The current national YMCA initiative to ask people to recount “My Y Story” offers the opportunity for me to share my own. I’m still in my 60s, but my Y story reaches into eight decades.
My best friend in kindergarten and I (this was 1949) were taken by our mothers to the downtown Houston YWCA for swimming lessons, where we were issued girls’ bathing suits. We immediately rebelled and were transferred to the YMCA, where we swam naked! This was 40 years after the Y began an emphasis “to teach every man and boy in North America” to swim.
In the 1950s, I participated in Gra-Y and day camps, and in the summer of 1953 I went to resident camp near Wimberly in Texas Hill Country.
During the summers of 1962 and 1963, I took evening classes at South Texas Junior College, which, along with the South Texas College of Law, was founded by and located in the downtown Houston Y. It was a great way to pick up an English or government course, have a swim before class (men wore bathing suits by then) and meet other young adults from around the city.
Founded at the Y in 1923, the South Texas Colleges moved into their own building in the later ’60s and in 1974 became the University of Houston Downtown Campus. This junior college and law school were two of more than 20 colleges and universities in America begun in and by local YMCAs.
While on active duty in the U.S. Coast Guard, 1966 to 1968, I often swam at the Y in Greenville, Miss.
From 1973 to 1977, I served as pastor of the Eastminster Presbyterian Church of New Orleans, where three Y executives were among our membership. Because the New Orleans East Y consisted only of an outdoor pool, the Y asked for use of Eastminster’s educational rooms to host evening classes. It was a happy partnership, and my young family became involved in gymnastics and other Y programs. We all swam together on summer evenings at the Y.
In Lincoln, Neb., I was pastor of the First Presbyterian Church from 1988 to 1996. It was in Lincoln that I swam at and served on the Committee of Management for the downtown Y.
After my wife, Beth, finished her degree at the University of Nebraska, she took her first professional job with the Lincoln Northeast Y as child care director. The personnel training she received from the national Y assisted me in my pastoral role as staff supervisor.
In 2008, our daughter, Rachel, who was living in Santa Barbara, was seeking appropriate child care for her twins. We were still living in the Washington, D.C., area, but Beth suggested that Rachel check in with her local Y to see what kind of preschool it might offer. Ethan and Noah were enrolled here until they went to kindergarten in 2010.
Beth and I retired in 2009 and moved to Santa Barbara in 2010. The preschool director was taking maternity leave and Rachel told Beth that she should take the part-time three-month job, that her background in early childhood education and the Y made her ideal for the position. One thing led to another, and she served as the director of the Y Preschool for three years before she retired again in June.
As a result of Beth’s work, I began to volunteer. In July 2011, I became the program specialist for active older adults, a part-time job I continue to enjoy.
What’s your story? It is hoped that these memories will prompt others to recount their own Y stories. Look for the opportunity through your local YMCA.
Participation and projects vary by branch so visit us at www.ciymca.org or contact your local YMCA for detailed information.
» Camrillo Family YMCA, 3111 Village at the Park Drive, 805.484.0423
» Lompoc Family YMCA, 201 W. College Ave., 805.736.3483
» Montecito Family YMCA, 591 Santa Rosa Lane, 805.969.3288
» Santa Barbara Family YMCA, 36 Hitchcock Way, 805.687.7727
» Stuart C. Gildred YMCA, 900 North Refugio Road in Santa Ynez, 805.686.2037
» Ventura Family YMCA, 3760 Telegraph Road, 805.642.2131
— Thomas Schmid is an active older adult specialist for the Santa Barbara Family YMCA.