Sometime during the late 1970s our water heater began to leak water out into the basement. We couldn’t afford to have someone solve the problem. So, I went out and purchased a new water heater to install myself. The store had free delivery, so I took advantage of that option. However, they refused to take my old one.
Installation went quite easy, and we had hot water. However, I still had the old heater to deal with. My son Dan told me that him and his buddy Tom Doherty would get rid of it for $10. Sounded like a good deal for me, so i gave them the $10 and they loaded it up in Tom’s car and disappeared.
Everything was fine until the next day. I received a call from Rockford College security informing me that they had observed two boys dropping off an old water heater on their property. they got the license plate number and traced it to Doherty’s, who denied ownership of the heater. they did know that Tom had been with Dan that day. So, guess who they called.
I suggested to Dan that they resolve this problem for me. They agreed. It was only years later that I found that it actually ended up in the Unitarian Church trash container. I was smart enough to follow proper procedures in these matters after that.
In later years I ran the Explorer scout post for the Unitarian Church. I call us even.
