Reading the morning news, as I do every morning, I saw the nickname 'Dode'. The person's given name wasn't mentioned so I wondered what it might be. One site suggested it was a nickname for someone named Roger or Robert. While I found 'Dod' was a Scottish nickname for George. Another said the meaning of the name Dode was of Hebrew origin meaning beloved or uncle.
I had assumed it would be a nickname for Theodore, as the only person I had ever heard of that went by Dode was an older man who lived with his daughter across the street from my Grandmother Bessie. I remembered that Dode had goats and that he made candy from their milk - caramels, I think. I also had heard stories of the many times some of the high school boys would turn the goats lose on Halloween where they would be found wandering the streets the next morning.
His daughter Almira was my high school physical education teacher. She was also a Campfire Girls and Girl Scouts leader. She and her father taught swimming lessons at Lake Binder where my older brother learned. I remember hearing how she and her father would swim clear across the lake and back which I thought was a major feat.
It goes on to say that his speed was due in measure to his exceptional physical organization. "His heart beats but 54 times to the minute in the normal way, while the average man's heart palpitates 70 times. Mr. Turner also holds the long distance diving championship at Princeton, due to his ability to remain under water 3 minutes and 37 seconds. To remain a minute would be fatal to most people."
I still don't know anymore about the nickname 'Dode', but I now know more about the person I only knew as an old man who lived across the street from my Grandma.
Pretty impressive.
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