In this front page photo from the November 19th, 1936 edition of the Portland Evening Express, Stephen and Roy laced up their skates to test the new ice at a small pond in Deering Oaks. The superintendent of schools allowed the youngsters, pupils at Jackson School, to leave class temporarily and accompany the newspaper photographer to the pond.

The twelve degree low, of the day before, had broken a contemporary record and made some of the shallower ponds safe for skating.