USA > Massachusetts > The story of western Massachusetts, Volume IV > Part 22
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William Meehan attended the Pittsfield elementary schools in Pittsfield and after his graduation entered the family business in 1912. Two years later, in 1914, he graduated from the New England School of Em- balming at Boston, where he had taken his pro-
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fessional training. A brother, Mark Meehan, joined the business in 1923, which was the year of his father's death, and the two brothers carried on the business together until the death of Mark Meehan in June, 1947. Since that time Mr. Meehan has continued alone. He is a member of the Benevolent and Pro- tective Order of Elks and the Knights of Columbus, and a communicant of St. Joseph's Roman Catholic Church. For many years he has been a well-known figure at horse shows. not only locally but throughout New England, and although he retains his great love of horses, he owns only two saddle horses at the present time.
He married, in Pittsfield in August, 1926, Anna Wehry, the daughter of Henry and Katherine (Dries) Wehry, both of Pittsfield. Mr. and Mrs. Meehan have one daughter, Marilyn T., born in Pittsfield in July, 1927. She is a graduate of St. Joseph's High School and, after attending College of Our Lady of the Elms at Chicopee, is now training at St. Luke's Hos- pital to be a laboratory technician.
SAMUEL CHESTER-For a number of years prominent in the printing industry of Springfield, Samuel Chester has rendered distinguished service to his community, and he has earned the respect and esteem of his many friends and business associates.
Mr. Chester was born December 19, 1906, at Nor- wich, Connecticut, son of Charles and Mary (Lieber- man) Chester. His father was born in Russia, came to the United States in 1900, settled in Springfield, and became associated with the Railway Express Agency. His mother also was born in Russia, and now resides at Springfield.
Samuel Chester received his early education in the public schools, and was graduated from the Spring- field Trade School. After finishing his formal educa- tion, he became associated with the General Printing Company. He remained with the firm for twenty- one years, during which time he held many important positions. He finally was appointed to the position of supervisor of the letter press and offset department. In 1944 he organized the Springfield Offset & Printing Company, and he is now the vice president and a director of the thriving enterprise.
Mr. Chester is active in many phases of the life in Springfield. He is active in the Connecticut Valley Craftsmen's Club, the Connecticut Valley Litho Club, and the Beth Israel Men's Club. In religious affilia- tion he adheres to the Hebrew faith, and in politics is an independent voter. For relaxation and recreation he enjoys fishing.
On June 14, 1932, at Springfield, Samuel Chester married Matilda Schimmel, daughter of Jacob and Fannie Schimmel. Her father was a retail leather merchant, who died in November, 1944, and her mother is now living at Springfield. Samuel and Matilda (Schimmel) Chester became the parents of the following children: I. Elaine, who was born Feb- ruary 14, 1936, and attends public school. 2. Linda, who was born September 8, 1939, and also attends public school.
LOUISE MARIE TRUDEAU, president and treasurer of Prentiss, Brooks & Company, Incorpor- ated, grain dealers, is one of Holyoke's outstanding business women and also one of its most public- spirited citizens. She is a member of the executive
board of the Holyoke Chamber of Commerce and president of the Holyoke Council on World Rela- tions, as well as playing an active and enthusiastic role in many other organizations.
Mrs. Trudeau is a native of St. Johns, in the province of Quebec, Canada, and is the daughter of Joseph and Leucadia (Soucy) Smith. Her father, the late Joseph Smith, was born in 1867. He came to Holyoke from Quebec and at the time of his death in 1940 had been connected with Prentiss, Brooks & Company, Incorporated for forty years. He had much to do with the successful operation of this fine old business, which was founded seventy- five years ago and is among the older well-established concerns in the city of Holyoke.
Mrs. Trudeau attended the Holyoke elementary schools and Holyoke High School and then took a course at the Thompson Business College, before embarking upon her business career with Prentiss, Brooks & Company. In 1938 the firm was incor- porated, with Mrs. Trudeau in the post of assistant treasurer at that time. In 1943, she became president and treasurer, and since that time she has carried the responsibility for the management of the busi- ness and its efficient operation. She is one of the in- corporators of the Holyoke Savings Bank. She is a member and past president of the Holyoke Quota Club, a member and past president of the Cercle des Dames Francaises, and one of the leading members of the Holyoke Business and Professional Women's Club. Active in the Holyoke Chamber of Commerce, she has been made a member of the executive board of that organization, which has accorded that honor to few women. Mrs. Trudeau takes a keen interest in international affairs and her leadership in this field has brought her the responsibilities of serving as president of the Holyoke Council on World Re- lations. She is a member of the St. Jean Baptiste Society and of the Church of Perpetual Hope. In politics she is a Republican.
She married in Holyoke on July 26, 1927 Henry Trudeau, who is a retail merchant and also is en- gaged in the real estate business.
OLIVER BRIDGMAN BRADLEY, throughout his career, has shown abilities both in the field of banking and as a financial executive in the textile industry. He is now a vice president and director, as well as cashier, of the First National Bank of Easthampton and is a trustee of the Easthampton Savings Bank. He has always been active in the varied civic and business affairs of Easthampton, as well as of Northampton, where he makes his resi- dence.
Mr. Bradley was born in Detroit, Michigan, No- vember 7, 1877, son of Dr. Judson and Ellen Maria (Kingsley) Bradley. His father, a physician with three years' service in Company C. 37th Regiment of Massachusetts Volunteers, during the Civil War, later located in Detroit where he died in 1889. His wife survived him, living until 1919. Oliver B. Bradley attended public schools in both Detroit and Northampton, and on completing his education en- tered the employ of the First National Bank of Northampton as a clerk, in 1895. He was appointed cashier in April 1915 and a director in 1920. On
Louise M. Trudeau
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May 1, 1920, he resigned as cashier to become asso- ciated with the McCallum Hosiery Company as as- sistant treasurer and also as assistant to the presi- dent. His connection with this company ended at the time of its consolidation with Propper Hosiery in 1930. Mr. Bradley was elected a director and vice president of the First National Bank of East- hampton in January, 1931, later being appointed cashier. He is also a vice president and director of the Northampton Co-operative Bank. He was elect- ed director in the Easthampton Rubber Thread Com- pany in 1923 and treasurer in 1925, serving in that manner until 1936. This company is one of the leading thread companies in the country.
Mr. Bradley has filled many positions of re- sponsibility in his community. In 1919 he was elected trustee of the Cooley-Dickinson Hospital of Northampton and in April, 1937, became its trea- surer. He was a member of the original committee to plan for a new hotel and the efforts of this com- mittee resulted in the present Hotel Northampton. A director of the Northampton Hotel Company, he was elected its treasurer in 1925 and continued in that capacity during the intervening twenty-three years. He was chairman of the community War Chest in 1918 and headed the chest's drive in the city of Northampton. During the years of World War I he was also a member of the Liberty Bond Committee and during World War II was chairman of the War Bond Campaigns in Easthampton from 1943 to 1945. A member of the First Church of Christ in Northampton, he served this religious body for twenty-five years, 1905 to 1930, as its treasurer, and was elected a deacon in 1916. Mr. Bradley is a member of the Northampton Social and Literary Club, one of the older and more select organizations of this section, founded in 1862.
In Detroit, Michigan, February II, 1908, Oliver Bridgman Bradley married Azilla Margaret Carter, daughter of Alonzo and Aurelia Betsey (Carter) Carter. Mr. and Mrs. Bradley are the parents of two children: I. Barbara Kingsley, born January 4, 1910, and a graduate of Smith College in the class of 1932. She married Charles Spencer Rust, who was graduated from Yale University in 1931, and they reside in Hartford, Connecticut. 2. Oliver Bridgman, Jr., who was born May 30, 1913, and was graduated from Yale University in the class of 1935.
CAREY R. KINNEY was born on August 7, 1886, in Philadelphia, son of Guy W. and Mary Ellen (Weed) Kinney. Guy Kinney, a native of Ohio, was a lawyer by profession. He resided and conducted his practice in Toledo, Ohio, for many years. His wife was a native of Wisconsin.
Mr. Kinney attended Asheville School, in Asheville, North Carolina, and matriculated at Kenyon College, in Gambier, Ohio.
In 1906 Mr. Kinney came to Pittsfield, where he was employed with the S. N. & C. Russell Manufacturing Company, woolen manufacturers. He remained with them for twenty-two years, serving in various capaci- ties, that of clerk, assistant treasurer, and finally treas- urer. In 1928, the Elmvale Worsted Company, Inc., manufacturers of worsted yarn, was founded. Today it employs 630 persons. Mr. Kinney became its treas-
urer in 1929. He is a director of the Pittsfield National Bank and a trustee of the City Savings Bank of Pittsfield.
Mr. Kinney is a member of the Chamber of Com- merce of Pittsfield and the Country Club of Pitts- field. He belongs to the First Church, Congregational.
On June 13, 1914, in Pittsfield, Carey R. Kinney married Charolette Reed Titus, daughter of Joseph F. and Julia (Haas) Titus of that city. They became the parents of the following children: I. Carey T., who graduated from Taft School in Watertown, Con- necticut, served with the rank of first lieutenant as a bomber pilot in the United States Army, and is now employed at the same firm as his father. Carey T. Kinney married Priscilla O'Connell, daughter of William G. O'Connell, in February, 1943, at Nashville, Tennessee. They became the parents of the follow- ing children: i. Judith Reed, born July 2, 1944, in Pittsfield. ii. Christine Titus, born April 9, 1947, in Pittsfield. 2. Julia Ellen, born in Pittsfield. She attended Madeira Preparatory School in Virginia, and graduated at Vassar College in 1937. She lives with her parents.
VICTOR KENDALL HUNT-Enterprising and successful in business, able and conscientious in public service, and widely popular in civic and social affairs, Victor Kendall Hunt is one of the outstanding citi- zens both of Springfield and of West Springfield.
A native of New Hampshire, Mr. Hunt is descended in both family lines from stock long settled in the Granite State. His great-grandfather Louis Henry Hunt had a son Charles Louis who married Julia Emma Bond, like himself a native of New Hampshire. This Charles Louis Hunt was a farmer who came to Massachusetts and died in West Springfield. Charles Louis and Julia Emma (Bond) Hunt were the parents of Charles Warren Hunt, who was born near Act- worth, New Hampshire, and became a skilled car- penter and millwright. He was a devout member of the Episcopal Church and a staunch adherent of the Republican party. He retired some time before his death at Springfield, Massachusetts, in 1940.
Charles Warren Hunt married Lillian May Ken- dall, who was a daughter of Isaac and Mary (Eggles- ton) Kendall, the former a native of England, while his wife was born in New Hampshire. Isaac Kendall in his earlier years operated a restaurant, and later became a farmer. The restaurant was in Boston. Ac- tive in the politics of the Democratic party, he held some local offices. He died at Charlestown, New Hampshire, and his wife also passed away there in 1910.
Victor Kendall Hunt, the son of Charles Warren and Lillian May (Kendall) Hunt, was born at Charles- town, New Hampshire, on November 12, 1893. He was brought to Springfield, at an early age, and there he attended elementary and high schools. His first employment was as a mechanic for an automobile company. Later for some five years he was a sales- man in Springfield. During this period our country entered World War I, and Mr. Hunt enlisted in the armed service and after training in New Mexico was attached for nearly two years to the motor trans- port corps, with the rank of sergeant. Following the war he became associated with the Wico Electric Company, manufacturers of magnetos. With this com-
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pany, located in Springfield, he remained for twenty- one years. He started working for this firm in the engineering department, and later became sales man- ager of the replacement division. Subsequently he was superintendent of the Cogswell Manufacturing Com- pany of West Springfield, but this association lasted only nine months before Mr. Hunt joined the War Production Board in Springfield, remaining with the government agency for some two and a half years.
Leaving the War Production Board, Mr. Hunt be- came one of the incorporators of the Chase-Hunt- Lamont Corporation, engaged in machinery design and engineering and acting as manufacturers' agents. Of this corporation Mr. Hunt is now president. The suc- cess of this concern has been notable, and to Mr. Hunt's technical and administrative ability much of the credit is due. Mr. Hunt is a member of the Chamber of Commerce.
An influential member of the Republican party, Mr. Hunt served on the school committee in West Springfield for nine years. He was one of the com- mittee that built the World War I Memorial Field. He is a member of the First Congregational Church, and for two years was president of its men's club. He belongs to and is a past master of the Mount Ortho- dox Lodge of the Ancient Free and Accepted Masons. He belongs to the Corn Beef and Cabbage Club of Springfield, and to the 40 Club of West Springfield, of which he is one of the founders and has served as president. He is also treasurer of 496 Incorporated. Mr. Hunt's favorite recreation is golf, and he is also very fond of bowling.
On October II, 1921, Victor Kendall Hunt was married to Eva Ruth Marsh, a native of Springfield. Mrs. Hunt was educated in the public schools of her birthplace and at a finishing school in Boston. Dur- ing World War II she served on the Massachusetts Defense Corps. She is a member of the Western Massachusetts Women's Club and the Ramapoque Women's Club of West Springfield. She attends the Congregational Church, and is a Republican by politi- cal faith, and very active in the councils and affairs of that party.
Victor Kendall and Eva Ruth (Marsh) Hunt are the parents of two children: I. Shirley Ruth, who is now Mrs. Howard Sickler of West Springfield. Mr. Sickler operates a machine shop. The Sicklers are the parents of two children, a daughter, Suzanne and a son .Gregory Wayne. 2. Patricia Ann, who is at this writing a student in the West Springfield High School.
FREDERICK GUNBY McKERR, M.D .- A prominent member of the medical profession in West- ern Massachusetts, Dr. Frederick Gunby McKerr de- votes himself to his extensive practice as physician and surgeon in Pittsfield.
Frederick McKerr was born in Canandaigua, On- tario County, New York, on September 1I, 1912, the son of James and Minnie (Gunby) McKerr. His father, James McKerr, came to this country from Ireland as a young man, settling eventually in Canandaigua, where his occupation was that of land- scape gardener and superintendent of an estate. He married Minnie Gunby of Hamilton, Ontario, Canada.
After attending the public schools of his native town, and graduating from Canandaigua Academy,
Dr. McKerr received his Bachelor of Arts degree from Colgate University in 1933. He received his medical degree from Chicago Medical School in 1939, served as intern at the Franklin Boulevard Hospital in Chicago for one year, and since 1940 has practiced in Pittsfield. He is a member of the staff of the Hill- crest Hospital.
Dr. McKerr is a member of the American Medical Association, of the Massachusetts Medical Associa- tion, and of the Berkshire County Medical Society. He is enrolled in the Young Men's Christian Asso- ciation, as well as in the Country Club of Pittsfield. Golf is his principal recreation.
At Sayre, Pennsylvania, in 1935, Dr. McKerr mar- ried Elizabeth Rippey, daughter of Edward and Hattie (Ogden) Rippey, and a Cornell graduate, class of 1934. Their children are: I. Thomas James, born April 8, 1940, in Chicago. 2. Richard Ogden, born August 22, 1944, in Pittsfield.
ROE S. CLARK-Among the men of enterprise and executive ability whose talents have found ex- pression in the varied industries of Western Massa- chusetts, Roe S. Clark has won recognition through nearly thirty-five years of leadership in the Package Machinery Company, of East Longmeadow. In that organization, one of the largest of its type in the world, Mr. Clark holds the positions of treasurer and chairman of the executive committee. He is also wide- ly known for his association and service as an official in national and state trade organizations connected with his business, and for his constructive activities in the betterment of labor conditions and of industrial co-operation.
Mr. Clark was born at Granville, September 25, 1887, son of Sidney C. and Carrie (Smith) Clark, both natives of Granville and both now deceased. His father engaged in agriculture throughout most of his life prior to his retirement in 1922, and he died four years later. Mrs. Clark died in 1887. The Clark fami- ly had numerous representatives among the early settlers of the Massachusetts Bay Colony in the sev- enteenth century, and Mr. Clark traces his ancestry to Timothy Clark, who came from the north of Ireland and settled in Granville.
Roe S. Clark acquired a sound preliminary educa- tion in Massachusetts schools, and supplemented this by further courses in some of the foremost business institutes and correspondence schools in the country, while he was making a livelihood in accounting and auditing. At the age of twenty-eight, he joined the Package Machinery Company, with which he has continued ever since. In 1930 he was made treasurer and secretary; and he has retained the former post to the present time, in the meantime having become also chairman of the executive committee.
The Package Machinery Company was founded in 1913, by William L. Putnam, George W. Kyburg, Thomas L. Jefferson, and F. B. Reddington. It was started in a modest capacity, devoted entirely to the manufacture of machines employed in package wrap- ping. The entire nation was their market, and in a short time orders were coming in from abroad. The plant was expanded and the succeeding year saw it grow until it finally had become the largest establish- ment of its type in the world with branch offices in New York, Chicago, Cleveland and Los Angeles.
A
Roe Siblank
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Abroad an associate plant has been maintained at Leeds, England. For many years after the time of its founding, the company operated a plant in Springfield. Its new plant, however, is located at East Long- ineadow. There, under one roof, are eight acres of floor space devoted to manufacture, and an additional acre devoted to office space and recreational facilities. The capacity and efficiency of this modern plant are indicated by a few statistics. The locker rooms and cafeteria facilities in the basement are capable of ac- commodating a thousand people at one time. The freight shed is located inside the plant's area, and has a capacity for unloading eight railway cars at one time. There is also space for unloading ten motor trucks at the same time in the company's truck-load- ing wells. Its modern lighting system boasts four and one-half miles of fluorescent tubes, and two large air compressors furnish eighteen thousand cubic feet of air per minute. There is a six-acre parking lot, and every machine in the plant has its individual motor drive. In all, eighty-five different kinds of wrapping machines are produced here, and the experimental staff of the plant are constantly developing more. The growth of the plant's volume of business is indicated by the fact that shipments for 1947 were three hun- dred percent larger than they were during any pre- World War II year.
The Package Machinery Company is progressive in its employee relationships. It was the first com- pany in its area to adopt a five-day work week, to give paid holidays, and to give all employees a two-week vacation with pay. At each declaration of dividend of corporate stock, each employee of the company re- ceives a bonus, currently amounting to the earning power of four shares of such stock; and this method of profit-sharing has been in practice in the company since as early as 1926. All employees are also given life insurance equal to one hundred dollars for each year of service up to twenty years, and this indemnity is free of charge to the employees, and is conducted in addition to a contributory plan of group insurance, and an aid association to provide many other benefits. Extra medical services, such as free clinical examina- tions, vaccines and nursing service, complete a picture of security offered to the employees of very few other companies.
Mr. Clark has been instrumental in working out many of these advantageous programs of employee relationships. The results obtained have won for him the esteem and respect of the personnel, and the grateful admiration and recognition of his executive colleagues. He is past president and a former director of the Western Massachusetts Employees Association. and past president of the Associated Industries of Massachusetts, as well as a member of its executive committee. He is past president, and a director, of the Western Massachusetts Association of Credit Men, and a member of the Comptroller Institute; vice president and director of Goodwill Industries; and member of the advisory board of the Bay Path In- stitute of Commerce. He is a former president of the National Metal Trades Association of Chicago, and a director of its Massachusetts branch; chairman of the executive committee and a director of the Cheney- Bigelow Wire Works and of the Bay Shore Thread Works; and secretary of the National Bread Wrap- ping Machine Company, and its director.
Mr. Clark is prominent in banking activities in his home locality. He is a trustee, and one of the incor- porators, of the Palmer Savings Bank. He has served his community as selectman, and is past president of the local Young Men's Christian Association. He is a trustee of the Wing Memorial Hospital in Palmer; chairman of the four western counties of Massachu- setts for the American Cancer Society; and a director of the Massachusetts Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children. Vitally interested in the cause of good education, he is a trustee of Hitchcock Academy, and a member of the board of governors of North- castern University. He is a popular figure in the Springfield Chamber of Commerce and Rotary Club, and is likewise a member of the Colony Club. Nation- ally, he is affiliated with the National Association of Manufacturers. He is a Mason, member of all bodies of the York Rite, and is a member of Melha Temple, Ancient Arabic Order of Nobles of the Mystic Shrine. He worships in the Congregational faith, and is chair- man of the board of trustees of the Brimfield Con- gregational Church.
In 1910, Roe S. Clark married Sarah M. Hosmer, a native of Massachusetts, and they are the parents of two children: I. Eleanor H., born May 3, 1913, a graduate of Oberlin College. 2. Roe S., Jr., born Au- gust 16, 1920, a graduate of Hitchcock Academy and of Norwich University.
MONTURE A. ANDREW-As vice president of the Pittsfield National Bank of Pittsfield and an in- corporater of the City Savings Bank, also of Pittsfield, Monture A. Andrew is well known in banking circles throughout Western Massachusetts.
Mr. Andrew was born in Arlington, Vermont, on April 1, 1888, the son of Eugene M. and Sarah (Hard) Andrew. His father, in the wholesale lumber business in the Vermont community, died in 1936.
For his education Monture Andrew attended the Burr and Burton Seminary at Manchester, Vermont. In 1909, he entered the employ of the Pittsfield Na- tional Bank as a bookkeeper. In time, as his abilities were recognized, he rose to cashier and, finally, to the vice presidency and membership on the board of directors.
Mr. Andrew is a member of the Country Club of Pittsfield and the Berkshire Hills Country Club. He worships at the Morningside Baptist Church in Pitts- field.
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