Remember when...

We used indelible pencils to sign our legal documents

I am old enough to remember when indelible pencils were used for legal documents, such as loans and land title transfers.

My memory is that it was in 1954 when I went along with my father and mother to get a loan at the bank. We met with the local bank president, Mr. Brown, who made all the loans for the bank.

As we sat down in his office, he visited with my father for about two minutes. The conversation was how much money do you need, and are you still working?

He immediately said he would make the loan. A secretary filled out a half-sheet of paper with a manual typewriter that gave the date, amount of money and a place for my parents to sign their names. When payments were made, they were recorded on the back of this half-sheet of paper. One piece of paper documented the entire transaction.

Mr. Brown then gave my parents an indelible pencil for them to sign the note. This pencil had no eraser, and the lead had a substance in it that prevented it from being erased.

My father had not seen one before and asked about the pencil. Mr. Brown explained the indelible pencil. Then he said, there is a new invention for writing and I just bought one this morning. It was expensive. Would you like to see it?

Of course we wanted to see it. Mr. Brown carefully unwrapped the new device and gently held it to show to us.

He explained it wrote in ink and was not a fountain pen. My father asked how that could work. The banker did not know, so he carefully unscrewed the item and we saw a spring and metal tube, apparently filled with ink. The point looked different than anything we had ever seen.

We asked what is was called and Mr. Brown proudly told us it was a ballpoint pen.

Floyd Fenix is a Texarkana educator and businessman.