10 • The Beacon July 1 , 2021
Did you know yo-yos have a link to Coshocton ?
What child ’ s toy originated in Greece and China and was sold in the United States by Pedro Edralin Flores ?
If you answered the yo-yo , you guessed right . Who would have thought the first yo-yo manufacturing company in the United States was begun by someone buried right here in South Lawn Cemetery in Coshocton in Section K Lot Two ?
His is an interesting back story . Born in Vintar , Llocos Norte in the Philippines , April 26 , 1896 , he married
Edria Myers on June 6 , 1931 , and lived in Coshocton for 26 years , where he died in December 1963 .
In addition , we find Pedro in the 1940 Census as a councilman way over in District 9 of Los Angeles County . While in California he attended Cal Berkeley and Hastings College in Santa Barbara .
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However , he did not complete his education because we find him applying for and receiving a certificate on June 9 , 1928 , to conduct business for a yo-yo manufacturing company he founded in downtown Santa Barbara in the historic Granada Building .
There he made a dozen yo-yos by hand and started selling them in the local area . Four months later , he sold 2,000 . He modified the yo-yo so the string looped around the axle instead of being
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attached to it , allowing it to spin . The invention led to yo-yo contests and events across the country . The popularity reached a peak worldwide in the 1960s .
Pedro ’ s idea attracted two investors , James and Daniel Stone of Los Angeles , which allowed him to buy equipment for two additional factories . Four months later he produced 300,000 yo-yos per day and employed more than 600 workers . All interest was sold to Donald Duncan , Sr . for more than $ 250,000 . Duncan renamed his purchase The Duncan Yo-Yo Company .
The company ’ s profile says Duncan introduced the loop and slip-string , but that is wrong , according to the Museum of Yo-Yo
History . Flores invented the motion before it was sold .
Pedro Edralin Flores was survived by his wife ; a stepson , Delinar Walters of Warren , Michigan ; and three step-grandchildren .
Did you know there ’ s an American Association Hall of Fame in which Pedro is known as the father of the modern yo-yo ? This information is according to Lucky Meisenheimer , author of “ Lucky ’ s Collection Guide to 20th Century Yo-Yos .”
Pedro ’ s wife , Edria Beatrice Myers Walters Flores Bainter , died when she was 92 on April 12 , 2002 , at the Hill Crest North Nursing Home in Knoxville , Tennessee . She was born Oct . 11 , 1908 , in
Coshocton and moved to Canton with her parents when she was 3 . She was well known in Coshocton and played piano in local bands . In later years she worked in a dress shop until she retired at age 73 . Her father , Arthur Myers , was born in 1886 in New Philadelphia . Her grandfather , Lewis Myers , was born in 1846 and is buried in Waggoner Cemetery in Coshocton .
After a little searching , I located a marriage certificate for Edria in West Virginia when she married Delmar Walters in 1927 . ( Researching all those marriage was overwhelming .)
So when you see a yo-yo , remember the role Pedro Flores played in its popularity .
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