When people hear that we live in Sausalito, they ask to sail on our boat. It seems that having a boat dock in Sausalito is expected. In fact, the small town’s seal prominently features a sailboat.
After living here for over 25 years, I finally have a sailboat! Back in junior high in my wood-working shop class, I made a sailboat by chiseling out a piece of 2 by 4, planing the bow, cutting sheet metal for the rudder, and tapering the mast. This unfinished model sailboat has moved across the country 3 times but today, it is christened as the “PTC Roxbury!”
PTC is the Patrick T. Campbell Junior High School where I attended and fashioned this boat in Roxbury, Massachusetts. In my times, it also meant “prison training camp” because it was more a place to keep us off the streets than to educate our young minds. Fortunately, against great obstacles, some of us were able to persevere and made something out of it.
I made the stand from scrap wood I had and painted it with leftover paint from previous projects. I got real waxed rigging from the local hardware for $1 because it was the end of a spool. We got some canvas from a fabric store and my wife sewed on the strips but I hand sewed the seams.
Early Christians used the image of the sailboat to symbolize the church. As the Holy Spirit blows the sails, the Good News is spread. The sailboat adventures to new places with hope and love.
Now when I see this PTC Roxbury sailboat, I am grateful for most of my adolescent years and strive for available quality education for everyone. Come sail with me to new horizons.
(Patrick Thomas Campbell (1871-1937) was a Boston Latin School and Harvard College graduate and was Superintendent of Boston Public Schools, 1931-1937.)