RON SZCZYPIORSKI
With the draft going on the summer after Ron graduated
high school in 1969, this farm-raised boy and three buddies
decided to enlist.
“My mom would always tell people she remembers being
on her knees, scrubbing the kitchen floor when I came in
and told her, and that she just sat
there and cried,” he
shares.
Ron started by serving
in the 4th Infantry,
building the Landing
Zones. Six months later
he was transferred to the
transportation 805th 1st
Division, where he moved
everything from ammunition
to supplies. From the end
of 1969 to 1970, Ron was
stationed in Vietnam, before
returning home to Indiana in
May 1971.
Four years later, he started
dating his wife
of over 41
years, and was
exposed to
boating for the
first time.
“Beverly
grew up on
the closest
lake to our
town, Hudson
Lake. She
had a small
older speedboat
then,” Ron remembers. “In
1981 we purchased our first
boat together. It was a Riviera Cruiser pontoon and we couldn’t
afford furniture—so we used lawn chairs. Everyone from her
side of the family and mine loved it.”
After two years, the Szczypiorskis were able to go back
and buy the furniture set, and the daughter and son that soon
followed were able to grow up on the water.
“We loved the room of a pontoon—the kids would be in
their walkers, we would put a full-size grill on the front and
just go out,” he reminisces. “Then in 1985 while at a boat
show, my wife learned to never leave me alone. She walked
back from using the restroom and found me signing the papers
for our second boat, a new 1985 Sanpan. This boat moved us
up to a 90hp Yamaha and had an aluminum top for shade. Oh,
and yes, it had furniture!”
As the kids grew, so did family demands. They traded
the Sanpan in for their first deck boat at Huber’s Marine in
LaPorte, Ind.
“Next to the boat I now own, this was our favorite. The kids
could slalom ski and kneeboard, or Beverly could really takeout revenge and whip me on a tube,” Ron laughs.
Their next upgrade was a new Riviera deck boat, followed
by an unexpected change in 2001.
“I had not really thought of trading in again until Beverly
and I saw our first Bennington. I really liked the
look of the rails—from my memory, they were
one of the first with the bent rails instead of
square; it didn’t take long to decide it was time
to head back to owning a pontoon,” Ron says.
Though it was an adjustment after 14 years
of deck boats, it did come with a canopy,
which made Beverly an easy sell on it.
“This was the boat I owned the longest,
and wasn’t looking to make a change. But
then in the spring of 2014, with some family
challenges reminding us that we only live
once, and knowing thatwe wanted to
continue to make great memories as grandkids
were coming around, we purchased a 2014
Bennington R-Series from Wyland’s Marine
in South Bend, Ind. We cannot imagine this
compared to our first boat! To look back on my
boats, especially our first one, it is amazing the
change to the boating world.”
This model has a power canopy, 115hp Yamaha, Infinity
Seagrass woven flooring, plush furniture, lighted speakers and
cupholders. Wyland’s Marine also added an electric anchor.
“In the heat it’s a great option, and also allows Beverly
to take out the boat and not worry about the anchor getting
wrapped in weeds and being difficult to pull up,” Ron
explains.24 Pontoon^ & Deck Boat July^2017 http://www.pdbmagazine.com
Ron in November 1970 as
part of the
DMZ convoy
in Vietnam.When they recently lost Ron’s mother, the family
found an entire box of things she had kept that Ron
had mailed her while he was in Vietnam.Ron’s daughter
Lori is almost
three years old
onboard the
family’s first
pontoon. Note
the lawn chairs and Kingsford charcoal off the front for bringing on the grill!