2 March 2016
Family Heritage
By
Duane K. Bickings
Chapter 1
When you look through an old family photo-album you usually see black and white snapshots of
relatives you either never met, or never knew well. What then is the attraction when you gaze at
those pictures? After all, they are dead and gone, they lived in a different time with different
daily routines than we have today. Well, I believe that what we see in those photographs is
ourselves. We inherited not only genetic chromosomes from those men and women, but just as
importantly, some personality traits, some habits, hopes, fears, and unfortunately, some secret
personal struggles passed from generation to generation. Who were these people, and what were
they really like? Would I have chosen them to be my friends if I were their age at the time? I have
done my best to discover as many routine things about my relatives as I could which might unlock
the mystery of who they were. Genealogy is the study of world history on a personal basis, in
which the cast of characters are my own relatives. Uncovering what part my ancestors played in
the drama of world events is what family history is all about. Many of these are disjointed
anecdotes, but that is all I could uncover. (To be included in this history, the anecdote has to be
verified by either a primary or secondary source, which I have documented using footnotes).
Because they didn’t keep diaries, most of their memories have become mists swept away by the
broom of time. This journey is still worth the effort, however, because these were the fathers and
mothers, husbands and wives who over a span of generations have influenced me more than I’ll
ever know. The best way to honor these men and women is to never forget who they were, and
what they did.
1
In the 17th century the Kingdom of Sweden was a European “Great Power” and one of the major
military and political combatants on the continent during the “Thirty Years” War. By mid-century,
the kingdom included part of Norway, all of Finland, part of Prussia, and stretched into Russia.
Perhaps inspired by the riches other Great Powers gathered from their overseas colonies, Sweden
too sought to extend its influence to the New World. In 1637, prominent Swedish stockholders
formed the New Sweden Company to trade for beaver pelts and tobacco in North America. On nine
separate expeditions over the next seventeen years, a total of three hundred eighty-nine Swedes
embarked from Stockholm and sailed across the Atlantic Ocean to establish farms and small
settlements along both banks of the Delaware River into modern Southern New Jersey, Delaware,
and Southeastern Pennsylvania. The families of the 5th expedition, aboard the vessel Swan, left
Stockholm on August 16, 1642, stopped for provisions at Gothenberg, Germany, headed for the
Azores, and weighed anchor at the Caribbean island of Antigua on December 23rd where the crew
and passengers spent the Christmas holidays. They then set sail north for the final leg of their
voyage, and on February 15, 1643, Jonas Nilsson (1620-1693), my first ancestor to come to America,
disembarked from the Swan and set foot at Fort Christina, now the site of Wilmington, Delaware.1
The beleaguered settlement at New Sweden was overjoyed to have more of their countrymen join the
little colony. Jonas was one of twelve soldiers assigned to construct and garrison Fort Elfsborg, near
present day Salem on the New Jersey side of the Delaware River, to guard against Dutch and
English ships. Jonas served four years as a soldier in the New Sweden Militia, at a wage of ten
guilders per month. Just as Englishmen read the King James Bible (printed in 1611), the Lutheran
Swedes read the Bible of King Gustavus Adolphos (printed in 1618). Jonas later acquired 270 acres
in Kingsessing (now West Philadelphia) where he was a successful tanner, built a “logg” house
1
“The Swedish Settlement on the Delaware 1638-1664” Vol I, by Amandus Johnson, Ph.D.
2
(Swedes, being descendents of the Vikings, were skilled in the use of an axe to shape timbers) and
he and his wife Gertrude Svensdotter (1630-1695) raised eleven children.2
It wasn’t long before the native Indians, the eastern Delawares, were insisting that in exchange for
their furs, the Swedish traders should give them firearms, ammunition, hatchets, kettles, hoes, a
variety of metal utensils, brandy and rum. Over the years the Indians became more and more
dependent upon European goods for performing agricultural, hunting and domestic tasks. This
economic dependence, coupled with countless deaths from exposure to European diseases to which
they had no immunity, led to the collapse of the Indian life as a separate culture. The New Sweden
colony was never as successful as New England, for a variety of reasons. Few Swedes had any desire
to emigrate to the New World. Sweden itself was a forest country with room for immigrants. Finally,
there was no religious compulsion, as in the case of the English Puritans, to induce Lutherans of
Sweden to leave home. In 1654 the political situation suddenly changed when New Sweden was
attacked and surrendered to Peter Stuyvesant, the Dutch Commander of New Netherlands (now
New York City), who had a military force larger than the entire population of New Sweden. The
Dutch wanted to control the very profitable fur trade, which in 1654 was exporting over 10,000
beaver pelts to Europe each year. Also, tobacco, (“stinkingeweede” in Swedish) which was grown in
Northern Virginia and Maryland, was transported overland to the port at Fort Christina and then
shipped back to Europe. Settlers into West Jersey developed unsurpassed apple and peach orchards,
and began marketing apple cider. In 1664 New Netherlands in turn was conquered by the English
who sought to eliminate the Dutch as commercial competitors, and to consolidate the Hudson and
Delaware river valleys with the English possessions in New England and the Chesapeake colonies.3
Once William Penn gained Proprietary control of Pennsylvania, he advertised land to immigrants at
2
3
“Genealogy of Jonas Nilsson” by Dr. Peter S. Craig, Swedish Society News, Vol 1, Nmb 7, Spring 1993
“Early Americans” by Carl Bridenbaugh
3
low prices and religious toleration, so the flood of immigration of Germans, Welsh, and Scots-Irish
into the Delaware river valley commenced. Jonas’ second son, Mounce Jonasson (1663-1727) was an
Indian trader, built a house of Pennsylvania field stone in Aronameck (the site of present-day
Bartram’s Gardens). In 1701 William Penn offered to relocate the Swedes further inland away from
the English in Philadelphia, so Mounce and fourteen other families accepted this offer and surveyed
10,000 acres on the upper Schuylkill River in what is now Amity Township in Berks County. This
land provided access to transportation and fishing rights for each family and together they settled
the Old Village of Morlatton in Berks County (this settlement was renamed Warrensburg in 1780,
then renamed Douglassville in 1828). Because Mounce was proficient in the Indian dialects of
Algonkian and Iroquoian, he was often called upon to help negotiate treaties with local tribes.
Swedish sons took their father’s first name and added ‘son”, in this case to form Jonasson, which
was eventually anglicized to Jones. In 1716 Mounce built a 2 ½ story sandstone house that still
stands as the oldest documented dwelling in Berks County. Over the years the Jones family grew,
cleared the 402 acres of land Mounce had acquired, and with the exception of isolated outbreaks of
smallpox, led quiet and peaceful lives. (The Amity Township tax list of 1731 begins with Mordechai
Lincoln, the future President’s ancestor.)
Mounce’s great-grandson, Peter Jones III (1749-1809) bade his wife and infant twin daughters, Ruth
and Elizabeth, farewell on January 5, 1776 and enlisted as a private in the 4th Pennsylvania
Battalion commanded by Colonel Anthony Wayne. This unit immediately marched with the
Pennsylvania Brigade to reinforce the battered American force which was retreating after the failed
invasion of Canada, and then performed garrison duty at Fort Ticonderoga on Lake Champlain,
New York. Peter was commissioned a 2nd Lieutenant in September 1776, and a month later was
assigned to the 11th Pennsylvania Regiment. At this point in the War effort General Washington
4
despaired that the Continental Army might collapse from the discouragement of repeated defeats at
the hands of the British, and the lack of food, ammunition, and reinforcements. Peter stayed with
the Army, was promoted to 1st Lieutenant in April 1777 at which time the 11th Pennsylvania joined
Washington’s Headquarters. In late August 1777 a British Army of 14,000 men under General Sir
William Howe sailed up the Chesapeake Bay to attack Philadelphia from the south. On September
11th Washington ordered the 11th Pennsylvania, now part of the 2nd Brigade of Anthony Wayne’s
Division, in a defensive position at Chadd’s Ford of Brandywine Creek with orders to prevent the
British from crossing. The 11th Pennsylvania
was down to just 189 men when the Battle of
Brandywine began at 11 a.m. Hessian General Knyphausen ordered his Corps of four German
regiments and nine British regiments totaling 5,000 men to advance against the Americans. The
11th Pennsylvania and other Continental regiments fought bravely in the sweltering heat and
humidity and withstood one severe attack after another for over seven hours until Washington’s
right flank was broken by British General Cornwallis. The Americans were forced to withdraw
throughout the night to seek better ground.4 This was a costly defeat, with over 1,300 American
casualties, and enabled the British to occupy Philadelphia, the nation’s capital, largest city and port.
Peter became sick during the six-month winter encampment at Valley Forge, and since he had
served for 2½ years, he was discharged on June 24, 1778. His last pay voucher at Valley Forge
stated that he earned $27/month. I thought that was a lot of money for that time until I remembered
the expression “not worth a Continental”, because the currency of our new nation was nearly
worthless! After the War Peter and his wife Katharina (the Swedish spelling for Catherine) Kerlin
(1756-1844) built a log cabin as their first home, had fifteen children, and farmed three hundred
acres of land in Amity Township. A booklet containing this and other genealogical information was
read and distributed at a large family reunion held on Saturday, July 10, 1926 in Fairmount Park in
4
“The Pennsylvania Line” by John B. Trussell, on the 11th Pennsylvania
5
Philadelphia. My mother remembers her grandmother, Stella Eisenberg Bach, taking her to this
festive occasion in which hundreds of people rejoiced in the pride of belonging to such an extended
patriotic Christian family.
Lawrence Eisenberg (1763-1826), the son of a German immigrant, settled in Montgomery County,
Pennsylvania. After his first wife died, he married Peter and Katharina’s daughter, Ruth Jones
(1775-1826). Lawrence and Ruth bought a ninety acre farm in Limerick Township in 1794 and it
was here that they also had fifteen children, each given their Mother’s maiden name as their middle
name. The Eisenberg homestead was reputed to be the best tilled and most productive farm for
miles around, primarily raising wheat. They loaded the wheat, or milled wheat flour, on conestoga
wagons to make the 60 mile, three day trip to deliver the goods to the port of Philadelphia for sale
and export to Europe. The conestoga wagon was the main freight carrier before railroads, was been
developed by German immigrants in Lancaster County, had a Prussian blue body, red wheels, and
the driver walked alongside, rather than on a seat in the front. Most farmers planted the same crop
repeatedly, which depleted the soil after a few harvests, then they simply cleared more land. The
German farmers, however, introduced crop rotation and the use of fertilizers. Workingmen wore
woolen breeches, knitted stockings and linen shirts, and the women helped raised flax, spun yarn
into clothes, made candles and cooked meals in the hearth. These frontier families were selfsufficient and isolated, raising their children protected form the influence of outside culture.
Lawrence and Ruth sold their farm in 1824 for $2,163, and both died two years later. Their ninth
child was Samuel Jones Eisenberg (1806-1861), a miller, who with his wife Lydia Yerger (1804-1873)
had eight children, the fifth of whom was my great-great grandfather David, and they lived in
Franconia Township.5 The Jones and Eisenberg families attended St. Gabriel’s Church in
“The Eisenberg-Jones Family Record” submitted by the Daughters of the American Revolution, 1926, obtained from the
Historical Society of Montgomery County, PA
6
5
Douglassville, a congregation that described itself as “English-Swedes” This juxtaposition of terms
says something about English and Swedish people worshiping together in an English Episcopal
Church that had evolved from a Swedish Lutheran background. This church was established in
1720, and originally built with logs hewn from nearby forests. In 1801 a new stone edifice was
erected (where services are still held), and the log church continued to serve as a school until it was
destroyed by fire in 1832, so many of my ancestors attended school here.6
During the Civil War
David Y. Eisenberg (1840-1917) served as a private with I Company of the
129th Pennsylvania Infantry Regiment (which was part of the 1st Brigade, 3rd Division, 5th Corps
in the Army of the Potomac) from August 1862 – May 1863, so he was involved in the battles of
Antietam, Fredericksburg and Chancellorsville. When the regiment was originally formed (for a
nine month enlistment) it had 26 officers and 575 men. At the Battle of Fredericksburg on December
13, 1862 the Confederates occupying the high ground could not see the Union force massing to their
front, but at 10 a.m. the fog lifted suddenly to reveal a spectacular scene – “A slight but dazzling
snow beneath, and a brilliant sun above, intensified the reflections of fifty thousand gleaming
Federal bayonets” recalled a Confederate soldier. At 1 p.m. the first Federal division began its
assault up Marye’s Hill against the entrenched defenders, and three hours later six divisions had
successively been repulsed with terrible casualties. At dusk the 3rd Division of the 5th Corps was
ordered to make a seventh and final assault to break the Confederate position. The 3rd Division,
consisting of eight Pennsylvania Regiments, witnessed its Commander, Brigadier General Andrew
A. Humphries, bow to his staff in his courtly manner and say “Young gentlemen, I intend to lead
this attack myself. I presume, of course, that each of you will wish to join me?” He then shouted the
attack order to the regiments “Men, it is our turn to go in … Officers to the front”. Although they
6
St. Gabriel Episcopal Church, Douglassville, PA, records on Peter Jones 111, and Lawrence Eisenberg
7
had just witnessed over three hours of slaughter, and each man doubted the success of another
frontal attack across open terrain, the men of the 129th and the rest of the Division didn’t waver, but
resolutely closed ranks. With a stubborn determination to obey orders and do their duty, they moved
forward. The regiments traversed in good order over the lines of dead and wounded left in previous
charges, and the caps of some men were subsequently found within fifty yards of the infamous stone
wall, but the 129th was finally repulsed by devastating fire from the Confederates, suffering 16 killed
and 126 wounded. A bitter cold descended on the plain that night with the temperature dropping
below zero, and hundreds of Federal wounded still lying on the field froze to death. (The famous
American poet, Walt Whitman, visited the Federal camp at Fredericksburg immediately after the
battle searching for his brother, and officer in the 51st New York Infantry Regiment. Whitman wrote
two poems about his observations of the aftermath of the battle, and later wrote three poems about
this volunteer work at an Army Hospital in Washington D.C.) The Army of the Potomac has suffered
a crushing defeat, but in the winter encampment of 1862-1863 discipline and training gave rise to a
renewed Army ready to fight again. At the Battle of Chancellorsville on May 3, 1863, the 129th
sustained additional casualties of 42 men killed or wounded.7 but most Confederate units were
themselves badly depleted. (In 1892 the Commanding Officer of the 129th , Colonel Jacob G. Frick,
was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor with the citation “At Fredericksburg he seized the
colors and led the command through a terrible fire of cannon and musketry. In a hand-to-hand fight
at Chancellorsville, he recaptured the colors of his regiment”) On May 25, 1863, the Regiment was
formally disbanded, and David quietly marched home from the killing fields of Northern Virginia,
eager to resume his life as a civilian.
7
“History of the Pennsylvania Volunteers 1861-1865” by Samuel P. Bates, on the 129th Pennsylvania Infantry Regiment
8
By the time of David’s death, his Army pension was up to $22.50/month. At first I was puzzled why
David even received a pension because I knew that he wasn’t wounded in the Civil War. Then I
discovered that in Philadelphia on July 24, 1866 he got into an argument over the politics of
Reconstruction of the South with another passenger who pushed David from a street trolley-car as it
rounded a curve, and his right shoulder and arm were crushed. He could never again perform heavy
manual labor, so he became a watchman for the wealthy families who lived in the opulent
brownstone residences on Broad Street. David first applied for a pension in 1892 because just two
years earlier the 51st Congress had passed the Dependent Pension Act that “a permanent physical
disability need not have originated in the service”. (This Act overnight doubled the number of
pensioners, wiped out the federal budget surplus at the time, and was considered such an reckless
extravagance that the Republicans lost their majority in the House of Representatives in the midterm elections of 1890, and the White House in 1892.8) David’s last name was apparently misspelled
“Eisenberry” when he was mustered into the 129th Regiment in August 1862. Interestingly, everyone
must have thought it would be impossible to get the Government to correct that original error, so for
the rest of his life, in correspondence with the Pension Office David signed his name Eisenberry, and
even his physicians participated in this charade by referring to him as Eisenberry in their sworn
affidavits concerning his injury!9
As a young woman my great grand-mother, Stella Mae Eisenberg
(1873-1957) attended “The
Baptist Temple” at Broad and Berks Streets in Philadelphia, and grew spiritually under the
leadership of Rev. Dr. Russell Conwell who gave the famous sermon "Acres of Diamonds”, and
founded Temple University. In 1893 Temple Baptist was the largest Protestant Church in America10
with a seating capacity of 4,600, so Stella was part of a dynamic evangelistic congregation. Stella’s
8
9
“Politics, Reform and Expansion 1890-1900” by Harold U. Faulkner
National Archives and Records Administration, Washington, D.C. for Civil War Records of David Eisenberg
9
mother Sarah Baker (1841-1878) had died in childbirth with her eighth child. On her deathbed she
instructed her husband David which homes to place each of their six surviving sons for adoption, but
directed that David “always keep Stella with you”. Years later, a young man named Harry Bach
from Pottstown, Pennsylvania, who was a salesman in the Harness Department of Strawbridge and
Clothier’s Store in Philadelphia, asked to court Stella, and she consented only if he started attending
church with her, which he did. After their marriage, Stella’s domineering stepmother interfered and
eventually forced Stella to choose between her new husband or the Eisenberg family, and Stella
meekly succumbed to this coercion. Harry left Stella and their young daughter Carrie in 1899, so
both mother and daughter moved in with Stella's father, David Eisenberg and step-mother at 1626
N. Willington Street, a middle-class three-story red brick rowhouse. Such a dwelling had six rooms,
sat on a lot 18’ x 50’, and cost about $1800 to purchase, or $12/month to rent. Over three hundred
thousand of these cracker-box units were built between 1880 and 1920 to house the ballooning urban
population in Philadelphia11. Stella remembered the sights and sounds of city living at the turn of
the century such as wagon-wheels on cobblestone streets, and the lamplighters illuminating the
neighborhood each evening. Harry Bach filed for divorce on August 14, 1901, the final decree was
granted on September 20, 1904, and neither alimony nor child support was required. Stella never
spoke of Harry, apparently she was shamed by the failed relationship, regretted that she wasn’t
permitted to work through the problem with him, and she strictly followed Scripture in never
considering remarriage.
Harry’s father, William P. Bach (1845-1920), had a short but memorable military career. Reared on
a farm near Cedarville, Pennsylvania, he attended district schools, and in August 1862 he signed a
three-year enlistment in Company H of the 68th Pennsylvania Infantry Regiment, and in December
10
11
Web page on Dr. Russell Conwell
“Still Philadelphia - A Photographic History 1890-1940” by Fredric Miller and Morris Vogel
10
1862 he first “saw the elephant” in heavy fighting at the Battle of Fredericksburg. Seven weeks
after the Battle at Chancellorsville, the 68th, now reduced to only 320 officers and men, arrived on
the field at Gettysburg on the evening of Wednesday July 1, 1863. The next morning Union General
Sickles positioned the 68th, which was part of the 1st Brigade, 1st Division, 3rd Corps in the Army of
the Potomac, in an ill-advised defensive salient at the infamous Peach Orchard. At 5:30 p.m.
Confederate General Longstreet ordered Barksdale’s Brigade, led by the 21st Mississippi Infantry
Regiment, to attack the Federal units along the Emmitsburg Road. Seventeen-year-old Private Bach
was re-loading his .577 Enfield musket when shrapnel from an exploding cannonball tore into his
right foot, then he was shot in the left leg with a Reb minie ball. The 68th Pennsylvania suffered
heavy losses, 13 killed, 126 wounded and 13 missing, thirteen of the seventeen officers were hit, and
when the Regiment was flanked by the 17th Mississippi at 6:00 p.m., it was forced to yield the
ground12 and withdraw. Bach was dragged to the rear by two comrades to a stone wall near the
Trostle Farm where he was nearly bayoneted to death by a Reb sergeant. The fighting raged on into
the early evening as Hood’s Division overran nearby Devil’s Den, and the 15th Alabama went clawing
up Little Round Top. The Confederate surge was finally stopped at 6:45 p.m. by the 20th Maine
commanded by Colonel Joshua Chamberlain. Private Bach lay in great pain on the battlefield
through the night, and the next day heard the artillery barrage and musketry as General Robert E.
Lee ordered the valiant yet doomed “Picket’s Charge” against the Union center. It was forty-eight
hours before a surgeon dressed his wounds, and surprisingly didn’t amputate his leg.13 On July 1-3,
1913, William Bach returned to Gettysburg to participate in the 50th Anniversary ceremonies of this
engagement. (If you visit the battlefield, visit the monument to the 68th, and Bach’s name on the
State of Pennsylvania Monument). Gettysburg was the greatest and bloodiest land battle in our
nation’s history, with over 50,000 casualties on both sides. It was the turning point of the Civil War,
12
13
“Gettysburg, the Second Day” by Harry W. Pfanz
Interview with William P. Bach, Pottstown Daily Ledger, July 1, 1913
11
and the defining moment in the lives of each man who fought there. As President Lincoln said in his
famous Gettysburg Address “…But in a larger sense, we cannot dedicate - we cannot consecrate - we
can not hallow this ground. The brave men, living and dead who struggled here, have consecrated it
far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note nor long remember what we say
here, but it can never forget what they did here.”
The primitive medical treatment and evacuation of the Union wounded at Gettysburg is horrific to
contemplate. Since General Lee retreated to Northern Virginia the day following the battle, Union
General Meade immediately followed, taking with him most of the surgeons and ambulances. There
weren’t enough stretcher bearers, doctors, medical supplies, or food to adequately care for over
12,000 Union wounded left on the battlefield. The situation quickly became desperate as the overworked medical officers that did remain struggled to cope with the overwhelming number of
suffering men needing attention. Water was in such short supply that the surgeons merely wiped
the blood off their cutting knives onto their soiled aprons before operating on the next man, thus
unknowingly spreading infection among the very patients they hoped to save. Hundreds died each
day from exposure to the relentless July heat and humidity. Over the next five days, casualties such
as Private Bach were loaded onto wagons, transported to the train station in the town of Gettysburg,
then placed on boxcars, with straw and hay as their only bedding material. The trains transported
the wounded to one of the many hospitals that had been established since the beginning of the war
to deal with the carnage of the Eastern theatre. These hospitals were primarily located in
Washington D.C., Baltimore, Wilmington and Philadelphia since they had railroads to the front
lines.14 Bach was initially sent to Jarvis Army Hospital in Baltimore. I have a copy of a letter he
wrote to the Surgeon-in-Charge of Jarvis, dated August 12, 1863, just five weeks after the battle, in
14
“Army Medical Department 1818-1865” by Mary G. Gillett
12
very stylish penmanship “Sir, I have the honor to make application to you for a furlough for fifteen
days being anxious to visit my home. I was wounded at Gettysburg, Pa. Hoping this may meet with
your early approval. I am, Sir, Respectfully, Your Obdt Servt, William P. Bach, 68th Penna
Volunteers”. He later convalesced in Satterlee Army Hospital (surrounding what is now Clark Park
in West Philadelphia), which was the largest Civil War hospital covering sixteen acres of ground
with twenty-one wards containing 4,500 beds. He was fitted with a leg brace that he wore the rest of
his life, was discharged from the Army in May 1864, (for reason of “lameness, caused by a gunshot
wound to the leg, fracturing the tibia”) 15 and returned home to Pottstown and started a harness
business. In gratitude for his service to his country, in 1889 he was named Postmaster, and he was
later the chief burgess of Pottstown, president of the school board, and trustee of the First Baptist
Church.
William’s grand-daughter, my grandmother, Carrie Esther Bach Peterson, (1895-1968)
accomplished pianist, petite at 4'11" tall, and a devoted
was an
homemaker. She met her future husband
in 1915 when Nana was studying piano at the Philadelphia Conservatory of Music and working at
the Pressler Music Store selling sheet music by playing the compositions for customers. She was a
gifted seamstress, and made her own clothes, especially the “Gibson Girl” style for young women,
and read Collier’s magazine to keep up with the latest fashions. The best pick-up line that Christian
Peterson could come up with to get Esther’s attention as she was walking to work one day was to
say to her “I like your hat!” but that was enough to begin their relationship! After Esther and
Christian were married in February 1917 at 1626 N. Willington and their honeymoon in New York
City, Stella Bach lived with them forty years until her death. My mother said that Stella Bach was
the gentlest person she ever knew, and a meticulous homemaker. On her deathbed in 1957, she
15
National Archives and Records Administration, Washington, D.C. for the Civil War Records of William P. Bach
13
became comatose on a Monday, but seemed to hold on to life until Friday evening when Pop came in
from being out all week working in the Delaware Bay. As he bent over her frail little body, she
sensed his presence, opened her eyes and whispered the words she had been waiting four days to
say, "Christian, thank you for taking care of me all these years". She then fell into a deep and
peaceful sleep, and died a few hours later. After Pop's death, Nana lived with our family off and on
for seven years. Older people living with their children was common place back then. People felt a
grudging obligation to care for their aged relatives, fully cognizant of the inconveniences, not the
least of which was the tension of attitudes represented by three disparate generations living in close
quarters. More than once I would attempt to circumvent my parents' instructions by soliciting
support from my indulgent Nana. She would intercede on my behalf, only to be reminded by my
father that her presence in our household was welcome, but any attempt to undermine his parental
authority would not be tolerated. I sensed the twinge of humiliation she felt, yet she preferred this
social arrangement to that of an impersonal nursing home.
Denmark in 1883 was undergoing a political and economic transformation. The loss of the
Schleswig-Holstein War to Prussia in 1864 had been a shattering and humiliating experience. As
Germany grew in military power, her small neighbor to the north was very vulnerable. Additionally,
large scale imports of North American and Russian grain into Europe caused a sharp decline in
grain prices in the mid 1870s, creating great hardship for farmers in Denmark. As a result, in 1883
over 10,000 able-bodied young men from Denmark set sail for a better life in America.16 My
maternal great- grandfather, Jens Christian Pedersen (1865-1940) from Esbjerg, Denmark, the son
of Anders Pedersen (1843-1931) and Ane Jensen (1842-1915) was one of those immigrants. Imagine
16
“A Short History of Denmark” by Stewart Oakley
14
his parents’ sorrow as they bid farewell to their eighteen year old son at the train station in Esbjerg
as he leaves, alone, to travel to a ‘New World’ perhaps never to return home again. Jens embarked
in Bremen, Germany, one of six hundred ninety-five passengers aboard the “SS Nuremberg”, and
that ship completed its voyage to Baltimore on June 27, 1883.17 John went to work for his mother’s
brother who was master of a four-masted coasting vessel carrying fruit from the West Indies to
Philadelphia. He migrated to Greenwich, New Jersey, and started as a day laborer on oyster boats,
and had vowed that he wouldn’t marry until he had bought his first boat. Adopting the American
form of his name, John Peterson and his wife Elizabeth “Lizzie” Bangel (1869-1942) lived at 245
West Commerce Street (they sold the house in 1942 for $6,000 following Lizzie’s death), and
attended St. John’s German Lutheran Church. In 1909 John, Lizzie, their son Christian and two
daughters Helen and Marie returned to Denmark for a month-long visit, sailing aboard the
Transatlantic oceanliner Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse. (eleven years earlier this ship captured from
Great Britain’s Cunard Line the coveted “Blue Riband” trophy and pennant as the fastest ship in the
world, making the crossing from New York to Liverpool in five days and twenty hours. The
Lusitania and Mauritania later won the honor back for Great Britain.)18 Anders had earlier written
his son, John, and told him there wasn’t enough room in their home in Esbjerg for all five guests, so
the three children would be placed in neighbor’s homes. John didn’t like that idea, so he sent his
father $3,000 to build an addition to the home so they could all be together! (From the countless
stories I’ve heard of John’s generosity to both friends and strangers, I’m sure this $3,000 was merely
a way to bless his father without embarrassing him).
My maternal grandfather, Christian John Peterson (1896-1961) was born in Greenwich (where his
classmate, Mary Bacon, would one day become our family physician), graduated from West Jersey
17
“Passenger Lists of Vessels Arriving at Baltimore 1821-1890” microfilm from the National Archives
15
Academy then attended Pierce Business School in Philadelphia. West Jersey Academy was founded
in 1852 by the Presbyterians with the mission to “meet the need for the education of boys on a moral
and Christian basis”. It was a boarding school where the cadets dressed in military uniforms,
learned how to drill, the core curriculum included Greek and Latin, and a local historian wrote
“blue-blooded families of Bridgeton and surrounding areas sent their sons to West Jersey Academy”.
It shut down in 1910 because the rise of public education in general, and Bridgeton High School in
particular, eclipsed the popularity of private school education. Christian worked at the Excelsior
Trust and Saving Fund Company in Philadelphia where he met his future bride, and persuaded her
to relocate to Bridgeton when he decided to return to the oyster business. He ran the business until
my Dad bought him out in 1956. Pop and Nana (the grandchildren's names for them) had five
children, and built their imposing three- story 3,100 SF home on 301 West Broad Street in 1926 for
$13,000! Pop was diagnosed a diabetic in 1951, and eventually died of a heart attack. I've heard the
observation that Petersons
die of heart problems, and Bickings die of cancer. Pop was very
reserved, and never called Dad “Harold” but always referred to him as “Army”.
The family business started in 1892 when “Captain John” Peterson had saved enough money to buy
a 1/32nd interest in the eleven ton, two masted schooner named the Wood Duck. In 1902 he bought
his first ship, the seventeen ton Flying Fish. In 1908 he built the thirty-eight ton Christian John
Peterson (known as the CJ) at the Greenwich Shipyard. In 1929 he built the Esther Peterson also in
Greenwich. Then in 1936 Christian purchased the fifty-five ton Laura Wilde which had been built in
1927 at the Dorchester Shipyard, and renamed her the John C. Peterson
(known as the John C).
I worked on both the CJ and the John C as a deckhand as a teenager. These were about 80' long, 21'
wide, built with white oak wood that had cured for about two years, and approximately eight men
18
Web page on the Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse
16
could sleep below deck. The galley had a coal-burning stove , and the cook always made hearty
meals. The crews would be out dredging in the Delaware Bay from Monday morning to Friday
afternoon catching about 400-1200 bushels of oysters a day. These schooners were easier to manage
since the fore and main sail could be taken in one at a time, by fewer hands, and with a lighter
rigging than would be needed by the sloop, which was the workhorse of the pre-1900 fleet. The
schooners carried over 3,000 square feet of canvas sails, and had two 52” dredges to catch the
oysters. Planters such as John Peterson would off load their oysters to a shipper in Bivalve, who
would then pack them on cars of the Central Railroad of New Jersey which ran from Bivalve on to
Philadelphia. The most profitable years of the oyster business were from 1910-1925 when South
Jersey led the entire world in oyster production, usually harvesting 3.6 million bushels per year and
employing approximately 2,500 men. One old salt described Port Norris on the Maurice River as
being similar to a gold rush town of the old West because so much money was being made so
quickly.19 John and his son were both risk takers in business, willing to commit all their net worth to
finance the next year's planting. John sold the family business to Christian in 1917, but continued to
captain one of the boats each spring planting season until 1930 when he finally retired.
19
“South Jersey’s Oyster Industry” by Shirley Bailey, published by the South Jersey Magazine
17
In Colonial America paper was the key to communication, so paper manufacturing was in high
demand. The first, and largest paper mill in America was established by William Rittenhouse on
Wissahickon Creek in Germantown, Pennsylvania, in 1690. Paper wasn’t made from wood back
then, but from linen rags. Since it was a very slow, manual process, other mills were needed. In 1746
Conrad Sheetz, a veteran of the Rittenhouse operation built a new mill on Mill Creek, and produced
such a quality product that he attracted Ben Franklin as an investor. Franklin bought most of the
paper for his printing company from this mill. When Sheetz died in 1771 his widow rented the mill
to John Friedrich Bicking (1730-1809) who ten years earlier had purchased 350 acres in Lower
Merion Township (formerly a Welsh settlement) in Montgomery County where Mill Creek flows into
the Schuylkill River. Over the six-mile course from its headwaters at Dove Lake, Mill Creek has an
elevation change of two-hundred fifty feet, had clear fast-running water with no lime, and was forty
feet wide at the confluence with the Schuylkill which made it perfect for waterwheel-powered mills.
Frederich built his large home on a hilltop overlooking a hamlet of his paper mill, a two story house,
a spring house, a smoke house, four tenant houses, a large barn and stable and a one hundred acre
farm.20 By 1776 Frederich was such a respected business owner that he was awarded a contract by
the Committee of Safety of the Second Continental Congress to manufacture paper cartridges and
wading for bullets for the Continental Army21 from his own mill, and he supplied paper for
Continental currency from the Sheetz mill. As an example, the minutes of the Continental Congress
for Monday, May 13, 1776 read “A letter from General Washington, of the 9th, was laid before
Congress and read. Resolved: To Frederick Bicking, for paper for the continental bills of credit, the
sum of 416 pounds.” The following year, the bank notes to pay the troops at Valley Forge were
printed on his paper. Friedrich and his wife Mary Unvergast (1732-1782) were married at and
20
Bulletin of the Historical Society of Montgomery County – Vol XI Fall 1957-Spring 1959
18
attended St. Michael’s Lutheran Church in Germantown, and had five sons and five daughters.
Frederich bequeathed the paper mills to his youngest son Frederick who later sold the business in
1821 because by that point the British began to export paper to the United States cheaper than it
could be produced by the mills and the hand-made paper industry collapsed. Some mills tried to
adapt by converting to producing gunpowder, but by the mid 19th Century steam energy had
replaced flowing water, so water mills ceased to operate. 22
There is an interesting notice in one of the German newspapers in Philadelphia dated March 27,
1761 that “Friedrich Bicking, of Lower Merion Township, advertises that his [indentured] servant,
Jacob Bueck, age 18, has run away”.23 Negro slavery wasn’t socially or morally acceptable in the
Middle Colonies, but white servitude was commonplace. Each spring Agents would go to towns in
Germany advertising the freedom and opportunities in Pennsylvania. Poor and usually illiterate
Germans would agree that in exchange for passage to America, they would serve a legally binding
term, usually four years, to the American who paid the Agent the cost of passage. The westerly
voyage across the Atlantic took up to twelve weeks, and because of disease, overcrowding, rancid
food, and nonexistent ventilation below deck, tragically over 50% of the immigrants died en-route.
When the ship carrying Jacob Bueck landed in Philadelphia, Frederich, one of several businessmen
who needed cheap laborers, boarded the ship. The prospective buyers inspected the servants, judged
their states of health and morality, conversed with them to discover their degree of intelligence and
docility, and finally, if satisfied, bought them and took them home. The scene was very similar to
Negro slave auctions, except that the servant, being white, had certain legal rights recognized by
each of the Colonies. It has been estimated that between half and two-thirds of all German
Lineage Book of the Daughters of the American Revolution #146149 – Vol CXLVII dated 1919
“Lower Merion’s Mill History” The Landmark, the Newsletter of the Lower Merion Conservancy Fall 1996
23
“German Settlers in Pennsylvania 1743-1800” by Edward Hocker
19
21
22
immigrants to Pennsylvania from 1720-1775 entered through white servitude.24 Frederich landed in
Philadelphia on August 15, 1750, one of 500 passengers aboard the Royal Union out of Rotterdam by
way of Plymouth.
Friedrich’s first-born son Richard Bicking (1753-1803) served as a Sergeant in the Montgomery
County Militia during the Revolution, and fought at the Battle of Germantown on October 4, 1777.25
Each county in each state was required to recruit at least one battalion of able-bodied men between
the ages of 18-50. They would drill two days per month, would be called to active duty no more than
sixty days each year, and each man was expected to provide his own musket and clothing. The
mission of the Militia was to defend against an invading enemy, and to provide enforcing authority
for the local Committee of Safety to suppress enemies, ie, “American Loyalists” to the British Crown.
Because these were part-time soldiers, General Washington avoided using them in battle due to
their undependability under fire, and the habit of militiamen to simply leave whenever they were
needed at home. The most tangible contribution of the militia, however, was the political education
of the populace. In 1776 the great majority of Americans were neither Patriot nor Loyalist, but
neutral because they didn’t understand the issues involved. The very act of enrollment and
participation in drilling forced most adult males to declare themselves by signing loyalty oaths.26
George Rex Jr. (1720-1772) was commissioned a Justice of the Peace of Heidelberg Township in
Northampton County (now Lehigh County) in 1757, and on March 1, 1758 during the French and
Indian War he signed a petition to the colonial government, asking for protection from the
marauding Indians who were murdering and scalping pioneer families on the Pennsylvania frontier,
and recommended construction of a fort on Blue Mountain just west of Germansville. Seven months
24
25
Colonists in Bondage – White Servitude and Convict Labor in America 1607-1776” by Abbot Emerson Smith
Transcribed from the Pennsylvania Archives (series 6, volume 1, page 938)
20
later, from October 1-26, 1758, just twenty-five miles away from George Rex’s home, the most
important Indian Congress in American history took place. Several hundred Indian chiefs and
leaders from thirteen nations such as the Iroquois, Oneidas, Senecas, Mohawks, Western
Delawares, Wyandots, and representatives of Tribes from the Ohio River Valley signed a Peace
Treaty with the British Government. The Treaty of Easton formally ceded all land west of the
Allegheny Mountains to the Indians, and the Pennsylvania and Virginia colonists agreed never to
enter that territory to homestead. This treaty effectively split the French and Indian alliance, and
ended the bloodshed in the backcountry.27 Once peace was restored, George concentrated on
enhancing his holdings, and by 1762 his taxes were the highest of any landowner in Heidelberg
Township, and at the time of his death he owned 519 acres. The Rex family attended St. Michael’s
Lutheran Church in Germantown (where the Bickings also attended). George’s son, Wilhelm Rex
(1743-1812) served as a Corporal and Quartermaster in the Northhampton County Militia (5th
Company, 3rd Battalion) from 1777-1780 during the Revolution28, then after the War ended Wilhelm
moved to Roxborough Township in Montgomery County.
Wilhelm’s son, Heinrich Rex (1788-1864), was born outside of Philadelphia in an exciting era. The
city had a population of just 37,000 citizens, the previous year fifty-five of our Founding Fathers had
written the United States Constitution, and the immigration from Germany was resuming after
being halted during the Revolution. Interestingly, the influx of Germans since 1708 had raised great
concern among those of English ancestry. On May 9, 1753 Benjamin Franklin had written to a
friend “ …they (the Germans) who come hither…not being used to liberty, they know not how to
make modest use of it…few of their children in the country know English. They import many books
from Germany…they have their own newspapers…the signs in our streets (Philadelphia) have
26
27
“1777 – The Year of the Hangman” by John Pancake
“Crucible of War - The Seven Years’ War and the Fate of Empire in British North American 1754-1766” by Fred Anderson
21
inscriptions in both languages, and some places only in German. They begin, of late, to make all
their bonds and other legal instruments in their own language, which (though I think it ought not to
be), are allowed in our own courts, where German business so increases, that there is continual need
of interpreters…In short, unless the stream of importation could be turned from this to other
colonies, as you very judiciously propose, they will soon outnumber us”. Even the brilliant Dr.
Franklin was short-sighted about the contributions of Germans, because during the Revolution,
Pennsylvania provided twelve regiments, eight of which were German-American. During the 19th
Century the Germans in Philadelphia, because of their precise and disciplined natures, would
become engineers, manufacturers, and leaders in business. The German population in 1788,
however, responded to this covert disdain in two ways: those who remained in Philadelphia formed
the German Society of Pennsylvania which became a legal advocate for the rights of immigrants and
social reform.29 The other option was for those pioneer-minded souls to strike out in the recently
designed Conestoga wagons to explore the frontier west of the Appalachian Mountains, traveling
over Ridge Road in Roxborough Township where the Rex family had settled as blacksmiths.
My Dad’s paternal great-grandparents were Josiah Bickings (1814-1890) and Heinrich’s daughter
Melvina Rex (1821-1908), who in 1860 lived at “10 Mile Stone” (a rural designation meaning ten
miles from center city Philadelphia traveling northwest on Ridge Road).30 They attended the
Reformed Dutch Church of Roxborough, and had eight children of whom five lived past infancy. On
June 8, 1835 the cornerstone of the church building was laid, and certain parishioners volunteered
to help with the construction. Josiah was a carpenter’s apprentice at the time, and after work over
the course of several weeks built an elaborate spiral wooden pulpit. The founding pastor wrote in his
journal of the influence of the American Temperance Society, and preaching a sermon against the
28
29
National Genealogical Society Quarterly – December 1980 “George Rex of Germantown” by Doris Rex Schutte
“The German Immigration into Pennsylvania” by Frank Diffenderffer
22
doctrine of universalism. (Twenty-two years later the congregation elected to change denominations
to become the Roxborough Presbyterian Church).31
Germany in 1848 was fragmented and retained much of the feudal system, with most of the thirtynine states still ruled by kings or princes under their own laws and armies. Democratic opposition
had been building for many years, and when a series of failed harvests sparked food riots, armed
uprisings against the aristocracy erupted throughout Germany, and the state of Baden was one of
the centers of the revolution. My paternal great-great grandfather, Michael Oberle (1810-1870)
joined the rebellion against the Grand Duke of Baden, and was also a political activist as the
National Assembly convened in Frankfurt to draft “Basic Rights for the German People”.
Unfortunately, in 1849 the Assembly was forcibly disbanded by Prussian and Austrian troops, and
revolutionaries such as Michael became disillusioned with the absence of democracy in their
homeland. That same year he emigrated with his wife, Elizabeth Arnold (1821-1905), and their
young son Frederick to New York City, and eventually to Philadelphia. There had been relatively
few immigrants in the years 1776-1846 from Europe. The reluctance of many countries to permit
emigration, plus the wars that occupied much of the period restricted the movement of people across
the Atlantic. Thus, during the formative years of our nation, the social institutions that developed
were decidedly WASP, or White Anglo-Saxon Protestant. In the decade from 1846-1856, however,
immigration exploded to over 3 million, primarily from Germany, Ireland and Great Britain. There
was an immediate reaction from nativists, or native-born Americans, who saw danger in cultural
pluralism, and equated national strength with national homogeneity. The European Sunday, for
example, violated Puritan sensibilities. The Germans were the most conspicuous offenders, as they
hurried from church to a merry afternoon in music halls and beer gardens. The Catholicism of the
30
31
1860 McElroy’s Philadelphia Directory
“Roxborough Presbyterian Church, and outline of its History, 1854-1904”, by Henry McManus
23
Irish was another incendiary issue of the period. The fear that the authoritarian nature of the
Catholic Church was incompatible with American principles and institutions led to countless
confrontations about what it meant to be an American.32
Michael’s occupation as a tailor was cut short by blindness, and although Elizabeth lived in America
for fifty-six years, she never learned to read or write English. My Dad's maternal grandfather,
Frederick Oberle (1848-1929) married Mary Hamilton (1848-1914) they lived at 3312 Amber St.,
had ten children (of whom only five lived past infancy) , and their second daughter was Mary Oberle
(1882-1928) whose first husband, Thomas Kennish, died in a factory accident in 1908. Ten years
later, Frederick's younger brother, Lafayette Oberle, was an outspoken German sympathizer during
World War I, and the object of acts of vandalism for appearing Un-American. In an attempt to
preserve the Oberle name in Philadelphia, Frederick purchased a large number of War Bonds to
prove the family’s patriotism.
Frederick worked over 30 years for the John B. Stetson Company in Philadelphia, rising to the
position of Superintendent of the Philadelphia hat manufacturing facility, and retired quite wealthy
from all the stock Mr. Stetson awarded him.33 Mr. Stetson was a committed Christian who attended
Temple Baptist (where Stella Bach and my grandmother also attended). The Company facility at 4th
Street and Montgomery Ave. consisted of 25 buildings on 9 acres of land, and in 1915 employed
4,000 men and 1,400 women who produced 11,000 hats every day! Mr. Stetson showed a
paternalistic interest in the welfare of his employees by such enlightened initiatives as building the
Union Mission Hospital in 1887 to provide health care, the Stetson Building and Loan Association
which provided mortgages to employees, classes in English, American history and government for
immigrant workers to become U.S. citizens, a baseball team that played in the Philadelphia
32
33
“The Era of Expansion 1800-1848” by Don Ferenbacher
Minutes from the January 20, 1903 meeting of the Board of Directors of the John B. Stetson Company
24
Industrial League, a Boy Scout troop, a dental clinic, and a company paper called The Hat Box. Most
important of all, however, were the nondenominational Sunday school and Tuesday morning prayer
services at the plant, and the famous annual company Christmas party. The 1920 party for instance
gave turkeys to all the married men, hats to the bachelors, and gloves and candies to the women.
The company had such a fine reputation that there was a waiting list of applicants. They preferred
to hire relatives of employees, corroborated by the fact that Frederick’s two sons Louis and George
were also on the payroll. Frederick knew John B. Stetson well, and was influenced tremendously by
this enlightened Christian businessman and visionary.34
Josiah’s son, Henry Bickings (1850-1915), a carpenter, married Clara McDowell Cornell (1859-1930)
and they lived at 756 W. Manatawna Ave. After Frederick Oberle's wife Mary died, widower
Frederick ironically married widow Clara Cornell Bickings, whom he met at the wedding of their
children (my Dad's parents). Mary Oberle Kennish had married Everett Rex Bickings (1879-1957) a
house builder, and they moved to Somers Point, New Jersey, in 1922, but Mary tragically died of
breast cancer in 1928. Dad's most painful childhood memory was returning home from school the
day she died, and her not responding to his daily cry " Is anybody home?" with her predictable and
reassuring "Here I am, Harold!" As a child, I can recall Dad always asking that question when he
came in the back door from work each evening, and
priority to always be there to respond
Mom, knowing this deep hurt, made it a
"Here I am, Harold!" After Mary Oberle Kennish Bickings
died in 1928, Everett, being was a very private man, almost reclusive, was selfishly unwilling to take
care of Dad, so he initially lived with his grandparents Frederick and Clara in Somers Point until
their deaths.
34
Stetson Hats and the John B. Stetson Company 1865-1970” by Jeffery B. Snyder
25
My father, Harold Everett Bickings (1917-1998) was born in the Roxborough ward of Philadelphia.
He was a football player of local renown in the Ocean City High School Class of 1935 ( a 6'2",
218 lb fullback, linebacker, and kicker) and played many of his games in the Convention Hall in
Atlantic City where the Miss America Pageants are
held. This was the era of leather helmets
without face masks, and drop kicks. After high school he therefore enlisted, and in lieu of basic
training, a concept which did not exist at the time, proceeded directly to his first
assignment, the
62nd Coast Artillery at Fort Totten, New York, in the Queens borough. The 62nd was subdivided
into A Battery (Searchlights), B&C Batteries (3" Guns), E&F Batteries (50 Caliber Machine Guns),
and Dad was in F Battery. Interestingly, I stayed at Fort Totten for a week thirty years later in July
1965 when I was a Boy Scout tour guide for the 1964-1965 New York City World's Fair held nearby
in Flushing
Meadows Park. Dad was on the Post Football Team, therefore exempt from many of
the banalities of Army life. Fort Totten would play Army teams from other posts around New York
City - Fort Hancock (Sea Coast Artillery), Fort Hamilton (18th Infantry), and
Fort Jay (16th
Infantry). Each summer his unit would travel to Fort Ontario, New York, for live firings. Dad was
discharged in 1939 and attended New Jersey State Teachers College at Glassboro, New Jersey (since
renamed Rowan University) where he met Esther Peterson. (Their first date was to go see the movie
“Wizard of Oz”, and at Mom’s funeral in October 2008 we had Nancy play “Over the Rainbow”). Mom
said Dad was very shy around girls, and would blush easily. He was too respectful, because Mom
thought he would never kiss her! When Dad asked his future father-in-law for his daughter's hand in
marriage, Pop knew Dad only made $42/month as any Army Corporal. Pop queried "Can you
support my daughter in the manner to which she is accustomed?" Dad bravely replied, "I'll try, Sir."
Mom and Dad had their wedding rehearsal on Friday night at 9:15pm and were married at 3:00pm
on Saturday June 14, 1941 in Berean Baptist Temple by Dr. Charles H. Shaw. Mom's Matron of
Honor was her sister Marie, and Dad's Best Man was George Gernerd, his former boss at Swift &
26
Co. (In 1928 Gernerd had been awarded the Carnegie Hero Fund Medal and a $1,600 scholarship for
saving a woman from drowning, and he later played football at Muhlenberg College).35 Elizabeth
Stanger played the organ, and the music listing was Because, At Dawning, Ave Maria, and I Love
You Truly. The reception for 55 guests was in the Cumberland Hotel Ballroom, and the menu was
fruit cup, chicken croquettes, peas, French fries, wedding cake and ice cream. Other interesting
notes: the color scheme was a “rainbow wedding”: bride’s gown was white marquisette and lace
made with a square neck and long sleeves, matron of honor wore rose, and the two bridesmaids
(Betty Ruff Peterson and Lottie Bonham) wore daffodil yellow, and blue. Mom’s little sister, Betty
was the flower girl, Lang’s Florist cost $35, wedding dress $20, veil $16, Gardenia corsages $3,
Schofield Photography $30, Mom’s crystal pattern was The Diane by Cambridge, her flat silver
pattern was Etruscan by Gorham. Mom and Dad honey-mooned in New York City, stayed at the
Times Square Hotel for $5/night, attended a live radio broadcast, and watched history in the
making. On June 17th they took the subway to Yankee Stadium to see the Yankees play the Chicago
White Sox. Joe DiMaggio went 1 for 4 in what turned out to be game #30 of his record-setting 56
game hitting streak!36 Dad was recalled into the Army in 1941, went to Anti-Aircraft Artillery
Officer Candidate School (OCS) at Camp Davis, North Carolina, then was assigned to the 71st Coast
Artillery at Washington D.C.
In October 1918 Nana was four months pregnant with Mom, and Nana was careful not to contract
the dreaded Spanish Influenza. Before the year was out 675,000 Americans would die from the flu more than the total of all Americans to die in WWI, WWII, Korea and Viet-Nam combined! It was an
epidemic that knew no borders, killing over twenty-five million people worldwide. The worst month
in the United States was October, when 195,000 people died. The resulting national hysteria
35
Mulhlenberg College Athletic Department, Allentown, PA, and the Carnegie Hero Fund Commission, Pittsburg, PA for
27
generated various speculations on how the disease began, the most xenophobic being that the
Germans had landed a U-boat off the East Coast and dropped off canisters containing the deadly
microbes.37 Nana Bach urged bed rest, salts of quinine, aspirin, and everyone wearing a protective
cloth “flu” mask until her daughter and as yet unborn grandchild were past the danger. My mother,
Esther Mae Peterson Bickings, was born in the house at 196 Commerce Street in Bridgeton, the
second of five children. Mom was the Vice-President of the Bridgeton High School class of 1936 her
sophomore, junior and senior years. I once asked Mom why her high school yearbook had the
prediction that ‘one day Esther would be a missionary in the Belgian Congo’. She replied that her
classmates knew how active she was in church activities, and how her life was changed by attending
the Percy Crawford Pinebrook Bible Camp in near Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania, in the Pocono
Mountains. Percy Crawford was a popular young Evangelist in the Delaware Valley in the ‘30s.
Mom was attending this camp on August 2, 1934 when she got an unusual telephone call from her
father. Pop said that the night before a strong storm came through Bridgeton where his three oyster
boats were temporarily docked in the Cohansey River. Violent winds broke the boats loose from their
moorings, and one of the boats, the CJ Peterson, slammed into the Commerce Street Bridge,
completely destroying it. The town’s traffic was disrupted, and Pop told Mom that the Peterson
family wasn’t real popular at the moment!
During WWII Mom’s brother John was a 1st Lieutenant pilot in the U.S. Army Air Corps flying C-47
cargo planes in the 62nd Troop Carrier Squadron of the 314th Troop Carrier Wing, stationed first in
Tunisia and Sicily in 1943, then in February 1944 his unit was reassigned to Saltby, Leicestershire,
England. His unit dropped paratroopers from the 82nd Airborne Division into Normandy on D-Day
June 6, 1944, on September 17, 1944 he dropped British paratroopers near Arnhem , Holland,
information on George Gernerd
36
Web page listing the statistics of each game of Joe DiMaggio’s 56 game hitting streak
28
delivered fuel to General Patton’s 3rd Army’s tanks advancing across France, and also dropped
supplies to the beleaguered troops of the 101st Airborne Division surrounded at Bastogne at the
Battle of the Bulge. The 62nd relocated to Poix, France, in February, 1945 to be closer to the front
lines. A special family story is that in 1943 when John was leaving to go overseas to fly combat
missions in North Africa, Nana Bach feared for the safety of her oldest grandson. She presented him
a pocket Bible that her father, David Eisenberg had carried with him during the Civil War. She said
that ‘God’s Word had kept her father safe from harm, and prayed it would bring her grandson home’.
John was touched by the keepsake, and always had it tucked in his flight jacket when he flew
missions. After the War, Uncle John opened a Zenith Appliance store in Bridgeton, and would
always sell to relatives at his cost. Whenever a family member entered his store, he would jokingly
yell out to employees and customers alike “well, here is a sale, but no profit!”
Her freshman year of college Mom attended the New Jersey State Teachers College at Trenton, then
transferred and went three years to Glassboro, graduating in 1940. She would spend the weekend
at home, and take the train from Bridgeton to Glassboro each Monday morning, and live in the
Laurel Residence Hall during the week. Interestingly, racial discrimination wasn’t as prevalent as
modern revisionists would have us believe, because out of ninety-four graduates in that class that
paid college tuition during the depths of the Great Depression without government loan assistance,
eleven were black! Mom loved to
dance, and was especially fond of the Glenn Miller Band.
"Moonlight Serenade, In the Mood, Chattanooga Choo Choo, American Patrol, and I've got a Gal in
Kalamazoo" became favorites of mine. When any of these songs came on the radio or stereo in our
home, we became almost reverent in our hushed silence! You could see the look on Mom’s face as she
listened to those songs, obviously reliving the dance steps, the sound of the band, her dresses, and
the youthful energy she had back then. After she and Dad were married, she taught school for two
37
“Epidemic and Peace 1918” by Alfred Cosby
29
years, choosing to be a full-time homemaker when my sister
Stella was born. Dad had worked at
Swift & Co. as a meat handler, then a foreman from 1939-1941 when he was recalled into the Army.
After the War, Dad returned to Swift & Co. and was promoted to the plant supervisor in Camden.
Several nights a week after work he would take a train to Philadelphia and attend the University of
Pennsylvania Evening School of Accounts and Finance. In 1949 he left Swift, they moved back to
Bridgeton, and Dad started working for Pop. In the summer of 1950 when the Korean War broke
out, Dad was again recalled back into the Army. His unit, the 94th Anti-Aircraft Artillery Battalion,
2nd Armored Division, left by troop ship out of Galveston in July 1951 for Germany to defend against
a possible Soviet attack in Europe. He returned in February 1952, so I was five months old when he
first saw me. Mom told me she got my name from a journeyman baseball pitcher with the old St.
Louis Browns, Duane Pillete. I think the only notable thing about him was that his father, Herman
Pillette pitched for the Detroit Tigers 1922-1924 as a teammate of Ty Cobb.
By 1958 the Peterson Packing Company had 2,400 acres under State lease in the Delaware Bay, a
wharf in Bivalve and Greenwich, oyster beds in Delaware and Virginia, the two boats, the CJ
Peterson and John C Peterson, and a
shucking house in Bivalve where upwards of 110 workers
opened the oysters. I remember all of that, and it was an impressive, bustling company. Then a slow
decline sapped the life out of the entire industry. U.S. food production had to be increased to
support the requirements of the war effort in WWII, so the restriction of using sail only in the Bay
was lifted and diesel engines were introduced in 1945. This made catching oysters much more
efficient, but it depleted the supply. The human population of the Delaware Valley doubled from
1910-1960, and human use of fresh water limited oysters of this absolute necessity for their
reproduction. When Dad returned from Germany, he resumed working for Pop as a deckhand on the
oyster boats. In 1953 he made a thinly veiled threat that he would leave if Pop didn't give him more
30
responsibility and captain one of the boats. Pop relented, and Dad eventually bought the business,
with Pop carrying the note. In 1958 the parasite MSX destroyed almost the entire oyster population
in the Delaware Bay. Whereas in 1915 there were over 400 oyster boats in the Bay, by 1962 there
were less than 50. Dad was a resourceful small businessman who responded to this virtual collapse
by diversifying the company in opening a breading plant where, in an assembly-line environment,
the oysters would be covered with bread crumbs to facilitate deep fry cooking. In 1962 he purchased
the Newport Seafood Company, a fish market in
Ventnor City, New Jersey, just south of Atlantic
City. On Saturdays and vacations I would work there. My jobs were to peel shrimp and throw live
green shelled lobsters into pots of boiling water which would turn the lobsters red and kill them.
The best business day was Friday when the Catholics, who were enjoined from eating meat on that
day, would buy fresh fish from us. In 1964 Dad purchased a smaller dredging boat, the Vigilant (a
skipjack built in Maryland of pine instead of white oak) so he could plant and harvest oysters in the
Great Bay near Atlantic City. By the early 1970s however, it was obvious that the industry would
not recover. Dad decided to ride it out until he could retire, but in the meantime Hal, and later John
came back into the business. They stayed until 1986 when Dad took advantage of a generous offer to
sell to a firm in Connecticut. Hal and John left the business to pursue other careers, the shucking
house was demolished, and the boats were retrofitted down to the keel. I went to Port Norris and
Bivalve with Dad years later and was astonished at
how
an entire way of life had literally
disappeared. All the great shucking houses were gone, the tenant housing for the workers were
leveled, the wharves were collapsing, hulls of once magnificent schooners were beached and rotting,
and the natural vegetation along the Maurice River had reclaimed its dominance. It is sobering to
witness such a brutal end of a once proud way of life. As I walked with Dad along the old wharves,
for the only time in my life I saw him visibly grieve as he felt the past tugging at his heart. The
oyster captains and crews were a rugged breed, working against punishing elements of icy winds in
31
the winter, or limp sails hanging lifeless in the heat of a summer day, dangerous seas with boats
capsizing and crews lost, back-breaking and monotonous labor as a deckhand. We are left with only
the photographic memory of the romantic sight of hundreds of schooners under full sail, the fierce
independence and authority of a captain, and the satisfaction of sons then grandsons growing up in
the business then taking over from their fathers. As a boy I used to accompany my Dad to the
Palomino Restaurant in Port Norris, a small diner where the prominent captains would sit on stools
at a counter for early morning breakfast or just coffee. I was so proud to be permitted to sit near
men of such stature and strength. I am grateful for the brief time I was part of that era. My work
ethic was shaped in that very demanding and uncompromising world. My father, grandfather, and
great-grandfather each set an
example of hard work, honesty, thrift and perseverance that I have
tried to emulate.
Chapter 2
1954-1970
Address: 21 Woodlawn Avenue
Bridgeton, New Jersey 08302
Bridgeton was a town of about 18,000 people, originally settled by the Swedes in 1686. Its name is
descriptive - three bridges cross the Cohansey River that runs through town. The largest employers
when I grew up there were an Owens-Illinois glass manufacturer and numerous processing plants
for agricultural products. Tomatoes were a significant cash crop, so Ritters Ketchup Plant was an
economic mainstay. In late August each year, over one hundred trucks loaded with recently picked
tomatoes from nearby
fields would line up on Broad Street waiting to deliver to Ritters. The
pungent smell of recently processed hot ketchup wafting through town for a three week period was
32
almost nauseating. Trucking companies transported out potatoes, asparagus, apples, peaches, and
milk from the nearby dairies. State Highway 49 each summer carried a steady caravan of cars and
stationwagons loaded with beach paraphernalia headed to the " Jersey Shore ". Bridgeton had one
high school, one radio station (WSNJ), a local hangout, "The Sweet Shop" where soda fountain jerks
served coke floats while the jute box blared deafening dance tunes each afternoon, and the one
movie theater, "The Laurel", where a teenage rite of passage was to neck on the back row until a
uniformed usher shone a flashlight at the couple breaking up their Friday night tryst. There was so
much history and tradition - the old Broad Street Church built in 1795 still used for city-wide
Thanksgiving Day services. The Cumberland National Bank built
in 1816 where my family had
always banked. The high school football stadium was supposed to have been built in eight months in
1938, but it dragged on for two years, prompting local wags to say that President Roosevelt’s New
Deal WPA didn’t stand for the Works Projects Administration, but rather “We Poke Along!”
Bridgeton was a quiet little town, an
ethnic melting pot of German, Italian, Jewish, Polish,
Japanese (many of whom in 1942-1943 were transferred from the internment camps in California to
work in the fields for Seabrook Farms), and African cultures.
At school during the late '50s and early '60s we had air raid drills. We thought it was kind of
amusing to stand in the hall of Hopewell Township School with your arms around your head and
covering
your face. I had no comprehension of the psychological pall that the specter of nuclear
attack had cast over the American mentality at the time. At one point in the third grade I didn't
have anything interesting for our weekly "Show and Tell" time, so I decided to
wow 'em by
memorizing Lincoln's Gettysburg Address. After I recited the speech in its entirely for my class, the
teacher, to my chagrin, paraded me before five other elementary classes in our hall to replicate my
feat. I learned at a tender age what would later be reaffirmed in the military, "If you stand out in a
33
crowd, you're going to get volunteered for something" John Kennedy was the first President I can
remember. JFK’s 64 live press conferences televised from the State Department auditorium were a
treat because of his witty and clever responses to questions, and how telegenic he was. In October
1962, I followed the developing Cuban Missile Crisis by reading the New York Times newspaper
each day. The gravity of the situation became clear to me when JFK gave a speech on TV one
evening announcing that he had ordered a U.S. Navy blockade of Cuba. My brother Hal laughed at
something he said, and Dad snapped at him and said, "This isn't funny, we are on the brink of a
nuclear world war." I had trouble going to sleep that night. I kept listening for the whine of some
incoming Russian missile. Space was a prominent part of my education through the fourth grade.
Each time there was a manned flight (Alan Shepard, Gus Grissom, and John Glenn) we would have
the radio newscast piped into each schoolroom over the PA system. At that time we had
school
prayer, and the teacher would have us bow our heads and pray for the astronaut's safety.
Each summer starting in 1957 all the family would go to Ocean City for 2 weeks. We rented an
apartment, usually the second floor of a home about three blocks from
the shore, near 26th and
Wesley where Grace Kelly’s family had a summer home. Dad worked as usual, but Mom and us kids
would get up late and spend all day at the beach. I would raft and body surf, get tanned, search for
sea shells, play pick-up games of volleyball, ah the halcyon days of the Beach Boy era! At night we
dressed up to go on the Boardwalk. We would go to a movie, listen to a concert on the Music Pier, or
just stroll up and down the shops that lined the 2 ½ mile Ocean City Boardwalk. On Sundays we
would attend the Ocean City Tabernacle, a non-denominational Protestant Association that actually
founded Ocean City in 1879, then go to Simms Restaurant on the boardwalk for milk and a sticky
bun. I can recall Aunt Clara in 1959 when she was the hostess at
Watson's Restaurant in Ocean
City. Watson's was a popular seafood restaurant about three blocks from the boardwalk, and the
34
line waiting to get in on those tranquil summer evenings by the seashore would often be over a
block long. If Mom, Dad, Stella, Hal, John and I were in the back of the line, Aunt Clara would spot
us and call out "Party of six in the back, your reservations are ready". We would sheepishly walk
past everyone else in line knowing that a) Watson's did not take reservations, and b) there were
always at least four other parties of six ahead of us. Watson's had a gimmick that under certain
plates were tickets to obtain free fudge at a shop called the Copper Kettle on the boardwalk, and
Aunt Clara always surreptitiously arranged for one of us kids to have a ticket under our plate. The
waitresses were college girls who got tickled at Aunt Clara's playfulness.
In 1962 after being a Cub Scout for two years, I joined the Boy Scouts. Troop 99 of the Cohanzick
District was the largest troop in South Jersey and was affiliated with the Central Methodist Church
in Bridgeton. We had troop meeting each Monday evening from 7:00-8:30 p.m. I was in the Beaver
Patrol, one of six patrols in the troop. We went on weekend camping trips about every two months to
a different state park in New Jersey and Pennsylvania. I'll never forget the first camping trip I went
on to the Delaware Water Gap State Park cradled among the Kittatinny Mountains in Northwestern
New Jersey. We didn't arrive until 11:30 p.m. Friday, and on the drive up, kids from my patrol were
throwing
things out the back of the station-wagon in which we were riding. We were long on
enthusiasm, short on good judgment. When we got to the campsite, our Scout Master, Tech
Hetteroth, a large barrel-chested man about 45 years old who was with the 1st Marine Division in
the Pacific in World War II, was infuriated with our behavior and told us our punishment would
commence early Saturday at 5 a.m. He got us up, made us dig latrine holes until 7 a.m., permitted
us to eat a meager breakfast and then made us run laps until we dropped. The rest of the trip
included hiking, crafts,
and field cooking. It was ironic that when I first went on camping trips, I
took, or rather Mom packed, a large duffel bag full of clothes. By the end of my scouting years, I
35
barely filled a small knapsack full of things I needed - what a veteran. In April 1965 I completed the
requirements for the rank of Eagle Scout. I just loved the merit badges, they were so colorful on my
sash. As soon as I got a new one, I would pester Mom to
sew it on as quickly as possible, and I
would swell up with pride as I gazed at it each night before I went to bed. Boy Scouts was a very
significant part of my life growing up. I learned how to set goals, then accomplish them. I learned
basic skills, responsibility, and small unit leadership. After I made Eagle, I participated in the Sea
Scouts for about a year, then dropped out of Scouting when I got involved in high school athletics.
Our daily cuisine was varied and had alot of fried foods. For breakfast on weekdays Mom rustled up
either hot oatmeal, cream of wheat, french toast, or scrambled eggs with plenty of orange juice. For
supper we had seafood at least twice a week - flounder, roe, scallops, clams, crab, and naturally,
oyster stew. Other meals included sauerkraut and pork with mashed potatoes, scrapple, meatloaf
with corn or beans from our garden, spaghetti, fried liver with onions (yuk!), split pea soup with
ham, and corn or apple fritters. On Sunday we either had a roast with mashed potatoes and gravy
(my only culinary skill was mashing out by hand all the lumps out of the potatoes), lamb with mint
jelly, or pork. Mom liked to bake desserts, and Dad had an intemperate practice of buying pastries
from a local bakery. Our strawberry patch each summer provided us ample provision of delicious
strawberries all winter to complement Mom's shortcake.
In 1959 Dad took me to my first major league baseball game at Shibe Park/Connie Mack Stadium at
21st and Lehigh in Philadelphia to see the Phillies play the Milwaukee Braves. I’ll never forget
seeing the field for the first time, and thinking how awesome the green grass was! Shibe Park, built
in 1909 with just 33,000 seats, was the first steel and concrete ballpark, had a brick colonial revival
exterior, and the most distinctive feature was a French Renaissance church-like dome on the
36
exterior roof behind home plate.38 This classic old ballpark was the home field of the Philadelphia
Athletics from 1909-1954, so Ty Cobb, Cy Young, Babe Ruth, Walter Johnson and Lou Gehrig played
ball there. During the “Golden Age of Ballparks” (1909-1913) Philadelphia’s Shibe Park, Chicago’s
Wrigley Field, Boston’s Fenway Park, and Brooklyn’s Ebbets Field were built. The urban setting was
a central part of their character. Designed to be in harmony with the architecture of the
neighborhood, these ballparks had to conform to the layout of the city streets, creating interesting
angles and contours. I think that baseball is timeless, and attending a ballgame makes a connection
with people from one hundred years ago. Back then, men wore a tie and a Stetson Hat, women wore
dresses, you traveled to the game not in cars, but rather by trolley or horse. Since there was no P.A.
system or electronic scoreboard blaring noises between innings, the only sounds you heard were the
crack of a ball against the bat, and the vendors calling out their wares. Decorum was always
expected and maintained, and certain parks observed moral proprieties (beer wasn’t sold within
Shibe Park until 1961!) It was such a tranquil setting against the bright green grass, no wonder city
dwellers referred to that place as a ball park. A hobby has been to attend a game at every major
league ballpark in the country. So far I’ve been to the three “Classic Parks” Fenway, Wrigley, and
Yankee Stadium. I have also been to several of the “Retro Parks” - Camden Yards, Jacobs Field, and
The Ballpark at Arlington, Houston, Cincinnati, and Pittsburgh. Since they keep building new
parks, this hobby will be a lifetime pursuit!
During the summer of 1966, I began working for my Dad. He bought some clam grounds in the
Great Bay on the New Jersey shore. More specifically, he purchased about twelve acres of bottom,
and the acreage was divided into lots or sections by straight tree limbs stuck into the ground. The
water depth in these inlets along the shore measured eight to fifteen feet. He also had two garveys,
38
“Take Me Out to the Ballpark” by Josh Leventhal
37
open decked boats about 25 feet long, 6 feet wide, with sides about three feet high and in-board
engines. Hal and I (and later John) would get up at 3:30 a.m. each weekday, get dressed and go to
the kitchen where Dad would be sitting at the table drinking a cup of coffee reading his Bible. We
would then drive to Oyster Creek, a commercial marina where our boats were docked, get in the
boats and travel the four miles out into the bay, and start working by 6 a.m. We used either tongs,
which are scissor-like tools that had teeth at the ends to scoop up the clams which were sitting on
the top of the mud bottom, or we used rakes with long handles. We would simply let the tide drift us
along in the boat and the rake would scoop up the clams. As we got to the line of our lot, we would
dump the clams in our boat, start up the engine, and travel to the opposite side of the lot and repeat
the process. It was strenuous work for your upper body and legs because you had to continuously
pull up a rake loaded with clams. We had a transistor radio playing the entire day. I memorized
every rock-and-roll song written between 1966 and 1970. We stopped at noon each day because it
would get unbearably hot with the sun reflecting off the water. We would then start counting and
separating the clams by size. I usually caught around 1,600 clams per day. We then bagged them up
to deliver to a shipper who purchased them from us. These clams were delivered to restaurants in
the Atlantic City area that evening, and most people were unaware that they were eating clams less
than eighteen hours out of the water. I once calculated that I caught approximately 105,000 clams in
my abbreviated maritime career. Each spring vacation from school we overhauled the garveys scaling off the barnacles, putting a protective copper coating on the bottom, painting, and working
on the engine.
Our family church was Berean Baptist Temple, a three hundred-member congregation under the
auspices of the American Baptist Convention. Established in 1893, only three successive pastors
held the pulpit from 1902-1975, a reflection of the church's predictability. Countless "three point
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sermons and a poem" depicted Jesus more as a moral teacher than a Savior. I dutifully attended
Sunday School and children's choir, and was an usher in my high school years. The sanctuary was
ornately designed, with polished oak ceiling trusses, a sprawling pipe organ, and beautiful stained
glass windows. On sultry August Sunday mornings long before air conditioning, it was humorous to
observe everyone vigorously fanning themselves with those colorful hand-held fans donated by the
local funeral parlor. I can recall that by the 11th grade I wasn't getting anything out of church, and
would pretend to be busy doing usher duties in the foyer because I couldn't bear to sit through
another dry and meaningless philosophical discourse sprinkled with religious platitudes.
My freshman year at BJHS (Bridgeton Junior High School) I took Civics, English, Algebra, General
Science, and Typing. The week before school started my sophomore year, the BHS "Bulldog" football
team went to an eight day football camp which was actually a secluded resort in the South Jersey
pine barrens with cabins that could sleep about eight guys. The athletic regimen consisted of getting
up at 6 a.m., doing exercises until 7 a.m., breakfast, padded drills in the morning, lunch, scrimmage
in the afternoon, and then we would stagger to a lake where we'd just sit, exhausted and sore, in the
cool pine water. After supper the coaches conducted blackboard drills going over individual
assignments for each play, and finally Taps at 10 p.m. My sophomore year I took Geometry, Biology,
Spanish, English and World History. Once a year during my high school years Mom and Dad took
John and me to New York City for a weekend. We would stay at the Essex House, eat at a nice
restaurant, see a sporting event at Madison Square Garden, then attend a Broadway play on
Saturday evening. The next morning we usually attended Norman Vincent Peale's church, the
Marble Collegiate Church in Lower Manhattan. Mom and Dad had taken “escape weekend” trips to
New York City their entire marriage, and had attended the original stage productions of Sound of
Music , My Fair Lady , and Camelot.
39
“This is not what I want to do on a Saturday” I grumbled to myself. It was February, 1968, and I was
a high school sophomore bent over on the deck of the John C in the Delaware Bay. It was one thing
to work summers for Dad, but now even on Saturdays during the school year, when all my friends
were playing basketball, seeing girls, or just sleeping late! I thought it extremely unfair to be forced
to work such a grueling and physical job as a deckhand. It was cold, windy, and I was soaked from
the waves crashing against the bow as I held on for safety. (The movie “The Perfect Storm”
accurately depicts life as a deckhand). Dad was not only steering the John C, but more importantly
he was controlling the dredging. This entailed having the deckhands on both sides of the boat throw
overboard a dredge which would drag along the bottom for about five minutes until full of oysters.
Dad would then pull in the dredge using a mechanical winch. When the dredge reached the surface,
the deckhands would reach down to pull it on board, dumping out the contents of oysters and loose
shells. We would then throw the dredge overboard once again for another drag. My daily quota was
to cull out 35 bushels of oysters. Each time I had filled my steel-wired bushel basket, I would stand
up, find a burlap bag, and dump the bushel of oysters into the bag, then quickly get back to work as
the next dredge was coming to surface. As an immature 16 year old, my only goal was to reach my
quota as quickly as possible so I could quit for the day. Then it happened. I was about to dump my
10th bushel into a separate bag when Dad leaned out of the pilothouse and yelled to me “What are
you doing?” I was in no mood for answering obvious questions, but since he was the captain, and I
was the captive, I held my tongue and replied “I’ve finished my bushel, so it’s time to bag it”. He
shocked me by saying “No you haven’t. That bushel is only ¾ full. Pick it up and shake it and see
what you have”. Because I could tell that arguing was pointless, I complied. Sure enough, when
shaken, the oysters settled and were far from the top of the basket. Dad looked at me and explained
“When a customer opens a bag of oysters with my name on it, he is paying not only for a product, but
40
also my reputation for honesty. Put more than a bushel of oysters in a bag, because a man’s integrity
is worth more than mere money”. Years later, I was sitting in church one Sunday and heard a
sermon on Luke 6:38 “Give and it shall be given unto you, good measure, pressed down, shaken
together, running over, they will pour into your lap. For by your standard of measure it will be
measured to you in return.” As that long-forgotten incident came rushing back, a smile slowly came
over my face. I am grateful to have had a Dad who courageously put a speck of sand in the midst of
my complaining and grumbling. Just as a pearl is created by sand irritating an oyster, so too a job
requirement, an act of discipline, or an object lesson can be the catalyst that one day will be
recognized as a pearl of wisdom.
My junior year I took Spanish II, US History, Physics, Algebra II and English. Our English Lit class
occasionally made day trips to Princeton University to see a local repertory company perform a
Shakespearean play. Then my senior year I took English, Trigonometry, Chemistry and U.S. History
II. The 1969 football season I was 5'8" tall, 185 lbs, and a left guard (#66). John was a sophomore
6'3", 215 lbs, and next to me at left tackle (#75). We were 3-5-2 that year. I was named to the AllCumberland County Football Team my senior year, which meant that I was chosen as the best left
guard among three schools - Bridgeton, Millville, and Vineland. John was a much better player than
me, and in his senior year was properly recognized by his selection to the All-South Jersey Football
Team, as the best left tackle among over fifty high schools. Quarterbacks, running backs, and
receivers obviously get all the press and name recognition, but I really enjoyed playing an
inconspicuous position. It was gratifying to have a back return to the huddle after a spectacular
thirty yard run, the crowd cheering him, and he looks you in the eye and whispers, “Thanks for the
block." I suppose that the station of left guard on a football team fit my persona. Our schedule
included Atlantic City, Vineland, Cherry Hill West, Oakcrest, Cherry Hill East, Pennsuaken, Holy
41
Spirit, Mainland, and Burlington. My most memorable game was against our archrival, the Millville
"Thunderbolts". The previous year they humiliated us 76-0 when most of our first string players
were injured. So my senior year we were bent on revenge. The week prior to the game, townspeople
crowded the practice field psyching us up for the contest. Saturday morning the Chamber of
Commerce gave us a steak breakfast and by kickoff at 1:30 p.m., a throng of 5,000 was in the stands.
My opponent was their right defensive tackle, W.C. Gaskins, a 6'2", 240 lb black athlete who ran
right through me the first play of the game to sack our quarterback. The only way I could contain
him was to throw cross-body blocks all afternoon, tangling up his legs. He kept kicking me in the
ribs each play, but there is something worse than getting pummeled, and that is letting your QB get
decked, so I kept throwing those blocks. It was a glorious day, our team playing with a singlemindedness and confidence while W.C. was beating up on me. When the final gun sounded, we had
won 22-8. That evening I didn't go the Victory Dance, my ribs were so bruised I could hardly
breathe, let alone move about. We used to have a little tradition at home after a game, if we won
Dad cooked us a steak dinner, but if we lost we got hot dogs.
I didn’t date in high school because Dad had convinced me that guys who spent time with girls were
soft, and not real men. I suppose he used this stratagem to keep me from being distracted from my
goal of going to West Point. Anyway, there were two or three girls I thought were cute, and I enjoyed
being with them. I would go over to their homes to have dinner with their parents who thought I
was real nice - they figured I was harmless enough around their daughters. I did take a girl to the
Senior Prom because Dad said I needed to learn how to conduct myself with a young lady. The turn
of the century song “I want a girl just like the girl that married dear old Dad” summed up my love
life. I was physically attracted to girls, but wouldn’t get serious until I met someone like Mom. I had
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alot of questions about girls, and Mom and I would have many late night talks. She was very
encouraging, interested in what I was feeling, and personified a Christian lady for me.
I graduated from high school 11th out of my class of 590, and was mesmerized with the thought of
departing for West Point to the extent I was beginning to mentally and emotionally distance myself
from my high school friends. I was stupefied at how adults could live so mundane an existence,
living in the same town year after year, having the same friends, seeing the same sights, and
displaying such a provincial attitude. I never fully enjoyed life at the moment, because I was always
looking to some future expectation that would finally give me peace. Only as an adult have I begun
to appreciate my youth. I think it was George Bernard Shaw who wrote, "Youth is a wonderful
thing, too bad it has to be wasted on the young."
Chapter 3
43
1970-1974
Address:
Company E-1, USCC
West Point, New York 10996
The United States Military Academy at West Point is located approximately fifty miles north of New
York City on the west bank of the Hudson River. Founded in 1802 on the recommendation of George
Washington, over the years this institution has become the repository of a heritage of values and
traditions exemplified by three hallowed words - Duty, Honor, Country. An overwhelming sense of
history permeates the entire post, where such distinguished men as Robert E. Lee, Ulysses S.
Grant, Douglas McArthur and Dwight D. Eisenhower had their youthful characters shaped. To take
one's place in "The Long Gray Line", the continuum of young men who for 168 years had stood ready
to defend our nation was a solemn privilege. Rather than relinquish one's identity, each cadet
becomes a unique reflection of the noblest of human choices, selfless devotion to a cause greater than
oneself. I entered West Point at 7:30 a.m. on July 1, 1970. The Class of '74 matriculated 1,350, and
we lost fifty the first day, one hundred more by Labor Day, finally graduating 833 on June 5, 1974.
Nobody said it was going to be easy. The justification for, and morality of, U.S. involvement in South
Viet-Nam was an emotionally charged issue from 1965-1975. I viewed as a fait accompli that upon
graduation four years hence I would become Second Lieutenant cannon fodder in what in 1970 had
the appearance of an interminable conflict. Around 9 p.m. that first day at the Academy, my entire
class was herded into South Auditorium in Thayer Hall for an introductory briefing. After forty-five
minutes of information about what was expected of us, a Major opened the program up for
questions. A new cadet asked what was foremost on everyone's mind, but were hesitant to voice,
"Sir, what do you think of the War in Viet-Nam?". A pregnant pause ensued, no one moved, not even
44
a cough broke the tension of the moment. To his credit, the Officer did not evade the issue, but
offered a stirring response that I shall never forget (paraphrase) "There is continuing public debate
concerning the U.S. presence in Southeast Asia. An Army Officer must ever remember that he is a
Servant of the State, and the elected leaders of government must be given the latitude to determine,
no matter how slowly, or at what cost in human lives spent on a foreign battlefield, the course of our
nation. The Officer Corps must never pursue military power to usurp the reins of government
whenever we disagree with our civilian leaders. After the reality of two years of combat, I believe
there is something far worse than my dying in what history may one day regard as a controversial
war, and that is to recant my sworn oath to defend the Constitution, and disrupt the normal process
of the people altering the policies of our country through democratic elections." As I sat there trying
to grasp the significance of that speech, I remember thinking to myself that one day I wanted to
have strength of convictions like that.
The first two months are endearingly termed "Beast Barracks". It is similar to basic training, except
that we were treated as apprentice officers. One of the most illustrative events I can recall was a
particular bivouac towards the end of July. At twilight some mess trucks brought in our meal. Up to
that point, the upperclassmen had always exercised RHIP (rank has its privileges). Yet as we stood
in line for the food, the seniors did not exercise their prerogative, but let us go first. When I later
asked why, one senior replied that in case there wasn't enough food, it was more important for us,
the subordinates, to eat. Honor is a basic tenant of the Academy. The Honor Code "A cadet will
not lie, cheat, or steal, or tolerate anyone who does" is based on the concept that intent is more
important than the action - “did you intend to deceive, or to withhold information?” There was zero
tolerance, and no appeals, just immediate separation from the Corps. I have made it a practice to
disclose any potentially negative situation, and my recommendation on how to deal with it, to my
45
superior within one hour of my recognizing the situation. I will let him decide how serious it is, and
if he agrees with my assessment. I admittedly run the risk of raising the specter of something that
may never occur. A Commander once told me “Make sure you tell me bad news rather than my
Commander surprising me with the bad news.” More importantly, however, is that each of us
should be accountable to someone, and since human nature will always rationalize and justify one’s
actions, we must be willing to have everything we do, say, or even think exposed to the light of day. I
will not compromise my honor for career, possessions, or reputation.
The daily regimen of Plebes Monday through Friday was:
5:30 a.m.
6:00
6:15-6:50
7:00-7:30
7:30-12:00
12 p.m.-1:00
1:00-3:15
3:30-5:45
6:00-7:00
7:10-10:50
11 p.m.
Reveille
Inspection by Squad Leaders
Breakfast
Clean rooms for inspection, and last minute studying
Classes
Lunch
Classes
Intramural sports or parades
Dinner
Mandatory study restricted to your room
Taps
Saturdays we had class until noon and then an inspection parade until 1 p.m. We then had free time
until 6 p.m. Sunday but couldn't leave the post.
The United States Corps of Cadets (USCC) during my years at the Academy had 4,200 men (women
were first admitted in 1976), and was organized into four regiments. Each regiment was then
subdivided into three battalions and each battalion had three companies. My company for the four
years was E Company in the First Regiment. My class of '74 in E-1 started out with thirty-four and
we graduated twenty-seven. (Our most distinguished classmate was Dave Patreus, who would be
46
promoted to 4 Star General and command U.S. Armed Forces in Iraq 2007-2008.) Plebe year at
USMA (United States Military Academy) was replete with both physical and academic hazing.
Physical hazing took various forms - proper posture was developed by having one's heels against a
wall and holding a pencil horizontally against the same wall with the back of the neck for three
minutes; if that Plebe showed even a flicker of anger or frustration a clandestine "character
building" session after Taps would be conducted with five or six upperclassmen screaming
emotionally charged insults trying to get him to
crack. Mealtime in the Mess Hall was often
interrupted by demands of the Plebe to recite all the athletic and social events occurring that week
at the Academy, plus any or all of the approximately twenty-five speeches, songs, and other snippets
of West Point lore. We had calculus 1 1/2 hours a day, six days a week for the first year. Other
academic classes Plebe year were: Engineering Drafting, Astronomy and Astronautics, Basic
Engineering Design, English Composition I and II, World Regional Geography, Spanish I and II, and
Fundamentals of Military Science I and II. Required PE classes were: boxing, wrestling, survival
swimming and gymnastics. For intramural sports I played football in the fall, wrestling in the
winter, and cross-country in the spring. Hand held calculators by Texas Instruments were being
field-tested throughout the Corps my last semester, but the entire four years I was there we
depended on the slide rule, or "slip stick" to perform mathematical calculations. To ensure we
studied, there was a daily quiz at the beginning of each class. I lost twenty lbs the first four months.
We were not permitted to have radios or stereos in our rooms until after Christmas. I didn't go home
until December 19th, almost six months from when I last left. I had trepidations about flunking out,
therefore I studied all the time. It was a relief to finish my Plebe year, although it hadn't changed
me much. I had always derived my self-esteem from my accomplishments, but that performance
treadmill was getting increasingly steeper since I had to compete with outstanding academic,
athletic and leadership talents exhibited by other West Point cadets.
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After a thirty day leave in June 1971 I returned to the Academy. Our second year of summer
training took place at Camp Buckner, a resort-type facility about twenty miles outside the post
nestled in the Catskill Mountains of New York State. The camp had huge lakes, and approximately
14,000 acres of forests available for military exercises. It was really a picturesque setting. The eight
weeks there we acquired advanced combat skills - night patrolling, mountain climbing and
rappelling, helicopter assaults, escape and evasion techniques, negotiating obstacle courses,
weapons proficiency (M-60 machine guns, mortars, M-79 grenade launchers) and small unit tactics.
We double-timed everywhere and got in phenomenal physical condition. Academic classes my second
year were: General Chemistry and Organic Chemistry, Physics I and II, Differential Equations,
Probability and Statistics, Psychology, Solid Mechanics, Comparative Literature, History of Modern
Europe 1500-1870 and 1870-1960, Intermediate Spanish III and IV, and Military Science Command
Functions. To borrow a phrase from Plebe Calculus, "It should be intuitively obvious to the casual
observer" that the curriculum of USMA was eclectic. I can recall a chemistry class in "The House of
Pain" (Bartlett Hall, the Science Building). Each day we had to work graded problems standing up
at a blackboard. Once I made a careless mistake on a problem and the instructor, Major Haslett
made the sobering observation, "Mr. Bickings, that stupid error, resulting from your carelessness, is
the reason why you're in Section #7 instead of Section #1." (In each subject you were ranked in
Sections, limited to fifteen cadets each, according to GPA). At first indignant at his remark, I soon
made an honest self-appraisal and realized that my impulsiveness could prove to be a fatal flaw. I
decided to compensate for this foible by emphasizing attention to detail and exhaustive planning and
organization in every endeavor thereafter. As a result of tearing a shoulder muscle in boxing class
Plebe year, I had to swim about 1,000 yards each day my Yearling Year to rehabilitate my arm
movement. One afternoon, only one other cadet was in the pool area, Mr. Polosi, a junior who was
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being "silenced" by the Corps for cheating, but because of a legal technicality could not be dismissed.
I lifted my head out of the water to do a turn, and he asked me, "Want me to count your laps for
your?' I thought to myself, what a gracious gesture, so I nodded - since I couldn't speak to him.
Following the end of that academic year, I and about three hundred of my classmates flew to Fort
Benning, Georgia for Jump School (parachute training). The first week was Ground Week: getting
into shape by running two miles each morning on the "airborne track", and learning how to do PLFs
- parachute landing falls. The second week was Tower Week: exiting from a 34-foot tower onto a wire
that carried you fifty yards away, simulating exiting an airplane. The third week was Jump Week:
making five jumps from an Air Force C-123 plane flying at 1300 feet altitude. From the time of the
order "stand up - buckle up" to the static line, to literally getting pushed out of the door by the rush
of the guys behind you, to getting caught in the prop blast was sheer terror, but once that chute
opened, floating effortlessly through the air for approximately one minute was an indescribable
thrill - until the descent came to an abrupt and jolting landing. We received our "Silver Wings" (a
uniform insignia) at the school graduation on June 30, 1972.
That afternoon, per my written orders, I boarded an Air Force C-141 plane bound for Mannheim,
Germany. Since there was little heat on the plane, and it's cold at 20,000 feet altitude, we were
issued blankets and a lot of coffee. I was assigned to C Company, 5th Battalion, 68th Armor, 8th
Infantry Division for 30 days to experience the life of a Second Lieutenant. I was in the field most of
the time on tank firing ranges at Baumholder, except for a three day tour that the local American
Express office sponsored to Paris - what an memory! The Cathedral of Notre Dame , the Eiffel
Tower, Napoleon’s Tomb, the Arc de Triumph, Moulin Rouge Night Club, Versailles, and an
underground wine cellar in the Champagne district. I completed my assignment, then commenced a
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thirty day leave seeking some adventure. I flew alone Frankfurt to Tel Aviv, Israel. I stayed in Tel
Aviv that evening, and the next day took a public bus to Jerusalem where I spent three days
meandering around the city and its environs - the Mount of Olives, the Old City. I then went to the
Dead Sea, Tiberias, the Sea of Galilee where I swam all day, then back to Tel Aviv. I traveled alone
through Israel for six days. I flew into Rome, stayed there two days, then took a train to Basal,
Switzerland. I
hopped a fence at midnight to board a train
that was leaving the station for
Germany, but I didn't have a chance to purchase a ticket, and I didn't have any Deutsche Marks
with me. I thought that having American Express Travelers Cheques would be accepted by the train
porter so I could buy a ticket on the train. But, as Johnny Carson would say "Wrong, locomotive
breath." I was arrested, booted off the train at Freiburg, Germany, and spirited to the local jail,
where I was incarcerated. I finally got out when the constable exchanged my American Express
Travelers Cheques into Deutsche Marks. I got back on the next train passing through to Frankfurt
and caught a 747 back to New York City. The seven weeks I spent alone in Europe and the Middle
East gave me confidence in my ability to handle myself in new situations. My parents were aghast at
my brief escapade. For two weeks no one had any idea as to my whereabouts, and in retrospect I
suppose that it wasn't very judicious on my part, but it sure was fun.
Mom drove me back to the Academy to start my third or Cow year, and I remember sitting in the
passenger seat of the car disconsolate that I would fail the toughest academic course of that year, EE
- Electrical Engineering. I knew I wasn't a good student at math and science courses, but had a
predilection for languages and history. I feared the embarrassment of having to tell people that I
flunked out of West Point, and then completing my degree at another college. Mom tried to
encourage me, but I doubted the confidence she had in me. I was growing tired of facing new
challenges in my own strength. The other courses that academic year were: Physics III,
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Thermodynamics, Topics in European History, History of Russia, Military Readings in Spanish,
Spanish Language through Literature, Introduction to U.S. Constitutional Law, The Uniform Code
of Military Justice, Military Science Combined Arms Operations, U.S. Government and Economics
of National Security. In January 1973 I was selected to be part of the contingent from West Point to
travel to Washington D.C. to march in President Nixon's second inaugural parade. The weather that
day was bone-chilling, but marching up Pennsylvania Avenue past the President's reviewing stand
in front of the White House was quite a thrill. Former First Lady Mamie Eisenhower was in the
reviewing stand next to President Nixon and Vice President Agnew. In February 1973 I was
despondent about not yet meeting a Christian girl with whom I could develop a close friendship. I
remember praying earnestly one evening for the Lord to introduce me to someone I could relate to
and who could help me with an obvious void in my life. I couldn't discern the nature of the void at
the time, but I now know that it was a lack of a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.
One of my favorite courses was Spanish. I had taken two years in high school and now my third year
at West Point. We were frequently required to give individual extemporaneous talks of
approximately three minutes in Spanish, the topic of which our instructor presented to us as we
ambled to the front of the room. Spanish helped my self-confidence because I felt literate in another
language. As a result of my fluency in Spanish, I was selected to be an exchange cadet for two weeks
in June 1973 to the Mexican Military Academy - the "Heroico Collegio Militar" in Mexico City, along
with three other USMA Cadets. We lived in barracks at their "West Point" in the heart of Mexico
City for ten days. We went on numerous tours, and to the United States Embassy for a reception one
evening where I met the Chinese and Soviet Ambassadors. We then flew to Acapulco for four days
and stayed at Las Brisas, a resort with villas on the side of a mountain overlooking Acapulco. At this
point all of the grousing about the spartan existence of being a USMA cadet dissipated in the gentle
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breezes off Acapulco Bay - “ Pinch me to see if this is a dream!” We were provided jeeps, and each
villa had a private pool strewn with fresh hibiscus flowers each morning. The owner of Las Brisas
hosted a soiree for us, many of the local luminaries attended, and each of us had a beautiful senorita
as a date, but her mother came along as her chaperone! When I left there, I started my First Class
Trip. All seniors traveled to different military posts around the country to garner firsthand
information concerning which branch they would like to select. We first went to Fort Benning,
Georgia (Infantry), then to Fort Bliss, Texas (Air Defense Artillery), Fort Sill, Oklahoma (Field
Artillery) and finally to Fort Hood, Texas.
While at Fort Sill, at 7 p.m. on Saturday, June 16, 1973 at a Lieutenant Colonel's residence just
north of Snow Hall, I met the blind date that I had previously signed up for - it was Nancy. I was
immediately enchanted by her petite beauty ( she was 5'1" tall, and 98 pounds) and demure
demeanor. She had just completed her sophomore year at Texas Woman's University in Denton,
Texas. My first thoughts of her brought to mind Philippians 4:8 “Finally brethren, whatsoever things
are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure,
whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report, if there be any virtue, if there be
any praise, think on these things." Within about thirty minutes I knew that she was the answer to
that prayer in February. We visited that evening at the Fort Sill Officer's Club. As I recall, we subtly
explored each other’s attitudes towards work, school, religion, family, etc. As the night waned, it
became obvious to both of us how much we enjoyed each other's company. I left Nancy at midnight
as she boarded a bus in front of Snow Hall to return to Denton. She had been wearing a long evening
gown, but had now changed into a blouse and short skirt. I remember thinking “Wow, the girl I’m
falling in love with has great legs!” I would next see her in Fort Worth where she was a contestant
in the 1973 Miss Texas Pageant as Miss Texas Women's University. Not knowing anybody in town, I
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was sequestered in a hotel in Fort Worth for five days and only got the opportunity to visit with
Nancy twice - both times with her chaperone. I had never before attended a beauty pageant and
found the talent competition interesting, the evening gown competition captivating, and the bathing
suit competition breathtaking! I met Nancy's parents, Clarence and Jean Zabel, and her sister and
brother-in-law, Judy and John Hayden, for the first time that week. Nancy and I next met for the
Labor Day weekend in 1973. I flew into the new Dallas-Fort Worth Airport shortly after its recent
opening for air traffic, then she came up to Bridgeton for the Columbus Day weekend, at which time
I asked her to marry me. I flew into Amarillo on December 26, 1973 to visit Nancy's home in
Hitchland for the first time. The evening of the 27th, with Nancy seated beside me, I asked Clarence
and Jean for their daughter's hand. I felt awkward and inarticulate in expressing my feelings, but
Clarence accepted my pledge to love Nancy and care for her, and I was very relieved. The next day
Nancy and I drove to Collins Jewelers in Liberal, Kansas to pick out her engagement ring. Our
engagement period was a whirlwind romance characterized by long distance telephone calls and
airplane trips, patronizing both Bell Telephone and American Airlines. It was a dangerous time,
because we were play acting to impress each other, rather than discovering if we were truly
compatible. I pray that one day our girls will avoid repeating that mistake, and will not only seek
spiritual discernment from mature Christians about a young man, but just as importantly, will act
on warning signs rather than naively hope they can "live happily ever after."
Academic courses my Senior year were: Bridge Design I and II, The Napoleonic Wars, U.S. Wars
1773-1968, Topics in European History, International Relations, National Security Seminar,
Readings in Philosophy, and U.S. Army in Stability Operations. I would graduate with a Bachelor of
Science Degree with an elective concentration in National Security and Public Affairs. In the
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Academy's effort to produce "Officers and Gentlemen" any Public Display of Affection (PDA) was
prohibited. It wasn't considered genteel to hold a young lady's hand, embrace her, or - gasp - kiss her
in public. One can imagine how a group of red blooded young men were chafing at this Victorian
Code of Conduct. The Academy did, however, provide a harmless outlet for these yearnings.
"Flirtation Walk" is a secluded sylvan path winding along the edge of the Hudson River that was off
limits to Officers. Cadets and their "one and only's" could stroll and stop under "Kissing Rock", as if
one needed a rock to suggest kissing! In February 1974 each senior selected his branch (one of the
combat arms) and first post. I chose the Field Artillery because of the proximity of Fort Sill to Texas
Women's University so it would be only a two hour drive to Denton to see Nancy each weekend that
I was at the Officer Basic Course. I chose Fort Riley, Kansas as my first assignment because it was
close to Hitchland, and I didn't want Nancy to be too far from her parents after we got married. I
selected to go to Ranger School, and eight-week Army infantry leadership course in the mountains of
Southern Georgia and the swamps of Northern Florida because everyone else was - but it was a halfhearted decision, succumbing to peer pressure. I didn't want to be away from Nancy for eight weeks,
and I was tired of being hazed.
Towards the end of my senior year, I was ambivalent about leaving the Academy. My enthusiasm for
academics was flagging rapidly. I wanted to get out and be productive, but on the other hand, I knew
that in the future I would be nostalgic about West Point. I would sit in the Mess Hall as the evening
meal was winding down, and knew that I’d never be able to recapture one single day of being a
cadet. I felt so natural in a uniform, so at peace with an ordered, formal life of tradition and respect
for authority. I loved to walk out to Trophy Point at night and meditate as I watched the barges
journey silently and inexorably up and down the Hudson River. I was proud each day of my cadet
career, and felt a tremendous obligation to reciprocate the time, effort, and money spent on me to
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become a commissioned officer. My final class standing was 321 out of 833. Nancy, Mom and Dad,
Stella, Jean and Clarence came up for my graduation on Wednesday June 5, 1974 - the day I had
dreamed of since that memorable July 1st four years earlier. I was grateful to share this important
moment with Nancy, that she had a clear idea of that season of my life. I was also pleased that the
West Point experience brought such joy into Mom and Dad’s life. Now to begin my 30 year Army
career!
Chapter 4
1974 – 1979
Nancy and I were married on Saturday, February 1, 1975 in the First Foursquare Church in
Guymon, Oklahoma. It was a memorable weekend that began with the Rehearsal Dinner on Friday
evening. My brother John was my Best Man, and Nancy’s sister Judy was her Maid of Honor.
Saturday morning all the men in the wedding party traveled to Leo and Lit Hall’s home on their
ranch south of town. She graciously served a bountiful country breakfast of steak and eggs, bacon
and sausage, biscuits and gravy, fruit and coffee. I remember reading her father’s diary (her father
was Charlie Hitch, uncle of Henry Hitch who was inducted into the Cowboy Hall of Fame in
Oklahoma City) of pioneering to the Oklahoma Panhandle, or “No Man’s Land” in the 1890s,
bringing his family in a conestoga wagon to the very land where the house stood, to homestead.
Clarence had worked for Leo and Lit in the early 1950s, and Lit always adored Nancy. The wedding
ceremony was at 6 p.m., and I was more than a little nervous. I kept wondering if I was selfless
enough to have a relationship with another person, every day! Nancy surprised me by singing a solo
to me, and she was a truly beautiful bride. Nancy’s Uncle Phil Demetro officiated. We took pictures
after the ceremony, then traveled the twenty miles back to Hitchland for the reception at Jean and
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Clarence’s house. Nancy and I left around 9 p.m., drove to Amarillo where we spent our wedding
night at the Hilton Inn. The next day started our drive to Denver where we honeymooned for about
five days. We were so practical, we would rather save our money for furniture than spend it on an
expensive trip.
We set up our first home at 1026 Eisenhower Circle, Apartment #5, Junction City, Kansas. It was
about 900 square feet, two bedroom unfurnished, and rented for $170/month. I began my first Army
posting as a Second Lieutenant at nearby Fort Riley, Kansas. We visited churches until we found
one that we liked - First Christian Church in Junction City. A couple in their late 40s, Bob and
Marge Ingmire, became our surrogate parents. They had two girls Judy and Nancy’s ages, and Bob
and Marge were a real blessing in our lives. They would invite us over for Sunday dinner, take us
out water skiing on Milford Lake, and were always there when we needed them. We joined a bible
study group through the OCF (Officers Christian Fellowship) at the invitation of our next door
neighbors, Joan and Ed Fowler. Also newly married and about our ages, Joan and Ed were
Charismatic Christians and great spiritual role models. A job, possessions, clothes, or furniture held
no attraction for them, rather, knowing God and enjoying His presence was their reason for living.
After graduation from West Point, I attended the Field Artillery Officer Basic Course at Fort Sill,
Oklahoma, from September - December 1974. I lived in one of the high rise BOQs (Bachelor Officer
Quarters) on post. The course’s Program of Instruction emphasized three major topics. The first was
Field Artillery Gunnery as outlined in FM 6-40, the Artilleryman’s bible. This was the pre-computer
Army, so all calculations to determine the direction and altitude of the cannon, and the distance to
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the target, were made manually using a type of slide rule. The second topic was learning the
primary function of a Field Artillery Second Lieutenant, that of being a Forward Observer.
Computers and satellites are now used to determine the map coordinates of the target, but my
generation had to rely on map reading and gauging distances visually using binoculars. We spent
alot of time on the firing range practicing the “Call for Fire”, directing and adjusting the shells fired
from the cannons several miles to our rear. The third topic was understanding the operation and
maintenance of the M109 Howitzer, a self-propelled 155mm cannon.
On December 15, 1974 I signed in at Fort Riley, Kansas for my first Army assignment, to the 1st
Battalion, 5th Field Artillery, 1st Infantry Division. 1st ID had 15,000 men and organized:
1st Brigade
2nd Brigade
Division Artillery
Division Support
1/2 Inf, 1/28 Inf, and 1/63 Armor.
1/18 Inf, 2/63 Armor, and 4/63 Armor.
1/5 FA and 1/7 FA (both 155mm) and 3/6 FA (8”).
1/4 Cavalry, 1st Supply and Transport, 1st Medical, 121st Signal,
1st Engineer , and the 701st Maintenance.
The 1/5 FA had 37 officers and 500 enlisted men. A,B and D Firing Batteries each had six M109
Howitzers. There was also a Service Battery which transported the ammunition (the artillery shells
and powder bags) food and gasoline when we were in the field on maneuvers, and Headquarters
Battery which included the Battalion Commander, the Executive Officer or XO, the S1/Personnel
section, the S2/Intelligence section, the S3/Operations section, and the S4/Supply section. I was
assigned to A Battery as a Forward Observer and Battery Maintenance Officer. There were four
major events that highlighted our training year. The most important was the Battalion Test,
conducted over a three days and two nights in the field, in which inspecting officers from Division
staff would present us with various combat scenarios and grade our responses. For instance, at 1
a.m. we would get a ‘march order’ to move all our equipment and men, using blackout drive, to
another location several miles away. During the road march we would invariably be attacked by an
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opposing force, and have to deploy our unit to meet that threat. We would be timed to see how long it
would take us to pull into the new position and how long before the first rounds were fired
downrange. The second major event was the Nuclear Weapons Inspection. Our battalion had the
capability to fire tactical nuclear projectiles each of which could effectively destroy one square mile. I
was Alpha Battery’s Special Weapons Officer, which meant that I had a team of four EMs and a
Sergeant who would assemble and disassemble the various components that made up a Nuclear
155mm projectile. I was granted a Top Secret security clearance after the FBI did a thorough
background investigation on me. Another officer and I would be graded on decoding cryptic messages
which gave authorization from the President to launch these weapons, and specified the target’s
map coordinates and the size of the explosion. This type of inspection had zero tolerance, and if an
officer made a mistake, he was usually cashiered out of the Army. The third major event was the
Annual IG, or visit by the Inspector General. The first two events evaluated the unit’s combat
readiness, the IG evaluated the unit’s compliance with Army Regulations concerning the Mess Hall,
Barracks cleanliness, Motor Pool procedures, individual qualification on the M-16 rifle and M-60
Machine Gun, and CBR (Chemical, Biological and Radiation) training. The fourth and most exciting
event was REFORGER, or Redeployment of Forces to Germany. Each October and November the 1st
ID was evaluated to test its readiness to deploy to Germany to provide the initial reinforcements for
U.S. Army units stationed there which would be expected to be overrun by a surprise Soviet military
invasion of Western Europe. The 1st ID had tanks, howitzers, trucks and jeeps prepositioned in
secret underground storage locations in West Germany, and our mission was to fly to Germany, get
in our assigned vehicles and speed off to battle positions in the Fulda Gap to try to stop the Soviets.
In 1975 for instance, the 1/5 FA loaded up in C-140 cargo planes at an Air Force Base in Salina,
Kansas, flew to Mannheim, Germany, and immediately went to the field to participate in war
games, that year the British and West Germans against the Canadians and Americans. The
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maneuvers lasted twelve days, we went without showers, shaved each morning using cold water in
our helmets, ate boxes of C-rations, and slept sitting up in our howitzers or jeeps. One time we were
out of drinking water, and as we were driving through a small farming village I ordered my jeep
driver to stop and I gave a woman who was working outside her home two of our canteens. In a few
minutes she returned from inside her home and gave the canteens back to us, and as we drove off
we started drinking only to realize that what she had given us was homemade wine! When I
returned to my battery and told my First Sergeant, he grinned and quickly gathered up as many
containers as he could, and he and the other sergeants went back to that village for some more
“water”! Another time I hadn’t eaten in two days because there hadn’t been enough food for the
officers. Around 9 p.m. 2LT Joe Lindsey and I drove a jeep into a nearby farming village to have
supper at a Gasthaus. It was crowded with local farmers sitting around drinking beer, and no one
spoke English. We ordered a meal as best we could, sitting there in dirty combat fatigues, and I
happened to look on the wall next to our table. I saw a neatly framed collage of photographs of young
men in German military uniforms, obviously from that village, who had been killed in World War II.
Talk about feeling awkward - I realized that those men from that village weren’t Nazis, they were
just patriots who went off to war to defend their country. During that 1975 REFORGER, the
Cincinnati Reds and Boston Red Sox played their memorable World Series. Each evening one of the
games was played the NATO General Staff wisely called an administrative halt to the war, and from
about midnight to 3 a.m. we would be buttoned up in our howitzers under blackout conditions, and
listen to the games broadcast over Armed Forces Radio. (In 1980 at the National Finals Rodeo in
Oklahoma City I saw Johnny Bench, the Hall of Fame catcher who played for the Reds in that
Series, sitting in the stands as a spectator. I went up to him, introduced myself, and related that
story, and his face lit up to hear the impact those games had, to even “stop a war”!) After the war
games concluded, we went to Grafenwohr, which was a Panzer training center in WWII. It was eerie
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to see Nazi swastikas still engraved in certain parts of the barracks where we stayed, and to think
that on this very post many Panzer units trained which in 1939 blitzkrieged into Poland, in 1940
invaded France, and in 1941 attacked Russia.
I was the Alpha Battery Executive Officer, or XO, from July through November 1976, and it was one
of the high points of my life. The Battalion Commander during that time was LTC Leonard A.
Eason, a highly demanding, uncompromising, technically competent field officer who forcefully
resisted the mediocrity of the post Viet-Nam U.S. Army. A little background is that in the mid 1970s
Congress voted to cut off aid to South Viet-Nam and also slashed the budget for the U.S. military.
My years in the Army were plagued with inadequate funding for repair parts, which meant that our
vehicles could barely run to get out of the motor pool. We were constantly frustrated by demands of
those four major events I described, and equipment that was always dead lined. Discipline among
the troops was difficult because the caliber of the enlisted man was so low. A high school diploma
wasn’t required, so we had men who could barely read or write. Drug use was so rampant that at
least once a week I would walk through the barracks and find men smoking marijuana, and have
them arrested and then issue an Article 15 under the Uniform Code of Military Justice. Racial
tensions were also high. The other Academy graduates from the Class of 1974 and I were in shock,
disillusioned at the gap between the ideals of West Point and the reality of the Army. Eason used to
tell me that an officer’s standards should never be influenced by his environment; that is, an officer
should never lower his personal standards or expectations for excellence just because of inadequate
resources. Before Eason took command, the sergeants had lost all respect for officers, because
Majors and Colonels would lie about the status of their vehicles on monthly unit readiness reports,
for fear of adverse Officer Efficiency Reports if they told the truth. Eason, however, always told the
truth on those reports, and it cost him his career, because he was forced to retire in November 1976
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when he had completed his twenty years. I shall always remember Lieutenant Colonel Eason as a
true Army line officer, not a politician or technocrat who masquerades in a uniform.
Eason’s successor had spent too much time in staff jobs, and too little time with line units. Within
two weeks of taking command, he relieved me as XO of A Battery. It was a devastating and
humiliating blow, but to be honest, I brought alot of it on myself. Whenever faced with mediocrity, I
responded emotionally rather than calmly, I was confrontational, and would complain about the
unprofessionalism of the officer corps. The new Bn Cdr viewed this as unacceptable behavior for
someone with sensitive Nuclear Weapons responsibilities, and he had me reassigned to DivArty S-4.
To my pleasant surprise, all of the officers in 1/5 FA went to him and told him he had made a drastic
mistake, that I was one of the best officers they had ever served with, and he, the new Bn Cdr, just
didn’t comprehend the depth of the problems line units faced, and the unorthodox methods officers
had to use just to get the job done. Interestingly, within four months of this incident, I was back in
the battalion as Asst. S-3 and the Battalion Special Weapons Convoy Officer, successfully taking the
battalion through our Nuclear Weapons Inspection in May 1977. I realized, however, that when
faced with problems I had to remain calm, be patient with subordinates, keep my opinions to myself,
and do the best I could with what was within my influence. I needed a change, and this coupled with
the problems Nancy and I were facing led me to request reassignment to Korea.
On July 2, 1977 I landed in Kimpo Military Airport outside Seoul, South Korea. I in-processed for
two days, then got a bus to Camp Page, near the city of Chun Chon, which is located just south of
the DMZ. At Camp Page the 4th Missile Command had administrative responsibility for the 1/42
Honest John Rocket Battery, 4th Support Company, 117th Aviation Company (UH-1 “Huey”
helicopters), 226th Signal Company, and the Weapons Support Detachment (WSD). I was assigned
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to WSD which consisted of seven Nuclear Support Teams, each of which comprised a 1st Lieutenant,
a Staff Sergeant, and four enlisted men. The ROK (Republic of Korea) Army had artillery units with
nuclear capability, but all nuclear weapons remained under the control of the U.S. Army. Therefore,
if the North Koreans attacked, each of the seven WSD teams would transport either 155mm or 8”
nuclear projectiles out to ROK Artillery batteries, where my team would assemble the projectile, do
the gunnery calculations, and perform loading and firing procedures on the ROK howitzer. Each
week my team would take the two helicopters assigned to me, and transport simulation projectiles
out to ROK Artillery batteries in field locations all over the countryside of South Korea. It was an
interesting assignment, especially when I pulled duty at the post Emergency Action Facility, a
bomb-proof bunker where I had to monitor cryptic nuclear weapons message traffic. The presence of
a “red telephone” with a direct line to the War Room at the Pentagon added a touch of drama to this
Cold War era environment.
I lived in a Quonset hut with another 1st Lieutenant, Tim Peterson who was also a 1974 USMA
graduate. I led Tim to the Lord the second week we were there, so we became real close. We had
bible studies together, played racquetball, ran, and conducted missions together. Everyone viewed
me as the most technically competent officer in the unit, and Tim was the best leader. From the first
day in WSD I tried to implement the lessons I learned the hard way back at Fort Riley. I was
calmer, less confrontational, complained less, and more positive. I tried to get reassigned to the 2/17
FA in the 2nd Infantry Division so I could get some more XO time with a line unit, but the 4 MSL
CMD Commander, a full Colonel denied my request. He didn’t think line duty was that important
to one’s career, in fact, it was harmful because the risk was high for mistakes, and it didn’t provide
visibility with Congressmen, Senators, and Pentagon staff officers who could help your promotion to
General. He also implied that troop duty was all rote, therefore intelligent officers needed a greater
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challenge in a job. I sat in his office listening to him make these comments, and I thought to myself,
‘You are precisely the kind of self-serving officer Eason warned me about, and if this is the mindset
of Colonels and Generals, then I don’t fit in’. Maybe I’m too ordinary, but I loved being a line officer,
working with troops in the field, the thrill of being part of a unit occupying a position at 2 a.m.,
under cover of darkness, with ground guides leading the howitzers into their positions. I would be
out in front “laying the battery”, or aligning the cannon tubes parallel using an Aiming Circle, a type
of survey instrument. Men would be stringing out commo wire so I could talk on field telephones to
the crew chiefs in each howitzer, while the Fire Direction Center was calculating the elevation and
quadrant numbers to give to the guns. After laying the battery I would start walking around
checking the status of the projectiles, fuzes and powder bags, emplacement of the collimeters,
machine gun positions sketching their overlapping fields of fire, and establishing communication
with Battalion Headquarters to handle Emergency Message Traffic. Sitting across from that Colonel
I suddenly realized that all that was considered a necessary but disagreeable “ticket to be punched”
for those officers who want promotion, but to me it was the whole essence and joy of being an
Artillery Officer.
I therefore called the Department of the Army and told them I would resign my commission on June
5, 1979 when I had fulfilled my obligation. During the first six months in Korea I had lost weight,
going from 185 lbs. to 160 lbs. by the time I finally returned from Korea in June, 1978. Our last year
in the Army I was assigned to TCATA (TRADOC Combined Arms Testing Agency), at Fort Hood,
Texas, during which time I applied to work at the First National Bank of Amarillo. I had no idea
what career I wanted to pursue, but I figured that spending time at a bank would give me an
overview of business in general, and after a few years I would have a clearer idea what I wanted to
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do. I interviewed at First National, and was hired as a Credit Analyst for $13,000/year, taking quite
a pay cut from the $24,000 I was making in the Army. I went to summer school at West Texas State
University in nearby Canyon, Texas, the 1st and 2nd summer school sessions to complete basic
accounting and finance courses necessary for my new job as a credit analyst.
I ran the Dallas White Rock Marathon on Saturday, December 2, 1978, completing the 26.2 miles in
3 hours and 51 minutes. With over 4,000 entrants it was quite a colorful spectacle, and the athletic
ambiance of the occasion buoyed me up to the 20th mile, where I abandoned any illusions that I was
having fun as I “hit the wall”. My legs felt like mashed potatoes with no sensation whatsoever of
muscle tone. Although my breathing never became labored, my lower back unexpectedly began
aching. I feared that five months of dedicated preparation covering over 1,000 training miles got me
to the 23rd mile, but no further, and I’d be forced to drop out of the race. It was at that moment that
I realized how much I really wanted to accomplish this goal. The reason I finished the last three
miles of that marathon in Dallas was that I had worked too hard to quit. I collapsed at the finish
line, totally debilitated and nearly dehydrated. My feet were bleeding (I ran in the Adidas “Country”
all- leather shoes, now archaic). Three hours, two Cokes, three Hershey candy bars and a steaming
bath later my body finally started to relax. My love of running came full circle years later when
Kambry started to run on her own at about age 15. We would run seven miles together each
Saturday morning, and in 1998 started running races together. I would give her pointers such as to
how handle hills and how to pace yourself at the beginning of the race. I look forward to a 10k Race
one day when I am 75 and she is 45 years old!
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Chapter 5
1979 – 1984
In June, 1979, we moved to Amarillo, Texas, where we bought our first home at 4004 Lynette Drive,
a 1,750 SF three bedroom brick house for $48,000. I worked at First National Bank of Amarillo, and
Nancy teaching music at Paramount Elementary School and piano lessons in our home. In April
1981, we began attending Trinity Fellowship Church in Amarillo, a charismatic body of about five
hundred people. Larry and Devi Titus were the new pastors, and they had an immediate impact on
both our lives. Larry modeled and taught on the husband as the Servant-Leader, truths I had never
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seen or heard before. Devi in her Women’s Bible Studies gave Nancy clarity and balance to her
confusion over excesses Nancy observed growing up Pentecostal. Nancy was the Choir Director, and
derived personal fulfillment from church, and more importantly, becoming a mother when Kambry
was born in 1981, and then when Ashlyn was born in 1984.
Kambry was born on Monday August 17, 1981 at 5:08 p.m. at the High Plains Baptist Hospital in
Amarillo. When the delivery room nurse laid her on a nearby table, I leaned over her and whispered
“Hello Kambry, I’m your Daddy.” A moment later they let Nancy hold her, and that was a thrilling
sight to see Nancy’s joy holding her firstborn child. The nurses then put a cheap dressing gown and
knit cap on her little head, and I unknowingly planted the seeds of her becoming a fashionista when
I said to her “Kambry, this is the last tacky outfit you will ever wear in your life!” Nancy and I were
excited the day we got to take her home, but were a little apprehensive because there would be no
one around to give us advice on how to care for an infant. The next Sunday Nancy took Kambry to
church, and everyone fell in love with her, and commented how much jet black hair she had. About
two months later during a Sunday evening service, I had just fed Kambry her bottle, and put her on
my shoulder to burp her. The pastor just then started to pray, so the whole congregation became
silent. In the middle of the prayer, Kambry let out what seemed to be the loudest, deepest burp ever
heard, and everyone near us started giggling uncontrollably with heads bowed and eyes still closed.
It was so funny. Nancy and I had an agreement that Sunday through Thursday nights she would get
up in the middle of the night to feed Kambry when she started crying, and I would get up Friday and
Saturday nights since I didn’t have to work the next day. Sure I was tired, but it was such an
intimate feeling to hold her in my arms in the rocking chair in our living room, with the room so
quiet and dark, and the only sounds were Kambry sucking on the bottle, and pausing to take an
occasional breath. Those are moments I shall always treasure.
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As Nancy was being wheeled into the delivery room on Monday March 9, 1984 at 8:22 a.m. at the
High Plains Baptist Hospital, we still hadn’t decided between Ashlyn or Bethany if it was a girl, but
had agreed on Marshall if it was a boy. Nancy told me to pick the name when the baby was born.
When Dr. Williams held her up for Nancy and me to see, I thought that this little girl just looked
like an Ashlyn. When the delivery nurse laid her on a nearby table, I leaned over her and whispered
“Good morning Ashlyn, I’m your Daddy.” The most striking feature was her big, bright eyes. All the
nurses commented on how beautiful her eyes were, and how one day they would melt boy’s hearts!
When we took her home, it was amazing how much she spit up after taking her bottle. It is a wonder
that she gained any weight at all. Sometimes I had to change shirts two to three times a day because
Ashlyn would spit up all over me. One night I was rocking her and , as usual, she spit up, but this
time it went all over the rocking chair, so I had to get Nancy out of bed to help me clean it up. As
early as six months old Ashlyn figured out how to cross her eyes. She knew we would all start
laughing, and she must have enjoyed being the center of attention, because she would cross her eyes
whenever there was a crowd of people looking at her - what an actress! Nancy took the girls home to
Guymon for ten days in the summer of 1985 while I stayed here and worked. It was night when they
returned, so I was home. They got out of the car, came into the kitchen where I kissed Nancy, then
Kambry, but Ashlyn hugged me and held me tight, and didn’t want to let go. She just held on, and I
was so touched by her longing for the security of my arms that I walked with her out in the front
yard and just stood there with her, not wanting that moment to ever end. Isn’t that interesting, one
hug so many years ago is one of the fondest memories of my life.
I began work at FNB Amarillo on August 17, 1979. Since these were the days before personal
computers, my first job was to take the balance sheet and income statement from companies that
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borrowed money from us, and perform ratio analysis to determine if that company could reasonably
repay the debt. I continued to attend West Texas State University using the GI Bill two nights/week
through May 1983 when I completed my MBA (Master’s degree in Business Administration). I was
promoted to Commercial Loan Officer in September 1981, and handled loans for oil & gas
exploration, apartment construction, and wholesalers in the Amarillo area. I got a great foundation
in banking due to working with two excellent mentors, Don Powell who would eventually become
Chairman, CEO and President of the bank (in 2001 he was selected by President Bush to be the
Chairman of the FDIC in Washington D.C., and in 2005 President Bush asked Don to coordinate the
federal relief of New Orleans following Hurricane Katrina), and Pete Dallas. I know that the Lord
brought these two quality men into my life who really cared about me, professionally and personally.
They invested alot of time showing me technical aspects about lending, taking me with them on
customer calls, including me in decisions, and giving me responsibility. Their greatest gift however
was the brutal honesty in
coaching me about my lack of tact in customer and employee
relationships. I no longer reacted emotionally, and always remained calm, but I hadn’t yet learned
patience. When I saw either an employee or customer who didn’t grasp what I thought was an
elementary truth, I tried to force the issue. I was too intense, and it showed. Don and Pete kept
telling me to relax, and not be so direct. I made the mistake of openly questioning what I considered
fundamental management principles that bank leadership was neglecting. In 1984 First National
Bank of Amarillo started charging off millions of $ of bad loans, and the Federal Bank Examiners
came close to closing the bank for mismanagement in precisely those areas I called attention to
years before. Regardless of the accuracy of my observations, I was wrong in how I approached the
matter. I did so with arrogance, impatience, and borderline insubordination. I faced a dilemma of
many young workers, ‘what do you do when you don’t agree with your boss?’ At a minimum, I should
have been more respectful of Don and Pete as my authority. I should have been more loyal, and not
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talked about them behind their backs. I should have rested in the Lord, trusting Him to resolve the
conflict rather than me trying to force my solution. Pete approved my attendance at the
Southwestern Graduate School of Banking at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Class 26, a
three-year program which I completed in 1985.
By early 1984 it was apparent that I would not be considered for promotion, so I began looking for
another job. I interviewed and received offers from three out-of-state banks, but none of those jobs
seemed to be the Lord’s will, so I waited. Then in October I received a call from a headhunter about
a position in Little Rock. I came here, interviewed and really liked the bank, the city, and believed
this was God’s will for our lives.
Chapter 6
1985 - 2008
I accepted a position with Worthen Bank & Trust in Little Rock, Arkansas, and we moved to the
bedroom community of Maumelle on February 15, 1985. Our home at 5 Hornrimme Place was a
2,230 SF four bedroom brick house, and cost $118,500, with a mortgage of $80,000. (we had sold our
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Lynette home for $ 63,000). We built our home at 31 Chatel Drive in 1996. The house would be
2,900 SF, two story five bedroom brick home, and cost $227,000, and a mortgage of $145,000. We
sold this house in 2005 for $307,000, and Superior Bank paid for all the closing costs and relocation
expenses to Birmingham.
I began work at Worthen Bank & Trust on December 3, 1984. By the end of that first day, I was
appalled at the lack of procedures and controls, the casual work ethic, and poor loan underwriting. I
had learned my lesson, however, and kept my opinions to myself. On April 8, 1985 the bank wired
$52 million to a securities firm in New Jersey that, without any prior indication of financial
difficulty, took bankruptcy thirty minutes later. Worthen’s entire capital base was wiped out, and we
were on the verge of being shut down by the Federal Bank Examiners. The deep pockets of the
principal owner, Jack Stephens, however, kept the doors open. The Executive Management of the
bank was fired, new people came in, and then the real problems surfaced. Over the previous two
years, the bank had made over $150 million in bad loans that had to be charged off. The lack of
procedures that I saw that first day had crippled Worthen. The stock price plummeted from
$36/share to $4/share over eighteen months. We started to re-engineer the bank, with new
procedures, loan policies, forms and people. We had to go out quickly and tell valued customers the
new way we had to do things, requiring much more information to substantiate the repayment of
their loans. I displayed the tact, patience and loyalty that I lacked in Amarillo. By the early 1990s
the banking industry had cleaned up alot of its loan quality problems, and the next phase was
consolidation.
In 1994 Worthen was acquired by Boatmen’s Bankshares out of St. Louis because Worthen didn’t
have the capital to invest in the necessary computer infrastructure to compete. In August 1996
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Boatmen’s was in turn acquired by NationsBank, formerly North Carolina National Bank out of
Charlotte. NationsBank promoted me to Executive Vice-President managing Commercial Banking
for not only Little Rock, but the surrounding markets of Hot Springs, Pine Bluff and Conway. My
role was to manage a loan portfolio of $500 million consisting of commercial clients with annual
sales between $4 million and $250 million. I had fifteen account officers, and fifteen support staff
reporting to me. Then in 1998 NationsBank merged with Bank of America, and suddenly I was
working for the largest bank in the United States, with over 170,000 employees world-wide. In 2001
my position was moved to St. Louis, but I didn’t want to relocate, so Bank of America generously
offered me a severance package of one year’s salary. I interviewed at a number of places, and
accepted the position of Chief Credit Officer at Superior Bank, with another 20% increase in salary .
This was a great job, and in May 2003 Arvest Bank and its owner Jim Walton (the son of Sam
Walton, the Wal-Mart founder) purchased Superior Bank
In 1988 Worthen gave me a membership at the Pleasant Valley Country Club
(#2400).
I had never
before even had a golf club in my hands, so I took some lessons, hit countless buckets of balls at the
practice range, and started playing about once a week. It is hard to pick up a sport as an adult, and
it was several years before I felt comfortable on the course. I play about twenty-five rounds a year,
and prefer to walk and carry my bag because the pace of play is slower, plus I believe walking is the
essence of the game (I usually walk 18 holes in about 2 ½ hours). One of the joys of golf is being the
first to tee off early in the morning, and walk down the fairway to my ball, and glancing back to see
a trail of my footprints in the dew. The game has a wonderful rhythm, feeling the grass as you walk
and listening to the wind. Your real competition is yourself, because when you are playing well you
know it must end, and when you are playing poorly you think it never will. I love to go to the
practice putting green after supper in the summer, and just putt for an hour as the setting sun
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brings out the soothing shades of green on a golf course. The common denominator of all golfers
around the world is neither the courses nor the equipment, but the USGA Rules of Golf. I consider
uncompromising adherence to the Rules (especially 13-1 “play the ball where it lies”) more
important than my score at the end of a round. A low score reveals talent and experience, complying
with the Rules when no one is looking reveals character (one reason I may be so philosophical about
this is that I have a 18 handicap!) My dream is to play a round of golf at Pine Valley, New Jersey;
St. Andrews, Scotland; and Augusta, Georgia.
I used to go duck hunting about five times a year. Bank of America hosted several duck hunts each
December and January, and we would invite valued clients to various commercial private hunting
lodges near Stuttgart, Arkansas such as Double Deuce, Five Oaks, Prairie Wings, and Circle T. It
was great camaraderie to be served a steak dinner with about fourteen men, then sit and visit about
each other’s businesses in a great room with a big screen TV and a blazing fire until 10 p.m. You are
awakened at 5 a.m., go to the boot room and put on your camouflaged neoprene waders and jacket,
and the guide drives you over trails to the launch point. There your group gets in a small jonboat
and motors in the darkness to a duck blind in timber or a steel pit in a rice field. Arkansas is a
haven for ducks migrating south each year from their breeding habitat in Canada. The waste rice
from the autumn harvest, and the acorns from nut tall and willow oaks are the preferred food for
ducks. The essence of duck hunting is standing knee deep in water in flooded timber when the air
temperature is about 30 degrees. After taking my position next to a tree I would lock and load three
shells into my 12 gauge shotgun, a Remington model 870, and wait silently and motionless as the
guide “calls” the ducks into our hole. It is spectacular to see the aerial acrobatics of a group of
mallards with the rosy fingers of dawn as a backdrop. When they work to within forty yards the
guide yells “take ‘em” and you push the safety off and fire away! The stillness of the morning is
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suddenly punctured by the echoing of shotgun blasts. The unbridled enthusiasm and power of the
Black Labrador lunging through the water to retrieve the fallen ducks is a sight to behold. The three
hours waiting for ducks passes quickly when a storyteller is in your midst. Classic tales like “De
Shootinest Gent’man” by Nash Buckingham are retold each hunting season. When you have bagged
your limit, you return to the lodge where the men regale each other with all the funny moments
from that morning’s hunt over a huge breakfast the cooks have prepared. I take home and cook
every duck I shoot. My dream is to one day shoot and mount a wood duck with its dazzling colors.
We tried to create a world of security, grace, and beauty and for the girls so their personalities would
be shaped by what is good. The time period that captured their fancy was the Edwardian era, circa
1910. Their dolls came from American Girl collection. “Anne of Green Gables and Anne of Avonlea”
videos, and the Walt Disney films “Pollyanna”, and “Mary Poppins” portrayed the elegance of the
period, and the strong family relationships and respect for authority that existed. Another movie
that shaped their view of the world was “The Sound of Music”. I would guide us as a family to watch
certain old movies from the ‘30s and ‘40s on the cable TV stations American Movie Classics, and
A&E. These movies would have uplifting themes which I hoped would reinforce for the girls the
values we were teaching them. The CBN Christian animated cartoons “SuperBook” and “Flying
House” came on each morning at 6 a.m. I would begin recording each day, and after Kambry and
Ashlyn finished breakfast they would go into the TV room and watch that day’s episodes. I did this
to visually introduce them to Bible teachings. The greatest impact on the girls though was having
their Mother home with them all day. This meant that they could arise when they woke up. They
would eat a good breakfast and not be rushed. Nancy would take them to one of the many parks in
our neighborhood in Maumelle to play with other children. In the summer, they would spend almost
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every afternoon at the swimming pool. I will always be grateful to Nancy for being such a wonderful
full-time Mother, a much harder job than any other career.
Another indelible influence on Kambry and Ashlyn’s worldview has been Brookhill Ranch Summer
Camp near Hot Springs. Starting the summer after their 4th grade year, they attended this camp
run by Hettie Lou Brooks and her family, spirit-filled believers who see this as a ministry. When we
picked Kambry up after her first time there, Nancy and I weren’t sure she would like it because she
was such a homebody. But she was so excited about her week long experience that for three days she
wanted to relive every moment there ”Daddy, ask me what I did Tuesday afternoon”, “Daddy, ask
me what I had to eat Thursday night”,
“Daddy, ask me what my activity was each morning.”
Ashlyn tells us how much she missed us each year when she asks “Can I stay another week?” Both
girls loved and admired many of the high school and college counselors, and I am pleased that
Kambry and Ashlyn had great role models like that at an age when Mother and Daddy weren’t
“cool”. Kambry’s desire to attend Baylor University was due to her observing the Christian character
of the college-age counselors at Brookhill, many of whom were attending Baylor. I’m also gratified
that the girls’ image of a Christian young man was also formed in large part by being around quality
Christian young men who were counselors at camp. It is reassuring to a parent that an experience
like Brookhill has such a positive impact on your child’s spiritual life. Ashlyn accepted Jesus as her
Savior at Brookhill on June 18, 1998, which makes it even more meaningful.
Nancy and I have taken several memorable vacations with the girls. The first was driving back to
New Jersey from Little Rock in October 1986. We didn’t have much money, so Nancy sold
“Christmas around the World” items at people’s houses 3 nights/week for 2 months, and the $600
she saved paid for our trip. We stayed at Super 8 motels, ate at “Shoney’s” and drove through
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picturesque horse farms in Kentucky, and toured Monticello and Williamsburg (where we ate spoon
bread at “Christiana Campbell’s Tavern”). We were astonished at how many different crops were
being harvested on our trip there and back. Another trip was in July 1999 when we flew into
Philadelphia,, got a rental car to drive to Bridgeton and the beach at Ocean City, then on to New
York City. We stayed 2 nights at the Plaza Hotel, saw “Phantom of the Opera” on Broadway, visited
Ellis Island, the New York Stock Exchange, Empire State Building, and Times Square. Early one
morning Kambry and I ran 4 miles through Central Park. We then drove up to West Point to show
the girls the Military Academy, then through Connecticut to Newport Rhode Island, where we
rented a sailboat going out into Narragansett Bay, and went on the Cliff Walk. The last leg of the 2
week trip was up to Boston, where, among other things, we went to Fenway Park to see the Red Sox
play a ball game, and walked the Liberty Trail up to Bunker Hill.
In March 2003 we flew to Honolulu, and the first night there we celebrated Ashlyn’s 19th birthday
by having dinner at the Surf Room at the Royal Hawaiian Hotel, then the next day we took a 30
minute Hawaiian Airlines flight to Maui. We stayed 6 nights at the Ka’anipali Beach Resort, went
snorkeling at Molokini, drove to the top of Haleakala to see the sunrise, then continued on the “Road
to Hana” with Nancy and Ashlyn in the front seat of our Dodge Sebring convertible, and Kambry
and I in the back seat whining until we stopped at the “Halfway to Hana House” at mile marker 17
to get fresh banana bread and Guava juice.
Nancy and I flew to Europe in July 2004 to celebrate our 30th wedding anniversary. We met Ashlyn
in London, where she was part of the 6 week “Baylor in Great Britain” program (as Kambry had
done 2 years earlier). Nancy and I toured the Houses of Parliament, Westminster Abby, Trafalgar
Square, St. Paul’s Cathedral, the Tower of London, and we dressed up to attend a BBC Proms
Concert at Royal Albert Hall. We used our Hilton Honor points to stay six nights free at the Hilton
London Hyde Park on Bayswater. We made day trips via train from Paddington Station (“Mind the
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Gap”) to Hampton Court, Windsor Castle, and Bath. Then we took the Chunnel to France, checked
into the Hotel Mayfair Paris just off the Concorde Plaza, walked up the Champs de Elysee to the
Arch de Triumph, then to the Eiffel Tower, and that evening went on an evening cruise up the River
Seine. The next day to the Louvre and Notre Dame, then a day trip to Versailles where Nancy got
embarrassed when, as we were walking up to the palace, she absentmindedly took what she thought
was my arm, but turned out to the be arm of a complete stranger! Late the next afternoon we
boarded a sleeper train to Salzburg, Austria. We left Paris at 5:15pm from the Gare de l“Est, enjoyed
the countryside until dark, and the porter woke us up at 4:44am to serve a continental breakfast in
our compartment. In Salzburg we went on a “Sound of Music Tour”, attended a dinner/concert of
Mozart music, and decided that this was the highlight of our trip.
We returned to Maui in September 2007, this time with Brian, using Delta Airlines frequent flyer
miles for all five tickets. The first night in Honolulu we used our points to stay free and the Hilton
Hawaiian Village. The next morning I got up at 5:30am to go for a walk before everyone arose. I was
strolling on Waikiki Beach, when in the early dawn I saw someone coming out of the water. I
thought to myself, “who would be swimming this early in the morning?” I was astonished to see it
was Brian, so I asked him what he was doing, and he replied with a grin “I may never make it back
to Hawaii, so I wanted to say that I had gone swimming on Waikiki”. After touring Pearl Harbor and
lunch at the Surf Room at the Royal Hawaiian Hotel, we flew to Maui and we stayed at our
timeshare at the Sands of Kahana.
My cars have been a 1973 Mercury Montego, 1980 Chevrolet Chevette (the worst car I ever bought –
part of GM’s response to the oil crisis of the mid-70s, this first fuel efficient auto from Detroit only
had 71 hp, and rattled. After my bad experience with this car, I would never again buy an American
made car), 1983 Audi 4000 Diesel (used), 1992 Toyota Camry and then a 2002 Toyota Camry. Nancy
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has driven a 1971 Ford Galaxie 500, 1984 Ford AeroStar Van, 1988 Ford AeroStar Van (the 1984
was a lemon), 1996 Dodge Caravan, and a 2003 Toyota Sienna. Before the girls went to college we
bought them each a new Honda Accord because I wanted them to be safe driving the approximately
400 miles from Little Rock to Waco, Texas to attend Baylor University.
After Ashlyn graduated from Baylor, she worked at various jobs, but didn’t have a peace. After a lot
of prayer we decided she should attend Texas Women’s University to obtain a Texas Teaching
Certificate in elementary education. Nancy and I helped her financially, but as I told her, I wasn’t
subsidizing her, rather I was making an investment in the children she would teach in the future.
Nancy and I moved into 695 Lake Crest Drive, Birmingham, Alabama on July 10, 2005. ($425,000/
2,900 sf) I had begun work at Superior Bank of Alabama on January of that year as the Chief Credit
Officer. My former CEO of Superior in Arkansas had asked me to relocate with him and 3 others to
form the new management team, with the promise of 186,000 stock options and a 3 year severance
package. The plan was to acquire 3 banks in Florida, then sell the bank in 3-5 years, and move back
to Little Rock. Early on, however, the CEO and I had disagreements about making aggressive real
estate loans. I thought is too risky, and he thought we could sell the bank before any loans went bad.
By September 2008 our differences became too great, and he asked me to leave the bank with a one
year severance package. It was a real blessing, because six weeks later the bank got into loan
trouble, had to take TARP money from the government which meant no severance packages to
departing executives. After a short break, in which Nancy and I vacationed in Savannah, Georgia
and Charleston, South Carolina, I started doing consulting work for banks in the Atlanta area.
A blessing the Lord gave me was to participate in short-term mission trips. Since I was conversant
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in Spanish, I could share the gospel with the people we were privileged to be Jesus’ hands and feet.
March 2004
June 2004
May 2007
April 2008
June 2009
Honduras Construction trip
Honduras Medical trip
Honduras Medical trip
El Salvador clean-water drilling trip
Nicaragua clean-water drilling trip
El Salvador Living Water Trip - 2008
Friday July 4
I flew from Birmingham to Houston on Continental Express 2-1 plane, and stayed Friday evening at the
Hilton Garden Inn on JFK Blvd. just outside the George Bush International Airport using my Hilton Honor points.
Since I didn’t know anyone on the team, I just looked for people with LWI shirts.
Saturday July 5
Met the team at Terminal E of the airport – Don Parker (30) Team Leader, Jonathan Magnus, Lois Henry
(3), Greg Eddlebrook (3) and Doug White (they were both professional engineers with Shell), Celia Tirador, Eli
Ramirez, Joe Torres, Matias Perez. We sat on the plane for one hour because of mechanical problems, then had
to change planes and gates. Arrived in the San Salvador Airport after a flight of 2 hours 40 minutes on a
Continental 3-3 plane, and a time change. We loaded our luggage on top of a Toyota van, and it rained on us, so
we thought our bags would be soaked, but they weren’t. It took 2 hours to drive on CA-8 to our location, Oasis
Beach Lodge at Salanitas, a series of bungalows rented out for $100/person/week. On the horizon we could see
freighters steaming in and out of the port of Acajulta. I roomed with Jonathan, Doug and Greg. That evening Don
gave us the Rules of Engagement, and asked us to tell 2 things no one would guess about us. We also talked
about how to witness, and an effective opener is to ask “what are your dreams” Several of the men are from Sugar
Creek Baptist Church, in Sugarland, Texas, which is where LWI founder Harry Westmoreland attended. Trip cost
$1800.
Sunday July 6
I got up at 6:00 am to have devotions, at breakfast I learned about ultra high temperature (UHT) milk, then
we drove to a small, local church service Tabernaculo Biblico Buatista – Amigos de Israel (a branch of the main
church in San Salvador that has over 5000 attend each week. The pastor is on TV and radio). This county church
had a tin roof, dirt floor, and the women had uniforms of a white blouse (with the church logo) and blue skirts) and
entire service was in Spanish. When we got back to Salanitas, it was low tide and we could walk out to the rock
outcropping 100 yards from shore where a 10 ft. white statue of Jesus had been erected. At the high tides of 6am
and 6pm the waves crash against the stone retaining wall so loudly at first I thought it was thunder. That afternoon
we went out to the drill site to set up. It is located at an aldea called Culote, in the Acajulta Districto, Sansonate
Departamento. To have a well drilled, the community must commit to providing a 20x20 piece of land deeded to
the village, sand, gravel, mud pits, arrange for two local huts to serve as a staging area to store the LWI
equipment, and an armed guard each evening. Several meetings are conducted with the community leaders to
ensure their commitment to these requirements.
Monday July 7
I would get up at 6:00 am to have personal devotions looking out at the ocean. It was very special seeing
the waves crash against the white statue of the Savior, as if Jesus is walking on the water. After personal
devotions we had group devotions at 7:00 am sitting under a thatch-roofed hut, then after breakfast drove to the
well site. We used one of the two pneumatic drills (LW -100) the ministry owns in El Salvador. Each drill bit costs
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$7,000, and two have been stuck, therefore lost, in the previous 3 years of drilling. Each well costs $2,000 to drill,
so the team meets half the expense, and LWI fund-raising the other half. You always know how deep you are
because you add 5 ft. sections of pipe. Typically you hit water at the first water table at 30 ft., continue through
gravel (sanitary seal) till you hit the second table. A compressor forces air down the drill pipe, out three orifices of
the bit, forcing water, mud or gravel to blow out the 6” bore hole. Local farmers brought the sand on a wagon
pulled by oxen, and the men had machetes. The children are either barefoot or wear sandals, the houses have dirt
floors with dogs and chickens wandering in and out, and the existing wells are hand dug to 30 ft., and are polluted.
We hit the 2nd water table at 4:00 pm. We went back to our lodging, showered, had supper, and you rinse the
washed dishes in water with Clorox, because there is no hot water to kill the germs. Sometimes I would get so
hungry, I would get a tablespoon of peanut butter. Don Parker is a great team leader, he stays out of the way of
the drilling operation, and intervenes only if there is a problem. He made a point of spending time with each person
to share his passion for Central America.
Tuesday July 8
Each morning I would walk about 50 yards to a hut with 3 sinks and 3 showers. Then when dressed I
would walk around the circle drive for exercise, like I did in Tegucigalpa. If the first day is drilling the well, the
second day is developing the well. After perforating the bottom section of pipe to serve as a screen/filter system,
we lowered 10 ft. sections of 4” PVC pipe into the hole, and then let it gush for about 2 hours. Then we inserted
chlorine to clean out all the impurities we had introduced during the drilling process. There was a lot of time
available during this phase to witness to the villagers. I talked a lot with Pablo who owned a corn field nearby, and
Carlos who was a soldier in the 1980-1991 civil war. As poor as the local farmers were, the teenagers had really
nice uniforms to play soccer. They talked about the national teams and stars that they root for. We had cheese
sandwiches for lunch each day, so I was very hungry at night. When we got back to the Oasis, I helped Delores,
the full-time cook, snap green beans as we talked in Spanish. Each evening about midnight I would half wake up
and think there was a violent thunderstorm, only to realize that it was only the waves of high tide breaking against
the retaining wall. El Salvador has granted LWI a NGO “non-government organization” status; therefore it doesn’t
have to pay any taxes. The average daily wage is $5.45 which explains why so many Salvadoran men leave their
families to work in the United States, but unfortunately, after two years of sending money back home, they marry
again, and abandon their Salvadoran wife and children.
Wednesday July 9
Today we inserted the sucker rods into each section of galvanized pipe, and lowered the pumping
mechanism into the hole. Then we connected the well head which is made in India (LWI purchases about 100 at a
time and stores them in-country). We had lunch at Carlos Morales Morales’ home, he set out tables in his yard,
plastic table cloths, and we had soup with vegetables from his garden, roast chicken (that he had killed that
morning) and tortillas. It was such a poignant scene to have such a relaxing meal with fellow co-workers hosted by
truly grateful people. That afternoon, Celia and Katy Shields, the permanent missionary in El Salvador, gave health
and hygiene lessons to the children and mothers. There is book of LWI lesson plans to introduce the concept of
germs (using sprinkles to demonstrate how germs are spread) pictures of everyday life to discuss good and poor
hygiene, and what to do – wash hands, boil water, build latrines and wash food. A 3 legged stool represents diet –
the red leg is protein (beans, rice, fish) to help us grow, the white leg is carbohydrates (corn, tortillas, potato sans
sugar) to give us energy, and the green leg is vegetables and fruits to keep us from getting sick.
Thursday July 10
We had an outdoor church service at the soccer field to pray and distribute Bibles, and a dedication
ceremony for the children to start pumping the water. We emphasized that this water was to be used only for
washing hand, washing food and human drinking (not for washing clothes or giving to animals). After supper we all
talked about the most memorable events of the past week. Joe mentioned the discussion that I led with him,
Matias, Eli, Doug, Greg and Don on Tuesday evening in which I asked the older men to give advice on how to be a
good husband.
Friday July 11
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We left the Oasis to drive to Apaneca, a quaint little pueblo about 4000 ft. attitude where it was a lot cooler
than in the lowlands. We had a flat tire, so Esduardo and Stanley took the van to buy a replacement while the rest
of the team went to El Jardin de Celeste, a “finca cafetelera” where I had a slice of banana pie and two cups of the
best coffee I’ve ever had (since the coffee beans were raised on the nearby fields all around us). We later stopped
at Pollo Campero, the main chicken fast food franchise in Central America. We then drove on CA-1 into San
Salvador to stay at the Hotel Miramonte. We all took turns around the computer at the registration desk checking
e-mail and the market since we had been on a technology fast all week. We went out to a pupuseria that evening
for supper, then back to bed. But I told people that I needed a chocolate fix.
Saturday July 12
We had to leave the hotel at 3:30 am to make it to the airport in time for our 6:30 am flight. Several people
bought me Snickers bars for the flight as a gag. Because I had a long layover in Houston, I sat and had a cup of
coffee with Ray Williams who was coming back from a trip to Guatemala, I flew to Little Rock because Nancy was
doing Ashley Taylor’s wedding.
Chapter 7
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2009 – Present
I travelled to Washington D. C. in March to interview for the position of President & CEO of Adams
National Bank, a $300 million dollar institution that had severe loan problems. I never thought I
would ever get the chance to be a bank CEO, but Nancy and I believed it was God’s will for our lives,
even if it meant being apart for a season. I signed a lease at 1111 Army Navy Drive, Apt 1207,
Arlington, Virginia 22202 ($ 1,285/month for a 575 sf efficiency). The most humbling day of my life
was August 10th, when Nancy and I unloaded our Penske moving truck, and I walked in that small,
barren, empty apartment. I felt like a failure, since I couldn’t find a banking position in Little Rock,
and this meant Nancy would have to live alone in Birmingham.
We sold our home in Birmingham in November for $ 406,000. Because of the depressed housing
market, we took about a $75,000 loss from all the money we invested into the property, but made it
up by buying 54 Marcella Drive in Little Rock ($407,000/4,100 sf).
Nancy, Ashlyn and I flew to London for Christmas 2009 (using our Delta Sky Miles, and Hilton
Hotel points).
One of the joys of parenthood (: is moving your child every year until they marry, and although I’m
not going to say Ashlyn moved a lot during college and her working career after Baylor, within an 8
year period she lived at Collins Dorm, LL Bean, Bagby, 16th Street, Downtown Lofts, Hewitt,
Southwestern, Westside, Caruth, Breman.
Washington D.C. Journal
2009 - 2010
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August
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RiverHouse Apt 1207 is 550sf, $ 1,275/month + $ 100/month utilities. The 3 buildings (James, Potomac and Ashley)
were constructed about 1960. James has a dry-cleaners, laundry, exercise room, and is always maintained very well. I
take the Blue Line to work (Pentagon City-Pentagon-Arlington Cemetery-Rosslyn-Foggy Bottom-Farragut West). The bank loads $ 120
the 1st of every month on my SmartCard to cover the fare. The Metro is very clean (it prohibits eating and drinking) and
safe from any fear of crime.
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As Nancy and I entered the Pentagon City Metro Station for the first time, we were confused about how to purchase
passes. An elderly man walked up to us, and helped us navigate the process. We remarked that he could have been an
angel in disguise
 Nancy and I walked the entire Mall one Saturday morning at 7am as the sun was rising over the Capital Building. It is 2
miles from the Capital to the Lincoln Memorial.
 Nancy practiced taking the Metro to Union Station, then the MARC to BWI airport. She cried because she was so
stressed and I lacked empathy for her anxiety. Every time I see that bench at Union Station I regret that moment.
 We toured the National Archives together. A young boy in a family behind us said out loud “Why are we waiting in line
just to see some pieces of paper?” We talked about the movie “National Treasure” which was filmed there.
 The first Saturday she was gone I drove into the city and walked four miles from Foggy Bottom through GW University,
old Executive Officer Building, Blair House (where on April 17, 1861, Francis Blair, acting on the direction of President
Lincoln, offered Robert E. Lee the command of the Union Army), the White House, Treasury Building
 Visited Foundry Methodist Church where Bill and Hillary Clinton attended. FDR and Winton Churchill attended here
Christmas morning, 1941. Liberal churches have a mantra “Justice and Equality”, code for the gay-lesbian-transgender
religious orthodoxy around Washington
 One Sunday afternoon went on the Blue, then Green line to see a Nationals baseball game. The ball park is on the
Anacostia River, and they should have a view of the Capital Dome from the field, but that didn’t work out. I called Nancy
just to make the connection with her since we have seen a lot of parks together over the years
 Played bridge at the International Monetary Fund building. The Director was very curt with people, so I won’t return. We
played in a huge atrium
 Visited the Pentagon Memorial and the Air Force Memorial and Iwo Jima Memorial. I like to look a map and feel that I
am “making memories - gaag!”
 On a day trip to Richmond, stopped at the Fredericksburg Battlefield National Park. It was sad to see a housing
development on the slope leading up to Marye’s Heights, where so many Federal soldiers died.
 Got lost one rainy Saturday afternoon driving Glebe Road across Chain Nail Bridge at Little Falls on the Potomac River.
But, the best way to learn your way around is to get lost a few times
 Walking down city streets I have seen Eleanor Clift of Newsweek Magazine, Bob Schaeffer of CBS News, Bill Schneider
of CNN, Karen Tumulty of Time Magazine, and I spoke in the elevator to Nina Easton, Fortune Magazine bureau chief
and commentator on Fox News
 Southwest Airlines flies out of BWI and Dulles (the Metro Silver Line will be complete in 2013). I prefer to fly Delta out
of Reagan (DCA) because it is so easy to hop on the Metro back to my apartment.
 The Adams National Bank corporate office is on Connecticut, directly across from the Mayflower Hotel. Many times,
foreign dignitaries stay at the Mayflower because the side street, DeSales, provides good security.
September
 Drove to Bridgeton, stayed with John, went to church with Hal and MaryAnn. It was 148 miles one-way.
 Had difficulty figuring out how to get on I-295 from my apartment. Abandoned the idea of crossing the Sousa Bridge,
instead going on South Capital, past the ballpark then across Douglass Bridge
 Walked the Chinatown, Penn Quarter neighborhoods. I would then review the route on a map, memorizing all the streets
for future reference. I was surprised the Chinatown Friendship Arch is only 25 years old
 Attended a Friday noon service at St. John Church where President H.W. Bush attended, and a bronze plaque designates
# 54 “the President’s Pew”
 Black tie dinner the Carnegie Institute to raise money for a local charity, Turning the Page
 Visited the National Cathedral one Sunday service, which is the campus of both the National Cathedral School for Girls
(Lynda and Luci Johnson attended here), and St. Albans School for boys
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Had breakfast with George Hall at the Mayflower Hotel restaurant. We stood outside on a street corner and prayed.
Walked Adams Morgan (the neighborhood at 18th and Columbia named for the merging of two previously segregated
schools, Adams (white) and Morgan (black), crossing the William Taft Bridge and Duke Ellington Bridge one Saturday
morning.
Saw the Uline Arena where the Beatles performed 48 hrs after the Ed Sullivan Show
Went up the Old Post Office tower, then to the National Museum of American History. I would return to this museum
countless number of times, but this first visit was overwhelming, there is so much to see. The Star Spangled Banner has
15 stars and 15 stripes.
Sunday went to the National Gallery of Art (white dome). I’m not really into art, but the building is huge, donated by
Andrew Mellon
Visited McLean Bible Church. Lon Solomon has been the pastor since 1980, a converted Jew, and his radio spot “Not a
sermon, just a Thought” is very popular in the area. The music is fabulous, 10 piece string section, 10 piece brass section
Nancy and I visited the Supreme Court Building, walking up the 44 marble steps and passed under the famous words
“Equal Justice Under Law”
I obtained a library card to be able to enter the Main Reading Room, and attended a Tuesday evening orientation of how
to use the Library of Congress. I went back that next Saturday and sat in the room as the afternoon sun reflected off the
wooden panels. It is one of the prettiest rooms in all of Washington
Over lunch one day toured the Bureau of Engraving and Printing. At one station where $100 bills were being printed, a
worker had penciled a sign that read “more money is printed here in 3 minutes than I will earn in my entire lifetime!”
Toured Arlington Cemetery one Sunday afternoon. It was a warm but sunny day, and I didn’t remember how long a walk
it was from the Arlington House to the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. Nancy later commented that the first place tourist
should visit is the spectacular view of the Mall from Robert E. Lee’s former residence.
Toured the Newseum on Pennsylvania Ave over lunch one day. I wasn’t that impressed, perhaps because it is one of the
few places in Washington that charges admission
October
 Attended “Red Mass” at Cathedral of St. Matthew. John Roberts, Sam Alito, Antonin Scalia, Anthony Kennedy and
Sonia Sotomayor. I arrived at 7:30 am for the 10:00 am service to make sure I would get a seat. It was quite a moving
service, and we prayed for the Justices in general, and Chief Justice Roberts in particular.
 One day over lunch took the Red Line to the Old Pension Building. Starting about 1880 the Grand Army of the Republic
(GAR) was the most formidable special interest group in the United States, and Congress would give them anything they
wanted to secure their votes.
 Walked the Georgetown neighborhood, and climbed the Exorcist Steps.
 Attended New York Avenue Presbyterian Church, I didn’t want to sit in “Lincoln’s Pew”, which he rented for $65 per
year (the custom in those years instead of tithing)
 Witnessed the annual Halloween DuPont “High Heel Race”. Adams Bank has been a sponsor of this event for years, and
some still refer to Adams as the Lesbian Bank, since it catered to homosexuals in the DuPont area since 1978.
 Walked the Columbia Heights neighborhood, then drove to see the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception
(where Luci Baines Johnson was married in 1966)
 Nancy, Ashlyn and I attended a performance of the National Symphony Orchestra at the Kennedy Center where the
acoustics were phenomenal. The Hall of States and Hall of Nations with all the respective flags is impressive. The three
venues are the Concert Hall, the Opera House, and the Eisenhower Theatre. The copper bust of Kennedy is 8’ high.
 Discovered the French Ambassador’s residence in Kalorama Heights. It is my favorite house in the district.
 We met at noon Friday to tour the Holocaust Museum. The section with all the abandoned shoes was the most poignant.
 Visited the National Museum of Natural History (green dome) and saw the Hope Diamond
 I had signed up several weeks in advance for a one-hour tour of the Pentagon, saw the chapel located where the plane hit
on 9-11. The Secretary of Defense office (3E880) which means 3 rd floor, E ring, corridor 8 and office number 80. Also
the interior courtyard is one of the few places where one is not required to salute a superior officer, and the hot dog stand
is known as “Ground Zero Café”
 My bridge partner, Russell Allen (Exec Dir Wash Ballet) and I play bridge every Tuesday evening at the Army Navy
Country Club. There are only about 10 tables, so it is very relaxed. The Director is USMA ’55, and the view of
Washington from the dining room windows is spectacular.
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Ate a Chili Half Smoke at Ben’s Chili Bowl, which took 2 days off my life. The food wasn’t that great, but it is a local
tradition, Bill Cosby goes there every time he is in town, and Barrack Obama went there within one month of becoming
President.
On a day trip to Richmond, stopped at the Yorktown Battlefield National Park. I walked the redoubts that Alexander
Hamilton led the final charge in October 1781. It was puzzling to visualize how the British allowed themselves to be
trapped with the York River at their back.
Nancy and I walked around the Tidal Basin on Sat morning, then drove to Annapolis to join John and Jayme for a Navy
football game. “Jack Stephens Field, Navy - Marine Corps Memorial Stadium” Stephens, 1947 USNA grad, donated $ 10
million to expand the facility
November
 Served as an Arlington County Election Official in Precinct 8 and we used electronic pollbooks and WINvote electronic
voting machines for approximately 1,100 voters
 Went to a Washington Wizards NBA basketball game at Verizon Center. I could see why people say that Chinatown on a
Saturday night is the “Times Square” of Washington
 Visited the National City Christian Church where President Lyndon Johnson attended
 Toured the National Postal Museum next to Union Station. I had no idea that Franklin Roosevelt was such an avid stamp
collector, and he actually designed some stamps.
 Visited the Luther Place Memorial Church
 Walked the Capital Heights (14th and Columbia) neighborhood where the DC Government has done a good job
developing the area into an upscale light-retail environ.
 Toured the National Portrait Gallery the “old Patent Office” over lunch one day. During the Civil War, this was
converted into a Federal Hospital, and the poet Walt Whitman worked there as a male nurse. Lincoln’s 2 nd Inaugural Ball
was held here. The most famous work is the “Lansdowne portrait of George Washington painted by Gilbert Stuart in
1796, and two of the 12 copies of this original that he painted are in the East Room of the White House and the U.S.
House of Representatives Chamber. By 1796 Washington was weary of sitting for portraits, but his friend, William
Bingham, a very wealthy Federalist, and his wife, Ann, considered one of the most beautiful women of the day,
persuaded him to sit for Stuart as a personal favor.
 Drove through the Palisades neighborhood to visit Glen Echo park and the restored Carousel, and Spanish Ballroom.
This was a popular resort from 1900-1960, a trolley line extended from downtown out to Glen Echo.
 Played bridge at the Beth el Hebrew Synagogue on Seminary Road. A lot of tables, probably 100, and they always
promise a partner
 Drove through the Navy Yard (saw the NCIS building and Latrobe Gate). The Chief of Naval Operations (CNO)
residence is located here
 Walked across the footbridge to the Theodore Roosevelt Memorial and island. I was surprised that such a large
monument is in such an out-of-the-way location
 Attended an Arlington County Board meeting on a Saturday morning. Arlington is the smallest county in America (26
square miles) has no cities, just neighborhoods, and is very efficient, ie, drivers licenses, voter registration, stickers for
personal property taxes
 Started visiting with Fred Downs on the Metro. He is the Veteran Administration’s Director of Prosthetics, lost his left
arm on Jan 11, 1968 as a combat platoon leader with the 1 st Bn 14th Inf 4th ID, wrote “The Killing Zone - My life in VietNam”, lectures at West Point, and ran the 1983 Marine Corps Marathon in 3:03!
 Walked through the Eastern Market one cold and rainy Saturday morning
 Vice-President Biden’s motorcade speeds down Connecticut Ave in a 6 car motorcade each morning from his residence
at the Naval Observatory
 Drove past the Cairo Hotel, which prompted the Heights of Buildings Act of 1910 which states that no building in the
District may be 20’ higher that the width of the street it faces
December
 I had applied on-line for tickets to the National Christmas Tree lighting ceremony, which was held one very cold
Thursday evening - Randy Jackson, Cheryl Crowe played piano, the President and his family lit the tree. I got there at
4:00 pm, and the program didn’t begin until 5:30 pm. I called Nancy because I wished she was there with me, it was quite
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a sight, and a treat to be part of such an important national event. The current National Christmas Tree was planted in that
spot in 1978.
Christmas concert by the Air Force Band at Constitution Hall on Saturday afternoon. I was disappointed by the totally
secular song selections. A lot of local high schools hold their May graduations in this Hall. This was the location where
Marion Anderson was denied permission to sing in 1938, so First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt, a DAR member, resigned in
protest, and arranged for Anderson to sing at the Lincoln Memorial on Easter
Christmas concert by the Marine Band at Wolf Trap on a brisk Sunday afternoon. Patches of snow on the ground,
children’s choirs, hot chocolate, it was really a great day.
Toured the Masonic Temple in Alexandria, dedicated to George Washington. It had memorabilia from the ceremony of
laying the cornerstone of the Capital Building. The tower is visible from Hains Point
Joined McLean Bible Church at a congregational meeting one Wednesday evening. MBC has over 11,000 people who
attend each Sunday, and its mission is to share the message of Jesus Christ with secular Washington.
Helped organize the Arlington Men’s Group (Pentagon City) met for the first time at the Au Bon Pain in the food court. I
decided to take the lead in this group by hosting the first session in January in my apartment. Members were Alan
Baribeau, Erik Adams, Doug Oliver, Jordan Northrup and John Fetherston. We started rotating among each other’s
homes, and we began an overview of the Bible which took all of 2010.
Toured the Peterson House (located across 10th Street from Ford’s Theatre) where President Lincoln died. It was
incredible that such a great life ended in a cramped boarding house with his legs dangling over such a small bed
Attended the Washington DC Annual Chamber of Commerce luncheon at the Convention Center (Adams bought a table
of 10). Suzanne Clark was the featured speaker, she is the daughter of Joe Clark of Clark Construction, the leading
contractor in the District, and an important contributor to S.O.M.E.
Visited the National American Indian Museum, such a politically-correct disappointment for placement on the National
Mall
One Sunday morning, well before dawn, I drove into the city, parked, and started running. The most beautiful sight I’ve
seen in Washington is standing at the apex of the Viet-Nam Memorial, totally dark, and looking east seeing the Capital
dome illuminated, and then looking west, and seeing the Lincoln Memorial illuminated. There wasn’t another person
around, and it was a special moment.
Stopped in the Main Auditors Building at 14th and B, SW, which was constructed in 1879 for the Bureau of Engraving
and Printing. In 1914 BEP moved to its current location, and Auditors for Navy, State and Treasury moved in. Several of
the annexes have been demolished to make room for the Holocaust Museum
January
 Played bridge one Saturday morning at the Knights of Columbus facility on the former Saegmuller estate in Reserve Hill,
Arlington. Was told that Richard Jing, of the Alpharetta, GA, bridge club (whom I played against in July 2009) became
the youngest Life Master in ACBL history at 9 years and 6 months of age
 I was a guest of Bob Davis for lunch at The Metropolitan Club, founded in 1863 by Union Army generals, and
frequented by Grant, Sherman and Sheridan after the war. Moved into the current 5 story building at 17 th and H Street in
1905, beautiful mahogany-walled library, men’s athletic/squash club, main dining room, and 2,500 members
 Hosted my Men’s Group in my apartment, the dessert was a red velvet cake I served with the help of my friends Harris
and Teeter.
 Visited Christ Church in Alexandria. Both George Washington and Robert E. Lee attended this church, and Lee was a
Deacon there. The pews have swinging doors, elevated pulpit (there was the joke about Finklestein making Jesus a robe,
the ensuing popularity, and the partnership named not Finklestein and Jesus, but Lord and Taylor!)
 Attended a monthly meeting of the Penn Quarter Neighborhood Association at Ford’s Theatre. Viewed the Presidential
Box where Lincoln was shot, and records show Lincoln having been to this theatre 12 times to see various plays, and the
attendance that tragic evening was almost 1,600 (the tour guide explained why there are now only 625 seats “Americans
are larger than in those days!”. There was no Presidential Seal in those days, so a portrait of Washington was used
instead, and that portrait is visible in the photograph Matthew Brady took of the box the day after the assassination.
 Toured the Corcoran Gallery of Art, and loved the “Salon Doré”, the gilded room constructed in Paris in 1773 and
installed in the museum in 1928.
 Attended the 97th Annual Alfalfa Dinner, at the Capital Hilton. Perhaps the premier social event of the year and the
ultimate “insider’s” club of 220 members wearing a medallion, the program itself is a collector’s item. It had snowed that
day, so I was wearing a tuxedo riding the metro into town. Protocol is everything, $200/plate dinner of lobster and filet
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mignon, Friar’s club type humor. Joe Lieberman, the Alfalfa Party candidate for President, gave a hilarious acceptance
speech. Five new members were inducted into the club, one of whom was Rupert Murdock, the founder of Fox News.
Warren Buffet, VP Cheney, Chief Justice Roberts, President Bush (41), Justice Alito, Colin Powell, James Baker, George
Shultz, Paul Volker, Alan Greenspan, Hank Paulson, Timothy Geithner, Sandra Day O’Conner, Dianne Sawyer, Andrea
Mitchell, Wolf Blitzer, Steve Forbes, John Glenn were in attendance.
I spent more time exploring Georgetown. Famous addresses are: 3307 N Street (John Kennedy 1957-January 20, 1961),
2920 R Street (Katherine Graham entertaining government and intellectual elites from 1951-1996), 2805 P Street (Dean
Acheson used to walk from here every day to the State Dept with his close friend Supreme Court Justice Felix
Frankfurter, who lived at 3018 Dumbarton) and this was the location of a farewell luncheon for Harry Truman the
afternoon of January 20, 1953, after he left office before departing for Missouri. Georgetown after the Civil War attracted
freed blacks, housing declined, and in 1871 when it was incorporated into the District of Columbia, it lost its identity,
being referred to as “West Washington”. In 1950 Congress passed the “Old Georgetown Act” which promoted the
gentrification of the neighborhood.
Toured the Renwick Gallery, I thought the building more impressive than the paintings
February
 Nancy and I went on the thirty minute self-guided White House tour (through the office of Senator Blanche Lincoln, DAR, who is facing a tough re-election battle in November, so she if very accommodating to requests) as a blizzard was
descending on Washington. We were impressed with the Green Room’s water-green silk fabric that Jackie Kennedy
selected for the walls, and I recognized the 1767 portrait of Franklin she persuaded a philanthropist to donate. The Cross
Hall wasn’t as long as we expected, and the East Room and State Dining Rooms were smaller than appear in
photographs. The oval shaped Blue Room was very elegant, as were the Bellange chairs and 18’ ceilings
 We got 24’” of snow and lost electricity (Dominion Virginia Power) for 23 hours on Saturday, and the following
Wednesday we got another 10”. Nancy’s flight back to Little Rock was delayed until Saturday because MARC wasn’t
operational. This winter season D.C. set a record of 55”. Nancy and I got “cabin fever” and got on each other’s nerves by
Thursday, so I took her out for supper Friday night and then we watched the opening ceremonies of the 2010 Winter
Olympics in Vancouver.
 The bank was closed Mon-Thurs. Wednesday was a total white-out with high winds. Betty called me each evening to
decide next day’s status, she then left a voice mail for employees. The local television stations ran footage of a snowball
fight in DuPont Circle that attracted over 2,000 participants!
 When I drive to work I take Route 27, cross Memorial Bridge, east on Constitution, north on 18 th St, takes 12 minutes
covering 4.0 miles
 My running route in the morning goes around the Pentagon, and I can see the Washington Monument, the Capital dome,
and the Jefferson Memorial lit up in the darkness. In the early morning hours work crews are always digging grave sites
at Arlington Cemetery because there are about 15 burials per week.
 Met Father John Adams at So Others May Eat (S.O.M.E.) founded in 1970 to serve the poor and homeless of
Washington D.C. I got a tour of the facilities, and discussed my responsibilities as a new member of the Advisory Board
 Visited the Botanic Garden, a real delight. The current exhibit “Orchids, a Cultural Odyssey” had the most pleasant
fragrance I’ve ever encountered. The galleries on the desert had realistic dry heat, and the jungle had a fine mist to
replicate a rain forest
 Went of a tour of the State Department Diplomatic Reception Rooms on the 8 th floor of “New State” (old State was the
original War Department Bldg on 21st St. The Benjamin Franklin State Dining Room, which seats 250 was magnificent
(this is where the Kennedy Center Honorees have a formal dinner the Saturday evening before the taping of the show on
Sunday) The balcony faces south overlooking the Mall and the Lincoln Memorial. I also saw the Dean Acheson
Auditorium, where President Kennedy held 64 Press Conferences, some of which I watched live on TV
 Across from my apartment is the Pentagon Row Plaza, and each November an outdoor skating rink is installed, and it
very popular, especially on week-end nights. It is fun to see so many young people skating, especially small children who
push little buckets which provides them balance
 Once a week over the lunch hour I take the Red Line to Metro Station, then walk to the Barnes and Noble on 12th Street.
 Drove past Sidwell Friends School on Wisconsin (children of Presidents Teddy Roosevelt, Nixon, Clinton and Obama
attended here)
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Met James Thomeson for supper at Rosa Mexicano. We said goodbye in the lobby where he was staying, the Hotel
Monaco. The D.C Post Office was located in this building 1866-1899 (and the first public building lighted by gas) until
it relocated to 12th and Pennsylvania.
March
 Attended a hearing of the Senate SBA Committee. The Rotunda of the Russell Senate Office Building is ornate, and is
where Senators give live TV interviews. The Caucus Room was beautiful, and was where hearings were held on the
Titanic sinking in 1912, Teapot Dome in 1923, Army-McCarthy in 1954, Watergate in 1973. I spoke to Senator Mark
Pryor D-AR, and he remembered that I had been with Worthen 20 years ago! When the second senate office building was
constructed in 1958 it was originally referred to as the New Senate Office Building, so before renamed Russell in 1972,
the first senate office building was called the “Old S.O.B.”!
 One Sunday morning before daybreak I ran around the Lincoln Memorial then across the Memorial Bridge. It was brisk,
you could see the eternal flame on JFK’s grave on the hillside below Arlington House, and all streets were quiet. It was
really beautiful seeing the monuments lit up against the dark backdrop, and the Potomac River was so peaceful
 Went on a tour of the Capital conducted by two staffers from Sen. Pryor’s office. (I was the only tour this week, but in the
summer they will conduct about two tours daily). I was surprised to learn that the only Senate Caucus room is in the
Russell SOB, and Sen. Pryor has 25 people on his staff, and his offices take up all one side of a wing of the second floor.
We walked through a tunnel to the Russell SOB where we boarded the private subway (built in 1909) to the Capital
Building. The Old Supreme Court chambers, where the Dred Scott verdict was rendered, is in the “Crypt” level, then we
walked through the Rotunda to Statuary Hall, the House chamber 1819-1860 and where John Quincy Adams suffered a
stroke at his desk. Then to the Old Senate Chambers, where from 1820-1859 the great debates over slavery were held,
and finally to the House gallery. Upon our return I had lunch in the Dirksen cafeteria. The new Visitors Center is
massive, and efficiently organizes the large tour groups.
 Nancy and I drove the 204 mile/3 hour trip from Arlington to Virginia Beach for Pat Robertson’s 80 th Birthday
Celebration. We stayed in the James River Lodge, the first night had dinner with Scott Ross and his wife Nedra (of the
rock and roll group the Ronettes) attended a taping of the “700 Club” Friday morning. Bob McDonald, the Governor of
Virginia and a 1989 graduate of Regent University law school spoke a reception at the Virginia Aquarium, and the
Brooklyn Tabernacle Singers performed, then a black tie event Saturday evening with Larnell Harris singing, I visited
with Ben Kenchlow (1975-1988) about Danuta Soderman, and Nancy visited with Terri Meeuwsen (1993-present). Part
of the birthday party Saturday evening was fireworks, and Handel’s Firework Suite was played in the background. At the
Communion Service Sunday morning Kenneth Copeland spoke, and 188 family units gave a total of $2,000,000 for the
construction of a new chapel and Divinity School for Regent University.
 Visited the Cannon House Office Building, and its elaborate Caucus Room. Opened in 1909, Cannon had 397 offices for
each representative in the 61st Congress, and 14 committee rooms. A directory of all House members details that 3 digit
room numbers were in Cannon, 4 digits beginning with “1” were in Longworth HOB, and 4 digits beginning with “2”
were in Rayburn HOB.
 One Sunday morning with the Reflecting Pool drained, I walked the entire length down the middle! Spent a lot of time
looking at the WW II memorial, and read the Jefferson Pier stone near the Washington Monument. The “56 Signers of
the Declaration of Independence Memorial” on an island in Constitution Gardens has their names inscribed in stone as
their signatures appear on the document. Steven Hopkins of Rhode Island who had palsy, and had to steady his writing
hand with his other hand, turned to his colleagues and said “My hand trembles, my heart does not”
April
 Walked the campus of Georgetown Law Center, an oasis in the middle of Judiciary Square, near Union Station. This
“T14” law school has been at this location near the Capitol Building since 1891
 Drove past Gonzaga College High School “God is Purple” on North Capitol Street.
 Went for a walk on a beautiful spring Friday lunch break. Down K Street past McPherson Park, Franklin Park (where
Andrew Jackson had water wells drilled for the White House, so it originally was called “Fountain Park”, and the 12th
New York Infantry bivouacked in 1861 to protect Washington, and the impressive Franklin School). Then to the U.S.
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Mint sales office at 9th and H where I bought a roll of 2009 Lincoln Presidency cents, then up Massachusetts past Thomas
and Scott Circles.
The next day, I toured the Congressional Cemetery (John Phillip Sousa, J. Edgar Hoover buried with his parents and
sister), and many locals walking their dogs in the park (there is a web-site Cemetery Dogs.Org, that for a $200 annual
membership people can let their dogs roam within the cemetery – this is how the cemetery raises money for up-keep,
since, contrary to the name, it is not owned or operated by Congress or the federal government)
On Sunday I volunteered for the 38th Credit Union Cherry Blossom Run, beautiful weather 51 degrees, 15,694 runners
from 50 states and 20 foreign countries, the event raised $ 923M for Children’s Network. Starting corrals by color
(Yellow “elite”, Red, Blue, Orange, Green and Purple) 3 minutes apart. Very well-organized, I was at the finish line for
the Ethiopian and Kenyan winners who ran 10 miles in 45:43. Bill Rogers won the event 1978-1981.
That evening attended the 40th anniversary celebration of S.O.M.E. at First Baptist Church on 16th Street. Mark Russell
the political satirist entertained, and referred to Father John as the “Albert Sweitzer of Washington, D.C.”
“The White House Garden Tour” held each April and October since begun by Pat Nixon, was a real treat. I got a timedticket for 10:15 am, entered through the SE Gate, was handed a program describing which President or First Lady
planted what tree, walked up the circular drive to stand at the South Portico entrance (and called Nancy), and looking
south past the Washington Monument to the Jefferson Memorial is a beautiful vista. I stood looking at the Rose Garden
for quite a while, looked through the windows of the Oval Office to see the flags behind the President’s desk. Continued
around the circular drive past where Marine One lands, and the Marine Band was seated serenading the visitors (I again
called Nancy so she could be part of this experience with me) then exited SW Gate.
Walked though the campus of Gallaudet University, it was so quiet because all the students were using sign language. It
is laid out like an old Army post, unfortunately it is in the Trinidad neighborhood, so police security is important.
One Saturday morning I parked at the Cleveland Park metro stop, then ran 3 miles down Connecticut to Farragut Square,
taking the metro back. Then I drove to Marat School, originally the Woodley Mansion, summer White House of
Presidents Van Buren and Polk, and home to George S. Patton, and War Secretary Henry Stimson.
Attended the memorial service for Dorothy Height at the National Cathedral (Cathedral of St. Peter and St. Paul). To get
good seating, we were seated by 7:45 am for the 10:00 am service. President Obama gave the eulogy, Camille (Mrs. Bill)
Cosby spoke, Maya Angelou read Psalm 139, Hillary Clinton sat with Nancy Pelosi. Jesse Jackson, Harry Reid and Joe
Biden also attended. The service was carried live on TV.
The emblem of the District of Columbia is the coat of arms of George Washington’s ancestral family. A 14 century stain
glass variant of the coat of arms is in Selby Abbey in England
May
 On a Saturday morning Mall Walk, Stan and Jane McClellan, Nancy and I helped out at the “Wall Washing” in which the
1st Saturday of each month veterans groups wash the Viet-Nam Memorial Wall. Pvt Jimmy Derbyshire Panel 27W Line
86, and 2LT Frank Giles Panel 46E and Line 46 were from Bridgeton and both killed in Viet-Nam
 Drove the 14 miles down the Parkway to Mount Vernon. Tickets were $15 each, we toured the Mansion first (my favorite
room is the Large Dining Room which is 16’ high) then we walked the grounds, and spent about 3 hours in the Donald
W. Reynolds Museum and Education Center, which may be the finest museum I’ve ever seen. “Monuments in
Washington memorialize people’s achievements or speeches, Mount Vernon memorializes a man’s character”.
 Over lunch toured the DAR Memorial Continental Hall. Completed in 1910, it was originally a large auditorium (where
the Washington Naval Conference 1921-1922 was held to try to constrain Japanese naval expansion in the west Pacific).
When Constitution Hall was dedicated in 1929, Memorial Hall became the DAR Genealogical Research Library. This is
truly a WASP enclave, a repository of the values of the Revolutionary War era citizens, which today would be considered
politically incorrect.
 Over lunch toured the John Marshall Park, Victims of Communism Memorial (a replica of the student-made statue
erected in Tiananmen Square in 1989) and the most understated and humble memorial of all, the Franklin D. Roosevelt
stone at the National Archives
 Organized a tour from the bank of the Federal Reserve Building (tours are given only to groups from financial institutions
or university economics majors). The grand staircase was Italian marble, and the Board Room was absolutely impressive.
It had a 21’ ceiling, silk wall coverings, a huge oval shaped board table, and original currency from various dates on
display on the walls. It was in this room from 24 December 1941 – 14 January 1942 that President Roosevelt and Prime
Minister Winston Churchill planned World War II strategy. I sat in Ben Bernanke’s chair, and I felt my IQ rise 20 points!
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The Treasury Building tour lasted one hour, portraits of all Treasury Secretaries are on the walls. In 1820, adjacent to the
White House, were four 3-story brick buildings for State, Treasury, War and Navy. The east (30 columns, 36’ high of
solid granite) and center wings of the new Treasury Building were completed in 1842, then the south, west and north
wings were added by 1867. The President administers the oath of office to each new Secretary in the Cash Room
(embarrassing inaugural ball the evening of March 4, 1869)
Stopped to fill up for gas at the Embassy Gulf Service Station (1937) at 2200 P Street
Had lunch at the Old Ebbitt Grill with Larry and Janice Walther, delicious clam chowder
Had breakfast with Wally Loveless at the Omni Shoreham Hotel. Quite a place, every President since FDR has had an
inaugural ball there, all the dignitaries for JFK’s funeral, the Beatles visiting Washington after the Ed Sullivan Show
Toured the American Red Cross building led by a docent. “Dedicated to the Women of the North, and the Women of the
South”, 50 years after the end of the Civil War, emotions were still strained in our nation. The symbol is the inverted
Swiss Flag to denote neutrality (the founder was Swiss). In Muslim countries it is known as the Red Crescent. The
Tiffany Windows in the 2nd floor salon are priceless, protected by bulletproof glass.
Ran 4 miles down Mass Ave. from the National Cathedral to Union Station, and later stopped for water in the newly
renovated “Social Safeway” on Wisconsin.
Took a tram ride around the National Arboretum est. 1927. I need to return to see the hillside of azaleas in April, and the
maples in October. It was so peaceful, and the fragrance was beautiful, and the Capitol Columns were impressive.
Toured the McCormick Apts/Andrew Mellon Place, 1785 Mass Ave, in which each floor is 11,000 SF, and was the most
luxurious apartment in Washington D.C. in 1920.
Watched the Wednesday “Twilight Tattoo” military pageant at Fort McNair (Washington Arsenal) then walked past
magnificent columned Officers Quarters of LTG and GENs. The Fife & Drum Corps and Drill Team of the 3 rd Infantry
(Old Guard) performed
June
 Ran 4 miles from the Jefferson Memorial to Hains Point and back. It is amazing how many planes land at Reagan before
8:00 am on a Saturday
 The Titanic Memorial is dedicated to “the men who gave their lives to women and children”. It had been located where
the Kennedy Center now stands.
 Visited the National Zoo, saw the Pandas, which in Nepalese means “eater of bamboo”. Veterinarians keep constant vigil
with TV cameras monitoring their health, especially from the effects of the heat in the summer
 Sunday evening walked around the Mall and found “Kilroy was here” at WWII Memorial, site of the Rainbow Pool.
 Worked the Virginia Republican Primary, Arlington County Hume Precinct 8, we processed 129 voters (Stephanie Zietz,
Kathi Wells, Marilyn, Jean)
 Had lunch at the Bistro Bis (88% of meal sales from Democrats) with a bank director, David Bradley, and Ralph Neas,
former head of “People for the America Way” the most liberal advocacy group in the United States.
 Toured the Anderson House at 2118 Mass Ave, headquarters of the Society of the Cincinnati, founded 1783 by officers
of the American Army who fought in the Revolution.
 Ran 4 miles from the Jefferson Memorial down Maine Ave/M Street to New Jersey, then to Independence and back
 Visited the 12 acre Meridian Hill Park (unofficially Malcolm X Park) which was the site of Columbia College
(predecessor to George Washington University)
 Attended a lecture moderated by Edwin Meese III at The Heritage Foundation, a conservative public policy institute
“think tank” next to the Thurgood Marshall Building.
 Had lunch with Bob Davis at the Lafayette Room in the Hay-Adams Hotel, where “the only thing we overlook is the
White House”. Delicious salmon, and elegant style. President Obama and his family stayed here for two weeks prior to
his inauguration because the Blair House was occupied
 Over lunch toured Voice of America, which occupies the old Social Security/War Dept Broadcasting in 45 languages,
governed by a board of 4 Democrats and 4 Republicans appointed by the President, is the news they report “politically
correct”?
 Walked to the libertarian “think tank” Cato Institute at 10th and Mass Ave to attend a lecture on nuclear proliferation.
They have well-reasoned position papers on display.
 Toured the Phillips Collection. For 5 minutes I sat on a bench gazing at Renoir’s Luncheon of a Boating Party,
“capturing an idyllic atmosphere of glorious weather, a day at the river, food and wine in the company of friends”. All the
models were the artist’s personal friends.
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Ran from 20th & B across Memorial Bridge, along the bike path of GW Parkway, across Key Bridge into Georgetown,
past Washington Circle, down 23rd Street
Attended a concert of the U.S. Army Strings at Brucker Hall at Fort Myer, through the Hatfield Gate. Walked on
Summerall Field where Orville Wright flew in 1908 and the President attends retirement parades for senior officers. 26
Victorian residences make up “Generals Row”. MG and LTG are on Lee Ave., on Washington Ave. is Quarters One
(Army Chief of Staff: McArthur 1930-1935, Marshall 1941-1945, Eisenhower 1945-1948) and on Grant Ave.
overlooking Whipple Field is Quarters One (Army Chief of Staff: McArthur 1930-1935, Marshall 1941-1945,
Eisenhower 1945-1948,) Quarters Six is the Chairman of the JCS, and Quarters Seven is Air Force Chief of Staff. The
entire post is small, about ½ mile wide and 3 miles in length, forming a crescent around Arlington Cemetery. By law
there are 302 general officers in the U.S. Army, of which no more than 12 can be GEN.
Donated blood at the Red Cross national headquarters 2025 E Street NW, in a very large and spacious room. Very well
organized, not cramped like the trailer I donated in February
July
 After church I drove to the Great Falls Park and walked the Patowmack Canal constructed between 1785-1802. This
project demonstrated that if the strategy is wrong, no amount of effort, money or intelligence can help you succeed.
Because the winter froze the river, and there was a drought in summer, the fee income from barge traffic couldn’t make it
profitable.
 Toured the Decatur House built 1818 by Benjamin Latrobe. Interesting features are original pine wood floors, kitchen on
1st floor (with firewall and brick floor as fire protection), enamel button instead of wooden button in base of banister to
show house had not debt, residence of Martin Van Buren who hosted Peggy Eaton’s acceptance into “polite”
Washington society in 1829
 Attended the Evening Parade at Marine Barracks at 8 th & I Streets with Nancy. The “parade deck” is 200 yards by 30
yards, bounded by the Commandant’s residence on the North. Impressive illuminations of marching, the Marine Band
playing “Stars and Stripes Forever” on the spot where John Phillip Sousa would have conducted it for the first time,
seeing the English bulldog mascot Chesty XIII, and the spotlight on the bugler playing “Taps” to conclude the ceremony.
Congress authorized the Marine Barracks to fly the flag with 15 Stars and 15 Stripes
 Nancy and I attended the 11:45 am service at the National Cathedral. She didn’t want to go forward for communion but
she did anyway, and the taste of the wine, even on the wafer, was pungent. The acoustics are wonderful, and this is the 5 th
largest cathedral in the world.
 We went to the top of the Washington Monument late one Sunday afternoon. I had forgotten all the memorial stones on
the inside visible as the elevator slowed on the descent. The original elevator in 1885 took 10-12 minutes (now it is 70
seconds). Next year the 896 steps will reopen for those wanting to walk down.
 Got back from a week-end in Bridgeton (my 40th high school reunion) went swimming Sunday afternoon, got into the
apartment elevator with 8 others and the electricity went out. We were stuck for 35 minutes, the Arlington Fire
Department came and let us out. Dominion Power is a much more dependable company than Pepco (Potomac Energy
Power Company, which serves the District and Maryland). I started lap swimming at the pool behind the Potomac River
House (there is also a small pool behind my building, the James River House)
 Walked to visit with a prospective board member who is an attorney at Patton & Boggs, the largest and most influential
lobbyist firm in Washington D.C. The location interestingly isn’t K Street, but 2550 M Street near Georgetown. Tommy
Boggs, the son of the former House Minority Leader Hale Boggs, started the firm openly dedicated to lobbying members
of Congress, which until that time, was not considered a respectable career for an attorney. I walked through the Foggy
Bottom Historic District to the Metro
 Attended an Army Band Concert on the west steps of the Capital Building. It was cool looking down the Mall past the
Washington Monument to the Lincoln Memorial on one side, and down Pennsylvania Ave down the other. Several
people sat on blankets on the grounds. It was low humidity, I wish it had been like that 2 weeks prior for the Evening
Parade.
 Ran from my apartment on a running path along Hwy 27, across the Memorial Bridge, around the Lincoln Memorial, and
back; about 4 miles
 Saw a movie at the Uptown Theatre in Cleveland Heights. Built in 1936 with a single screen 79 feet wide and 40 feet
high. The Uptown was host to the world premiere of Dances With Wolves on October 19, 1990, and the projector broke
down twice. A beautiful lobby
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August
 Toured the Organization of American States (OAS) building on 17th and Constitution. The Hall of Americas (where the
Panama Canal Treaties were signed in 1977) is a magnificent room, 100’x65’x45’, similar to the Hall of Mirrors at
Versailles. The building was completed in 1910 because of the $ 700,000 contribution of Andrew Carnegie, at the
request of his good friend, Elihu Root, then Secretary of State.
 The exhibit at the FDIC headquarters is very well done. The timeline from 1933 is very informative
 On Connecticut Ave I met and spoke with General Brent Scowcroft, National Security Advisor to Presidents Ford and
Bush 41, who since 1994 has run a International Advisory Firm, Scowcroft Group. It is interesting how many people who
once held such high positions of power in the federal government choose to remain in Washington, but live on the
periphery of power, and can be seen walking like any common citizen.
 Ran from the National Cathedral down Wisconsin (formerly High Street) down Pennsylvania past the White House to
MetroCenter station
 Visited the Army Air Force Mutual Aid Association at 102 Sheridan Drive, Fort Myer. Entered through the Wright Gate.
 Visited Dumbarton Oaks estate, the Music Room in particular, where in 1944 informal talks were held among American,
British and Russian diplomats (Cordell Hull, Andrea Gromyko) to lay the groundwork for the United Nations. The art
work in the Music Room is fabulous, there are two Flemish tapestries from 1480-1520
 Walked 18 holes of golf at the East Potomac Blue Course (6,600 yds, slope 115). Every hole has a view of the
Washington Monument, and several holes on the back 9 display both the Monument and the Jefferson Memorial. It was
hot, 96 degrees, I drank 2 gallons of water, it took the front 9 to get my rhythm, then I made shot par on 4 successive
holes # 10-13, afterwards I stopped to eat at Phillips Seafood Restaurant.
 Took Helen Bjoko and Francina Jones to the Palm Restaurant as appreciation for their efforts in the Accounting
Department. Saw Paul Begala, a Democratic Party consultant.
 At the Folger Shakespeare Library, located directly behind the Supreme Court building, the Docent (a local attorney) led
a wonderful one hour tour. We saw on display one of the 79 First Folios printed in 1623.
 Toured the Ronald Reagan Building. Bush 43 had inaugural balls there in ’01 and ’05. It is ironic that a President who
railed against big government has the 2nd largest government building named after him!.
 I walked past the Internal Revenue Building on Constitution, and above the entrance were the words of Oliver Wendell
Holmes “Taxes are the price we pay for a civilized society”
 Another running route mid-week is along Arlington Ridge Road to 23rd Street and back. Arlington Ridge originally
extended from Old Towne Alexandria to the Key Bridge into Georgetown. Much of the road was leveled when the
Pentagon road system “the mixing bowl” was constructed in 1942.
 One Saturday morning ran out East Capitol Street past Lincoln Park to the National Guard Armory.
 Toured the Woodrow Wilson House 2340 S Street, where President Wilson lived from Mar 4, 1921 to Feb 3, 1924. He
was almost blind, crippled (but refused a wheelchair) as a result of a stroke. He and his 2 nd wife Edith purchased the
10,000 sf “Gentlemen’s Home’ (first floor reception rooms, living quarters upstairs) in 1921 for $ 150,000. It was
extremely interesting to see the bathrooms, closets, kitchen, since 85% of the furnishings are exactly as there were in
1924. The last social function Edith held was a luncheon in 1961 for the new First Lady, Jackie Kennedy. My docent, 81
year old Dick Goodwin
September
 Ran from my apartment to the WWII memorial, and coming back past the Pentagon was stopped by 4 different police
cars, as they were beginning to blockade all streets in anticipation of the 9-11 memorial service at 9:37 a.m. to be
attended by President Obama and the families of the victims.
 Took Terrell Braden to lunch at the Oval Room restaurant on Connecticut
 Walked to a lecture at the Brookings Institution at 1785 Mass Ave. Founded in 1916, Brookings is the #1 Think Tank in
the United States, was commissioned by FDR to study causes of the Great Depression, was tasked by Truman to prepare
an organizational scheme for the Marshall Plan, and is funded in part by the Ford Foundation and Rockefeller
Foundation.
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Took Boris Orcev to eat at the Caucus Room restaurant on 9th Street, owned by Tommy Boggs and Haley Barbour.
Joined the West Point Society of D.C. and attended the Fall Luncheon at the Fort Myer Officers Club. Sat at a table of
1974 and 1975 grads, visited with Larry Adair, Co. A-1, retired MG, now working for a Defense Dept contractor. The
FMOC has 3 ballrooms on the 2nd floor, and a very nice restaurant on the main floor. It hit me that this is a fraternity of
retired military officers that I am not part of.
Nancy and I drove the 85 miles to Gettysburg. At the Visitors Center, we saw a film, and were amazed at the Cyclorama
painted in 1885. Then a licensed battlefield guide drove us in our car for 2 hours around the battlefield. We visited the
monument for the 68th Pennsylvania Infantry Regiment at the Peach Orchard, where my great-great grandfather, Pvt
William P. Bach was wounded, and then we found his name listed on the State of Pennsylvania monument. In the
museum Nancy innocently asked me why any parent would name their son “Stonewall” Jackson?
1791 L’Enfant plan, Boundary Street was renamed Florida in 1890, “Eye” Street, “Que” Street, there was no “J” Street,
Du Pont Circle was Pacific Circle. Of the 50 states, 48 are Avenues, California Street and Ohio Drive. After the letters of
the alphabet are exhausted, streets begin the 2nd alphabet of 2 syllables (Calvert) then 3rd alphabet 3 syllables
(Brandywine). The Organic Act of 1871 merged the City of Washington, City of Georgetown and Washington County
into a single municipality. High Street in Georgetown was renamed Wisconsin in 1895 when all the streets were renamed
to conform to the L’Enfant plan. Alexandria County was renamed Arlington County in 1920.
Foreign Diplomat auto license plates have the designations such as DCY4001, which means “Diplomat” then the 2 letter
country code, in this case People’s Republic of China, the 4 digit actual auto designator
October
 One Saturday I drove to Vienna to a coin store, and tried a new route home. Got lost, and pulled into the entrance of the
C.I.A. Headquarters in Langley, VA, on the Old Georgetown Pike, Hwy 193. As I stopped to look at my map, 3 Federal
police cars quickly surrounded me, and demanded to know why I was trespassing on Federal property. It took about 10
minutes to get resolved, and I am surprised how average citizens are now suspects. The last time I had been to Langley
was in January 1973 when my West Point contingent of cadets came for President Nixon’s 2 nd Inaugural Parade, and we
were given a tour and briefing at the Old Headquarters Building of the CIA. The original CIA headquarters was on Navy
Hill, 2430 E Street, occupying the buildings of the old Naval Hospital before it relocated to Bethesda in 1942.
 Lon Soloman, McLean Bible Church Pastor said on Sunday that his vision is for the church to have a satellite campus at
the Uptown Theatre on Connecticut
 Walked to Lafayette Square, and walked through the atrium of the Federal Appeals Court Building, the former location
of the Rodgers House, where the assassination attempt on then Secretary of War Stanton occurred the night President
Lincoln was shot. Next door is the Dolly Madison House, where she lived from 1837-1849 after President Madison died.
In 1887 the house became the first location of the Cosmos Club.
 Nancy and I had coffee, green tea and Danish in the sidewalk café of the Willard Hotel (where the Peace Conference
1861 was held, and Julia Ward Howe wrote the lyrics to “The Battle Hymn of the Republic on November 18, 1861). As
we toured Mike and Judy McClendon, I discovered the bookstore and small museum beneath the Jefferson Memorial. At
Mount Vernon I walked down to the wharf, along the woodland trail (oak and hickory) and the Treading Barn.
 Walked two blocks to the American Enterprise Institute for the panel discussion “What have they done? The Dodd-Frank
Financial Reform Act”. It was very enlightening with brilliant speakers. This was my favorite public policy forum that
I’ve attended.
 Walked to the National Museum of American Jewish Military History on R Street. About 20 different exhibits from
WW1 through Iraq War, and an interesting one was detail about the 14 Jewish soldiers awarded the Medal of Honor. The
most poignant exhibit, however, was created by the mother of Pvt Sandy Kahn, an 18 year old from Kearny, NJ, who was
killed near St. Lo, France, on 11 July, 1945. Special memorabilia chronicles his birth, growing up years, high school,
basic training, the telegram notifying his parents of his death, and a typed letter from an eyewitness who described how
Sandy was killed. I have never seen such a gripping personal memorial, which is entitled “The bravest battles are not
fought on the battlefield, but in the heart of a Mother who loses a son in war”
 Visited the Spy Museum on F Street. Cost $18, but well worth it. Could take 2 hrs to see everything from enigma
machines, to a letter from Mata Hari, to Cyber War, to the Red Terror in the Soviet Union.
 Took a tour of the Kennedy Center. Saw the Presidential Box in the Opera House, the 1,735 lights in the chandelier are
replaced every 3 years, the docent explained that the Grand Foyer is the longest hallway in the world (longer than the
Washington Monument is high!), and the view from the Roof Terrace is the most spectacular view I’ve ever seen of the
Potomac River. The Embassy of Saudi Arabia is in a prominent location nearby.
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Ashlyn flew in to spend a weekend with me. When I drove back from BWI the Douglass Bridge was under renovation, so
I took the Whitney Young Memorial Bridge. At the WWII memorial I spent time looking at all 12 bas reliefs, then we
went to Georgetown University and walked into Gaston Hall, the gothic auditorium on the 4 th floor of Healy Hall, then I
bought her a sweatshirt at the bookstore.
 Signed up for the Murals Tour in the Main Interior Building. Commissioned between 1937-1939, these frescos depict
land management and the depression era in a very vivid and colorful style. I learned the interesting history of the
Department of the Interior ( Home Department, or Dept of Everything Else) in that at its creation in 1849 as just the 4th
Cabinet Department established, it absorbed the Land Office from Treasury, Patent Office from State, and Indian Affairs
from War. The great source of political power (and corruption) was the Pension Bureau, the darling of the Grand Army
of the Republic. From 1852-1917 Interior was located in the old Patent Office, from 1917-1935 in what is now the GSA
building on 19th, and moved to its present location under the leadership of Harold Ickes in 1935. Over time, Interior spun
off what is now the departments of Agriculture, Labor, Commerce, Education, Veterans Affairs, Energy, Transportation,
and the IRS
 Ran the Marine Corps Marathon 10K in 68:40. Starting at the Smithsonian Castle, there was a Marine color guard,
singing of the National Anthem, and a howitzer booming the start. The route took us past the Washington Monument, the
Jefferson Memorial, across the 14th Street Bridge, into Crystal City, then down Route 110 past the Pentagon, Arlington
Cemetery and finishing up the hill to the Iwo Jima Memorial. Many groups of runners ran with shirts honoring KIAs in
Iraq and Afghanistan. One shirt said “Pain is weakness leaving the body, well, the pain wasn’t leaving my body!”. The
Marathon, the 4th largest in the U.S. and the 8th largest in the world had 21,856 runners, and the 10K had 10,000
November
 Heard Oral Arguments for 35 minutes at the Supreme Court Building. Beginning the 1 st Monday in October, the Court
generally hears two one-hour arguments a day, 10am and 11am, Mon, Tues and Wed, with the attorney representing each
side allowed 30 minutes to make a presentation and answer questions. My spectator group was only supposed to be in the
Courtroom for 3 minutes, but it wasn’t a controversial case, so not many people were waiting in line. The Court Chamber
is 44’ high with a coffered ceiling, the raised bench behind which the Justices sit is mahogany, and crimson drapes hang
very dramatically. All the Justices asked questions except Thomas and Roberts. The Chief sits in the middle, and the
Associate Justices sit alternately in order of tenure, the newest on the Chief’s far left, the next newest on his far right, so
Scalia, the most senior Associate is seated immediately to Roberts’ right. When they ask questions, their tone of voice
often indicates their position on the case before them. I then toured the bookstore and ate lunch in the cafeteria.
 The last Tuesday I was a resident here I arose at 2am, drove into the town, parked at my spot at 21 st and Constitution, and
ran one last time. It was a clear sky, and brisk weather. I found the plaque for Alaska and Hawaii inserted into the plaza
in front of the Lincoln Memorial, and the inscription, 18 steps from the chamber, commemorating Dr. King’s “I have a
Dream” speech. I am very grateful for my health, this gift the Lord has given me to live here for a season in my life, and
that I can now go home to Nancy.
 Nancy and I packed my things in a Penske rental truck and left Arlington on Saturday November 6 th at noon, and drove
1,047 miles arriving in Little Rock at 5 pm on Sunday
93
Appendix A
Lists of Favorites
Music
1. Handel - Water Music
2. Mozart - Clarinet Concerto (especially the 2nd movement)
3. Mozart - Piano Concerto #20 (especially the 2nd movement)
4. Mozart - Horn Concerto K412
5. Mozart - Don Giovanni (especially “La ci darem la mano”)
6. Beethoven - Violin Concerto
7. Beethoven - Piano Concerto #5
8. Beethoven - Symphony #5
9. Dvorak - New World Symphony
10. Rachmaninoff - Piano Concerto #2
Books
1. Homer - The Iliad
2. Thucydides - The History of the Peloponnesian War
3. Plutarch - Parallel Lives of Illustrious Greeks and Romans
4. Shakespeare – Henry V (especially Act 4 Scene 3)
5. Cervantes - Don Quixote
6. Dumas – Count of Monte Cristo
7. Murray – Waiting on God, Humility
8. Chambers – My Utmost for His Highest
9. Freeman – George Washington, 7 volumes
10. Grudem – Systematic Theology
Movies
1. Random Harvest
2. Pride of the Yankees
3. The Bishop’s Wife
4. It’s A Wonderful Life
5. The Quiet Man
94
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
My Fair Lady
Fiddler on the Roof
Lonesome Dove
Last of the Mohicans This film illustrates the frontier experiences of Mans Jonasson, Peter Jones and George Rex.
Gettysburg (1993)
This film illustrates the Civil War experiences of William Bach and David Eisenberg
Hymns
1. He Lives
2. In the Garden
3. This is my Father’s World
4. My Faith Has Found a Resting Place
5. Trust and Obey
6. How Great Thou Art
7. It is Well with My Soul
8. For the Beauty of the Earth
Appendix B
History of Family Financial Stewardship
1. Peter Jones, Jr. left the following will dated May 29, 1772
“ I give and bequeath unto my wife my bedstead and all the furniture, three of my best chears, one iron pott of
her choice, two pewter dishes, six pewter plates, my tea kettle and six pewter spoons, one milch cow to be her
choice out of all my cattle. Also, my saddle and the fourth row of apple trees from the meadow. To my eldest son
Peter I give and bequeath all the remainder of my real estate, my negro man, (historical note: eight years later,
in 1780, Pennsylvania passed the Gradual Abolition Act, which was the first emancipation statute in the United
States) and rent of my plantation. To each of my daughters Elizabeth, Pearse, and Judith I bequeath 50 pounds
when each erives at the age of 21 years. I also direct my son Peter to give my youngest son Ezekiel two years of
schooling and provide for him sufficient meat, drink, apparel, washing and lodging and at the experation of said
two years schooling shall bind him to a trade as my said son Ezekiel shall chuse. I also give to my son Ezekiel
my big musket gun when he erives at age 21 years. I make and ordain my wife Ruth Jones and my son Peter
Jones executors of this my last will and testament hereby revoking and making void all former wills made by
me. Signed in the presence of said Peter Jones, and the two witnesses, John Kerlin and Nicholas Bunn.”
2. On March 23, 1929, Frederick Oberle established a Trust for the benefit of his descendents. The Trustee was
the Provident Trust Company of Philadelphia (now PNC)
The Trust was initially funded with
 154 shares of The Pennsylvania RailRoad Company
(This stock was $110/share in 1929, paying an 8% dividend, but by 1932 it
had plunged to$7/share in 1932, paying a 1% dividend)
 456 shares of John B. Stetson Company
 450 shares of Bankers Securities Trust of America
 Assignment of a $5,000 life policy from Mutual Life Insurance Company of New York
 Assignment of two $1,000 life policies from Aetna Life Insurance Company
The income of the trust was to be paid to the descendents, per stirpes, until 20 years after the death of the last
family member who was living at the date the trust was created. He excluded his sons Louis and George , and
their descendents, from the estate. Frederick named the First National Bank of Ocean City as the executor of
his will.
95
3. Christian Peterson, apparently made cautious by the Depression, invested his wealth primarily in Turnpike
Bonds and Municipal Bonds. His favorite financial saying was “10% of wealth is making money, and 90% is
knowing what to do with it.” He had sold the Peterson Packing Company to my Dad in 1956 for $550,000,
carrying the note himself. The debt originally was to be paid over 10 years, but when the oysters died in 1958
Pop reworked the note to be interest annually, and principal repaid only when the business made money. In his
will Pop directed that after his wife’s death the proceeds of their estate, approximately $550,000, was to be
distributed $75,000 to each child, $5,000 to each grandchild, and $10,000 to the Second Presbyterian Church in
Bridgeton. By 1964, however, the oyster business had collapsed to the point that it was impossible for Dad to
repay a $550,000 note because the business wasn’t worth it. He told Mom’s 2 brothers and 2 sisters that he
would turn back ownership to the family unless they agreed to a reappraisal of the business to determine its
current market value. They initially objected because they thought Dad was trying to cheat them out of their
inheritance. They eventually agreed to an outside, objective appraiser who valued the business at not $550,000,
but $55,000! This strained the relationship among Mom’s brothers and sisters because they received a lot
smaller inheritance than they had anticipated.
4. Harold Bickings sold the Peterson Packing Company in 1986 for $420,000. He invested this money,
primarily in Annuities and Municipal Bond mutual funds. Dad was an astute investor, and every time we
talked on the phone, he would refer to some article he had read in the “Wall Street Journal”, and asked me my
opinion. I once asked him if he reinvested all his money back into the Company. He replied that he believed in
diversification, and over the years he had invested a lot of his money outside the oyster business. In 1995 I
helped Dad update his estate planning, and a tax attorney in Atlantic City prepared the wills and created the
trusts, and a Smith Barney officer was the Investment Advisor. After Dad’s death, since I was the Trustee of
the Estate, I invested the money into 10 year 7% fixed rate life insurance annuities, and by the time of Mom’s
death, the, the estate had increased to over $1,600,000. Mom and Dad never touched the principal of the estate
or even the interest, living sparsely on just their Social Security check and his salary as the manager of the
shucking house for the new owner of the business. Dad had kept approximately $59,000 in cash in the safe in
the basement of their house, which was all the Saturday clamming money he had earned over the years. Dad
told me that his only expectation of me for my inheritance was that I bequeath more to my children than he did
to his. Dad’s favorite saying about money was “Variety is the spice of life, but it takes monotony to finance it.”
After Mom’s death, we sold the house at 21 Woodlawn Ave. for $180,000.
5. Nancy and I began tithing 10% of our gross income as soon as we were married, and I believe this is a key to
the innumerable financial blessings in our lives. Every year I applied any tax refund to our house mortgage to
pay down the debt faster. I carry $1,000,000 in term life insurance with USAA, and $65,000 in whole life
insurance with the Army Mutual Aid Association. We pay off our credit card debt at the end of each month. In
1989 I started saving for retirement by contributing 8% of my bi-weekly pay into a 401(k) in which first
Worthen, then Boatmen’s, NationsBank, Bank of America, and Superior Bank matched 75% in company stock.
I invest our retirement money in the Vanguard S&P 500 Index Fund. Similar to the wealth my greatgrandfather Frederick Oberle derived from Stetson stock options, our net worth increased dramatically from
the executive stock options that the bank awarded me each year. For example, in 1991 I was awarded 1,000
options at $12/share, which by 1999 had increased in value to $65/share. Of course, I benefited not only from
the bull market of 1994-1999, but also bank consolidations which added a premium at each acquisition. Because
of these options, by 1999 we had set aside $160,000 to pay for the girls’ college educations, before they even
finished high school. I thought the “tech bubble” was excessive, so I put all this money into cash, thus avoiding
the 2001-2003 recession. When Superior Bank was acquired by Arvest Bank in 2003, my Executive Severance
Package provided me 2.0 times my salary, so I put this all that money into our retirement account. In October
2007 I felt that the economy was again overheated, this time in real estate, so I went to cash as a defensive
measure, and over the next 12 months, God protected me from a 48% decline in market value. In 2008 I
received a $430,000 inheritance from Mom and Dad’s estate, and after we paid the tithe, we paid off our house
mortgage, then put the rest into retirement.
96
Appendix C
Harold Bickings
Esther Peterson
Married
September 6, 1917 - April 14, 1998
March 4, 1919 – October 26, 2007
June 14, 1941
Everett Bickings*
Mary Oberle*
Married
Penna
June 6, 1879 - February 11, 1957
March 1882 - May 14, 1928
February 27, 1916
Frederick Oberle*
Mary Hamilton*****
Married
May 6, 1848 - May 23, 1929
Born in Baden ,Germany
April 26,1848 - January 4, 1914
Born in Philadelphia
July 29, 1872
Frederick was naturalized as a US citizen on 9-27-1870 in Philadelphia
Michael Oberle***
Elizabeth Arnold****
1816 - August 24, 1870
1821 - January 16, 1905
born in Philadelphia
Born in Philadelphia
St. Peter’s Evangelical Lutheran Church, Barren Hill,
Born in Baden, Germany
Born in Baden, Germany
Robert Hamilton
Mary Raigen
Henry Rex Bickings**
Clara Macdowell Cornell*
Married
Born in Philadelphia 137-14-1299
Born in Bridgeton
155-07-1569
Born in Ireland
Born in Ireland
October 17, 1850 - August 3, 1915
March 3, 1859 - October 1, 1930
June 13, 1878
Adrian Cornell
Mary Macdowell
Born in Roxborough, Penna
born in Bucks County, Penna
Born in Scotland
Born in England
Josiah Bickings**
Melvina Rex**
August 11, 1814 - January 18, 1890
March 16, 1821 - February 14, 1908
Born in Penna
Born in Penna
Heinrich Rex*****
Susanna Schong*****
Married
Wilhelm Rex
Catharina Rex
Married
June 1, 1788 – February 7, 1864
1785 – February 18, 1842
February 2, 1811
1743 - March 20, 1812
? - September 11, 1829
1867
born in Roxborough Township
Born in Penna
George (Ruger) Rex Jr.******
Anna Knaus
Married
1720 - 1772
born in Heidelberg Township
August 24, 1742
97
Born in Heidelberg Township
Born in Penna
Joseph Bickings
Catherine Dickerson
1790 - 1854
1790 -
Born in Lower Merion Township
Richard Bicking*******
Sarah Martin
Married
September 18, 1753 - July 31, 1803
Born in Lower Merion Township
John Friedrich Bicking*******
Mary Unvergast*******
Married
Dorothy Jarret
Married
March 29, 1730 - November 4, 1809
Born Winterberg, Germany
August 31, 1732 - November 30, 1782
Born in Otwiller, Germany
May 26, 1752
St. Michael’s & Zion Lutheran Church
1741 - July 16, 1805
May 11, 1784
April 3, 1763 Frederich signed an allegiance to Crown of Great Britain (naturalized)
*
**
***
****
*****
******
****** *
November 16, 1778
Buried in Atlantic City Cemetery, Pleasantville, New Jersey
Buried in Roxborough Presbyterian Church Yard, Philadelphia, Penna
Buried in Franklin Cemetery, Philadelphia, Penna
Buried in Cedar Hill Cemetery, Philadelphia, Penna
Buried in St. Peter’s Lutheran Churchyard, Barren Hill, Penna
Buried in St. Michael’s Lutheran Church in Germantown
Buried in the Bickings private family burial ground (behind 149 Fairview Rd, Penn Valley, in Lower Merion Township)
Appendix D
Christian Peterson*
Carrie Esther Bach*
Married
June 24, 1896 - April 14, 1961
July 1, 1895 - September 28, 1968
February 28, 1917
Born in Greenwich, NJ
Born in Philadelphia
John Peterson*
Elizabeth Bangel*
February 27, 1865 - January 1, 1940
Born in Denmark
August 15, 1869 - August 16, 1942
Born in Penna
John petitioned for US citizenship 10-27-1887 in Camden, NJ
Anders Pedersen
Ane Jensen
March 9, 1843 - March 23, 1931
September 12, 1842 - June 27, 1915
Born and died in Denmark
Born and died in Denmark
George Bangel
Leia Schmidt
1830 - ?
Born in Hesse-Darmstadt, Germany
Born in Hesse-Darmstadt, Germany
Harry Francis Bach
Stella Baker Eisenberg*
Married Stella
September 17, 1875- ?
July 21, 1873 - May 15, 1957
November 22, 1894
Born in Pottstown, Penna
Born in Pottstown, Penna
William Price Bach Sr.****
Elizabeth May
****
Married
Mary Ervines
Married
September 20,1845 - February 11, 1920
December 25, 1847 - September 9, 1913
June 30, 1866
Born in Germantown
Born in Pennsylvania
Francis S. Bach
Mary Price
Married
April 10, 1820 – July 30, 1882
May 22, 1819 – November 21,1908
November 9, 1841
Born in Philadelphia
Born in Chester, Penna
David Yerger Eisenberg**
Sarah E. Baker
Married
Sarah Yorgey**
Married
November 28, 1840 - August 1, 1917
July 15, 1841 - December 16, 1878
July 4, 1861
1850 - August 15, 1911
March 23, 1880
Born in Franconia Township
Samuel Jones Eisenberg
Lydia Yerger
Married
May 12, 1806 - August 11, 1861
September 18, 1804 - April 16, 1873
September 6, 1829
Born in Limerick Township
Born in Penna
Lawrence Eisenberg***
Ruth Jones***
Married
June 30, 1763 - October 4, 1826
July 20, 1775 - September 5, 1826
January 12, 1794
Born in Penna
Born in Amity Township
December 24, 1916
98
Peter Jones III ***
Katharina Kerlin***
Married
October 10, 1749- November 24, 1809
November 9, 1756- February 25, 1844
October 13, 1772
Born in Amity Township
Born in Chester County
Peter Jones Jr.
Ruth Henton
1715 – 1773
1723 - 1780
Born in Amity Township
Born in Philadelphia
Peter Jones, Sr.
Elizabeth Henry
1693 - 1758
1695 - 1771
Born in Aronameck
Mounce Jonasson
Ingabor Yocum
1668 - 1727
1670 - 1728
Born in Kingsessing
Born in Sweden
Jonas Nilsson*****
Gertrude Svensdotter
1620 - 1693
1630 - 1695
Born in Sweden
Born in Sweden
*
**
***
****
*****
Buried in Overlook Cemetery, Bridgeton, NJ
Buried in Hillside Cemetery, Roslyn, Penna
Buried in St. Gabriel’s Episcopal Church Yard, Douglassville, Penna
Buried in Pottstown Cemetery, Pottstown, Penna
Buried in Old Swedes Church Cemetery, Philadelphia
Appendix E
Sources
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.
16.
17.
18.
19.
20.
21.
22.
23.
24.
25.
26.
27.
28.
29.
30.
31.
32.
33.
34.
“The Swedish Settlement on the Delaware 1638-1664” Vol I, by Amandus Johnson, Ph.D.
“Genealogy of Jonas Nilsson” by Dr. Peter S. Craig, Swedish Colonial Society News, Vol 1, Nmb 7, Spring 1993
“Early Americans” by Carl Bridenbaugh
“The Pennsylvania Line” by John B. Trussell, on the 11th Pennsylvania Regiment
“The Eisenberg-Jones Family Record” submitted to the Daughter’s of The American Revolution, 1926
obtained from the Historical Society of Montgomery County, Penna
St. Gabriel Episcopal Church, Douglasville, PA, records on Peter Jones Jr. and Lawrence Eisenberg
“History of the Pennsylvania Volunteers 1861-1865” by Samuel P. Bates, on the 129th Penna Infantry Regiment
“Politics, Reform and Expansion 1890-1900” by Harold U. Faulkner
National Archives and Records Administration, Washington D.C., for Civil War Pension Records of David Eisenberg
Web Page on Dr. Russell Conwell
“Still Philadelphia - A Photographic History 1890-1940” by Fredric Miller and Morris Vogel
“Gettysburg - The Second Day” by Harry W. Pfanz
Interview with William P. Bach, Pottstown Daily Ledger, July 1, 1913
“Army Medical Department 1818-1865” by Mary G. Gillett
National Archives and Records Administration, Washington, D.C. for the Civil War Records of William P. Bach
“A Short History of Denmark” by Stewart Oakley
“Passenger Lists of Vessels Arriving at Baltimore 1821-1890” microfilm from the National Archives
“South Jersey’s Oyster Industry” by Shirley Bailey, published by the South Jersey Magazine
Web Page on the Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse
Bulletin of the Historical Society of Montgomery County – Vol XI Fall 1957-Spring 1959
Lineage Book of the Daughters of the American Revolution #146149 - Volume CXLVII dated 1919
“Lower Merion’s Mill History” The Landmark, the Newsletter of the Lower Merion Conservancy Fall 1996
“German Settlers in Pennsylvania 1743-1800” by Edward Hocker
“Colonists in Bondage - White Servitude and Convict Labor in America 1607-1776” by Abbot Emerson Smith
Transcribed from the Pennsylvania Archives (series 6, volume 1, page 938)
“1777 - The Year of the Hangman” by John Pancake
“The Crucible of War - The Seven Years’ War and the Fate of Empire in British North America” by Fred Anderson
National Genealogical Society Quarterly - December 1980 “George Rex of Germantown” by Doris Rex Schutte
“The German Immigration into Penna ” by Frank Diffenderffer
1860 McElroy’s Philadelphia City Directory
“Roxborough Presbyterian Church, an outline of its History 1854-1904” by Henry McManus
“The Era of Expansion 1800-1848” by Don Fehrenbacher
Minutes from the January 20, 1903 meeting of the Board of Directors of the John B. Stetson Company
Stetson Hats and the John B. Stetson Company 1865-1970, by Jeffery B. Snyder
99
35. Muhlenberg College Athletic Department, Allentown, Penna, and the Carnegie Hero Fund Commission, Pittsburgh,
Penna, for information on George Gernerd
36. Web Page listing the statistics of each game of Joe DiMaggio’s 56 game hitting streak
37. “Epidemic and Peace 1918” by Alfred Cosby
38. “Take Me Out to the Ballpark” by Josh Leventhal
Sources (continued)

























Pennsylvania Births - Montgomery County 1682-1800 by John T. Humphrey
1790 United States Census on Richard Bickings
1820 United States Census Records on John Bickings
1850 United States Census Records on Josiah Bickings
1860 United States Census Records on Samuel Eisenberg
1870 United States Census Records on Michael Oberle
1880 United States Census Records on William P. Bach Sr.
1900 United States Census Records on Frederick Oberle
Roxborough Presbyterian Church Cemetery records on Josiah and Henry Bickings
Death Certificates on John Peterson, Elizabeth Bangel, Christian Peterson, Stella Bach, Frederick
Oberle, Clara Oberle, Mary Bickings, Henry Bickings, David Eisenberg, Samuel Eisenberg, Michael Oberle, Elizabeth
Oberle, Melvina Rex
Divorce Court Records on Harry and Stella Bach
Obituaries from the Bridgeton Evening News on John Peterson and Christian Peterson
Interviews with Harold and Esther Bickings, Marie Peterson Elwell, Christian and Spencer Peterson
PNC Trust Department, Philadelphia, Penna for a copy of the 1929 Trust of Frederick Oberle
Research by Michael Ramage, professional genealogist
United States Naturalization Records on Frederick Oberle, George Bangel and John Peterson
Research by Vivian Taylor, Staff Genealogist for the Historical Society of Montgomery County, Penna
“The First 300 Years – The Amazing and Rich History of Lower Merion” edited by the Lower Merion Historical Society
Walt Whitman’s Fredericksburg poems – “A Sight in Camp in the Daybreak Gray and Dim” and “Sights – The Great
Army of the Sick”, “The Wound Dresser” and “The Real Precious and Royal Ones of this Land”
Staley-Bickings Family Manuscript, archived in the Montgomery County Historical Society
The Federal Window Pane Tax of 1798 for Lower Merion Township, Montgomery County, Penna, levied on Frederick
Bickings
Map of the Mills of Mill Creek in 1776, drawn by Dr. Douglas Macfarlan in 1937 (Lower Merion Hist Society)
“Red-tape and Pigeon-hole Generals” by William H. Armstrong, edited by Frederick Arner. Reprint of an 1864 thinly
guised account of the 129th Penna Infantry Regiment and its Commander Andrew A. Humphries
The Historic Preservation Trust of Berks County, Penna on the Mans Jones House
DAR Genealogical Library, Washington, D.C.
Next Steps
100
My desire is that one of my relatives, or a descendent in the future, would continue this family research with the same
degree of accuracy that I have pursued. I would suggest the following areas need further research:


A lot of information needs to be gathered on:
George Bangel and Leia Schmidt
Robert Hamilton and Mary Raigen
Adrian Cornell and Mary McDowell
Sarah Baker’s parents
Joseph Bickings
What years did Frederick Oberle work at Stetsons? When and where were Frederick and Clara Cornell Bickings
married?
Appendix F
New Jersey Family Genealogy
Children of Elizabeth and John Peterson
Christian John
Helena
m. Winfred Cawgill
Marie
m. Roscoe DeBaun
b. 07.24.1896
b. 05.26.1894
d. 04.14.1961
d. 03.26.1977
b. 02.27.1901
d. 01.01.1970
b. 01.25.1918
d. 04.11.2005
Esther Mae
b. 03.04.1919
d. 10.26.2007
John Christian
m. Betty Ruff
02.08.1941
Spencer
m. June Canevari 02.22.1969
Scott
Todd
m. Kandy Wescott 04.04.1992
b. 10.31.1920
b. 03.15.1920
b. 11.21.1946
d. 03.06.1990
d. 11.01.1995
Children of Carrie and Christian Peterson
Marie Anna
m. Wilbert Ellwell
08.26.1937
Janet
Jimmy
Christian John
m. Dorothy Eddy
07.09.1949
Greg
m. Kathleen McDowell
Bruce
m. Zina
Christian John III (Chip)
m. Karen Haaf
Diane
m. Keith Hill
Robbie
m. Carmela Morris
NJ State Teachers College at Glassboro
sister Tracy died in childbirth
b. 06.04.1972
b. 11.02.1975
b. 07.10.1926
b. 10.04.1926
b. 10.07.1950
d. 09.26.2001
Rutgers University 1948
Glassboro College 1972
b. 05.08.1953
b. 02.04.1957
Trenton State Mortuary College 1978
b. 04.18.1961
Rutgers University 1983
b. 04.03.1963
101
Elizabeth “Betty” Helen
m. Donald Johnson
03.07.1954
m. Nancy Price
08.11.1982
Donnie Millard Jr.
m. Karen Richter 10..24.1981
David Kevin
m. Donna Wulderk 08.20.1983
Darrell Charles
m. Ingrid Mohr
06.14.1980
Linda Susanne
m. Frank Loew
10.25.1986
Children of Esther and Harold Bickings
Stella Bonnie
m. Bruce Erickson
06.22.1968
Harold Everett Jr.
m. Cheryl Ware
02.07.1970
m. Mary Ann Overdevest Saulin 8.31.2001
Duane Keith
m. Nancy Zabel
02.01.1975
John Christian
m. Jayme Bonnet
12.19.1976
b. 06.06.1936
b. 04.14.1934
b. 07.13.1934
b. 09.28.1954
b. 08.01.1958
b. 11.19.1956
b. 06.17.1958
b. 04.08.1959
b. 12.14.1957
b. 10.11.1963
b. 01.03.1963
d. 04.15.1980
b. 4.24.1943
d. 10.11.1981
d. 09.05.2008
d. 04.20.2007
b. 9.30.1945
Carthage College 1968
Carthage College 1969
Our Lady of Lords School/ Nursing 1970
West Point 1974
Texas Women’s University 1975
Annapolis 1976
Texas Women’s University 1976
b. 09.24.1951
b. 11.11.1952
b. 07.06.1954
b. 03.01.1954
Appendix G
New Jersey Family Genealogy
Children of Stella and Bruce Erickson
Matthew
m. Jennifer Matarese 07.23.1994
Casey
Laura
m. Billy Harris
08.21.2003
Derrick Swanson
Children of Cheryl and Harold Bickings Jr.
Leah
m. George Taylor
11.14.1992
Jonathan
Dillon
Ryan
Harold III
m. Emily Beck
11.20.1999
Abbey
Molly
b. 12.02.1969
b. 01.29.1970
b. 05.15.2003
b. 06.20.1972
Rutgers University - Camden 1993
Rutgers University - Camden 1994
b. 02.14.1995
b. 03.18.1971
Rowan University 1995
Rowan University 1996
b. 03.01.1991
b. 01.21.1999
b. 03.25.2004
b. 11.03.1973
b. 10.11.1974
b. 07.07.2005
b. 02.25.2010
Trenton State College 1996
Winthrop University 1997
Children of Nancy and Duane Bickings
Kambry
m. Brian Ruby
01-08-2005
Ashlyn
b. 08.17.1981
b. 05.05.1981
b. 03.09.1984
Baylor University 2004
Baylor University 2004
Baylor University 2005
Children of Jayme and John Bickings
Christian
m. Julie Pedrick
08.19.2006
b. 04.15.1981
b. 08.11.1978
Annapolis 2003
The College of New Jersey 2000
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Caroline
Steven
m. Mary Alice James
Conrad
07.14.2007
b. 11.27.2009
b. 04.13.1983
b. 03.03.1983
b. 05.17.1987
Texas A&M 2005, Texas Tech Law School 2008
Texas A&M 2005
Annapolis 2009
Oklahoma Panhandle Pioneers
Zabel - Schaeffer
Pickard - Ferguson
We say time flies, but some people say that time stays, and we go. We enter the starting blocks of life
not knowing the length of the race. Our life may be a sprint or a marathon, we are not told in advance.
All that we can decide is how we will run. Joseph Feeton has observed that every life shares a common
mark, and he calls it “the dash between the dates”. On every tombstone, whether ornate or simple, they
put one dash between between the date of birth and the date of death. We get one dash through life. It
reminds us of the stark truth. Just as man is destined to die once and after that to face judgment, so
Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many people. In the end, men reduce all living to a
cold mark on the stone. For those of us who live a life worthy of the Lord, following in the footsteps of
Jesus, the end of the dash on earth is the beginning of heaven’s glory. Some ancestors ran well, finished
strong, and received an eternal prize. You and I are still in the race.
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It’s hard to believe, but an event in 1763 in Russia is still affecting the Oklahoma Panhandle today. That
year, Catherine the Great issued a Manifesto promising free land, exemption from taxes and military
service, local self-government, and freedom to retain their religion and culture if German farmers would
relocate to the prairies of Russia. Catherine had been a 15 year old princess born in Germany when she was
pledged in marriage to Czar Peter III. When he died and she became Czarina, she had a lot more respect for
the hardworking nature and thrift of Germans than what she thought was the sloth of the Slavic peasants.
The following years thousands of people left Germany and Prussia (Poland) to immigrate to the windswept prairie of Russia along the Volga River. One hundred ten years later, Czar Alexander III reversed all
the earlier reforms, and began persecuting the German and Polish farmers in Russia. Thus began the
exodus to the free land of the central United States.
The passage of the Enlarged Homestead Act of 1909 by the United States Congress led to the settlement of
the frontier known then as ‘No Man’s Land”, and today as the Oklahoma Panhandle. Promised 320 acres of
free land, poor German and Polish born farmers started planting “turkey red”, a wheat seed they had
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brought with them from Russia which was resistant to harsh winter weather and drought. Over the next 25
years this pioneering effort, coupled with the increased efficiency of mechanized farming, converted the
grassland sod of Cimarron, Texas and Beaver counties into highly productive dry-land wheat farms.
August Zabel “Grandpa Zabel” (1859 - 1934) was born in Poland, and Minnie Roberts (which she
explained to people is pronounced Ro ‘ berts) “Grandma Zabel” (1873 - 1925) was born in Russia. They
embarked from Bremen, Germany, and landed at Baltimore, Maryland, on July 12, 1892. On his
naturalization papers to become a U.S. citizen, August had to renounce his allegiance to the Czar of Russia,
but since he couldn’t write his name, he put his mark “X” on the application. They had 13 children: Emma
(she was riding alone in a one-horse buggy when the horse was spooked by something in the road, bolted in
fear, and Emma was thrown from the buggy and broke her neck. Her husband Gus then married her sister)
Augusta, Fred, Anna, Elsie, Herman (all born in Lehigh, Kansas, near the original Atchison, Topeka and
Santa Fe Railroad line), Ed, Sam, Mary, Ernest, Albert, Elizabeth and Minnie. Their first home in Texas
County in 1902 was a two room shack, they burned cow chips as fuel, then built their two story “home
place” near Hooker about 1919. August demanded only German (low Dutch) spoken at home. “English is
what those Irish speak”. He would be gone for months at a time working as part of a thrashing crew
following the harvest up the Great Plains as far as North Dakota, so Minnie basically ran the farm. Each
evening after supper, she would read the Bible by candle light to all her children and teach them how she
wanted them to live. Minnie was a large woman with jet black hair and had severe varicose veins. The
older children attended a one room school made of sod through the 3rd grade (August made all his children
go to work full-time on the farm at age 10), and the whole family attended the Mennonite Brethren Church
in Adams (where Minnie is buried, and her tombstone has the epitaph “Asleep in Jesus”). Her children all
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reminisced that August was very strict, but Minnie was affectionate, and provided correction with
gentleness, reasoning, and encouragement. After she passed away, Grandpa Zabel started attending the
Nazarene Church in Hooker, where he is buried.
In 1838, Gottlieb and Katharina Maier Schaeffer left the village of Handwailer, which is on the Neckar
River near Waiblingen in the vicinity of Stuttgart, Germany, and traveled southeast over 1,500 miles and
settled in Rosenfeld, in the Caucases of Russia, near Stavropol, to take advantage of free land. Both their
son and grandson, John Schaeffer (1877 - 1958) were born here, as was John’s future wife Magdalena
Hildebrand (1880 - 1918). After almost sixty years, the land couldn’t support three generations of families,
so in 1898 the entire Schaeffer and Hildebrand family embarked on a 1,900 mile journey further east,
relocating to Hannovka, on the edge of the Western Siberian Plain where more free land was available.
(The movie Fiddler on the Roof depicts what life in “the little village of Hannovka” must have been like).
Although there is just a three month growing season for crops, the soil is black and very fertile, and there
are dense forests everywhere so firewood was plentiful. John, like most of the Schaeffers who moved with
him, were farmers who raised wheat on just thirty acres, and it was in this quiet village that their children
Phillip, Emma, Mary, John, Paul, Otto, and Lizzie were born. In the winter the temperature could drop to
50 degrees below zero, and they had to shovel away all the snow drifts from the house just to get sunlight in
the two windows in their mud huts. To avoid the sons and husbands being drafted into the Russian Army,
in late June, 1913, they began what can only be described as a monumental undertaking. John and
Magdalena, the seven children, Magdalena’s recently widowed mother, and another family loaded all their
belongings into a horse-drawn wagon and drove two days from Hannovka to Semipalatinsk, where they
navigated a flat boat up the Irtysh River to Omsk, which took three days. There they boarded a train on the
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Trans-Siberian Railway beginning the 2,500 mile trek west across the Ural Mountains to Moscow which
took six more days. (Another movie, Doctor Zhivago, depicts a family fleeing Moscow to find refuge in
Siberia, and that train ride was certainly what the Schaeffers experienced). In Moscow they changed trains
to go on to St. Petersburg, boarded a small ship from Libau (Latvia) sailing across the Baltic Sea and North
Sea, stopping one night in Liverpool, England, for additional food and water, then began the seven-day
voyage across the Atlantic Ocean bound for Halifax, Canada. Landing on August 2, 1913, they processed
through immigration at Pier 2, and then continued on the Grand Trunk Railroad from Halifax to Chicago,
eventually stopping in Milwaukee for a few months to rest up before the final leg of their journey. The
family settled in Shattuck in 1914 because some Hildebrand relatives were living there. After Magdalena
died, John married Mollie Laubhan in 1924 and moved to Follett, Texas where he worked as a shoe
cobbler, but the family chose for him to be buried back in Shattuck next to Magdalena.
It might be interesting to compare the typical immigration steamer of 1912-1913 with the greatest luxury
liner of that era, which will be mentioned in parenthesis. The Schaeffers boarded the steamer Russia
(Titanic) which was built in 1908 (1911) in Glasgow, Scotland (Belfast, Ireland), for the Russian-American
Line (White Star Line), was 475 feet long (882), had 2 funnels (4), had a maximum speed of 15 knots (24),
could accommodate 40 First Class Passengers (739), 56 Second Class passengers (674), and 1,626 steerage
passengers (1,026). The Russia made the Latvia/Halifax/New York City run until World War I broke out in
August, 1914, when it was mothballed because all immigration across the Atlantic stopped. The Russia
was sold to a Japanese company in 1924 and renamed the Huso Maru, and became a Japanese troop ship in
World War II. It was torpedoed and sunk off the Philippines on March 17, 1944, by the U.S. Navy
submarine Steelhead.
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Fred Zabel (1897 - 1985) and Emma Schaeffer (1902 - 1987) were married on February 14, 1920, in
Shattuck, Oklahoma. The first six months of their marriage they lived at the “home place” with Fred’s
parents before moving into their own house nearby. Emma’s sister, Lizzie, lived with them off and on from
1924 – 1934. Fred and Emma had four children. Wilbert, who enlisted in the Navy in October 1941, and
served 17 years until he received a medical discharge due to a disability from World War II. Norma, whose
first husband and two infant sons are buried in the Lutheran graveyard in Oslo, (Hansford County) Texas,
had breast cancer surgery in 1959. Her son, Larry, was an All-State Oklahoma football player in 1960, but
broke his ankle which ended his hopes for a college scholarship. Norma moved to Amarillo in 1965,
following her divorce, and completed a 40 year career working for J.C. Penny’s. Clarence was their third
child; and Velma Jewel, the fourth child, who with her husband Leonard, pioneered a Foursquare church in
Fort Collins, Colorado, 1956-1962, pastored a church in Scotts Bluff, Nebraska, 1962-1970, back to Fort
Collins 1970-1978, Los Angeles 1978-1983, and have lived in Cameron, Texas, since 1983.
Clarence was born about four miles southwest of Hooker, Oklahoma, just off Hwy 54 (the Frinfrock place).
He was called “Bud” for the first year of his life because his parents couldn’t agree on a name! Clarence
first attended the Buffalo School, a two room country schoolhouse about a mile from his family’s
homestead. On his 10th birthday the family relocated to a farmhouse about eight miles southwest of
Guymon, Oklahoma (the King place). Clarence then attended the Frisco School, a one room schoolhouse
from the 5th - 8th grades. He experienced first hand the Dust Bowl days of the Oklahoma Panhandle from
1934 - 1937. The worst dust storm was on Palm Sunday, April 14, 1935. A huge cloud appeared about 3
pm, and by all accounts the sky went absolutely black for about two hours. Many people thought it was the
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end of the world and dropped to their knees in prayer. Clarence said that whenever a dust storm blew at
night, he and his brother would go to bed under a moistened bed sheet, and the next morning it would be
covered with dirt. Clarence contracted Rheumatic Fever when he was 16, and had to lay out his entire
junior year of high school. In 1940 they moved again (the Ritter place). His father wanted him to start
working on the farm, so Clarence never had a chance to finish school. He got a “farmers deferment” in
World War II, which exempted the last son of a farm family from going to war. Clarence became a
Christian in 1946 and was baptized after church one Sunday in the Frisco Creek.
Jean and Clarence were married at the First Foursquare Church in Guymon at 4pm on Sunday, September
8, 1946. Jean’s Maid of Honor was Lural Dryden and Clarence’s Best Man was his cousin, Billy Schaeffer
(who died just two years later of a brain aneurism caused by his epilepsy). Patty was the flower girl. After
the reception at the Pickard home, Jean and Clarence drove his dad’s 1941 GMC pickup all night long to
Canyon City, Colorado, where Clarence’s parents had moved to open a tourist court called “Fred’s Cottage
Camp” on Highway 50. (Clarence’s parents were still in Guymon having attended the wedding, so the
cottages were temporarily closed up). Jean and Clarence finally arrived at 4am on September 9th, and were
attempting to crawl through a window when a local resident spotted them and thought they were burglars!
In January 1947 they went to Los Angeles to attend the Foursquare denomination’s LIFE Bible College.
They decided that they weren’t called to the full-time ministry, so they returned to Guymon. He worked at
odd jobs over the next ten years as a carpenter and painter saving enough money to start his own business.
In the winter of 1956-1957 Clarence, with the help from his close friend Everett Rush, built the home at
828 West 4th Street in Guymon for $10,000. The family started “batching it” each summer (the Timmons
place) since Clarence worked so late each day. In 1965 the family moved to the little farming community of
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Hitchland, Texas, to be closer to the farm and ranch land. Clarence got his big break in 1957 when Mr.
Ralph Bort, the President of Gruver State Bank gave him his first loan to buy 250 head of cattle. It was a
“character loan” since Clarence didn’t have enough collateral or co-signers to warrant the loan.
Hitchland was established in 1929 when the Chicago, Rock Island and Gulf Railroad laid track across
northern Hansford County. Reaching a peak population of 100 in 1948, Hitchland had a hotel, a grocery
store, a U.S. Post Office from 1930 – 1955, and the Hitchland School (where Lit Hall taught) was merged
into the Gruver ISD in 1954.
Yorkshire is the largest of the 39 historic counties, or shires, in England. The countryside is widely
considered among the greenest and most fertile in England, and was the home of Vikings before they were
conquered by the Normans in the year 1066. In the 19th century, the coal, textile and steel industries were
booming, which led to overcrowding in the cities. The resulting poor living conditions contributed to
cholera outbreaks in 1832 and 1848. Tens of thousands of English immigrated to the United States and
Canada in the following years to try to start a new life. The White Rose of York was the symbol of the
House of York in Medieval England, and has been adopted as a symbol of Yorkshire as a whole. The rose
is white in color because in Christian literature white typifies innocence, purity and joy.
John William Pickard (1822 - 1897) and Frances Hutchison (1824-1868) were born in Yorkshire, England.
They immigrated to Ottawa, Canada, where one of their children, James S. Pickard “Grandpa Pickard”
(1852 - 1932) was born. In 1864 they moved to Elkhart, Indiana, where Frances died in childbirth. Lulu
Elizabeth Stephens “Grandma Pickard” (1874 - 1959) was the daughter of Charles and Mildred Stephens.
Lulu remarked that she and her father participated in the April 22, 1889, Oklahoma Land Rush, and that her
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grandmother was full-blooded Sac and Fox Indian. James and Lulu married in 1891 in Mulhall, Oklahoma.
James and Lulu had ten children; John (Jay), Jim, Charley, Nora (who died in childbirth), Forrest “Oakie”
(1901 - 1977), Viola (who married Andrew Costner, whose younger brother Walter is the grandfather of
actor Kevin Costner), Bill, Ed, Howard and Oral (Grandpa Pickard was 66 years old when Oral was born :),
and moved many times across country by horse and covered wagon from Eastern Oklahoma to Rossville
(where Forrest was born) to Geary, then to Weatherford (where Grandpa Pickard managed a wagon yard)
and finally settling in Guymon Township in 1912. Grandpa Pickard apparently passed on his horsemanship
skills to two of his sons. Bill started training quarter horses and thoroughbreds to race in New Mexico,
Colorado and New Mexico. Oral took that profession a step further, and he trained horses that competed at
Hialeah Race Track in Florida, Belmont in New York, and Santa Anita in Southern California. The movie
“Seabiscuit” depicts what training horses was like in the 1930s and 1940s.
Their eldest son, Jay, was drafted into the Army in the summer of 1917. The night before he had to leave
home for basic training, his fiancé, Ada Clark, had dinner with the Pickard family. When it got to be so
late, she stayed overnight and slept with Nora and Viola. The next morning, after saying farewell to his
parents at the homestead, Jay hitched up the team and rig so he and Ada could travel alone to the train
station in Guymon for what must have been an emotional parting. Jay would write letters to his parents
while he was in France. Forrest said that after his mother read each letter out loud to the family, they would
all just sit and cry together because they missed Jay so much. Jay was stricken by Spanish Influenza, and
died while serving in the U.S. Army in France in World War I. An Act of Congress in March, 1929,
authorized the Secretary of War to pay all expenses for any “Gold Star Mother” of military and naval forces
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who died in service in the war to travel to France to visit the gravesite. By the time the program ended,
some 6,693 women had made the two week pilgrimage. The Act of 1929 did not contain any provision for
any member to make the trip except the mother, so the trip was a life-changing experience for many who
had never traveled outside their hometown or state. “If you think about it, you are between 50-65 years old,
and asked to travel 6000 miles away with a complete group of strangers. You’re on a trip with nobody you
know, and although everything is going to be taken care of, it had to be a terrifying experience.” Lulu sailed
from New York City on June 15, 1933, aboard the steamer SS Manhattan. Although the Army expected the
mothers to break down at the gravesites, they instead showed great strength. One observer said “I think the
mothers came out of the experience of visiting the cemeteries feeling that the sacrifice was worth it, that
this crusade (the war to end all wars) was necessary and significant”. There is a treasured and poignant
black and white photograph of Lulu sitting next to Jay’s tombstone at the Oise-Aisne American Cemetery
located seventy miles northeast of Paris, where his is one of 6,012 crosses. This picture conveys a thousand
unspoken words concerning grief, faith, and pride.
.James Quience Ferguson “Grandpa Ferguson” (1864 - 1930) was born to Andrew Ferguson and Mary
Ellen Benlow. James married Mary Ellen Brumback “Grandma Ferguson” (1864 - 1938), and they raised
dryland wheat near Hwy 54 between Nevada, Missouri and Fort Scott, Kansas, where their six children
were born; Bessie, Eva, Ethel (who married Uncle Alfred, lived in Mullinville, Kansas (pop 215), and used
to say “if a diet doesn’t include fried chicken and corn on the cob, it’s not for me”) Mearl, Don (who was
kicked in the head by a horse when he was 10 years old, which affected him mentally the rest of his life),
and their last child was Leila (1905 - 1978). Grandma Ferguson died while visiting Ethel in Mullinville.
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Guymon was established in 1902 when the Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad extended the line
southwest from Liberal to Texhoma. Originally called Sanford Switch, the population growth is as follows:
1910
1,342
1920
1,507
1930
2,181
1940
2,290
1950
4,718
1960
5,768
1970
6,855
1980
8,492
1990
7,803
2000
10,472
As early as 1911, the town had three banks, two newspapers - the Guymon Herald and the Guymon
Democrat, four doctors, three hotels, and a number of retail outlets. The Texas County Courthouse was
built in 1926. Guymon schools closed one year during the Great Depression due to lack of funds, the city
hosted the first Pioneer Days Celebration in 1933, the Guymon Hospital was constructed in 1949, and in
1991 Seaboard Farms built two hog farms in the area contributing to a current 38% Hispanic population in
Guymon.
Forrest and Leila were married on October 14, 1923, and she carried a peach handkerchief down the aisle at
the ceremony. (A family tradition was started, and that same handkerchief was also carried down the aisle
at the wedding ceremonies of her four daughters, her granddaughters, Judy and Nancy, and her greatgranddaughter Kambry). Forrest and Leila’s first child, Alice Eileen, lived only one month, unexpectedly
dying of pneumonia. She died in Lelia’s arms and that tragedy haunted Leila the rest of her life. Jean,
Dorothy and Lois were born in Grandma Ferguson’s house, and Patty was born at a mid-wife’s house in
Guymon. Forrest rented about 5 quarters of land, raised dry-land wheat and sorghum, and their homestead
was 3½ miles west of town off Hwy 54. In 1941 they moved to a house off Hwy 3. After he retired, they
moved into town to 203 S. May Street (phone # 338-3868). Try to imagine Christmas Day 1963, Dorothy and
Paul travel and stay overnight, but everyone else lives in Guymon. Seventeen people (the grandparents,
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aunts and uncles, cousins), in that small house, but the closeness of family ties was evident in the laughter,
playing Rook (a card game without face cards), kids running around, a 500 piece jigsaw puzzle, and great
food, including the family tradition, homemade noodles.
Imogene Lucille (Jean) Pickard became a Christian in 1938 and was baptized in a horse tank that was
brought into the First Foursquare Church for the occasion. She attended the Salyer Elementary School, then
Guymon High School, graduating in 1944. When Jean and Clarence were growing up, they lived on farms
in the country. Each of their families had a chicken house with about twenty hens and two roosters, raised
hogs for pork, had ten Jersey milk cows (Jerseys gave richer milk, but the local dairies used Guernsey
cows, because they produced a lot more milk), one bull for beef cattle to eat, and a wind mill and water
tank. Indoor plumbing and indoor electricity wasn’t installed until about 1946, so outhouses and kerosene
lamps were used. Around 1940 they first purchased battery operated radios for family entertainment. A
large summer garden would produce vegetables to be canned for the winter, and there was a coal burning
pot belly stove in the middle of the house. In essence, each farm was nearly a self-sufficient operation to
support one family.
Dorothy and Paul Ritchie eloped and got married in Clayton, New Mexico. Paul played football on a full
scholarship at Panhandle A&M College for 2 years, was drafted, took basic training at Camp Roberts,
California, then was stationed in Fort Benning, Georgia, where he was a clerk typist in the morning, and
played on the post football and baseball teams in the afternoons. After his discharge from the Army, Paul
played one more year of football at college, and he and Dorothy graduated in 1955. In their teaching careers
they taught at Darrouzett 1955-1958 (Dorothy’s first salary was $2,850/year); Morse 1958-1959; Highland
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Park Elementary in Amarillo 1959-1969; Alamogordo, New Mexico 1970-1971; and River Road
Elementary in Amarillo 1971-1985. Paul retired in 1978 to focus on his investments (he has used the same
stock broker since 1972, primarily utilities, and in particular, Consolidated Edison) and golf game, and
Dorothy retired in 1985. They took a 22 day European vacation to ten countries in 1968, and especially
loved Sorrento, Italy. They also spent a week on Waikiki Beach in Honolulu each summer from 19701978. Their three Pekinese dogs were Tuffy, Rusty, and Sandy.
Lois and Phil Demetro (Phil’s grandfather, Demetrius Bobopoulus, was from Greece) were married in
Angelus Temple in Los Angeles. While Phil went to college, he worked as a linotype apprentice at the Los
Angeles Times, which in those years was a very conservative newspaper. They moved to Texas and
established the Irving Foursquare Church from 1954-1958, and Phil worked a 2nd job as a linotype operator
at the Arlington Journal. Next, Phil and Lois pastored the Guymon Foursquare Church 1958-1964, the
Midland Foursquare Church 1964-1972, and finally the Lubbock First Foursquare Church (where Lois was
the Director of the pre-school and kindergarten) from 1972 until their retirement in 1994. Since that date,
Phil has worked in the hospice ministry in Lubbock.
Ronny Demetro lived with Jean and Clarence each summer during his junior high and high school years
since he loved working cattle, farming and being around horses. Nancy said that Ronnie was like the
brother she never had. Ronny and Donny’s main interest growing up was rodeo, with Ronny’s event being
bareback bronc riding, and Donny’s was bull riding. During their rodeo “careers” from 1973-1980 they
would enter 2 different amateur rodeos most weekends, competing in Texas, Oklahoma, New Mexico,
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Kansas, and Colorado. Ronnie’s largest winning purse was $1,500, and his favorite rodeo that he entered
each year was the “Roaring Springs Stampede”. After Ronny and Jan were married they lived on the
Timmons Place working for Clarence for two years, then they moved to Fort Worth where he worked for
the Vann-Roach Cattle Company as yard foreman from 1982-2000. Since then he has run his own
company, Metroplex Rain Gutters, and Donny has been his lead foreman. Lois and Phil’s third son, Randy,
was born with the rare genetic disorder Usher’s Syndrome, that causes deafness and gradual vision loss in
one out of every 23,000 people. It has been a real witness to observe how Randy has dealt with this
disability with courage, perseverance and a happy personality.
Patty worked as a switchboard operator “number please” before she and her husband, Bob Boston, moved
from Guymon to Oklahoma City in 1963. Bob worked at General Electric/Honeywell/Control Data 19651976, and Organon Teknika 1976-1992 when he retired. Bob was diagnosed with diabetes when he was
just 30 years old. From 1965-1967 Patty worked at the General Electric plant on the weather satellite for
the Apollo Lunar Module, then she owned and operated the Guthrie Whole Foods Store 1998-2004. Patty
and Bob were astute real estate investors, and they successfully bought and sold houses in Oklahoma City,
Yukon, Guthrie and Midwest City. Her son, Bobby, graduated with an Education degree from King
College, in Bristol, Virginia, and her second son, Jerry Wayne, has worked for Texaco for many years, and
loves to hunt elk in Colorado and antelope in Wyoming.
Jean and Clarence’s daughter, Judy (who was born in Liberal because the Guymon Hospital hadn’t been
built yet) attended Academy Elementary, and graduated from Guymon High School in 1966, attended Oral
Roberts University for two years (Oral personally greeted all the incoming students on moving-in day), then
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graduated from Oklahoma Panhandle State College in 1970 where she met her future husband, T. John
Hayden of Plains, Kansas. His parents, Joseph and Genevieve Hayden had six children: Vincent Edward,
Greg, Teresa Marie, Joe, Jerry and John (who loves to tell that his high school football team, the “Plains
Plainsmen”, were undefeated the three years he was the starting defensive tackle and offensive guard). John
owned the Hayden (Purina) Feed and (Pioneer) Seed Store in Guymon 1976-1985. Judy taught school at
Hardesty 1970-1973, Gruver 1974-1976, and Guymon 1992-present.
Nancy attended Guymon schools through the 8th grade, then transferred to Gruver, and graduated from
Gruver High School in 1971 (where she was Drum Major her senior year). She received a B.A degree from
Texas Women’s University in 1975. Nancy accepted Jesus as her Savior in 1961 when she went down to
the alter one Wednesday evening and prayed with her Aunt Lois Demetro, affectionately known as
“Punkie”. Lois and her husband Phil pastored the First Foursquare Church in Guymon at that time. Nancy
attended the Foursquare Family Church Camp at Siloam Springs, Arkansas, each summer, and she
remembers the summer when she was 13, standing alone under a tree one afternoon, and Jack Hayford,
who was then the National Youth Director, approached her to introduce himself, and they had a pleasant
conversation together.
Clarence’s most prosperous years as a farmer and rancher were from 1965 - 1991. In Hansford County,
Texas, he owned 560 acres of Section 18, and 160 acres of Section 23. He rented 640 acres of Section 58
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from John and Barbara Kott, and 440 acres of Section 48 from the Thoresons. In Texas County, Oklahoma,
he rented 640 acres of Section 26, 320 acres of Section 35, and 160 acres of Section 34 from Mrs.
Timmons. He ran about 4,000 head of cattle each year on his own winter wheat and summer pasture, then
moved them to local feedlots. His registered cattle brand was 5 on the right hip. When irrigation wells
began to be drilled in the Oklahoma Panhandle in 1964 he started raising corn and sorghum for ensilage for
his cattle in the feedlots. His daily routine was keeping the irrigating pumps running, doctoring calves,
applying fertilizers and herbicides to his crops, and in the winter making sure the cattle had salt blocks, the
water in the windmill tanks weren’t frozen, and bales of hay were strewn on the snow covered ground for
the cattle to eat. After Clarence sold his land and farm equipment and retired in 1994, they bought a Travel
Supreme RV and became “Winter Texans” each January, February and March at the Park Place Estates RV
Park in Harlingen, Texas. When back in Hitchland, Clarence’s hobby was restoring old tractors. He rebuilt
14, donating five to the Heritage Museum in Boise City, Oklahoma, and storing the rest in this shed. His
favorite was a 1929 McCormick Deering model 2236 (which had steel wheels with lugs, before rubber
tires) because this was the tractor on which he learned to farm as a young boy. He also remembers
harvesting before trucks, when horse drawn wagons took the crops to town.
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Appendix A
Sources
1930 U.S. Census on James Pickard
Death Certificates on Lulu Pickard, James Ferguson
Video interview of Phillip Shaeffer by the Germans from Russia Heritage Society, Oklahoma City chapter, circa 1984
Cassette recorded interviews of Emma Schaeffer Zabel and Elizabeth Zabel circa 1983
Moultrie County, Illinois, Historical Society, Sullivan, Illinois
Ancestry.com web site for information on John and Frances Pickard
Find a Grave.com web site, Salt Lake City, Utah
Schaeffer Family History, author unknown, circa 1986
Pickard Family memorabilia in the possession of Shirley Pickard Wheeler # 806.372.6760
This family history was compiled by Duane Bickings on February 17, 2009
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When doing research in Germany, be aware of the following definitions of village name endings:
berg……..mountain or hill
lieben……..to be fond of
burg……..castle
stadt………city
dorf……...village
tal…………valley
feld………field
hof………...homestead
heim……..home
klein……….little
Appendix B
Immigration to America
Gottlieb Schaeffer
Katharina Maier
b. 08.22.1813
b. 04.23.1823
Born in Hadweiler, Germany
Born in Hadweiler, Germany
John Schaeffer
Elizabeth Humel*
b. 08.13.1853
b. 08.25.1855
d. 09.20.1912
d. 08.18.1916
Born in Rosenfeld,, Russia
Born in Rosenfeld, Russia
John Schaeffer****
Magdalena Hildebrand****
b. 12.19.1877
b. 02.22.1880
d. 06.01.1958
d. 02.20.1918
Born in Rosenfeld, Russia
Born in Rosenfeld, Russia
August Zabel **
Minnie Roberts ***
b. 1859
b. 06.15.1873
d. 09.11.1934
d. 09.30.1925
Born in Poland
Born in Wolinski, Russia
Fred Zabel*****
Emma Schaeffer*****
b. 11.01.1897
b. 03.09.1902
d. 03.01.1985
d. 03.02.1987
Born in Lehigh, Kansas
Born in Hannovka, Russia
John J. Pickard
Elizabeth Pennington
Born in Yorkshire, England
Born in Yorkshire, England
John William Pickard
Frances Hutchison
b. 05.19.1822
b. 1824
d. 11.13.1897
d. 11.22.1868
Born in Yorkshire, England
Born in Yorkshire, England
James Pickard*****
Lulu Stephens*****
b. 06.07.1852
b. 01.24.1874
d. 04.23.1932
d. 01.01.1959
Born in Ottawa, Canada
Born in Malden, Missouri
120
James Ferguson*****
Mary Ellen Brumback***** 11.01.1885
b. 03.14.1864
b. 01.23.1864
d. 04.26.1930
d. 10.23.1938
Born in Sullivan, Illinois
Born in Harrisburg, Ohio
Forrest Pickard*****
Leila Ferguson*****
b. 07.08.1901
b. 03.22.1905
d. 11.05.1977
d. 11.16.1978
Born in Rossville, Oklahoma
Born in Fort Scott, Kansas
b. 08.14.1827
b. 06.01.1838
d. 01.16.1880
d. 04.16.1894
William Brumback
Dorothy Clemens
*
**
***
****
*****
09.26.1861
Buried in Gnadenfeld Cemetery, Tangier, OK
Buried in Hooker Cemetery, OK
Buried in Adams Mennonite Cemetery, OK
Buried in Ebenezer Baptist Cemetery, aka German Baptist Cemetery, Shattuck, OK
Buried in Elmhurst Cemetery, Guymon, OK
(Ferguson name is misspelled “Furguson” on the tombstone)
Appendix C
Children of Magdalena and John Schaeffer
Phillip*
m. Victoria Schoenhals*
Billy*
Betty
b. 10.07.1900
b. 05.05.1905
b. 08.14.1927
b. 05.27.1929
d. 01.27.1992
d. 05.03.1989
d. 12.29.1948
Born in Hannovka, Russia
b. 03.09.1902
d. 03.02.1987
Born in Hannovka, Russia
Mary
m. John Pshigoda
b. 11.28.1903
d. 01.06.1992
Born in Hannovka, Russia
John
m. Amanda Pshigoda
b. 07.24.1905
d. 1956
Born in Hannovka, Russia
Paul
b. 04.16.1908
Otto
b. 11.02.1910
d. 01.19.1994
Born in Hannovka, Russia
b. 02.27.1913
b. 08.27.1915
d. 02.14.2005
d. 04.11.2005
Born in Hannovka, Russia
Emma **
m. Fred Zabel**
Lizzie
m. Caleb Barnum
Ron
Phyllis
Frieda
m. Vernon Mohr
10.10.1924
02.14.1920
08.09.1939
Born in Hannovka, Russia
b. 07.15.1916
Born in Shattuck, Oklahoma
08.28.1935
121
*
**
Buried in Shattuck Cemetery, OK
Buried in Elmhurst Cemetery, Guymon, OK
Appendix D
Children of Minnie and August Zabel
Emma*
m. Gustav Hamm
04.16.1916
Augusta*
m. Gustav Hamm**
05.30.1917
Fred***
m. Emma Schaeffer***
02.14.1920
Anna
m. Solomon Klein
09.28.1930
Elsie
m. Henry Hintergardt
Herman
m. Alene Mitchell
d. 03.31.1917
b. 12.11.1896
b, 1893
d. 12.18.1984
d. 1988
b. 11.01.1897
d. 03.01.1985
b. 06.19.1900
d. 01.13.1995
b. 03.11.1901
d. 07.30.1954
b. 01.18.1930
d. 02.19.2006
b. 09.15.1902
d. 02.10.1986
b. 04.18.1904
d. 08.14.1981
b. 06.16.1906
d. 1996
b. 07.20.1909
d. 08.26.1986
1927
01.13.1952
Herman
m. Bernice Green
07.29.1929
Edward
m. Lucy Morford
12.25.1935
Sam**
m. Madeline Rackley
02.02.1941
Mary
b. 04.19.1895
122
m. Covey Depuy
05.26.1934
Earnest**
b. 04.22.1911
d. 03.31.1958
Albert**
b. 09.02.1913
d. 03.16.1936
b. 12.29.1914
d. 03.26.1991
b. 08.15.1916
d. 04.10.1993
Elizabeth**
m. Wayne Hecox
05.25.1946
Wilhemina (Minnie)*
m. Jarret Newberry
1940
Okla Pvt, U.S. Marine Corps
*
Buried in Adams Mennonite Cemetery, OK
** Buried in Hooker Cemetery, OK
*** Buried in Elmhurst Cemetery, Guymon, OK
Appendix E
Children of Lulu and James Pickard
John (Jay)
b. 09.15.1892
d. 10.09.1918
b. 01.27.1984
d. 05.14.1978
b. 1895
d. 1974
b. 01.03.1899
b. 12.26.1895
b. 12.18.1918
b. 03.23.1920
b. 05.21.1922
d. 09.23.1924
d. 02.24.1969
d. 05.18.1920
d. 10.13.2002
d. 03.16.2006
b. 07.08.1901
d. 11.05.1977
Viola**
m. Andrew Costner**
b. 06.18.1904
b. 10.25.1900
d. 04.11.2000
d. 04.05.1985
William***
m. Majorie McNee
Maxine Howell
Ruby Bane
Christine Basgall
Jimmy
b. 08.12.1906
b. 1908
d. 06.08.1988
d. 1976
Edward**
b. 05.01.1912
d. 04.30.1979
James
m. Marie Lohmann
Charles*
m. Anna Lohmann
m. Beulah McNee
Nora**
m. Riley Bryan**
Bertha Mae**
Joseph**
Johney**
Forrest**
m. Leila Ferguson **
Lived in Vona, CO
05.19.1918
10.22.1916
10.14.1923
123
U.S.Army WWII Purple Heart
U.S.Army WWII Bronze Star
m. Martha Grossman
b. 05.16.1912
d. 08.11.1997
Howard**
m. Imogene Keller
Dee Dee**
Lavonne Thompson
b. 03.06.1915
b. 01.11.1916
b. 1942
d. 10.04.2001
d. 02.17.2006
d. 1993
Oral****
m. Clara Lening
Larry
Bobby
Shirley Wheeler
b. 08.29.1918
d. 07.29.2000
*
**
***
****
07.20.1931
Epitaph reads ‘Our Precious Angel”
Buried in Resthaven Cemetery, Shawnee, OK
Buried in Elmhurst Cemetery, Guymon, OK
Buried in Las Cruces, NM
Cremated in Italy, TX
Appendix F
Children of Mary Ellen and James Ferguson
Bessie
m. Shirley Pugh
Lived in Blufston, IN
Eva
m. Gus Moore
Lived in San Jon, NM
Ethel*
m. Alfred Noland*
Esther
Carl
William
b. 03.18.1893
b. 05.09.1892
d. 01.13.1976
d. 05.07.1970
Born in Nevada, Missouri
Mearl**
m. Violet**
Mary
Eloise Brown
Willis
Weldon
Della Lou
Paul
Anna Marie
Jerry
b. 06.24.1889
b. 06.08.1910
d. 06.05.1974
d. 04.08.1996
Pvt, Air Service World War I
Don**
b. 1895
d. 1968
Leila***
m. Forrest Pickard**
b. 03.22.1905
d. 11.16.1978
124
*
**
Buried in Hillcrest Cemetery, Mullinville, KS
Buried in Elmhurst Cemetery, Guymon, OK
Appendix G
Children of Leila and Forrest Pickard
Alice
Jean
m. Clarence Zabel
09.08.1946
Dorothy
m. Paul Ritchie
05.18.1950
Lois
m. Phil Demetro
07.20.1952
Patricia
m. Bob Boston
06.17.1960
b. 08.18.1924
b. 06.01.1926
b. 07.15.1925
b 04.24.1929
b. 05.14.1927
b. 08.08.1931
b. 12.05.1929
b. 03.31.1942
b. 09.27.1939
Children of Jean and Clarence Zabel
Judy
m. T.John Hayden
05.23.1970
Landry
Heath
Nancy
m. Duane Bickings
02.01.1975
Kambry
m. Brian Ruby 01.08.2004
Ashlyn
b.
b.
b.
b.
b.
b.
b.
b.
b.
Children of Lois and Phil Demetro
Ronnie
m. Jan Moser
09.19.1980
Cody
m. Becky Deal
08.14.2004
Kylee
08.25.1948
09.03.1947
10.27.1977
10.23.1980
11.11.1952
09.24.1951
08.17.1981
05.05.1981
03.09.1984
d. 09.18.1924
Hooker, OK
d. 07.28.2009 Stillwell, OK
Panhandle A&M College 1955
Panhandle A&M College 1955
Tacoma, WA
LIFE Bible College 1954
Guymon, OK
Liberal, KS
Fowler, KS
Perryton, TX
Perryton, TX
Guymon, OK
Bridgeton, NJ
Amarillo, TX
Georgetown, TX
Amarillo, TX
Oklahoma Panhandle State College 1970
Oklahoma Panhandle State College 1970
Oral Roberts University 2000
Oklahoma State University 2003 DVM 2008
Texas Women’s University 1975
West Point 1974
Baylor University 2004
Baylor University 2004
Baylor University 2005
b. 04.15.1956
b. 10.11.1955
b. 08.17.1981
Irving, TX
d. 07.09.2005
Perryton, TX
West Texas A&M University 2003
b. 02.20.2008
Amarillo, TX
125
Amanda (Mandy)
m. Terry Wood Brown
Donnie
Desiree
m. Dace Green
Randy
m. Alissa Flud
Cassie
m. Jason Boyd
Tyler
08.01.2009
b. 09.06.1985
b. 11.29.1956
b. 04.15.1956
b. 05.27.1984
Guymon, OK
Dallas, TX
Irving, TX
Guymon, OK
b. 03.22.1959
Guymon, OK
b. 09.20.1982
Lubbock, TX
b. 03.22.1986
Lubbock, TX
b. 03.10.1961
b. 11.01.1959
b. 04.14.1963
b. 08.10.1968
b. 08.14.2002
b. 01.13.2004
Guymon, OK
Baylor University 2008
12.14.2007
02.24.1979
05.30.2005
Children of Patty and Bob Boston
Bobby
m. Cindy Hamilton
08.15.1981
Jerry Wayne
m. Haley Burris
02.12.1993
Avery
Summer
King College
Guymon, OK
Midwest City, OK
Midwest City, OK
Midwest City, OK
Appendix H
Children of Emma and Fred Zabel
Wilbert
m. Evelyn Zeisloft
Oct 1947
b. 03.01.1921
b. 12.18.1915
d. 10.31.2002
Cremated in Roswell, NM
Norma
m. Lawrence Hill
02.27.1941
Larry
m. Sue Hale
06.30.1962
Chantel
Cherie
Chelon
m. Darlene O’Neal
m. Nancy Braddy 07.22.2006
Reuben
Norman
Virginia
m. Ed Webb
08.7.1964
Christopher
Jason
m. Von Shrock
07.5.1970
b. 04.02.1924
b. 01.17.1916
b. 06.28.1941
b. 12.02.1942
b. 12.27.1963
b. 08.13.1965
b. 08.19.1969
b. 10.16.1961
b. 11.13.1956
b. 09.08.1942
b. 11.25.1943
b. 12.25.1944
b. 08.21.1942
b. 08.26.1969
b. 01.01.1974
b. 07.16.1925
d. 12.06.2005
d. 06.17.1984
Guymon, OK
Buried in Memorial Park Cemetery, Amarillo, TX
Clarence
m. Jean Pickard
09.8.1946
Judy
m. T.John Hayden 05.23.1970
Landy
Heath
Nancy
m. Duane Bickings 02.01.1975
Kambry
b. 07.15.1925
b. 06.01.1926
b. 08.25.1948
b. 09.03.1947
b. 10.27.1977
b. 10.23.1980
b. 11.11.1952
b. 09.24.1951
b. 08.17.1981
Guymon, OK
Garden City, KS
Wichita, KS
d. 09.11.1942
d. 11.26.1943
Guymon, OK
Hutchinson, KS
Hutchison, KS
Hutchison, KS
d. 02.03.2002
Buried in Memorial Park Cemetery, Amarillo, TX
Liberal, KS
Fowler, KS
Perryton, TX
Perryton, TX
Guymon, OK
Bridgeton, NJ
Amarillo, TX
Oklahoma Panhandle State College 1970
Oklahoma Panhandle State College 1970
Oral Roberts University 2000
Oklahoma State University 2003 DVM 2008
Texas Women’s University 1975
West Point 1974
Baylor University 2004
126
m. Brian Ruby 01.08.2004 b. 05.05.1981
Ashlyn
b. 03.09.1984
Velma
m. Leonard Angel
09.18.1949
Jerry
m. Vicki Holloman
05.27.1973
Michelle
Janelle
Sandra
m. Arthur Hanel
11.27.1976
James
m. Judy Tisdale
12.29.1979
Tiffany
Jerrod
m. Natasha Williamson
Zach
Ethan
b. 09.15.1932
b. 06.14.1929
b. 09.30.1950
b. 05.02.1952
b. 10.18.1974
b. 04.03.1979
b. 06.23.1955
b. 07.29.1953
b. 08.26.1959
b. 09.18.1955
b. 01.03.1981
b. 11.18.1983
Georgetown, TX
Amarillo, TX
Baylor University 2004
Baylor University 2005
Canon City, CO
Canon City, CO
El Dorado, KS
Sterling, CO
Arcadia, CA
Pasadena, CA
Cameron, TX
Ft. Collins, CO
Ft. Worth, TX
Temple, TX
Temple, TX
LIFE Bible College 1956
b. 02.18.2002
b. 09.17.2003
127