River Rat
Author
Poore releases book
about ‘Bonnie Belle’
The
Poores once operated
The Wharf restaurant in Madison
By
Lela Jane Bradshaw
Contributing Writer
(July 2012) – Bonnie Poore started out with
a very personal mission when she began writing her book, “Welcome
Aboard...Meet the Captain!” She wanted to record for her family
the story of her adventurous husband, Lloyd Poore, and the life that
she shared with him on their paddle boat the Bonnie Belle.
“I have grandchildren and great grandchildren who weren’t
around when the boat was running. I wanted them to know about their
grandpa,” she explains.
Lloyd Poore died in 2000, and Bonnie says that the book is really “about
him, his love for the river.”
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Photo provided Bonnie
Poore says her book |
She describes him saying, “Nothing was ever enough
for him. He was always wanting more – not in a greedy way.”
Poore explains that he was constantly seeking new adventures and experiences,
not more things. As she continued working on the project, she began
to feel that others might be interested in her stories of life on the
river and the challenges of running a small business.
Poore, 73, of Bethlehem, Ky., estimates that she spent about a year
working on the book and says that the stories flowed very easily and
naturally.
“When I would start typing I would just type like a crazy person,”
she said, laughing. “I’ll probably never write another one,
but I loved it!”
In May, Poore took part in the Jeffersonville Chau-tauqua when the Howard
Steamboat Museum held a book signing for her. Yvonne Knight, administrator
at the museum, explains that “The Bonnie Belle was a local boat
and people here in town remember the boat.”
Many people throughout southern Indiana have enjoyed the river with
the Poores, and while Knight believes those readers will have a special
connection to the stories, she believes that the book can be enjoyed
even by those who are unfamiliar with river life.
“It’s the story about her husband and their relationship and
their family,” Knight says.
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Above
photo courtesy of Jim Massie; photo below by Don Ward The
Bonnie Belle sails into |
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The Poores operated a riverboat business for 19 years
along the Ohio River, including many years in Madison. Poore recalls
that her husband caught sight of the paddle boat, Julia Belle Swain,
and announced, “‘I’ve got to have one of these!’”
She explains that becoming a captain involved much more than simply
writing a check and buying a boat. “It took quite a bit of preparation,”
she says. But in two years her husband had obtained his captain’s
license and they purchased the boat that would be become the Bonnie
Belle in 1978. As fate would have it, the couple bought their boat from
the very man who had been the captain of the Julia Belle Swain.
During their time with the Bonnie Belle, the couple offered dining cruises,
sightseeing tours and charter cruises.
“We lived on the boat for many years and finished raising three
kids on it,” she reflects. She describes the river life saying,
“Never two days the same, you never see the same thing two days
in row.”
She vividly recalls how the fury of a storm could make the Ohio River
roll so that it looked like the ocean while on other days the water
could be so serene that it resembled “a sheet of glass.”
In 1990, the Poores moved their business from Jeffersonville to Madison,
where they operated The Wharf, a floating restaurant, until 1997. Poore’s
experiences in those years were colored by the changing of the water.
“The river is very treacherous there. In Louisville if it rained
all night the river might rise six inches; in Madison it might rise
13 feet.”
While the river conditions proved challenging, Poore has fond memories
of the people in Madison describing it as “such an interesting
place to be a part of – very artsy.”
Poore believes that her book will be appreciated “by anyone who
enjoys river stories – anybody who just enjoys the true story of
a river man.” She also thinks that those just starting a small
business can gain insights from her family’s experiences as she
shares the rewards and hardships that such work entails.
She hopes that readers will be inspired by her husband, a man who “came
from nowhere and found a way to have what he wanted – to stay
with it and see it through.”
• For more information, visit www.bonniesbook.com. For more information on the Howard Steamboat Museum, including upcoming riverboat cruises and children’s camps, visit: www.steamboatmuseum.org.