The Life and Letters of Kate Gleason

10The Lucky Rover

103 CHAPTER 10 The Lucky Rover With her new real estate enterprise in motion, Kate headed back to Europe in June 1924. She sailed aboard the Scythia from New York on Thursday, June 19, accompanied by Lillian Gilbreth and other engineering friends. Lillian was heading to a first-of-its-kind International Congress of Management in Prague, Czechoslovakia, scheduled for the end of July. Frank Gilbreth had been instrumental in launching this venture with ASME, the Masaryk Academy in Czechoslovakia, and three other American engineering societies. On the way, he and Lillian planned to attend the World Power Conference in London, where Kate would be ASME’s representative. Five days before they were to sail, Frank Gilbreth suffered a heart attack and died in a Montclair, New Jersey, phone booth while talking to Lillian. Despite the trauma of her husband’s death, Lillian realized that she was suddenly the sole support of her eleven living children and felt that she had to continue the work she had done with Frank and establish herself in the international industrial engineering community. Even though several of her children were sick with measles and chickenpox, Lillian believed they were well cared for and decided to carry on in Frank’s place as a delegate to the Prague meeting. Elizabeth (Libby) Sanders, a neighbor and Smith College friend of her eldest daughter, accompanied her as a companion and helper, and both women kept diaries of the trip. Aboard the Scythia, Lillian immediately established a daily four o’clock tea in the Garden Lounge for “perhaps a dozen of us—that is the best part of the day!”1 At the end of the first day, Libby recorded in her diary, “a fascinating person, Miss Gleason, held the stage,” charming the crowd. “She is the jolliest and most adorable person,” Libby added, “and knows all there 104 the life and letters of kate gleason is to know about building houses.”2 Although the next day was rough, and many aboard ship were feeling sick, Libby carried on with her new duties on the ship’s dance and entertainment committees. The organizer referred to her as “the dignified lady from Smith,” which amused her tremendously, as did the whirlwind of shipboard social life. There were quite a few young people on board, to Libby’s delight, and she also cherished the company of her older companions. On the fourth day, she recorded, she “went to Mrs. Gilbreth’s tea and had lots of fun with Mr. Rushmore and Miss Gleason, both of whom I love.”3 As the deck sports and card tournaments came to a close, Lillian wrote “I have been a peaceful onlooker. All I really do is to get together the little crowd of ‘best friends’ for tea every afternoon at four.”4 On June 29, Kate, Lillian, and Libby landed in Liverpool and spent the first hour ashore hunting for lost luggage, then rode to London in a special railway car that had been reserved for their group. The trio took a bus ride to Wembley, where they strolled with other companions, and attended the World Power Conference, where the Prince of Wales delivered the opening address, a thrilling experience. The next day, Kate took Libby to visit some business friends, and one of them loaned them his car and chauffeur to tour the Tower of London, St. Paul’s, and Buckingham Palace, followed by lunch at the London Tavern. The next day, Kate and Libby met at the Hotel Cecil, where Kate was staying, and took a Cook’s Tour of Windsor Castle, followed by dinner and a sail on the Thames. They were enjoying each other’s company, and Kate offered Libby “a marvelous job in Rochester for a month after we get back,” Libby reported, an opportunity that delighted her; “I surely hope it works out,” she wrote in her diary.5 The next day, Kate met Lillian at ten, and together they visited Atalanta , a little “engineer’s works” managed entirely by women. They lunched together before purchasing their tickets home on the Holland American Line. On July 4, Kate brought Libby to a luncheon celebration of the American holiday arranged for them at the factory of her business acquaintances , and from July 5 to July 7, she took Libby along on a three-day motor tour through the English countryside. She had invited the Gilbreths to come with her before Frank’s death; Libby took Frank’s place...