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PAGE 2A PICKENS COUNTY PROGRESS THURSDAY. MAY 13. 2021
The boat that launched a story
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most students, and in there
with a bunch of 22-year-old
kids who didn’t know any
thing about life. I suppose it
seemed like I was seasoned
crop or something. I ended
up getting patients who
wanted to be understood.”
Doc enjoyed performing
surgery and other elements of
medical school, but knew he
didn’t want to work in a hos
pital. He also disliked what
he saw as linear “cookbook
medicine” where solutions
are more or less predeter
mined from manuals. So he
applied to the psychiatry de
partment at the University of
Southern California.
“I thought psychiatry
could be fun, and I found out
that I love crazy people. They
have wonderful insights into
things that are so surprising,”
he said laughing. “I get along
really well with crazy people
- but maybe I’m one of
them.”
He went on to open his
California practices and work
with a variety of clients, in
cluding “a million screen
writers with depression,” and
in a later phase of his career
“with crack babies, which
was the most rewarding,
stressful and amazing job
I’ve had.”
His life as a psychiatrist
ended in the mid to late 90s
after the loss of a child.
At some point Romanick
started building and racing
cars. He picked up his me
chanical inclinations from his
father, a highly decorated
WWII vet (wounded as part
of the first wave on Omaha
beach) and machinist who
encouraged him and his
brother to try new things.
“He always told us not to
be afraid with things like that.
Say we wanted to see how a
lathe worked, he’d tell us get
one and give it a go.”
When we finally wan
dered down to the driveway
to discuss the boat, he told
me it took him all months to
build. Not 11 months of
weekends, but 11 months of
full weeks and full days. Dur
ing the boat tour, Romanick
pulled out removable wood
panels to reveal the electric
innards that make it run, and
also pointed out the large
oars that provide a paddling
option.
“But who wants to do all
that work rowing?” he asked
cheekily.
Other than in a couple
Some of the tools used to build the artfully-designed cus
tom boat.
places for hardware, like the And what good is that? So
piece that holds a little flag at
the bow, there isn’t a screw or
nail on the vessel. Everything
is held together with epoxy.
The mahogany came from
Pasadena, California from a
wealthy family that “wanted
to replace it with teakf he
said in his best rich-person
impression.
“It just doesn’t get used
anymore with my boys gone.
I’m selling it.”
My takeaway from an in
terview that went nothing
like I’d anticipated was that
this was a person who found
success on his own terms, not
taking the well-beaten path.
“I’ve rather enjoyed my
life to this point,” he said.
“It’s been good to me.”
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crime as a teenager,” served
in the coast guard at the be
hest of a judge (who threat
ened jail as the alternative),
worked as a Sears Roebuck
appliance-repair man, then
on condos in the Virgin Is
lands. After he picked up a
hitchhiker from Columbia he
gypsied around South Amer
ica in his 20s.
His years in Peru,
Ecuador, Columbia, and
other countries, travelling
from town to town doing ex
otic things and meeting ex
otic people, is the part of his
life that was especially 007-
ish (and off the record in
some parts). He recalled idio
syncratic details of those
places like specific smells
and colors; as well as quirky
tidbids like the hammocks
made by inmates arrested for
being drunk at market, or the
200-year-old “waterproof’
poncho-like garment he ac
quired, and a dozen other rich
anecdotes.
“I got bit by the wander
lust,” Doc told me in his ex
pressive, dynamic way,
adding voices whenever the
story called for it. “I did a lot
of wandering around by my
self. It was an interesting
time.”
After years of adventur
ing, he returned to the states
and opened a store in Ft.
Myers Beach where he sold
honey (I’m certain the store
must’ve had other items, but
this is the only one he dis
cussed other than a set of
china made in occupied
Japan). At some point he
started a boat business and
took a community college
class to improve his Spanish
skills. After doing well he
signed up for more classes,
then entered med school on a
bet.
“I told my friend I’d race
him to see who could be a
doctor first,” he said. “So we
did. It worked out well be
cause I didn’t want to lose. I
did very well, but I honestly
never thought I would be
successful in education. I
think for some reason I’m
good at taking tests, and with
medical school if you have a
proclivity for language it
seems to help.”
Romanick was involved
with the 7th Day Adventists
for a few years because a
preacher wandered into his
honey store and invited him
to a meeting, and he ended up
at Loma Linda University
School of Medicine.
“It was a 7th Day Adven
tist medical school,” Roman
ick said. “The dean of
admissions flew to interview
me. But I was older than
By Angela Reinhardt
Staff Writer
areinhardt@pickensprogress.com
I went to Dr. Michael Ro-
manick’s house to talk about
a boat he made, which caught
our eye when he dropped by
the office to place an ad. This
boat was unusual, kind of
part canoe/part gondola with
a canopy, floating unmanned
and solitary in a river in the
photo he brought.
“16’ Electric Launch Ma
hogany/Birch. Epoxy Encap
sulated. 12-Volt Propulsion.
Fully Equipped for Rowing.
Gorgeous Classic Custom-
Built Design. Canopy and
Full Equipment Trailer.
$5,750,” the ad read.
It looked intriguing, the
work of someone with atten
tion to detail, with the ability
to follow through, and with
keen mechanical craftsman
ship. I made the drive up to
his house in Coosawattee, but
after two hours into the inter
view we hadn’t dipped as
much as a toe into that part of
his life, a tale peppered with
plot twists that felt like a
novel by Ian Fleming or
Hunter S. Thompson. The
boat became one piece of the
unpredictable and entertain
ing puzzle of his story.
I knew from our brief en
counter at the front desk that
Romanick, “Doc,” was a re
tired psychiatrist, which in it
self almost guaranteed
eccentric undertones to the
interview. What I didn’t
know was that he dropped
out of school in 9th grade and
didn’t start college until his
30s. In between 9th grade,
earning his doctorate and
going on to have practices in
the Bel Air and Hollywood
area, he “dabbled in petty
In addition to the many
other intriguing parts of his
life, Dr. Romanick loves cars
and did some racing and
race car building for a pe
riod of time. He never cared
if he won, he just loved the
experience. Here is a peek
under the hood of a Lotus he
bought in medical school
that he is renovating.
Dr. Michael Romanick reveals a hidden storage space at the bow of the boat he conceptualized and built. In addition
to his past life as a psychiatrist, Romanick is mechanically savvy and knows his way around a shop.
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