The Life and Letters of Kate Gleason

Acknowledgments

vii Acknowledgments My husband, James S. Gleason, grew up hearing his grandfather ’s negative version of Kate Gleason’s contributions to the Gleason family enterprise, but it did not stop him from allowing me full access to the family files held at the Gleason Works in Rochester, New York. His encouragement and support made it possible for me to find the single most valuable source to my quest, without which this book could not have been written: the treasure trove of original material that was kept in the company ’s files. And without the organizational skills and meticulous devotion to history and fact of the late Nettie Bullis, I would never have had Kate’s letters , and all of the other essential documents, from which to construct her biography. Nettie was James E. Gleason’s right-hand woman at the Gleason Works, and she held many positions of importance in the company, including , at the time of her death, assistant secretary. Thank you, Nettie. Many other Gleason employees have been interested in my project and have aided me in various invaluable ways, especially Don Allis, Valerie Barker, Marc-Henry Debard, Karen Essig, Ken Ferries, Elvira Hawkins, Gary Kimmet, Ginny Lalka, Marcia Smith, Dr. Hermann Stadtfeld, and Bruce Tyo. Larry Rowland, son of Kate Gleason’s personal secretary, and professor emeritus at the University of South Carolina at Beaufort, has been particularly helpful to me. He took my husband and me on a tour of sites that were pertinent to Kate’s life and interests in Beaufort and put it all in historical perspective, and not least, shared the unpublished journals kept by his mother and Lillian Gilbreth of a European trip taken with Kate in the summer of 1924. We spent several highly fruitful days with Ellen Gleason Boone in viii the life and letters of kate gleason South Carolina. Her memories of her “aunt Kate” and of managing the Beaufort property following Kate’s death were quite clear and extensive. Ellen introduced us to people who had known Kate and she spent hours talking to us about the relationship between her father, Andrew Gleason, and his sister, and told us about a visit she had made with her mother to Kate’s home in Septmonts, France. I want to thank Jennifer Smith who visited Cornell University, her alma mater, on my behalf to research Kate’s matriculation there and her relationship to President and Mrs. Andrew White and others. Also, Jennifer travelled to West Lafayette, Indiana, to the Purdue University Library, to explore the Frank and Lillian Gilbreth papers for references to Kate Gleason. The East Rochester History Office, under the direction of the late Mary Connors, collected a great deal of material relating to Kate Gleason’s enterprises in that community, and Mary was exceedingly constructive in arranging for interviews, sharing information about property owned by Kate, and recounting her place in the history of the village. I am indebted to the Damas family of Septmonts, Aisne, France, who were so hospitable and informative; to Shirley Sponholtz, editor of Old Time Trucks, who cheerfully shared important knowledge about the early trucking industry; to Laurie Barnum and Deborah Hughes of the Susan B. Anthony House, who hung out the “Welcome” sign for me there; to Isabel Kaplan at the Carlson Science and Engineering Library at the University of Rochester; and to Mary Huth, Assistant Director of Rare Books and Special Collections at Rush Rhees Library at the University of Rochester, who was helpful on several fronts. I am grateful to Janet Jimenez and Sandi Agostinelli for arranging an interview with their mother, the widow of Anthony J. Agostinelli, in early 1999. Mrs. Agostinelli’s memories of her life in Beaufort, as a new bride whose husband was working for Kate, were rich and perceptive, and her sense of humor was in fine form. I am most appreciative to a number of other people who granted me an interview: my father-in-law, Lawrence C. Gleason, who was one of Kate’s nephews; Alice Wynd, who grew up across the street from Clones, Kate’s home on East Avenue in Pittsford, New York; Mary Burrill, a great friend of Kate’s sister, Eleanor Gleason; Richard Walter, whose parents had worked for Kate in East Rochester; Dreka Stokes, whose parents ran the Gold Eagle Tavern in Beaufort; and Margaret Sheper, whose husband was cashier of the People’s State Bank in Beaufort. Joseph W. Campbell, executive director of the Rochester Engineering...