Sentimental Journeys with Phil and Barb Henoch (2007)

Pages: 136, Printer: Davies Printing, Book Design: Rick Foster, Editing: Susanne Kelsey

Phil and Barb Henoch live at Charter House in Rochester, Minnesota. Dick Edwards, Charter House Administrator, introduced them to me and they chose to have me write their life stories.

Excerpt

I almost drowned at the Naval Academy. As you might imagine, the Academy had quite a large swimming pool. One of the things they wanted to teach me was what to do if I had to jump overboard. What I was supposed to do, the best I could, was fold my pants legs in such a way that when I hit the water I would trap air in them. During a training session, I didn’t do that well, which caused me to go right to the bottom of the deep end of the pool. A high walkway surrounded the pool. It just so happened that while I was sinking to the bottom of the pool, some dignitaries were on the walkway taking a tour. They looked down to see me, midshipman-hopeful Phillip Henoch, floundering at the bottom of the pool. My friend and roommate, Hester, dove in to rescue me. I came up spitting water like a fish.