USA > Connecticut > History of Connecticut, Volume III > Part 49
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However, Mr. Gill was attracted to agriculture rather than the professions as a vocation. A resident of Connecticut since 1943, he acquired a poultry farm near Mansfield Center, and there specialized in the production of broilers. He has taken a particular interest in the study of poultry nutrition and disease control, being well qualified as a specialist in those phases. On March 1, 1955, recognizing his un- derstanding of farming problems, Governor Ribicoff appointed Mr. Gill Commissioner of Agriculture for the State of Connecticut.
In addition, he serves on the board of control of the Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station, and is a member of the Regional Marketing Authority and the Soil Conservation Advisory Committee. He is chairman of the Connecticut Milk Regulation Board, and is an ex officio member of the board of trustees of the University of Connecticut.
Mr. Gill formerly served as president of the Connecticut Poultry Association, and as a member of the United States Broiler Advisory Committee. In his home community he has taken a responsible role in public affairs, being a member of the Mansfield board of education and of the school planning committee. He has been active in the coun- cils of his political party, and is currently chairman of the Mansfield Democratic Town Committee. He is a member and past president of the Storrs Lions Club. In religious faith, Mr. Gill is a Methodist. His favorite outdoor sport is golf.
In New York City, on September 2, 1938, Joseph Norman Gill married Emma Lowry, daughter of George and Hermine (Legeti) Lowry. Her parents were pioneers in the poultry industry in Con- necticut, and she received her education in New York. The couple are the parents of one daughter, Sandra Dee, who was born in New York City on March 19, 1943. She is attending Windham High School in Willimantic.
ALEXANDER LOPES ALVES
In recent years a Watertown engineer, Alexander Lopes Alves, has taken his place in the ranks of the state's industrial leaders as president of Engineered Plastics, Inc. This firm specializes not only in plastics products, but also in powder metallurgy. Mr. Alves also heads Top Hat Tool Company. He has held public office in his home city.
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He came to this country from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, where he was born on September 20, 1903, the son of Jose Lopes Alves and his wife, the former Eliza Nunes. Both of his parents had come to the southern republic from Portugal. Arriving in this country at an early age, Alexander L. Alves went to Tri State College of Engineer- ing at Angola, Indiana, for his technical training, graduating there in 1931 with the degree of Bachelor of Science in Mechanical En- gineering. In 1933 he received another degree of Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering at Worcester Polytechnic Institute. He is listed in Who's, Who in Engineering.
Before entering college, Mr. Alves had had experience as a tool- maker, following that trade prior to 1929. When he took his second bachelor's degree in 1933, he took a position as mechanical engineer with the Watertown Manufacturing Company at Watertown. He remained with this organization until 1952, working successively as mechanical engineer, chief engineer, factory manager, and assistant general manager. Resigning to accept a position as executive vice president of the American Tool Works at Hartford, he was with that industrial firm through 1953. He has since been president of Engineer- ed Plastics, Inc., at Watertown. He is also treasurer of the firm; and he holds the same two executive offices in Top Hat Tool Company, Inc.
A Republican, Mr. Alves has acquitted himself well in municipal offices. He has been a member of the Zoning Authority, the Zoning Board of Appeals, and the Board of Education, and is currently serving as chairman of the Park Commission.
His only lodge or club memberships are in the Masonic order, in which he holds the Thirty-second degree. He and Mrs. Alves attend the First Congregational Church.
She is the former Miss Ada I. Remor, born in Stafford Springs; she is a daughter of Louis and Amalia Remor, both natives of Italy. She became the wife of Alexander L. Alves in a ceremony at Bridge- port on May 25, 1935. The couple, who make their home at 38 Sunset Avenue, Watertown, are the parents of two children: I. Lionel R., born May 4, 1936. 2. Alexander R., born July 8, 1941. Both children were born in Bridgeport.
RICHARD F. JONES, JR.
For the past quarter-century, the major business interest of Rich- . ard F. Jones, Jr., of Hartford, has been finance. First in the field of real estate, and since 1953 in finance leasing, he is serving as pres-
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ident of American Leasing Corporation which does business in all parts of the country. Mr. Jones is also chairman of the Citizens for Hartford.
Born in Hartford on May 18, 1906, he is a son of Richard F. Jones, a building contractor who died on November 5, 1951, and Grace Cecelia (Mulrooney) Jones. The family has resided in Hartford County since the 1850s. The younger Richard F. Jones graduated from the old West Middle District School, and from Hartford Public High School in the Class of 1923B. He was elected permanent sec- retary of that class. He then entered Yale University, where he gra- duated in 1928 with the degree of Bachelor of Science. He has since done graduate work in economics at the University of Chicago and the Wharton School of Finance, University of Pennsylvania, and graduate work in archeology at Columbia University and the Yale Graduate School.
Following his graduation as a civil engineer, Mr. Jones began his career as job engineer in charge of construction at the Bushnell Memorial Auditorium of Hartford. In 1933, he left engineering and started in the real estate business, founding his own real estate and insurance agency in 1933. He remained active in its management until 1953, when he founded the American Leasing Corporation, of which he is currently president. He is also president of the Westminster Leasing Limited of Toronto, Ontario, Canada; president of Con- necticut Leasing Corporation; president of American Leasing Cali- fornia, Inc. The leasing companies will purchase real estate, trucks, airplanes, machine tools, or almost any type of equipment and lease it to the users of this equipment anywhere in the world. Mr. Jones is also currently the president of Congress and Daggett, Inc., owner of industrial properties in Connecticut. He is vice president and director of the Owen Street Realty Corporation. He is a former member of the executive committee of the Hartford Real Estate board; former member of the Board of Fire Underwriters; former vice president of the Institute of Real Estate Management of the National Associa- tion of Real Estate Boards.
Mr. Jones served as a first lieutenant in the 301st Engineers, United States Army. He was formerly a member of the Board of Education of the Town of Farmington. He is a founder, and member of the executive committee, of the Governmental Research Institute; founder and first president of the Hartford Rehabilitation Center ; and a former director of the Citizens Charter Committee. He is also chairman of the Citizens for Hartford, an advisory group to the city
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on redevelopment matters, composed of leading citizens of the Hart- ford area, appointed by the mayor.
One of his major interests is archeology, and he is former vice president of the American Institute of Archeology, a member of the American Research Center in Egypt, and former president of the Hartford Archeological Society. In addition to his hobby of archeol- ogy, Mr. Jones is interested in history and travel. His favorite sports are fly fishing and boating, and he was formerly an airplane pilot. He is a communicant of St. John's Episcopal Church in West Hart- ford. His memberships include the Hartford Chamber of Commerce, the Hartford Get-Together Club which he formerly served as pres- ident, the Yale Club of New York, Graduates Club of New Haven, Yale Club of Hartford, The Hartford Club, University Club, Hart- ford Golf Club, Essex Yacht Club, and Hamburg Cove Yacht Club.
On October 22, 1928, in Meriden, Richard F. Jones, Jr., married Jennie Elizabeth Caldwell, daughter of Arthur D. and Sadie (White- head) Caldwell of that city. Mrs. Jones is a graduate of Meriden High School, and attended Boston University. The couple are the parents of two children: I. Elizabeth Caldwell, born May 2, 1931, in Hartford. She is a graduate of Oxford School for Girls in West Hartford, where she was president of her class, and attended Smith College. On June 23, 1951, she was married to H. Bacon Collamore, son of H. Bacon Collamore, Sr., chairman of the board of Pittsburgh Steel Corporation and former president and chairman of the board of National Fire Insurance Company, and of Dorothy (Rowe) Col- lamore. H. Bacon Collamore, Jr., is a graduate of St. Paul's School in Concord, New Hampshire, and of Princeton University, Class of 1950. He is now vice president of the American Leasing Corporation. The couple have two sons : i. H. Bacon Collamore, 3rd. ii. Bruce Arthur Collamore. Both sons were born in Pittsburgh. 2. Richard F., 3rd, born in Hartford, on March 1I, 1934. He graduated from Phillips Exeter Academy in New Hampshire, and from Yale University in the Class of 1956, and did premedical work at Trinity College in Hartford. He is now at the Medical School of the University of Virginia in Charlot- tesville. On June 23, 1956, he married Mary Jean Anderson of Bloom- field, daughter of Buist M. Anderson, vice president of Connecticut General Life Insurance Company, and Dorothy Anderson. They have a daughter, Laura Owen Jones, born in Hartford on March 26, 1957.
C. LEROY MAGNUSON
With a long record of experience and valuable service in the
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state's Purchasing Division to his credit, C. LeRoy Magnuson has held his present office as Connecticut's Supervisor of Purchases since 1950. He has been quite active over the past years in national organiza- tions of purchasing officials, holding office as president of two such groups.
Mr. Magnuson was born at Portland, Connecticut, on July 4, 1908, son of Charles and Emma (Swanson) Magnuson. Both parents are deceased. Receiving his public school education in his native com- munity, C. LeRoy Magnuson graduated from Portland High School, after which he studied at Middletown Business College. He has been working since the age of seventeen, however, having first worked for the State of Connecticut as a member of the staff of the state prison at Wethersfield. He continued in this connection from 1925 until July, 1937, and had various clerical duties, being chief clerk at the time of his resignation. In 1937 Mr. Magnuson began his connec- tion with the Purchasing Division of the state government, being appointed chief clerk. He was promoted to assistant supervisor of purchases in July, 1942, and to his present position in March, 1950. His offices are at 70 Arch Street, Hartford.
Mr. Magnuson is a past president and member of the board of directors of the National Institute of Governmental Purchasing, In- corporated, at Washington, District of Columbia; past president of the National Association of State Purchasing Officials, which also has its headquarters in the nation's capital; and a member of the National Association of Purchasing Agents and the Connecticut As- sociation of Purchasing Agents. He also belongs to the Hartford Coun- ty Purchasing Agents' Association. He has served as president of the Connecticut Chapter of the National Institute of Governmental Purchasing.
A Rotarian, Mr. Magnuson formerly served as president of the club at Glastonbury. He is also past president of the Community Club of South Glastonbury; and is past president of the High Street School and High School Parent-Teacher Association at Glastonbury. His hobby is floriculture, and he has a greenhouse as well as extensive flower gardens. He is a member and past president of the Connecticut Gladiolus Society. He and his family attend Zion Lutheran Church at Portland.
In that city on September 14, 1940, C. LeRoy Magnuson married Sara (Staff) Jennings, daughter of Gustave and Malin (Hultquist) Staff. The couple are the parents of two children: I. John Jennings, who was born on July 30, 1929. He graduated from Admiral Bellard
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Academy at New London, and New York State Maritime College at Fort Schuyler, New York. He married Marie Cecile Cyr, and they have two children: i. Malin. ii. Heidi. 2. Susan Jennings, who was born on March 18, 1934, and is the wife of Robert North. She is a graduate of Glastonbury High School and attended the University of Connecticut. She has two children: i. Karen. ii. Sandra.
RICHARD BRAINARD LEWIS, JR.
As president and treasurer of Harvey and Lewis Company, Inc., of Hartford., Richard B. Lewis, Jr., heads one of the region's long- established optical firms. It was founded by his grandfather, Robert H. Lewis, in partnership with Foster E. Harvey, in 1890. Robert's son, the elder Richard B. Lewis, succeeded the co-founder in its man- agement. His death occurred on October 1, 1954. His wife is the former Dorothy Raymond White. She survives him and makes her home in West Hartford.
This couple's son, Richard B., Jr., was born in Hartford on July 4, 1918. He attended Kingswood School, and Taft School at Water- town, Connecticut. As soon as he had completed his education, he joined the Harvey and Lewis Company in the fall of 1937, gaining his first practical experience working in the shop. In 1947 he was admitted into the management ranks of the firm as vice president. He continued to serve in that position until the death of his father seven years later. Since October, 1954, he has held office as president and treasurer.
Besides this executive post, Mr. Lewis is a director of the Dime Savings Bank of Hartford, and a member of the advisory board of the West Hartford Branch of the Connecticut Bank and Trust Com- pany. He is a member of the Hartford Chamber of Commerce, The Hartford Club, Hartford Golf Club, and the Metabetchouan Fish and Game Club in Canada. Golf and fishing are his favorite pastimes. He is a communicant of Trinity Episcopal Church in Hartford.
Mr. Lewis is a veteran of World War II. He served with an antiaircraft unit of the Coast Artillery-the 745th Gun Battalion, in which he held the rank of corporal. He spent the greater part of his period of military service, December, 1940, to 1945, in the South Pa- cific, and his last two years of service were with an army optical unit. He received his honorable discharge in 1945.
In New York City on May 21, 1949, Richard B. Lewis, Jr., mar- ried Janet Middleton of Charlottesville, Virginia, daughter of C. W. and Isabelle (Hoxie) Middleton. Mrs. Lewis attended Miss Medera's
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School in Washington, District of Columbia, and is a graduate of the Presbyterian School of Nursing in New York. The couple are the parents of four children: I. Sharon L., who was born on August 14, 1950. 2. Charlotte W., born on May 4, 1954. 3. Richard B., 3rd, born on October 18, 1956. 4. Cornelius M., who was born on November II, 1957. All of the children were born in Hartford.
BENJAMIN HINMAN
Benjamin Hinman completed his training for the profession of the law following naval service in World War II, and practices in Hartford, where he is a member of the firm of Shipman and Goodwin. He has already distinguished himself in public office, as town attorney at Avon.
Born in New York City on March 25, 1918, he is a son of Edward, Jr., and Elsie E. (Gridley) Hinman. The Hinman family has long been established in Connecticut, having settled first at Stratford, in 1636, and relocated at Woodbury in 1673. The house occupied by Edward Hinman has been in the family since 1741. He is an engineer by profession.
After completing his preparatory courses at Pomfret School, Benjamin Hinman entered Yale University, where he graduated in 1940 with the degree of Bachelor of Science. In July of that year, he enlisted in the United States Navy, and served until February, 1946. At the time of his discharge, he held a commission as lieutenant com- mander. He then resumed his education, enrolling at the University of Virginia, where he received his degree of Bachelor of Laws in 1948.
Admitted to the Connecticut bar, he commenced practice in Hart- ford the same year, and has been identified with Shipman and Goodwin since. Its offices are at 15 Lewis Street. Mr. Hinman is a member of the Hartford Bar Association, the Connecticut Bar Association, and the American Bar Association.
Mr. Hinman is serving as town attorney for Avon, an office he has capably filled for several years. He is trustee and treasurer of Pomfret School, which he once attended. His fraternity is Delta Phi, which he joined at Yale University, and he is a member of The Hart- ford Club. He and his family attend the Episcopal Church.
Mrs. Hinman is the former Miss Marion R. Butterfield, daughter of Dyer and Augusta D. Butterfield. She became the wife of Benjamin Hinman in a ceremony at Chattanooga, Tennessee, on January 22, 1944. The couple have three children, all of whom were born in Hart-
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ford: 1. Joel Dyer, born May 4, 1953. 2. William Rogers, born Octo- ber 3, 1955. 3. Edward, II, born May 14, 1958.
FREDERICK FOSTER SWEENEY
Shortly after the New Haven insurance firm of Thompson and Peck, Inc., was founded, three decades ago, a young man named Frederick F. Sweeney joined the organization as its secretary. He is now the president of this organization, which has grown into one of the largest mutual insurance agencies in all of New England.
Born December 29, 1900, at East Jaffrey, New Hampshire, Mr. Sweeney is a son of Dr. Frederick C. and Eva (Fletcher) Sweeney. He completed his education at Phillips Exeter Academy and Mas- sachusetts Institute of Technology, class of 1922, and was identified with the New England Insurance Exchange before joining Thomp- son and Peck, Inc., in 1929. This agency had been founded the previous year in New Haven by Bryson F. Thompson and Lawrence T. Peck, and was incorporated on August 18, 1928. Mr. Sweeney, who made his appearance at the company on December 1, 1929, began his con- nection in the capacity of secretary. The following year, Robert W. Knott, the present secretary, joined the firm; and in 1931, Ferdinand O. Smith, now treasurer, began his association with the company. These men have continued as its guiding hands for the past thirty years. The most important change in personnel during that time came with the death of Mr. Thompson on February 7, 1954, and he was succeeded in the presidency by Mr. Sweeney.
In 1946, Thompson and Peck purchased the office building which has since been its headquarters, located at 149 Court Street. Thompson and Peck handles all forms of insurance, general and life and has twenty-six employees. It specializes in mutual insurance, in which it stands supreme among dealers in the New England area.
As president of the company, Mr. Sweeney holds a prominent place in the life of his city. He is a member of the Chamber of Com- merce, member and past president of the Civitan Club, and a member of the Quinnipiak Club, New Haven Advertising Club and The High Lane Club. Affiliated with the Free and Accepted Masons, he belong's to all the Scottish Rite bodies and holds the Thirty-second degree. He is a member of Pyramid Temple, Ancient Arabic Order of Nobles of the Mystic Shrine, at Bridgeport, and of the New Haven Shrine Club.
On October 10, 1931 Frederick Foster Sweeney married Dorothy G. Wilson, who was born in Metuchen, New Jersey on June 25, 1908,
Frederick F. Sweeny
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daughter of Dr. McLeod C. and March D. (Gray) Wilson of Hartford. The couple are the parents of the following children: I. Wilson, who was born on September 4, 1934, in New Haven. He graduated from The College of William and Mary in 1956, taking the degree of Bache- lor of Arts. Commissioned in the Reserve Officers Training Corps, he is now in the Army Reserve Corps. He is with Thompson and Peck. Wilson Sweeney married Margo Homer Wood, daughter of Mrs. Mar- garet Huggins Wood of New York City. 2. David, born April 20, 1937. He too attended The College of William and Mary, and took his de- gree of Bachelor of Arts there in 1958. He is now taking the agency management course offered by Connecticut Mutual Life Insurance Company of Hartford. Like his older brother, he was commissioned in the Reserve Officers Training Corps and is in the Reserves. David Sweeney married Helen English, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Edgar F. English of Arlington, Virginia. 3. Brenda, born August 3, 1939, in New Haven; graduated from Prospect Hill School in 1957; is now attending Beaver College, Jenkintown, Pennsylvania.
SIDNEY A. EDWARDS
Ever since the Connecticut Development Commission was formed in 1939, the same capable hand has been at its helm-that of Sidney A. Edwards, who holds the title of managing director, and has his headquarters in the State Office Building at Hartford. Mr. Edwards brings to this post a varied background of experience; and he has held office in a number of other important regional and national groups.
He is a native of East Haddam, and was born on March 30, 1896, son of Harry A. and Clara May (Ackley) Edwards. His father was a farm manager. Sidney A. Edwards received his early education in the public schools of Naugatuck, Connecticut, later attending Con- necticut Agricultural, now the University of Connecticut, where he graduated in the Class of 1918, taking the degree of Bachelor of Science.
Early in his career, he worked for two chambers of commerce and two manufacturing concerns. In February, 1921, he was named county club agent and four years later county agricultural agent of Middlesex County Farm Bureau, serving in the dual positions until May, 1927. Thereafter until December, 1937, he was director of the Bureau of Markets, Connecticut Department of Agriculture. Mr. Ed- wards became managing director of the Seventh World's Poultry Congress and Exposition at Cleveland, Ohio, in December, 1937, and
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served until August, 1939. This was an international exposition spon- sored by the World's Poultry Science Association and held in a dif- ferent country every third year. It drew a total attendance of eight hundred and fifty thousand between July 28 and August 7, 1939.
On October 1, 1939 Mr. Edwards accepted appointment as man- aging director of the Connecticut Development Commission. In addi- tion to his duties in connection with this important full-time state office, he is a member and former chairman of the Industrial Develop- ment Committee of the New England Council. He formerly served as chairman of the Northeastern Conference of State Planning and Development Agencies, drawing its membership from twelve north- eastern states. Formerly president of the Association of State Plan- ning and Development Agencies, a national body, he is still serving on its board of directors.
Mr. Edwards is former secretary of the National Association of Marketing Officials; former secretary of the Northeastern Poultry Producers Council; a member of the executive committee of Eastern States Exposition, and secretary of the exposition's Connecticut Trus- tees; secretary-treasurer of the Natural Resources Council of Con- necticut; and a member of the New England Association of Com- mercial Executives.
A Rotarian, Mr. Edwards served as president of the club at Hartford in 1951-1952. He is a member and past president of the Alumni Association of the University of Connecticut, and a member of Alpha Gamma Rho fraternity. He serves on the executive com- mittee of The Automobile Club of Hartford. His hobby is gardening. Mr. Edwards is a member of the Portland Congregational Church. Mrs. Edwards attends Trinity Church (Episcopal) of Portland. They have lived in Portland since 1921.
She is the former Miss Bessie Estelle Carpenter, and was born in New Britain, daughter of Burdette and Lillian (Sloan) Carpenter. She completed her education at Meriden High School. She was mar- ried to Sidney A. Edwards in a ceremony at Meriden on September 27, 1919. They are the parents of the following children: I. Robert Rus- sell, who was born on November 5, 1922. He married Roberta An- derson, and they have two children : Diane and Robert. 2. Lois Lillian, born on March 21, 1927. She is the wife of William F. Wells. Their children : Linda Susan, William Edward, Stephen Beale and David Ackley. 3. Janet Clara, born on May 2, 1929. She married Fred B. Hill. They have two children: Cynthia Karen and Jeffrey Sloane. 4. Sidney A., Jr., who was born on August 23, 1920, and lost his life in the
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defense of his country in World War II, while serving as a first lieutenant in the United States Army Air Corps.
JAMES W. HICKEY
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