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Note: astern shore dead riser, a 29 foot centerboard ketch with 28 and 38 foot masts and 500 pounds ballast in the centerboard. On the maiden voyage in mid-May with experienced skipper John Krantz at the helm, the Ann McCord turned over and partially sank in the Chesapeake Bay off Annapolis. Ann [McCord], age 10, was credited with attracting the rescue boat by standing on the only part of the ketch that was above water and waving a life preserver. The Ann McCord was more boat than we could handle, so it was sold that fall and replaced by a Comet in 1941 and a Lightning in 1942...
"There was no trash service at the cottage [on the Magothy River] so we dug a 6x6x6 foot hole each summer to receive the garbage and other unburnable stuff. I remember being down at the bottom of the hole shoveling out dirt while Dad and Ann sat on the bank of dirt. Dad was trying to explain the double standard to Ann - why it was all right for the boys to go out on the river alone at night but why Ann could not go out unless she was with one of her brothers. Dad was having difficulty and Ann was being intentionally obtuse. It was a memorable occasion.
"Ann held her own with the many boys that came to call. She was an excellent swimmer. Any advantage that the boy had because of size disappeared once they were in the water.
"In later years her brothers were sometimes helpful with her beaus. For instance, on one occasion Ann had a date pick her up at the house. Mac invited Eddie Hughes [a family friend] to come by and act as Ann's other date for the night. When the real boyfriend showed up, Eddie convinced him that he was taking Ann out for the night, so the boyfriend left. We stopped him at the corner, explained the prank, and sent him back. We would occasionally water bomb Ann's dates from the bathroom window that was above the front door - especially Tommy Ridgeway, a very nice, innocent guy. Ann once really did manage to get two dates for the same night. Her solution was to throw a party at Eastway with enough people that the double date business would not be apparent. I could not bring a date to the party - my job was to entertain whichever of Ann's dates was not with her at the moment.
"There was a procession of pets that passed through the houses at Kernwood Avenue and Eastway. Ann was always bringing home stray cats, but it seemed that none of them survived to old age. There was a pet burial ground under the mulberry tree in the back yard at Eastway.
From a letter by Eugene Biscoe McCord to William Allen Weech, December, 1992
Note: "In the summer of 1940 Dad [Marshal Hampton McCord, Sr.] bought an e
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