smiles at all the memories in their photos now gathered in front of them. Photos that tell their own story about a changing community they've lived in for 70 years.
"The best thing we ever did was come to Bethel,” Janet said. “It always was our home.”
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Have a story worth sharing?
Contact the Bethel Historical Society and Museum at: bethelmuseum@gmail.com
