Rodney Boddington
By Kris DayVincent

Mention the name Rodney Boddington and you’re sure to get a smile from anyone who lived on the island from the 30’s through the 50’s. Rodney was born in 1929 to Reginald and Ethel Boddington. He had a sister, Marian (who helped with this article-thanks!.) Rodney lost both of his eyes due to cancer specific to the eye, one at one year of age and the other at two years. He remembered seeing a male pheasant before he lost his second eye and used this experience his entire life to help him understand color. Rodney was that way; he worked with what he had. He was famous for his antics around town because of, or in spite of, his blindness.

Rodney’s father ran the phone company and the family lived where the CenturyTel office is now. Rodney loved to roller skate. He would head down the incline from his house at a great rate of speed, round the corner in front of town hall, and amaze all who saw him fly by. Rodney must have loved the sensation of speed. He had a tandem bike and often convinced his friends to ride with him. Rodney was always up front, giving his friend in the back a fright as they went faster and faster.
Rodney was physically a very strong person and loved to wrestle. In a grassy area where Jeri’s Mall is now, he would wrestle any kid who stepped up and was rarely if ever defeated.

Rodney was known for his full stride, very unusual in a blind person. In the forties Rodney lived in the King farmhouse (where the historical museum is now) and worked at the salmon cannery on the waterfront. Rodney would walk to work full steam ahead. He knew the location of every curve, telephone pole, and pothole in town. If a tourist stopped him to ask where something was, Rodney would give them a full set of instructions and point them in the right direction. The tourist would go on their way never realizing a blind person had directed them.

One of the favorite tricks of kids on the island was to try and disguise their voices so Rodney couldn’t recognize them. No matter how hard they tried to fool him, he always knew instantly who was talking. Rodney trusted his friends implicitly. Proof of this lies in stories about swimming with him. Rodney would climb up to wherever his friends directed him and leap into the water from great heights.

Rodney will always be remembered as a tenacious, fun loving, talented person. He believed his blindness gave him the ability to think about more than one thing at a time. He also believed it gave him extra energy, thus he slept only a few hours a night. He went to a school for the blind in Vancouver, Washington, became an attorney, had a family, and moved to the town of Sultan. He died in 1976 at the age of 46. He was an inspiration to all who knew him and confirms the line by Emily Dickinson:

“We never know how high we are till we are called to rise”.