USA > Massachusetts > The story of western Massachusetts, Volume IV > Part 13
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In addition to his other business interests, Mr. Benton serves with professional and civic organiza- tions. He has been active in Pittsfield Community Chest since its inception in 1921 holding various of- fices. He is director and chairman of the trust com- mittee for the Pittsfield National Bank, and is a di- rector of the G. C. A. Manufacturing Company, the Community Fund of Pittsfield, and the Boys Club of Pittsfield. He is a former director of the Keith Paper Company, of Turners Falls, and is president of the Young Women's Home Association. From 1932 until 1941 he served as chairman of the Athletic Council of Williams College, and belongs to the Wil- liams College Faculty Club, and the Williams Club of New York City. He holds memberships in the Univer-
sity Club of New York City, the St. Botolph Club of Boston, the Pittsfield Country Club, the Sleepy Hol- low Country Club, of Scarborough, New York, and the Stockbridge Golf Club. Fraternally, he is affi- liated with the Free and Accepted Masons. In politics he is a Republican, and in religious belief adheres to the Congregational faith, attending the First Congre- gational Church of Pittsfield, of which he is treasurer. On April 9, 1912, at Pittsfield, Stanley Prindle Benton married Margaret A. Jones, daughter of Harley E. and Libbie H. Jones, and they became the parents of the following children: I. John Stanley. 2. Anne.
GEORGE HENRY HIGGINS, president of the North Adams Trust Company, has been associated with this institution for almost a quarter of a century. Mr. Higgins is well-known in banking circles through the state.
He was born in Boston on May 2, 1888, the son of George Henry and Nathalia G. (Hamblin) Higgins. After graduating from the East Boston High School, he entered the banking business in 1905 as an em- ployee of the First Ward National Bank, now a non- existent institution. Later he was with the Merchants National Bank and then from 1912 to 1924 he gained all-around banking experience by serving in all the various departments of the Bank of Boston, resigning in 1924 from his post as manager of the loan depart- ment, in order to come to North Adams. He is a graduate of the American Institute of Banking. His first position with the North Adams Trust Company was as treasurer of the company. Later he became vice president and on January 1, 1947 he assumed the office of president. Mr. Higgins is also a member of the board of directors of the North Adams Trust Company, and he is a trustee of the North Adams Savings Bank. He belongs to the Free and Accepted Masons, retaining his Masonic tie with Somerville as well as being a member of Composite Chapter, Royal Arch Masons, in North Adams. He is also a mem- ber of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. He and his family attend the First Congregational Church.
Mr. Higgins married, at Cambridge on June II, 1912, Martha A. Morrissey, the daughter of Captain David G. and Lucretia (Kenney) Morrissey. Mrs. Higgins' father was a sea captain. Mr. and Mrs. Higgins are the parents of two sons: I. Linville G. Higgins, born in Somerville, June 4, 1915. He is a graduate of Severn School of Maryland, and studied at Dartmouth College. He served for five years as a sergeant in the United States Army during World War II, seeing action in the Pacific Theater of Opera- tions. Since his return he has held the post of teller in the North Adams Savings Bank. In 1940 in North Adams he married Olive C. Jones, the daughter of William and Mae (Clover) Jones, and they have two children: i. Richard William Higgins, born February, 1943. ii. Peter Goodwin Higgins, born May, 1948. 2. George B. Higgins was born in April, 1927, at North Adams. He is a graduate of Phillips Exeter Academy and of Williams College, and now a student at Union Theological Semin- ary, New York City. During World War II he was a member of the United States Navy Reserve Corps.
ARCHIE A. POIRIER-Since 1922 a prominent businessman of Adams, Archie A. Poirier has success-
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fully established himself as one of the city's leading citizens.
Mr. Poirier was born November 10, 1899, at St. Leonard, Province of Quebec, Canada, son of Phillipe and Anna (Fleury) Poirier. In 1908, the family moved to Leominster, and Archie Poirier attended the pub- lic schools there.
As a youth in school Mr. Poirier worked during summer vacations in the New System Laundry at Leominster. After his graduation from the local pub- lic schools, he took full-time employment in the laun- dries, learning the business thoroughly.
In 1922, Mr. Poirier came to Adams and established a prosperous laundry enterprise, the only one in the community at that time. In 1923, he purchased a plot of land on Pearl Street, in Adams, and as his busi- ness increased continued to add floor space to his origi- nal plant. In April, 1946, the Pearl Street plant was destroyed by lightning. Undaunted, Mr. Poirier bought the Plunkett and Sons Mills property on Commercial Street and established a new laundry plant. At present he employs forty-five workers and owns two establishments in different parts of the city. Despite misfortune and adversity, Mr. Poirier has inade a success of his laundry enterprises. In ad- dition to his other business interests, Mr. Poirier is a director of the First National Bank of Adams.
Mr. Poirier is active in his community as a mem- ber and former president of the Lions Club and as a member and past exalted ruler of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks. He served as first presi- dent of the Board of Trade for two years and is now a trustee. In religious affiliation he is a Roman Catho- lic and attends the Notre Dame Roman Catholic Church at Adams.
On February 28, 1927, at Adams, Archie A. Poirier married Florence M. Molleur, daughter of Moses and Carrie (Bonchiman) Molleur. They became the par- ents of the following children: I. Claire L., who was born December 22, 1927, attended the local schools, and was graduated from the Mary Burnham School for Girls at Northampton; she is now attending the Maryland College for Women. 2. Henry A., who was born March 21, 1930, and is now attending Williston Academy, Southampton. 3. Virginia, who was born in April 1933, and is attending the Notre Dame Paro- chial School. 4. Alice, who was born in April, 1936, and is attending the same school with her sister, Virginia.
T. EDWARD QUINN-A leader among chiropo- dists and podiatrists in Western Massachusetts, Dr. T. Edward Quinn of Pittsfield is perhaps as well known throughout New England as he is in his home community. He is a member of the board of trustees of the Beacon Institute of Podiatry of Bos- ton, the only insitution of its kind in New England. He is also a former chairman of the Pittsfield Li- cense Board and remains active in the city's pub- lic affairs, being chairman of the Democratic City Committee.
Dr. Quinn, whose first name is Terrence, was born in Adams, on January 25, 1903, the son of Michael E. and Ellen (Burke) Quinn. Few men were better known in Western Massachusetts than
the late Michael F. Quinn. From 1919 until his death in 1925, he was City Clerk of Pittsfield and had previously served the community in many other oustanding ways. Mrs. Michael Quinn, also a native of Adams, survives her husband and continues to make her home in Pittsfield.
A graduate of St. Joseph's Parochial School and the Catholic High School in Pittsfield, T. Edward Quinn also studied at St. Michael's College, Wi- nooski, Vermont, and Wentworth Institute, Boston. In 1931, he was graduated from the Temple Univer- sity School of Chiropody in Philadelphia, with the degree of Doctor of Surgical Chiropody. Since 1931, he has been in the practice of chiropody and podiatry at Pittsfield. By 1947 Dr. Quinn had achieved such distinction in his profession that he was elected to a four-year term on the board of the Beacon In- stitute of Podiatry. This institution offers a four- year course in chiropody and podiatry. The board is headed by Dr. William A. Barry, assistant super- intendent of public schools of Boston, and Louis N. Borlenghi, M. D., is dean of the school.
Dr. Quinn, who is a Democrat, was chairman of the Pittsfield License Board from 1933 to 1934. His church is St. Theresa's Roman Catholic, in Pitts- field.
Dr. Quinn married Agnes Riley, daughter of the late Thomas P. and Mary (Emperor) Riley, natives of Pittsfield, at St. Joseph's Roman Catholic Church in that city on April 30, 1934.
RALPH BIDWELL DANES-A well-known fun- eral director of Dalton, Ralph Bidwell Danes has carried on a successful enterprise since 1940, gaining an enviable reputation for his good judgment and integrity. He merits the respect and confidence of a host of personal friends and business colleagues.
Mr. Danes was born December 10, 1910, at Pitts- field, son of Herbert and Mary (Crossin) Danes. His father, a native of Pittsfield, and now retired, for many years was associated with the Pittsfield National Bank. The mother was also born in Pitts- field.
Ralph Danes received his early education in the public schools of his native city, and was graduated from Pittsfield High School. In 1932, he was gradu- ated from the McAllister School of Embalming in New York City, and in the following year passed the examination given by the Massachusetts State Board of Embalming.
From the time of his completion of formal training until 1940, Mr. Danes was associated in business with Charles C. Bartlett, who operated a funeral home at Dalton. In the latter year, after having gained a thorough knowledge of the embalming profession from the practical as well as from the academic side, he purchased Mr. Bartlett's interest in the establish- ment. Since then Mr. Danes has carried on the func- tions of the funeral home as funeral director, and has given excellent service to all those who have sought advice and aid.
Mr. Danes is active in the life of his community. He belongs to the National Funeral Directors Asso- ciation and the Massachusetts State Funeral Directors Association. In addition he plays an important role in the work of the Dalton Rotary Club. In religious
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belief he is an Episcopalian, and attends the Grace Episcopal Church at Dalton.
On May 6, 1935, at the Little Church Around the Corner in New York City, Ralph Bidwell Danes married Marion A. Wood, daughter of Earl and Jessie (Pratt) Wood, of Lanesboro, Massachusetts.
THOMAS D. BARILE-Barile's Manufacturing Center on Fourth Street in Pittsfield is one of the major industrial plants of Berkshire County, housing as it does fifteen different enterprises. Among these enterprises is the Royal Plating and Polishing Com- pany, of which Thomas D. Barile is president and which ranks among the largest organizations of its kind in the United States. The Pittsfield plant is only one of three operated by the company, there being two others in Newark, New Jersey, scene of the founding of the company. Mr. Barile, now retired, has turned the active management over to his two sons and two sons-in-law while acting in an occasional consulting capacity and indulging his lifelong ambition to participate in various sports in Massachusetts, New Jersey and Florida. Once in the United States Navy, he is an army veteran of World War I.
Thomas D. Barile was born in West New Brighton, Staten Island, New York, on June 22, 1894, the son of Joseph Anthony and Mary (Rossetta) Barile. Joseph A. Barile, a native of Italy, who came to the United States as a young man, died at the age of thirty-three on Staten Island. Yet, despite his youth, he had already established three shoe stores and was in the process of organizing a fourth at the time of his death. The three stores were at Lynn and Wor- cester, Massachusetts, and on Staten Island. The fourth was to have been opened in metropolitan New York City.
Only a boy when his father died, Thomas D. Barile went to live with a grandmother at Newark, New Jersey. There he was educated in the public schools. After working for several years at various occupations, he formed an organization of what has become a major concern in their field, the Royal Plating and Polishing Company, the firm which in Pittsfield has the slogan, "When Things Look Rusty, Call 6848."
The company was formed in 1914 and has grown to such proportions that its Newark plants are two of the largest of their kind in the country. They are man- aged by Mr. Barile's brothers Frank and Ralph. Joseph A. Barile is now president of the Pittsfield plant.
In 1931, Thomas Barile came to Western Massachu- setts and soon afterward established a plant for the Royal Plating and Polishing Company in an old ice house near the railroad underpass on West Street, Pittsfield. The plant remained there until 1934, when, because expansion of the business demanded more room, larger quarters being needed, operations were moved to what is now called the Tillison Mill on Fourth Street, which in 1947 was changed to Barile's Manufacturing Center. The mill was pur- chased by the Royal company in 1946. In its one hundred and twenty-five thousand square feet of floor space, the area covered by Barile's Manufacturing Center, are the fifteen different enterprises. The Royal Plating and Polishing Company handles such metals as chromium, cadmium, tinning, copper, nickel, silver, brass and gold. Its operations include grinding,
polishing, lacquering, anodizing and refinishing. It also does work on boats, and boat parts.
When Mr. Barile retired from his active duties with the company, though retaining the title of presi- dent, he left the management to Joseph A. and Thomas D. Barile, his sons, and to Joseph B. Powers and Arthur A. Amuso, his sons-in-law.
Mr. Barile is a member of the Pittsfield Lodge, Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks; the Faccioli Club of Pittsfield; the Sailfish Club of Miami, Florida; the Waconah Country Club of Dalton and the Sons of Italy in Pittsfield. Golf and big game fishing are his hobbies.
A member of the United States Navy for four years prior to World War I, Mr. Barile served in Battery A, 334th Field Artillery, 87th Division, American Expeditionary Forces, in the war itself.
He married Angelina M. Cozzone in Newark, New Jersey, on September 20, 1919. Born in the New Jersey metropolis, Mrs. Barile is the daughter of the late Anthony and Phylene (Riccio) Cozzone. Besides the two sons already named, Mr. Barile has two daughters, Phylene, born on July 13, 1925, and Mariette, born September 19, 1922. Joseph Anthony Barile was born on July 18, 1920, and Thomas Barile, Jr., on November 20, 1927. All the children are natives of Newark and graduates of Pittsfield High School. Mariette is now Mrs. Joseph B. Powers and Phylene is now Mrs. Arthur A. Amuso. There are three grandchildren: Antonia and Angelica Barile and Joseph Powers, Jr., all born in Pittsfield. The Barile family worships at Mount Carmel Roman Catholic Church, Pittsfield.
D. CROSBY GREENE, M.D .- Among the com- paratively younger members of the medical profession in Western Massachusetts, Dr. D. Crosby Greene of Pittsfield stands with the foremost in ability and reputation. The inheritor, so to say, of a fine medical tradition from his father, who was a physician of note, and the beneficiary of an excellent medical edu- cation and of intensive experience at Johns Hopkins and other foremost medical centers, Dr. Greene has built up an active and lucrative practice as a pediatri- cian during the eight years since he first established himself in the "Capital of the Berkshires."
Dr. Greene's paternal grandfather was a missionary to Japan, and at Kobe in that kingdom the late D. Crosby Greene, Sr. was born. He became a physician and a noted nose and throat specialist in Boston. He married Marion Lockwood of Boston, and to them the son who was named for his father was born at Boston on March 29, 1910. The elder Dr. Greene died in 1941. The younger D. Crosby Greene attended the Country Day School in Newton, following which he entered Harvard University, and from that renowned institution at Cambridge received the degree of Bachelor of Arts in 1932. Doubtless from an early age he had determined to emulate his distinguished father, and for his medical studies went to New Haven, Connecticut, where he received his degree of Doctor of Medicine from Yale University upon graduating with the class of 1937.
Dr. Greene's period of internship began at the Union Memorial Hospital in Baltimore, Maryland. From this institution he went to the Johns Hopkins, and subsequently to Sydenham Hospital, also in Balti-
The De Baile.
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more. Returning to Massachusetts, he interned for a time at the Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston. As the scene of his independent practice, however, he turned to Western Massachusetts, and opened his office in Pittsfield in 1940. Presently the call to national service in World War II brought him into the United States Army, which he entered in June, 1942. Attached to the Army Medical Corps with the rank of first lieutenant, he saw service in China in the Asiatic Theater of Operations. He was honorably discharged as major from the Army on March 27, 1946, and at that time resumed his practice in Pittsfield. He is a member of the active staff of the House of Mercy, and Fairview Hospital in Great Barrington, and of the courtesy staffs of St. Luke's Hospital, Pittsfield, and of the Fairview Hospital at Great Barrington.
Dr. Greene belongs to the Berkshire County Medical Society, the Massachusetts Medical Society, and the American Medical Association, and holds membership also in the New England Pediatric So- ciety.
At New Haven, Connecticut, on June 16, 1937, D. Crosby Greene was married to Charlotte Dusser de Barenne, a native of The Netherlands, and a daughter of the late Dr. and Mrs. J. G. de Barenne. Dr. de Barenne held a professorship of neuro-physiology at Yale University. Of this marriage there are the fol- lowing three children: 1. Kate Snellen, who was born at Baltimore, Maryland, on June 24, 1939. 2. Doro- thea Rebecca, born at Pittsfield, Massachusetts, on June 24, 1942. 3. Elise Marie, born at Boston on September 23, 1947.
ROWAN McCARN, JR .- A lifelong interest in motors has led Rowan McCarn, Jr., to a place of im- portance in the mechanical world and to an active part in Springfield's business affairs. From early youth thoroughness has characterized his efforts in his field.
Mr. McCarn was born at Brookline, Massachusetts, on July 3, 1904, the son of Rowan and Mary (Corber) McCarn. His father was an attorney. Mr. McCarn was educated in the public schools of Brookline and after attending Brookline High School was gradu- ated from Mercersburg Academy and from Bowdoin College. After winning his Bachelor of Science de- gree at Bowdoin he did postgraduate work at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
In 1929 Mr. McCarn began work with the Pacific Consolidated Aircraft Company with determination to learn the business from the bottom up. He re- signed in 1931 to join the Curtiss-Wright Company at Valley Stream, Long Island, where he remained until 1937, when he organized the Malden Sales and Service Company at Malden, Massachusetts. In 1942 he entered the government service as a Diesel in- structor, operating out of the Boston Navy Yard. In 1945 he joined the United Equipment Corporation and took over management of that firm's Springfield branch, where he remains.
Mr. McCarn is a Republican, a Methodist and a member of the Zeta Psi fraternity and the Long- meadow Men's Club. He was married at Allentown, Pennsylvania on January 1, 1936, to Miss Kathryn Reese, who was born at Hazelton, Pennsylvania April
20, 1912, the daughter of Evans and Daisy Reese. They are the parents of two children: I. Joan Suz- anne, born August 7, 1938. 2. Heather, born January 16, 1946.
JOHN BURBANK, vice president of Miller Build -. ing, Incorporated, of Pittsfield, was born in Pittsfield, December 26, 1908, the son of E. S. and Jane (Cros- sey) Burbank. He is a direct descendant of Abraham Burbank, one of the pioneers of Pittsfield.
John Burbank is a graduate of Dean Academy, in Franklin, and also attended Boston University School of Business Administration, in the class of 1932.
Mr. Burbank has the distinction of living in the oldest house in Pittsfield, at 600 William Street. Ac- cording to the historical record, it was built in the year 1663.
John Burbank married, on January 14, 1933, Evelyn Miller, the daughter of Kelton B. and Eva (Holland- beck) Miller. Mr. and Mrs. Burbank are the parents of two children: Kelton M., born in Utica, New York, July 21, 1935 and John Burbank, Jr., born in Pittsfield, March 31, 1938.
JOSEPH ANTHONY MARUCA-Starting as a plumber's assistant, Joseph A. Maruca has in twenty- one years become an outstanding business man of Springfield. He now is the head of his own company, which distributes General Electric products, and he takes part in civic activities.
Mr. Maruca was born in Springfield on March 12, 1906, the son of Peter and Carmella (Ucella) Maruca. His father died June 28, 1945. His mother still resides in Springfield. Mr. Maruco attended the public schools of Springfield and was graduated from the High School of Commerce. He began work in 1921 as a plumber's apprentice, and in 1926 entered the service of the Frigidaire Sales Corporation as service and installation man. In 1933 he joined the General Elec- tric Company in the same capacity. He left that or- ganization in 1947 to organize the Tri-City Refrigera- tion Company, Inc., of which firm he still is president.
Independent in politics, Mr. Maruca is a member of the Chamber of Commerce and worships at the Mt. Carmel Catholic Church. His hobby is hunting and fishing.
Mr. Maruca was married on September 2, 1930 to Mary Kersoska, daughter of Joseph and Mary Kersoska. His wife was educated in the public schools of Springfield. Her father is a machinist. Mr. and Mrs. Maruca are the parents of one child, Joseph A., Jr., born October 26, 1931. He is a student at the Spring- field Trade School.
LYLE B. PARKER-Sole owner of the Lyle B. Parker plumbing concern situated on Main Street in Dalton, which won the patronage of Dalton's citizens over a forty-year period as Ford and Parker, Mr. Parker's name is well established as an independent business man, and has been in this business forty- eight years.
Lyle B. Parker was born in Pittsfield, September 26, 1875, son of Samuel I. and Grace S. (Barton) Parker, both natives of Dalton. Mr. Parker attended the local public schools, but quit at the end of the eighth-grade term to assist his father on a farm lo- cated on the Dalton Division Road, purchased in 1884.
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The farm, sold later, is now owned by John Burg- ner, and contains one hundred and seventy-five acres. It was held by Mr. Parker's family for only four years. From this farm, Lyle B. Parker, his father, and his brother, Frank I., delivered milk to customers in Pitts- field. From 1888 to 1893 the father and both sons were engaged in the management of a farm for W. R. Allen of Pittsfield.
In 1895 Mr. Parker undertook an apprenticeship in plumbing and steamfitting under Frank Strong of Dalton. While working at this the Spanish-American War broke out and he enlisted with Company M of Adams, 2nd Regiment Massachusetts Volunteers. He saw action in Cuba in the Battle of El Caney, San Juan Hill, and the Siege of Santiago. While enroute to El Caney the 2nd Massachusetts Regiment, of which he was a member, was ordered out on the double-quick to reinforce the Rough Riders under Theodore Roosevelt, who were ambushed by the Spaniards, and were being cut to pieces. The Span- iards, fleeing, left a paper fastened to a tree, say- ing,-"The Yankee Pigs can have the woods and hills, but we will give them hell in the next town." The next town was El Caney, and a few days later the Regiment arrived there, the battle beginning at 6 A.M. and continuing until 4 P. M., at which time the Spaniards retreated around a mountain down into Santiago. During the El Caney battle, a comrade beside Mr. Parker was wounded. They were advanc- ing over a ploughed field, and Captain Hicks instructed Mr. Parker to carry the wounded man to the rear where there was established a temporary hospital tent. There was no Red Cross nor stretcher bearers to aid in this campaign. Before leaving with his comrade Mr. Parker made a hole in the ploughed ground with his hands, put the butt of the gun in, and left it stand- ing upright so that he could find his way back to it, which he did, taking his position again with his Com- pany on the firing line. Mr. Parker said that this trip back to the hospital tent with Private Walsh, the wounded man, on his back was the only time that he was actually scared, because he made an excellent target for the dumdum bullets that were flying around him. The 2nd Massachusetts Regiment then marched to the foothills of Santiago to reinforce the troops already engaged in battle, and after the surrender they were brought back to Montauk Point, Long Island. Through the thoughtfulness and generosity of W. Murray Crane of Dalton, sixteen of the seriously ill men of Company M, including Mr. Parker, were treated by special doctors and nurses, and then brought back by special train direct to Adams,. W. Murray Crane was later Governor of Massachusetts and United States Senator from that state.
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