October 1957
WRH Diary October 1957
Oct 1, 1957
Opening day at the Boys’ Club. We are terribly understaffed and our membership is near 550 boys. The mailing of our newspaper is the big problem, so in old clothes I head for the office and our mimeo machine. With a nice electric “gestetuer” the mimeographing is easy. 550 copies-4 pages- both sides mimeoed. Started putting the sheets together and stapling. After lunch and a shower I dressed in slacks and a sport coat and spent the afternoon at the desk.
Worked hard with the tackles and guards during football drills. We were out charged last week. We stood up in the line too much. Hurried through shower and drove to the Library for a Girl Scout council meeting. We have a terrible shortage of volunteer leaders for all Social Service Agency work. Most of our time was devoted to organizing troops and leaders.
Oct 2, 1957
1st game of the world series. New York Yankees vs Milwaukee Braves. Ron and I are American League fans and will cheer for the Yanks. Scott is a national league fan and puts his hopes on the Braves. Much to my surprise Mr. Martin’s secretary (He is vice-president of Pepsi Cola Co) called to say that they had tried very hard but were unable to get me a ticket. I hadn’t anticipated their trying but it made me feel very good to learn they were thinking of me.
Drove into town to attend the first meeting and luncheon of the 1957-1958 Metropolitan Boys’ Club Workers Association. Enjoyed seeing some old friends. Had Andy Semansco as my guest and thanks to a prior telephone call the Met president was ready with a brief case with Andy’s initials there on, to present to him as a token of the association’s friendship and best wishes to him on behalf of his new job at Troy, N. Y. Went through a lot of work at my desk and dictated at great length to my secretary in an effort to bring my work up to a current basis. Yanks won the ball game with Whitey Ford of Glen Cove the winning pitcher.
Oct 3, 1957
Spent the morning sanding walls in one of the bedrooms that I had repaired by spackling the cracks and holes in the plaster. A dirty job to say the least. My young head of curly brown hair was soon as white as snow from the falling particles of finely ground spackle and plaster. The next job was washing the ceiling. Helen vacuumed and washed the woodwork. Do it yourself is the only way financially that we can redecorate our house. However it drags out for months because of the limited time I have to devote to the work.
Made several stops in the village to do such things as (1) pick up the film of our vacation trip to Gananoque, Canada-pixs were very good. (2) order hot dogs for Sunday’s football games. (3) buy Italian sausage for tonight’s dinner. After a few hours at the desk I returned home to have and enjoy one of Helen’s delicious spaghetti dinners with the family and Bro. Dale Macdonald. Following dinner Bro. Macdonald and I gave our family the ward teaching lesson and went on to travel our regular 120 mile route and contact all families on our ward teaching list but one.
Oct 4, 1957
Things are in somewhat of a state of confusion with a letter from Mrs. Ada Foss, my secretary, that she wishes to resign as of Oct 31, 1957. She has most valid reasons- personal health and tired of working. She is 62 and has worked all her life. She has been with me at the club for three years and is a most efficient woman. But with the passing of years I find myself set in my ways and more and more hate to make staff changes.
I dictated a long letter to Mr. Sherman Pratt who is in Africa. He and Mrs. Pratt took their daughter Demming to England, France and then to Switzerland to school. Then Mr. and Mrs. Pratt went on to Africa where Mrs. Pratt’s daughter Mia (by a former marriage) is living. Mr. Pratt is coming on back to Locust Valley by the 21st of the month and then is going back to meet Mrs. Pratt and Demming at Christmas time.
The weather is very dry. We are in need of a good rain. I am watering my newly seeded lawns by hand. The leaves have started to fall. Autumn foliage is at its full splendor. However its enjoyment also means work because there will be many leaves to rake. But the mulch pile needs replenishing so all is for the best.
Oct 5, 1957
Football practice occupied the forenoon. Both teams look to be in good physical shape. The mental frame of mind that youngsters (one team is 12 and under and the other team is 14 and under) this age take into a game is the big battle. We ran the 2nd team out of our opponent’s formations and the varsity looked up to the occasion.
Took my boys to Oyster Bay to see the OB vs Carle Place football game. Three boys’ club boys are now playing for Carle Place. They look very good especially Mat Snell. We had a nice lunch and started our fast with the evening meal. I drove into Manhattan to attend priesthood meeting. Was tired by the time I returned home about midnight.
Oct 6, 1957
We were at church by a good hour. Enjoyed the ride and the beauty of God’s world. Sunday school followed prayer meeting. I feel my class enjoys the way the lesson is given however, I sometimes wonder just how much they learn from what is presented. Priesthood meeting was a ward teacher’s report meeting and then into Fast and Testimony meeting. Ron bore his testimony of the truthfulness of the church, gave thanks for his family and asked a special blessing on the people who had been in the automobile accident we saw when driving to church.
Started to rain and kept at it all afternoon. Our midget game was called off because of the rain. However, Levittown came to Locust Valley and beat our Knute Rockne team 28-0. Mud to our ankles and soaking wet. We all took hot showers when we reached home. Left for sacrament services a little early because of the heavy rain. The boys’ Club was a mess with all the mud that was tracked in. I used a shovel on the floors!!
Oct 7, 1957
Left at 8:30 AM for Kingspark Hospital. Kingspark is a state mental health hospital located on the north shore of Long Island in Suffolk county. One of the Clubs’ former members, A. L. came to me over the weekend in a serious nervous condition. Dr. Vorisek saw him and we followed with a visit to his psychiatrist. Hospitalization was advised. A. is of limited means so the state hospital was recommended. What an ordeal this boy went through in raising his courage to the point of asking for voluntary admission. His courage wore off as we reached the hospital. After driving around the ground he finally saw the admissions Dr. what a pathetic trip we took behind barred windows and locked doors to leave him in the ward for men. His tears and those of his mother and sister nearly tore my heart strings out.
Oct 8, 1957
My heart is heavy as I wonder how A is making out. My prayers have included an appeal for him. But there are always new cases to crowd the old ones temporarily. Dr. Vorisek called and wanted information on the Nassau County Committee on Alcoholism for a man who was in his office. I gave him George McCarthy as a reference and went on to other problems of the day.
The weather is till bad. Rain is falling for the 3rd straight day. It is a much welcomed rain as everything was very dry. We switched football practice from outdoors to indoors. Chalk talks and backfield drills in the gym. I dug up all of the slides from last year and showed the football players of both teams some of the shots from last year’s games. They enjoyed the slides but I doubt that they actually learned anything from the mistakes that were pictured. I’ve worked out a solution to the loss of my secretary. She will come Tuesday and Fridays and do only steno work. Lou Della Vecchia will take over as membership secretary.
Oct 9, 1957
Up early and picked up Mrs. L and her daughter’s mother in law. We drove to the Kingspark hospital. T (A.L.) was a pathetic individual. Dressed in old blue jeans and blue denim pants, 3 sizes too large he burst into tears and asked to go home. He had become so upset that he had been confined in a straight jacket for several hours. After talking and talking we convinced him that he must stay for his own good.
Back to Locust Valley and lunch with Helen. Drove on into New York City and went to the national office, chatted with Jack Gleason, national director of B.C.A. Next visit was with Bill Lavery and Bill Bricker of personnel services. Went on to see Jane Constable and Iris Vinton of publication services. Nice chat over ice-cream. Next stop was the Manhattan Ward Chapel and the Stake Sunday School preparation meeting. Drove Mr. Paine home and arrived in LV about midnight.
Oct 10, 1957
The Town of Oyster Bay uses the club building as a place of voting for a portion of the registered voters in Locust Valley. Election people were in all day today as this day marks the first of a two day political registration program. Concerning my own politics I was raised as a youth in favor of Democrats in general, however as world events have shaped things I now find myself registered as a Republican. However it is the man seeking political office and not party dictates that eventually controls my voting. Consequently I “scratch” all my ballots. (You were able to mark a party ballot and all your votes would be for that party’s candidates. To scratch your ballot means you vote for each race separately)
Had a long chat with Louis Della Vecchia. Lou used to work for me- a couple of years ago. He has tried business and disliking it went to work for Andy Semansco at Mt. Vernon. He has just completed the Boys’ Club’s short course (6 weeks) at New York University. Because Andy is now going to the Troy Boys’ Club, Lou is anxious to come back to Locust valley. He will become membership secretary and Mrs. Foss will do only stenographic work, mornings.
Oct 11, 1957
Drove to Adelphi College for a sub committee meeting of the Nassau County Council of Social Agencies youth bureau project. Worked with Dean Katz of the school of social work and two other people in revising the youth bureau report. This report in its original form gave no credit for the efforts of private agencies to date. I feel I was very instrumental in getting it re-written and re-shaped to give credit where credit belongs. I had to site and produce evidence of constructive projects the Boys’ Club had done.
Moved through office work and routine and into a Boy Scout Committee meeting. Suffered a sharp hard blow when the scout master suddenly presented a plan to change the location of scouting back to the neighborhood house or to the school gym. I feel our scout master is an idealist and seeks ideal conditions. I prayed at home that I might understand his whys and wherefores and (not?) carry bitterness in my heart toward him. 1st movie of the year-“John Smith and Pocahontas”.
Oct 13, 1957
Beautiful day. Autumn in all its colorful splendor is in full bloom. We motored to church where I was the official stake Sunday school representative in a visiting capacity. Asiatic flu is wide spread in our area and many absentees are to be noted. Dr. Vorisek reported 13 of 14 home visits as being flu. Class went smoothly as did priesthood meeting.
Had a busy afternoon. Rushed to get hot dogs cooking and things ready for the football concession stand. Had chalk talk with the team, saw Bill’s Knute Rockne team off for Elmont and acted as spotter from roof for our game with Hicksville. We were down 13-0 at the first quarter. Fought back 14-13 at the half and went on to win 34-13. Our spotting helped. Hicksville spectators shined mirrors in our eyes, yanked out the telephone lines to our sets etc. our kids looked great. Our Knute Rockne team was impressive in winning their first time by 32-0 over Elmont.
Oct 14, 1957
Spent the entire day working at home. Raked leaves and mowed the lawns. Clipped hedges and shrubbery and pulled old tomato plans and zinnia plants from the garden. It was a long 6 hour job but certainly did a lot to improve and enhance the appearance of our yard. My fall seeding has been of great help to the lawns. I think that next summer will see our lawns in the best condition since moving to this house. I followed the outside efforts up by moving up stairs and giving the windows a first coat of paint in the bedroom I am re-doing for the boys.
Helen and I went shopping for a large supply of groceries and bought Scott a new pair of school shoes and a new pair of sneakers. Ron also bought a new pair of sneakers. Spent the evening at home with family and worked for a couple of hours arranging slides that were taken this past summer via 35 mm camera.
Oct 15, 1957
Worked at the office. Seems as though in this kind of work one is always trying to catch up. Interviewed a Mr. Nathan Kaunitz from Roslyn. He is interested in doing volunteer work. He is 68 years old. His wife died recently and now he has time on his hands. He impressed me as a very fine man. Well preserved for his age and with a desire to work with children. His physical stature and condition belies his age. He is an ardent swimmer and hiker. He will give three afternoons a week to the club, two afternoons to supervise playground areas and one afternoon to a photography club for midgets and juniors. He left at noon and returned at 3 PM to begin his tasks. Football practice took up the evening. We mailed announcements to the parents of our football teams of a special meeting nature.
Oct 16, 1957
The Asiatic flu is very heavy in this area. A great many children are out of school. In calling young James Egan to meet with and go over our dark room set up with Nat Kaunitz I found he was home as were 158 others from St. Dominic’s High School. The public school has a like number who are out with the flu. The average school absenteeism is up from 7% to 22%. From surrounding community reports Locust Valley doesn’t seem to be as heavily hit as more populated areas.
I attended a Nassau County committee on Alcoholism meeting at Westbury. Brinkley Smithers is very active and very interested in alcoholism since becoming an A. A. If I could get half as much of his time, energy and money as one of my Boys’ Club board members, as he puts into the N.C.C.A. I would have a lot of my worries behind me. This committee has done a lot and is certainly making some big steps in rehabilitating the alcoholic. Some hospitals are just now accepting them as medical patients.
Oct 17, 1957
Spent the day hauling things out of David Solnings (sp) place in Mill Neck. He sold his home for $160,000. It is a modern contemporary design. Designed and built by him it is light, bright, graceful and very representative of the air age of which he is one of the leading designers. Table tennis table, sporting equipment, etc. were some of the things given. There is a possibility that he will give us a 1939 custom Buick. Boy what a limousine!
Football practice over we moved to the gym for a meeting of the football team’s parents. My main objectives were to form the nucleus of a father’s and a mother’s club and to give the parents the devil for their armchair quarterbacking. All objectives were reached and I left with a feeling of a high degree of success. The response of the parents was good, friendly and most cooperative. Another reason why it is such a good community to work in.
Oct 18, 1957
Did some work around the house and spent a couple of hours in the village soliciting windows to be decorated for the club’s annual window decorating contest. Back to the house and an hour’s session with a paint brush put another coat of paint on the boy’s bedroom windows upstairs. I had just finished lunch when Jay Nollman, a volunteer football coach and father of a couple of club members call at the house. He nearly floored me when he announced that his renter, David Lowry had authorized him to come to me and inform the club that he was going to contribute a swimming pool to the Boys’ Club. I don’t know what this means as no figure was mentioned but I feel certain that it isn’t a standard Boys’ Club indoor pool. That would cost $250,000.
Had a bad night as Bob Vorisek called and was all upset about our pep rally conflicting with the Boy Scout Program. This really cut me deep as I have a great respect for Bob and regret that the club’s program conflicted. However, the rally was a great success-even though it rained like mad! About 100 people attended and really blew off steam in a good, clean, wholesome manner.
Oct 19, 1957
Big day at the club. We wrapped “Hink’s” (Ron) leg, he caught a knee in the thigh muscle and fixed him a big lunch and put him on the bus with 40 other boys and coaches headed for the Princeton-Colgate game at Princeton. Mr. Lowry bought the 40 tickets and paid for the bus. Blood bank moved right in and with a little time and effort and cooperation they had started to collect what would prove to be 148 pints of blood for our community blood bank.
I was in and out assisting with the blood bank and even stopped long enough to give a pint of my own blood. Helen was rejected for an iron deficiency. Got the Red Cross out by 5 PM and drove to Glen Cove to pick up my laundry and some fresh made Italian sausage from a local butcher. Hurried through a shower and shave and drove to Yonkers N.Y. to the home of Mr. and Mrs. Dion Hoffarth (Ideal Motion Picture Service) we were warmly received and dined well. Helen had a sirloin steak while I had a 2 lb club steak, French fried onions too! (As usual when I would have liked to know how he knew this person or what was discussed all we get is a menu of what he ate)
Oct 20, 1957
Home and in bed by 1 AM. Up and off to church bright and early. Good group at church in spite of the flu. Enjoyed teaching my class! Moved from Elder’s quorum meeting to a pinch hit teacher as priest and teachers class. Enjoyed this original contact with these boys very much. I am certain that I will enjoy working with them as the General Secretary of under 21 Aaronic Priesthood group. My biggest problem is finding advisors. We drove home on what was a clear bright crisp October day. Cool but full of the brightness of autumn colors.
Ron wanted to play-said his leg was fair, so I rubbed him good with “hot stuff”, taped it for support and used a big piece of sponge rubber for protection. Covered the whole thing with an ace bandage and fitted it behind his thigh guard. We had several absent with flu, but still had sufficient strength to defeat Glen Cove 21-0. We scored all of our TDs in the first half. Our first string really looked good. We played the 2nd half with 2nd and 3rd stringers. Our parents and fans loved the game. Glen cove is a wonderful, friendly rival to beat. Back to church in the evening. Home and eagerly to bed. Teri has been a bit under the weather.
Oct 21, 1957
Raked the back lawn and then went on to the club for a 9 AM meeting with Brinkly Smithers. We had an hour’s chat about several items. My plans were accepted by “Brink” but not in the order in which I presented them. However, he is helping me reach certain objectives and has pledged $10,000 and his support toward these goals. I was highly elated at the outcome. I drove with him to his parent’s home and arranged to pick up the safe and a few other items that he had held for our club.
I returned in the afternoon with Helen and Gert Vorisek. We had a wonderful time going through the old home and picking out items for ourselves. The home was built in 1898 and has a gorgeous view of the sound and Connecticut across the way. Back home to raking leaves and mowing the lawn. Painted the back porch a nice bright green and spent the evening showing slides to Helen, Ron and Teri. Scott is running a fever, horse and croupy.
Oct 22, 1957
Still in the dark concerning the next move on the swimming pool. Mr. Pratt, my Board President, will be home in a day or so and I can unload my complicated projects on his shoulder. Chris Koos, my wife’s stepmother’s sister, who lives in Manhasset came over to the club and we drove to the old Smither’s home for a look see.
Came back to the office and spent several hours at the desk. One bright spot was the meeting and interviewing of Leon Kasper, my secretary’s brother-in-law, who is a member of the vocational guidance staff of the Glen Cove Jr. high school. He is going to handle a career club on a weekly voluntary basis in hopes that it will become the vehicle for reaching some of our unreachable boys. By that is meant a disguise will be employed to hide an active vocational guidance program. I am very thrilled about this program and the opportunity presented to have a professional man run it. Our club is very blessed to have the wealth of the community resources obtained in the people who live here.
Oct 23, 1957
Called for Mrs. L. and drove her and two other ladies to Kingspark to see T (A.L.). He is much better and will improve now from day to day. He was so thrilled about being let to shave himself that it was pathetic. Beautiful day. Stopped to photograph a lovely little church, situated on a lake in the Cold Spring Harbor area. Had to miss the Adelphi college special convocation honoring its school of social work becoming an integrated part of the schools of nursing and health, Phy. Ed. And recreation. Insufficient time.
Instead Bill Cullum and I picked up a load of items from the Smithers home. Such items as a clothes tree, a safe, an antique globe for the library, trunks for storing athletic equipment, etc. were brought back. I spent the evening at a meeting at Bob Meyer’s home where a group of local men listened to a speech about the Lion’s club. Question—Shall we become Lions or Rotarians?
Oct 24, 1957
Early in the morning I was at Mineola attending a work meeting of the Federated Girl Scout Councils of Nassau county. This carried on until noon when I had to hurry back to L. V. for a meeting with Dudley Merritt. Dudley is co-chairman along with tom Scott for a special event we are programming on Sunday, Nov. 3, 1957 when we are holding the first “yellow jacket” home coming day. We spent the afternoon , a cold rainy one, going over old pictures, manuscripts, etc. (that had been dug out of attics) in order to prepare copy for the special brochure we printed and will have put in the regular football programs.
Went to work on the 2nd edition of the Boys’ Club’s newspaper. Again we are going to press with the “what’s my name” contest running to determine a name for the paper. With the advance copy that is ready I can see where we will have a much larger paper than we ran our first issue. Stencil art work takes the longest amount of time. What to do with my limited time in order to make it go the farthest is the hardest decision to make. Because of the lack of time I had to pass up a Nassau county council social agency meeting.
Oct 25, 1957
Spent the entire day working on the club’s newspaper. Have had several nice compliments about how good an idea it was and how well (for an amateur) it was done! Public school was closed for a Long Island zone conference. We open at 1 PM when there are public school holidays. It makes a long day by the time we are finished.
Oct 26, 1957
Football practice-big game tomorrow. The toughest part of coaching this age group is to have them ready from a psychological point of view. We had dinner guests. The occasion being that Oct. 25th marked the 12th year of our marriage. A long and very pleasant relationship that is sealed in God’s temple to go on throughout eternity. What a wonderful consolation this is.
Guests were: Mr. and Mrs. Irving “Nick” Peters, industrial arts teacher at L.V. public school and a constant Canadian Camp Associate. Mr. and Mrs. John Dykstra, he is the minister at the Locust Valley Reformed church and a good fishing and camping buddy. Mr. and Mrs. Jack Bambey, just two great people we have come to know, admire and respect since moving to Locust Valley. Mr. and Mrs. Robert E. Vorisek, family DR., board member and wonderful friend. One of the most outstanding couples I have ever met. A wonderful Italian dinner and an evening of 35MM slides for relaxation.
Oct 27, 1957
The spiritual uplift of gathering the family together and heading for church is a most wonderful experience. It makes Sunday a day to look forward to. Even the baby (2 yrs. Old) looks forward to Sunday School and her class experiences.
To Levittown with our midget football team and a 34-0 shellacking. Not that they are that much better than we are but our kids felt, purely a psychological attitude, they were outclassed. The fact that they were larger than us was the contributing thing. (the Boy’s Club could put a team of 25 players age 9-12 – range of weight from 70 to 105 pounds together for a team. Levittown could put 75 players all 12 years old and within the 105-108 lb limit)
With the exception of 3 or 4 of our boys, I was real pleased that Ron was among the few, the rest of our team quit. You can teach them the mechanics of the game but the heart and spirit has to be an individual thing that creates a truly competitive spirit.
Oct 28, 1957
Working on a home coming day for the old Yellow Jackets-a great amateur football team from Locust Valley from 1928-1941. I drove to Hicksville to pick up half tone cuts of a couple of team pictures we are printing in a special brochure for the occasion. Also spent a great portion of the day in working around the house. Always a lot of leaves to rake, garden to work in and house to paint. If I ever finish with these there are basements to clean, wood to store for winter, trees to prune and shrubbery to transplant. To paint up and fix up the inside of the house takes a great amount of time. Walls need spackling, woodwork and radiators need stripping and completely redoing. I’ve already been a month on one room and will be another month in finishing it. I’m awful slow but take pride in neatness and a good finished project.
Oct 29, 1957
I feel a major change in emphasis on the Board policies of the Boys” Club is going to be a must. Our basis of financing is to narrow. Our membership is too large for our present staff. Our present staff needs a big adjustment in their income to keep them happy. Consequently Mr. Martin suggests a Board of Trustees consisting of our main Board members and a Board of Directors, to serve for the period of one year, who can give the working service necessary to the running of a Boys’ Club. This may be a big set in the direction of securing a working and participating Board. We have never had a Board who would function as committee members.
Oct 30, 1957
Halloween is just around the corner. Drove Helen and the girls with me to the Jericho Cider Mill to pick up 40 gallons of cider for the parties.
(That is all that was written in the book 1957)