USA > Connecticut > History of Connecticut, Volume III > Part 17
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A.S. Papon
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In 1901 he left to come to Waterbury, and purchased the Water- bury Republican. He was its editor and publisher thereafter, and in 1922 he acquired the Waterbury American, which he subsequently consolidated with the Republican. In 1946 he purchased the plant of the Waterbury Democrat, consolidating it into the present organiza- tion. He is president and treasurer of American-Republican, Inc., which publishes both daily papers and the Sunday Republican.
Mr. Pape was a director of the Federal Home Loan Bank of Boston from 1943 to 1955. From 1939 to 1941, he served his state as chairman of the Connecticut Commission on Election Laws; and he was chairman of the Connecticut Commission on the Purchase of Rex Brasher Bird Pictures from 1941 to 1943. Since 1941, he has served as chairman of a commission to plan a building to house the collection. He was a member of the Connecticut Commission on Postwar Plan- ning from 1943 to 1945.
Another of Mr. Pape's interests is the theatre. He was identified with the Yale School of Drama from 1925 to 1927, and in 1929, was a major force in organizing the Little Theatre at Waterbury. He served as its president in 1932.
As a newspaperman, he is active in the New England Daily News- paper Association, and served as its president during the 1926-1927 term. He represented the Associated Press at the Institute of Pacific Relations in Honolulu in 1927. The same year he was elected second vice president of this national news-gathering organization. He served through 1928, and held the same office again during 1932-1933. He was first vice president, 1928-1929 and from 1932 through 1936, and was a director from 1937 to 1940.
Taking a vital interest in public affairs locally, Mr. Pape was president of the Connecticut Federation of Taxpayers Associations in 1941. He is a Rotarian, and a member of the Waterbury Club, Water- bury Country Club, and Potatuck Club. He is a communicant of the Episcopal Church, and a Republican in his politics.
On September 14, 1898, William J. Pape married Julia E. F. Bolton. They have four children : I. William Bolton. 2. Eric. 3. Robin Bernard. 4. Benita Mary, now Mrs. Wilder J. Greeley. The family's residence is in Woodbury.
AURIN ELIOT PAYSON
For twenty-eight years president of The American Thermos Pro- ducts Company, of which more is written in the industrial and in- stitutional section of this history. Aurin Eliot Payson was educated
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at Concord High School, Boston University and Harvard Graduate School of Business Administration. The elder son of Arthur E. and Annie Hardy Payson, he was born October 28, 1891, in Malden, Massachusetts.
His business career began in 1916 with the J. H. and C. K. Eagle Company of New York City, broad silk manufacturers. With the outbreak of World War I, he enlisted in the Army and was commis- sioned a first lieutenant. Assigned to the Boston office of the Ordnance Department some time later, he was put in charge of small arms production in the New England Northern District and promoted to captain.
After his discharge in February, 1919, Mr. Payson entered the employ of G. M. P. Murphy & Company of New York City as indus- trial engineer. He took part in and conducted examinations and in- vestigations of manufacturing companies for financial clients of the Finance and Trading Corporation, a division of G. M. P. Murphy. One of these was The American Thermos Bottle Company of Norwich, Connecticut.
Mr. Payson joined the Thermos organization in 1923 as assistant to the president. He became vice president in charge of production in 1925, general manager in 1927, president and general manager in 1928, holding that position until 1956 when he was elected vice chairman of the board of directors.
During Mr. Payson's tenure, the Thermos company made great strides. From a rather troubled financial existence and a few hundred employees, the company grew steadily until its employees and those of its wholly owned subsidiaries numbered about 2,500 people. Total sales increased fifteen times, earnings rose proportionately, and the company recorded a profit continuously. In these years the company's operations expanded and plants were acquired in England, Indiana, and Illinois.
Mr. Payson is chairman of the board of directors of the Chelsea Savings Bank, a director of the Connecticut Advisory Board of Li- berty Mutual Insurance Company, a director of the Connecticut Bank and Trust Company, Thames Branch, and a director of Sargent & Company and The American Writing Paper Company. In previous years he served as director of the American Tariff League, the Manu- facturers Association of Connecticut, Connecticut Chamber of Com- merce, and the New England Council. He was a corporator and trustee of the Norwich Free Academy and the W. W. Backus Hospital, and a trustee of the Norton Library Fund. From 1932 to 1937, Mr.
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Payson served on the Norwich Board of Education, and for two years was its chairman.
As head of the Insulated Container Association, Mr. Payson was elected a director of the Fabricated Metal Products Industry at Wash- ington, D. C. in 1933. Two years later he was appointed a mem- ber of the Tariff Commission of the American Glassware Asso- ciation. In 1937, he was appointed by Governor Cross to the Con- necticut Commission of the New York World's Fair. After the disas- trous hurricane of 1938, he was named chairman of the Industrial Division of the State Rehabilitation Committee, and was instrumental in the establishment of the Connecticut State Development Commis- sion. For ten years, he was Commissioner for New London County.
Past and present clubs with which Mr. Payson has been associated are the Norwich Golf Club, Norwich; Commerce Club, Norwich; Misquamicut Club of Rhode Island; Queen City Club of Cincinnati, Ohio; Harvard Club of New York City; Cloud Club, New York City ; and the Field Club, Sarasota, Florida.
Mr. Payson married Lois E. Chickering of Somerville, Massa- chusetts in 1918. They are the parents of two sons-Eliot C. Payson and Dr. Henry E. Payson. Mr. and Mrs. Payson reside in Sarasota, Florida, and spend the summer months at their home in Stonington, Connecticut.
LUCIUS S. ROWE
Lucius R. Rowe has spent his entire business career in the public utility field. After brief employment with the Connecticut Company, he began work with The Southern New England Telephone Company as an accounting clerk in 1925.
Successive promotions moved him to chief accountant in 1934, auditor of disbursements in 1937, and head of the accounting depart- ment as general auditor in 1942. He was elected vice president and general manager of the company in 1948, a director in 1949 and president in 1955.
Mr. Rowe is active in business and civic affairs of this city and state, as a trustee or director of business and civic enterprises. He is a director of the Travelers Insurance Companies, Hartford; Bullard Company, Bridgeport; Veeder-Root, Inc., Hartford; Manufacturers Association of Connecticut, Inc. and the New Haven Orchestra As- sociation. He is also a trustee of Connecticut College and of the Con- necticut Public Expenditure Council, vice president of the Connecticut
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Chamber of Commerce and chairman of the New Haven Citizens Action Commission.
ODELL SHEPARD
Odell Shepard, born and reared in Illinois, has lived in five states of the Union and for several years in England. He has long made his home, however, in Connecticut, where, three centuries ago, his first American ancestor, William Odell, helped to found the town of Fair- field. His interest in the state is that of a newcomer striving to com- prehend a strange environment, but to this he adds the affection of a "back-trailer." He has studied Connecticut not primarily in libraries but at first hand-as a walker of country lanes and as the state's lieu- tenant governor. Something of what he has learned and conjectured is recorded in his books entitled Connecticut Past and Present and The Harvest of a Quiet Eye.
Mr. Shepard began active life as a newspaper reporter in Chicago. Later, for thirteen years, he was a regular contributor of poems and essays to The Christian Science Monitor. He has taught in half a dozen colleges and universities of the East and Far West. In 1946 he resigned from a professorship at Trinity College which he had held for twenty- nine years. He has written and edited numerous books, no two of which are alike. In his book Pedlar's Progress he wrote the life of Bronson Alcott, a Connecticut native. This book won him a Pulitzer Prize and, against three hundred and seventy-five other contestants, the "Cen- tenary Prize" awarded by Little Brown and Company, Publishers. In his novel Holdfast Gaines, written in collaboration with his son Willard, he has dealt with the history of Connecticut from the period of the Revolution to the War of 1812. At present, again with his son, he is writing a History of New London.
HERMAN W. STEINKRAUS
Chairman of the board of Bridgeport Brass Company, Herman W. Steinkraus has a distinguished record of three decades with the organization. He also serves on the boards of a number of other firms : filled responsible civilian posts during the war; and has taken a con- structive part in organizational affairs.
Born in Cleveland, Ohio, on December 16, 1890, he is a son of Herman F. and Wilhelmina (Lehnhardt) Steinkraus. After com- pleting his studies in local schools, Herman W. Steinkraus went to Western Reserve University, and graduated there in 1914 with the degree of Bachelor of Arts. He has since received an honorary degree
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of Doctor of Laws from that university, a Doctor of Laws degree from Boston University, and Doctor of Letters from the University of Miami, Florida.
Mr. Steinkraus began his career in industry in an executive posi- tion with the Osborn Manufacturing Company, remaining with that firm until 1924. He then entered business for himself, establishing a firm in the metal and chemical field. This he headed until 1928. At that time he sold his business to the Bridgeport Brass Company, and came to Bridgeport as vice president in charge of sales. He served as vice president and general manager in 1941-1942, and as president and general manager from 1942 to 1958. Since 1946, he has been chairman of the board. Mr. Steinkraus was also president of an affiliate, Noranda Copper and Brass, Ltd., of Canada for eleven years.
He is a director of Carrier Corporation, Bridgeport Hydraulic Company, Bridgeport Gas Company, Congoleum-Nairn, Inc., and the Connecticut National Bank and Trust Company in his home city. He is a member of the board of trustees of the Bridgeport Peoples Savings Bank.
A veteran of military service in World War I, he advanced in rank from private to captain, and also rendered valuable service at the time of the second world conflict as chairman of the manpower committee of the Connecticut War Council. He was chairman of the board of finance of the Town of Westport for four years up to 1947, and during 1949-1950, served as president of the United States Cham- ber of Commerce. He is a trustee of the National Industrial Con- ference Board, the Twentieth Century Fund and the Bridgeport Hos- pital, and a past director of the New England Council. A member of the National Association of Manufacturers, he has also served on its board of directors. He is president of the American Association for the United Nations.
Mr. Steinkraus is a member of the American Legion, the Vete- rans of Foreign Wars, and the Disabled American Veterans. Also a member of the Legion of Valor, he formerly served as national commander. He won the Distinguished Service Cross during World War I.
The industrialist's other memberships include Sigma Chi fra- ternity, the Free and Accepted Masons, in which he is a member of the higher bodies and holds the Thirty-third degree, the University Club, Algonquin Club and Brooklawn Country Club, all of Bridge- port; the Metropolitan Club and National Press Club of Washington, D. C., and the Union League Club of New York. Mr. Steinkraus has
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made many appearances on the platform as a speaker on labor-manage- ment relations, and he has also written extensively on this subject.
On August 31, 1919, Herman W. Steinkraus married Gladys C. Tibbetts. They have three children: 1. Ruth Constance. 2. Marjorie Ann. 3. William Clark. The family's residence is 106 Compo Road in Westport.
HERBERT THOMS, M.D.
Dr. Herbert Thoms, who has practiced medicine in Connecticut for many years, has distinguished himself as teacher and writer as well. He is now a resident of New Haven, where he practiced, and headed the department of obstetrics and gynecology at Yale Univer- sity School of Medicine.
A native of Waterbury, Dr. Thoms was born on January 5, 1885 and is a son of William Peter and Adaline Delia (Hart) Thoms. He attended local schools, and took his degree of Doctor of Medicine at Yale University in 1910. He took postgraduate courses at Johns Hop- kins University in 1914-1915. After receiving his degree at Yale, he interned at Backus Hospital in Norwich, and at Memorial Hospital, New London, during 1910-1911. In 1912 he was assistant resident physician at Sloane Hospital for Women, and he then engaged in private practice.
Dr. Thoms was subsequently named professor of obstetrics and gynecology at Yale University School of Medicine and in 1947 was named chairman of his department. He is now professor emeritus. He has served on the staffs of the Grace-New Haven Hospital, Hun- gerford Hospital, Meriden Hospital, New Britain Hospital, Norwalk Hospital. Milford Hospital, Stamford Hospital and Backus Hospital.
Dr. Thoms has written extensively on medical and surgical sub- jects, and his full-length works are: "Chapters in American Obste- trics" (1933); "The Obstetric Pelvis" (1935) ; "Classical Contribu- tions to Obstetrics and Gynecology" (1935) ; "The Estimation of Pelvic Capacity" (1940); "Training for Childbirth" (1950) ; "Un- derstanding Natural Childbirth" (1950) ; and "Pelvimetry" (1956).
He is a member of the American Gynecological Society and the American Medical Association.
On August 21, 1912, Dr. Herbert Thoms married Edith May Comstock, and they are the parents of one daughter, Margaret Alison. The family resides at 222 Blake Road, Hamden, and Dr. Thoms' of- fice is at 333 Cedar Street, New Haven.
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DUDLEY LANDON VAILL
Dudley Landon Vaill was born at Winsted on August 30, 1873, descending from a strictly Connecticut ancestry which included two of the nineteen prominent colonists named in the Charles II charter. He is the son of Theodore F. and Alice (Dudley) Vaill. His father served during the Civil War as adjutant of the Second Con- necticut Heavy Artillery, and later was editor of the Winsted Herald.
Preparing for college at Phillips Academy, Andover, Massachu- setts, Dudley L. Vaill graduated from Yale University in 1896. Since 1916 he has been class secretary. For some years he was connected with the George Dudley and Son Company, leather manufacturers. In 1914 he was elected president of the Winsted Savings Bank, serving until 1953 when he was made chairman of the corporation. He was also for two years president of the Connecticut State Savings Bank Association. His other business connections have included: president of the Citizen Printing Company, and director of the William L. Gil- bert Clock Corporation, and of the Hurlbut National Bank, whose successor, the Connecticut Bank and Trust Company, he served as chairman of the Winsted Advisory Committee.
Always deeply interested in local public affairs, he served as mem- ber of the Town School Committee, and was instrumental, in 1915, in securing the consolidation of the Borough of Winsted and the Town of Winchester. He was for many years a member of the town Board of Finance. He represented the Town of Winchester in the 1913, 1915 and 1917 sessions of the General Assembly, and was a member of the Connecticut delegation to the Republican National Convention in 1916.
He has been president of the Winchester Historical Society, of the Gilbert School, and of the Litchfield County University Club, and also a trustee of the Beardsley and Memorial Library. He joined the Yale and University clubs of New York, and the Winsted and Green Woods Country clubs.
In 1900, Dudley Landon Vaill married Leila S. Holmes, daughter of Charles B. Holmes and a graduate of Smith College in 1898. They were the parents of nine children. Mrs. Vaill died in October 1948.
DR. ALBERT EDWARD VAN DUSEN
For a decade, Dr. Albert Edward Van Dusen has taught in the Department of History of the University of Connecticut at Storrs. In addition to his duties as associate professor there, he is now capably filling the post of State Historian of Connecticut.
Born May 14, 1916, at Vilas, North Carolina, Dr. Van Dusen
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is a son of Albert P. and Chloe (Lewis) Van Dusen. His father was a college professor, teaching sociology, and also a Presbyterian clergy- man. Dr. Van Dusen came north in his early years, and completed his preparatory studies at Northwood School, at the Lake Placid Club in upper New York State, where he was a student from 1931 to 1934. Following his graduation there, he entered Wesleyan University at Middletown, Connecticut, and completed the four-year course there, receiving his degree of Bachelor of Arts in 1938. He took graduate courses at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia between 1938 and 1941, and took his degree of Master of Arts there in 1940. He later returned to complete requirements for his degree of Doctor of Philosophy, which he received in 1948.
Dr. Van Dusen began his teaching career in 1941, as instructor in the Department of History at Duke University, Durham, North Carolina. He remained on its faculty until 1946, but was on leave of absence during 1945, serving as a private at the Armored Training Center, Fort Knox, Kentucky. In 1946, he came back to his alma mater, Wesleyan University at Middletown, to assume duties as in- structor in its Department of History. He left in 1948 to accept ap- pointment as historian in the Department of the Army, in which capacity he worked in the Pentagon Building in Washington, D. C.
He remained for a year in that position, and when he returned once again to Connecticut in 1949, he joined the faculty of the Uni- versity of Connecticut at Storrs as assistant professor in its Depart- ment of History. He was promoted to associate professor in 1955. Dr. Van Dusen was named to his part-time position as State Historian of Connecticut in 1952.
A member of the Connecticut Historical Society, he is currently serving as chairman of its Publications Committee. He is also a mem- ber of the American Association of University Professors, the Mans- field Historical Society, the American Historical Association, the Con- necticut Historical Commission, and the Acorn Club of Connecticut. He is a member of the Baptist Church.
At Durham, in his native state of North Carolina, Dr. Albert E. Van Dusen married Wilda Elizabeth Reep, the ceremony taking place on May 3, 1946. Mrs. Van Dusen is a daughter of Marvin and Ruth (Wilson) Reep. The Van Dusen residence is on Ball Hill Road, Storrs.
HON. ABRAHAM RIBICOFF
In many respects, Abraham Ribicoff's tenure as Governor of
ale Ribicoff
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Connecticut has been a unique one. Certainly few of the state's gov- ernors in the past have become as well known beyond its borders. A number of political writers and commentators have advanced reasons for this. Leo Egan of The New York Times wrote: "Connecticut is becoming convinced it (has) elected a new type of politician." Na- tionally known columnist and writer Stewart Alsop has said of Mr. Ribicoff: "It is a rare experience these days-and therefore a rather moving one-to come upon such honesty, intelligence, and real cour- age." The Governor himself attributes his conduct to a philosophy which he expresses in these words: "You can't relate the problems you face to the winning and losing of votes. Just be guided by what is right and the next election will take care of itself." Certainly he has had an administration in which political motivations have seldom been in evidence.
Mr. Ribicoff has advanced to chief executive of his state's govern- ment without the benefit of early advantages. Born in New Britain on April 9, 1910, he is a son of Samuel and Rose (Sable) Ribicoff. In his early years, while attending public school, he worked as a news- boy, errand boy, clerk in stores, caddy, and laborer on road construc- tion projects. After completing his secondary education locally, he entered the University of Chicago, and received his Bachelor of Laws degree in 1933. While there, he was on the staff of the Law Review, was a member of the honor society, and graduated cum laude.
Admitted to the Connecticut bar in the same year, he began practice in Hartford, later becoming senior partner in the firm of Ribicoff, Ribicoff and Kotkin. This firm conducted a general practice, including corporation, real estate, administrative, labor and probate law. On his election as Governor he discontinued the practice of law. Early in his career, Abraham Ribicoff was sought to serve in public office. The first positions which he filled were police court judge and hearing examiner under the state's Fair Employment Practices Act. In 1938 he was elected to the Connecticut State Legislature, and served two terms, retaining his seat until 1942. During his tenure, newsmen voted him the most able lawmaker then serving in the legisla- tive body. In 1948 he was elected to the United States House of Rep- resentatives, took his seat in 1949, and served through 1952. In his first contest for the office, he defeated the Republican incumbent, then became the first Democrat since the early Roosevelt era to carry his district in an off-year election.
Although freshmen congressmen are ordinarily assigned minor committee positions, Mr. Ribicoff surmounted tradition by receiving
Conn.III-15
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appointment to the important House Foreign Affairs Committee. He proposed and received approval for several significant amendments to the Marshall Plan. He demonstrated such keen insight into the position of the United States in world affairs that repeatedly the For- eign Affairs Committee entrusted him with steering vital legislation through the House. During congressional recesses, Mr. Ribicoff went abroad on fact-finding tours to learn at first hand the real position of the United States in the world. He was named a delegate to the San Francisco Conference which produced the Japanese peace treaty, and was also a member of the United States delegation which signed the United States-Philippine security treaty and the United States- Australia-New Zealand defense pact.
When he was elected Governor of his state in 1954, Abraham Ribicoff was the only member of the Connecticut Democratic ticket to win statewide office. He has since retained his title as the biggest Democratic vote-getter in the state's history-this despite a disregard for conformity to party thinking which has been described as "political lunacy." Perhaps his popularity may be traced to his habit of taking the voting public into his confidence. He has remarked in this con- nection : "Never be afraid to be frank with the American people. The American people have always acted grandly in the face of danger or adversity. They don't have to be coddled, reassured, then browbeaten. They merely want to be told the truth, and every public official has a duty to tell them the truth no matter how hard and unpalatable the truth might be." As a Governor, he has been most forthright and direct in his conduct. On an occasion when he felt that the action of one of its locals was not in the best interest of the state, he publicly chastised a union, although it had given him support in his election. When an inspection of flood-devastated towns indicated a slowdown in recovery, he reminded their residents that these communities had been in an economic decline for years, and that they now had a chance "to rebuild soundly instead of backsliding." The emergency operating plan and long-range recovery program which he developed to cope with the 1955 floods provided a pattern adopted by other states and by relief agencies throughout the country. One of the roles which he has cut out for himself is that of "Connecticut's No. I Salesman," and he has worked effectively in bringing a new group of large industrial producers to the state.
In labor relations, his direct approach has been effective. When a utility strike threatened in the midst of flood recovery operations, he called the most unusual mediation session in labor history. Flying
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by helicopter and landing on a high-school football field in the stricken area, he talked with both sides for an hour and a half, from the fifty- yard line; and his persuasiveness resulted in an agreement. He also successfully forestalled a strike of two thousand bus drivers which would have paralyzed transportation throughout the state. The Hart- ford Courant commented on this occasion:
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