1
100
4
-
https://richesmi.cah.ucf.edu/omeka/files/original/df50ef55a41c48b5025c8eae0977a24b.jpg
86b4adca6ba6a1cb6c2c2e3229d00034
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
Florida-France Soldier Stories Project Collection
Alternative Title
Florida-France Soldier Stories Project
Subject
Cemeteries--Europe
Veterans--Florida
World War II, 1939-1945
Army
Is Part Of
<a href="https://richesmi.cah.ucf.edu/omeka2/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">RICHES</a>.
<a href="https://projects.cah.ucf.edu/fl-francesoldierstories/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Florida-France Soldier Stories Project</a>.
Language
eng
Type
Collection
Coverage
Epinal American Cemetery and Memorial, Dinozé, France
Contributing Project
Florida-France Soldier Stories Project
Curator
Barnes, Mark
Cepero, Laura
Digital Collection
<a href="https://richesmi.cah.ucf.edu/map/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">RICHES MI</a>
External Reference
"<a href="http://history.wisc.edu/epinal_project.htm" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">The Epinal Project- by Students of History 357: The Second World War</a>." University of Wisconsin-Madison. http://history.wisc.edu/epinal_project.htm (accessed January 3, 2015).
Description
<p><span>The </span>Florida-France Soldier Stories<span>project seeks to tell the stories of the Florida soldiers buried in the American Battle Monuments Commission cemeteries in France. Our goal is to honor and commemorate the brave individuals who gave their lives supporting the Allied forces, liberating France, and defeating Germany in the Second World War. Simultaneously, our goal is to teach the students who participate in this research project about the history of France and Florida during World War II, about the history of individual servicemen, and about how to implement historical research methods in their work.</span></p>
Still Image
A static visual representation. Examples of still images are: paintings, drawings, graphic designs, plans and maps. Recommended best practice is to assign the type "text" to images of textual materials.
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
Headstone of Captain Lee Silver at the Epinal American Cemetery and Memorial
Description
The headstone of Captain Lee Silver (ca. 1922-1945). Capt. Silver was born to in Salt Lake City, Utah, to Herman Silver and Bertha Silver, around 1922-1923. His parents were Herman Silver and Bertha Silver. By 1940, the Silver family had migrated to Miami, Florida, where Lee attended Miami Beach Senior High School. During World War II, Capt. Silver served in Company G, of the 42nd Infantry Division (42ID)'s 232rd Infantry Regiment. He died near the Haardt Mountains of France on February 23, 1945, and was awarded a Silver Star and a Purple Heart. Capt. Silver is currently buried at Epinal American Cemetery and Memorial in Dinozé, France, with a Star of David headstone, indicating Jewish heritage.
Date Created
ca. 2014-01-21
Creator
Anderson, Dwight
Source
Original color digital image by Dwight Anderson: Private Collection of Dwight Anderson. <a href="http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=pv&GRid=56375510&PIpi=95585694" target="_blank">http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=pv&GRid=56375510&PIpi=95585694</a>.
Rights Holder
Copyright to this resource is held by Dwight Anderson and is provided here by <a href="http://riches.cah.ucf.edu/" target="_blank">RICHES of Central Florida</a> for educational purposes only.
External Reference
"<a href="http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GSln=silver&GSfn=lee&GSbyrel=all&GSdyrel=all&GScntry=7&GSob=n&GRid=56375510&df=all&" target="_blank">Capt Lee Silver</a>." Find A Grave. Accessed March 20, 2016. http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GSln=silver&GSfn=lee&GSbyrel=all&GSdyrel=all&GScntry=7&GSob=n&GRid=56375510&df=all&.
"<a href="https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:VTHZ-V67/" target="_blank">Lee Silver</a>." National Archives and Records Administration. Accessed March 20, 2016. https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:VTHZ-V67.
Daly, Hugh C. <a href="https://archive.org/details/42ndRainbowInfantryDivisionACombatHistoryOfWorldWarIi" target="_blank"><em>42nd "Rainbow" Infantry Division; A Combat History of World War II</em></a>. Baton Rouge, La: Army & Navy Pub. Co, 1946. https://archive.org/details/42ndRainbowInfantryDivisionACombatHistoryOfWorldWarIi.
Alternative Title
Headstone of Capt. Lee Silver
Subject
World War II, 1939-1945
Army
Veterans--Florida
Cemeteries--Europe
Contributor
Anderson, Dwight
Is Part Of
<a href="https://richesmi.cah.ucf.edu/omeka2/collections/show/172" target="_blank">Epinal American Cemetery Collection</a>, RICHES of Central Florida.
Format
image/jpg
Extent
1 color digital image
Medium
1 color digital image
Language
eng
Type
Still Image
Coverage
Epinal American Cemetery and Memorial, Dinozé, France
Accrual Method
Donation
Mediator
History Teacher
Civics/Government Teacher
Provenance
Originally created by Dwight Anderson.
Contributing Project
Epinal Cemetery Project
Curator
Blount, Ryan
Cepero, Laura
Digital Collection
<a href="http://www.findagrave.com/index.html" target="_blank">Find A Grave</a>
<a href="https://richesmi.cah.ucf.edu/map/" target="_blank">RICHES MI</a>
Transcript
LEE SILVER
CAPT 232 INF 42 DIV
FLA DEB 23 1945
cemeteries
cemetery
Dinozé, France
Epinal American Cemetery and Memorial
graves
gravestones
headstones
Jewish
Jews
Lee Silver
U.S. Army
veterans
World War II
WWII
-
https://richesmi.cah.ucf.edu/omeka/files/original/04231808c0ee78ba09853a9f3176fd8f.jpg
e5752041f547f8e7f72b1b318ec7044e
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
Maitland Collection
Alternative Title
Maitland Collection
Subject
Maitland (Fla.)
Description
Present-day Maitland was originally inhabited by the Seminole tribe, which called the area "Fumecheliga," meaning "Musk Mellon Place." In 1838, Fort Maitland was established on the west coast of Lake Maitland by the U.S. Army and named after Captain William Seton Maitland, a casualty of the Seminole Wars. Settlement in Maitland expanded at the close of the American Civil War and the citrus industry grew. <br /><br />Around 1876, Dr. Haskell formed a syndicate and began constructing a railroad from Jacksonville to Maitland that was completed in 1880. In 1885, the area was incorporated as the Town of Lake Maitland. Many left Maitland following the Freeze of 1894-1895. Despite the freeze's devastation, the citrus industry was able to grow and expand, reaching its peak in 1926. More growth occurred in the 1950s and 1960s with the development of the space industry in nearby Orlando and Brevard County. In 1959, the city was renamed Maitland. Growth continued in the 1970s with the arrival of Walt Disney World in the Orlando area.
Is Part Of
<a href="https://richesmi.cah.ucf.edu/omeka2/collections/show/46" target="_blank">Orange County Collection</a>, RICHES of Central Florida.
Language
eng
Type
Collection
Coverage
Maitland, Florida
Curator
Cepero, Laura
Digital Collection
<a href="https://richesmi.cah.ucf.edu/map/" target="_blank">RICHES MI</a>
External Reference
"<a href="http://www.itsmymaitland.com/maitland_history.asp" target="_blank">Maitland History</a>." City of Maitland. http://www.itsmymaitland.com/maitland_history.asp.
Poole, Leslie Kemp. <a href="http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/320803902" target="_blank"><em>Maitland</em></a>. Mount Pleasant, SC: Arcadia Pub, 2009.
Contributor
<a href="http://artandhistory.org/maitland-history-museum/" target="_blank">Maitland Historical Museum, Art & History Museums - Maitland</a>
Has Part
<a href="https://richesmi.cah.ucf.edu/omeka2/collections/show/113" target="_blank">Maitland Historical Museum Collection</a>, Maitland Collection, Orange County Collection, RICHES of Central Florida.
<a href="https://richesmi.cah.ucf.edu/omeka2/collections/show/150" target="_blank"><em>The Maitland News</em> Collection</a>, Maitland Historical Museum Collection, Maitland Collection, Orange County Collection, RICHES of Central Florida.
Still Image
A static visual representation. Examples of still images are: paintings, drawings, graphic designs, plans and maps. Recommended best practice is to assign the type "text" to images of textual materials.
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
Chabad of Greater Orlando, 2005
Alternative Title
Chabad of Greater Orlando
Subject
Maitland (Fla.)
Synagogues--United States
Judaism--United States
Description
The Chabad of Greater Orlando, located at 708 Lake Howell Road in Maitland, Florida, in 2005. Chabad-Lubavitch is one of the largest Orthodox Jewish movements. "Chabad" is a Hebrew acronym for <em>chochmah</em>, <em>binah</em>, and <em>da'at</em> (wisdom, comprehension, and knowledge, respectively). "Lubavitch" is the name of the Russian town where the movement was founded by Shneur Zalman of Liadi (1745-1812) in 1755. Like other Orthodox Judaic denominations, Chabad Jews strictly follow the laws and ethics of the Torah, the Jewish religious text. The worldwide Chab movement numbers approximate 200,000 adherents.
Type
Still Image
Source
Original color photograph by Laura Lynn Cepero, 2005: Private Collection of Nancy Lynn Cepero.
Is Part Of
<a href="https://richesmi.cah.ucf.edu/omeka2/collections/show/112" target="_blank">Maitland Collection</a>, Orange County Collection, RICHES of Central Florida.
Is Format Of
Digital reproduction of original color photograph by Laura Lynn Cepero, 2005.
Coverage
Chabad of Greater Orlando, Maitland, Florida
Creator
Cepero, Laura Lynn
Contributor
Cepero, Nancy Lynn
Date Created
2005-12-01
Format
image/jpg
Extent
105 KB
Medium
1 color photograph
Language
eng
Mediator
History Teacher
Geography Teacher
Provenance
Originally created by Laura Lynn Cepero.
Rights Holder
Copyright to this resource is held by Laura Lynn Cepero and is provided here by <a href="http://riches.cah.ucf.edu/" target="_blank">RICHES of Central Florida</a> for educational purposes only.
Accrual Method
Donation
Curator
Cepero, Laura
Digital Collection
<a href="https://richesmi.cah.ucf.edu/map/" target="_blank">RICHES MI</a>
External Reference
"<a href="http://www.chabadorlando.org/library/article_cdo/aid/36226/jewish/About-Chabad-Lubavitch.htm" target="_blank">About Chabad-Lubavitch</a>." Chabad of Greater Orlando. http://www.chabadorlando.org/library/article_cdo/aid/36226/jewish/About-Chabad-Lubavitch.htm/.
"<a href="http://lubavitch.com/aboutus.html" target="_blank">About Chabad-Lubavitch</a>." Chabad-Lubavitch Headquarters. http://lubavitch.com/aboutus.html.
Fishkoff, Sue. <a href="http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/50004380" target="_blank"><em>The Rebbe's Army: Inside the World of Chabad-Lubavitch</em></a>. New York: Schocken Books, 2003.
Transcript
[illegible]
Chabad Lubavitch
Chabad of Greater Orlando
Hasidic Jews
Hasidism
Jews
Judaism
Lake Howell Road
Laura Lynn Cepero
Maitland
Orthodox Jews
Orthodox Judaism
synagogue
synagogues
-
https://richesmi.cah.ucf.edu/omeka/files/original/097d6cbe4f628177a43ed2d2fb35789a.pdf
6a2221748f9008ef4cf7035a6e0e7b44
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
Citrus Collection
Alternative Title
Citrus Collection
Subject
Chase and Company (Sanford, Fla.)
Citrus--Florida
Citrus fruit industry--Florida
Description
Chase & Company was established by Joshua Chase and his brother Sydney in 1884. The company sold insurance and later invested in storage facilities and fertilizer sales. Chase & Company was known mainly for its agricultural interests and maintained a series of citrus groves throughout Central Florida. The company was based out of Sanford, Florida, and became one of the city's largest employers into the early twentieth century. By 1886, the Chase brothers purchased several citrus groves to expand their business, including Isleworth Grove in Windermere. Isleworth Grove covered a total of 1,300 acres along the Butler Chain of Lakes.
Between 1894 and 1895, Central Florida was hit by several freezes and most of the citrus crop was destroyed. Chase & Company did not grow citrus crops again until 1904 when Joshua came back from an extended stay in California. Between 1894 and 1900, different types of pesticide equipment was created, including equipment driven by steam, machines, and horses.
Randall Chase joined in the family business soon after his brother, Sydney Chase, Jr., did in 1922. Randall became the president of Chase & Company from 1948-1965. The Isleworth property stayed in the Chase family until 1984 when Franklin Chase, the son of Sydney Chase, sold the property to famed golfer Arnold Palmer.
Is Part Of
<a href="https://richesmi.cah.ucf.edu/omeka2/collections/show/15" target="_blank">Chase Collection</a>, RICHES of Central Florida.
Language
eng
Type
Collection
Coverage
Belair Grove, Lake Mary, Florida
Isleworth Grove, Windermere, Florida
Sanford, Florida
Contributing Project
<a href="http://web.uflib.ufl.edu/spec/" target="_blank">Special and Area Studies Collections</a>, University of Florida
<a href="http://ufdc.ufl.edu/" target="_blank">Digital Collections (UFDC)</a><span>, University of Florida</span>
Curator
Cepero, Laura
Marra, Katherine
Digital Collection
<a href="https://richesmi.cah.ucf.edu/map/" target="_blank">RICHES MI</a>
External Reference
<span>"</span><a href="http://floridacitrushalloffame.com/index.php/inductees/inductee-name/?ref_cID=89&bID=0&dd_asId=600" target="_blank">Sydney Chase Sr. (1860-1941)</a><span>." </span><em>Florida Citrus Hall of Fame</em><span>. Copyright 2012. http://floridacitrushalloffame.com/index.php/inductees/inductee-name/?ref_cID=89&bID=0&dd_asId=600.</span>
<span>Warner, S.C. "</span><a href="http://www.fshs.org/Proceedings/Password%20Protected/1923%20Vol.%2036/198-200%20%28WARNER%29.pdf" target="_blank">Development of Marketing Citrus Fruits in Florida</a><span>." </span><em>Florida State Horticultural Society</em><span> vol. 36 (1923): 198-200.</span>
<span>Hopkins, James T. </span><a href="http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/1219230" target="_blank"><em>Fifty Years of Citrus, the Florida Citrus Exchange: 1909-1959</em></a><span>. Gainesville, Florida: University of Florida Press: 1960.</span>
<span>"</span><a href="http://articles.orlandosentinel.com/1986-09-30/news/0260060057_1_chase-isleworth-golf-florida-citrus" target="_blank">Franklin Chase, 'Towering Figure in Citrus Industry</a><span>.'" </span><em>The Orlando Sentinel</em><span>, September 30, 1986. http://articles.orlandosentinel.com/1986-09-30/news/0260060057_1_chase-isleworth-golf-florida-citrus.</span>
Weaver, Brian. <a href="http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/43312643" target="_blank"><em>The Citrus Industry in the Sunshine State</em></a>. Charleston, SC: Arcadia, 1999.
Contributor
<a href="http://web.uflib.ufl.edu/spec/" target="_blank">Special and Area Studies Collections</a><span>, University of Florida</span>
<a href="http://ufdc.ufl.edu/" target="_blank">Digital Collections (UFDC)</a><span>, University of Florida</span>
Has Part
<a href="https://richesmi.cah.ucf.edu/omeka2/collections/show/91" target="_blank">Belair Grove Collection</a>, Citrus Collection, Chase Collection, RICHES of Central Florida.
<a href="https://richesmi.cah.ucf.edu/omeka2/collections/show/100" target="_blank">Florida Citrus Exchange Collection</a><span>, Citrus Collection, Chase Collection, RICHES of Central Florida.</span>
<a href="https://richesmi.cah.ucf.edu/omeka2/collections/show/88" target="_blank">Isleworth Grove Collection</a>, Citrus Collection, Chase Collection, RICHES of Central Florida.
Provenance
<span>Entire </span><a href="http://web.uflib.ufl.edu/spec/pkyonge/chase.htm" target="_blank">Chase Collection</a><span> is comprised of four separate accessions from various donors, including Cecilia Johnson, the granddaughter of Joshua Coffin Chase and the children of Randall Chase.</span>
Rights Holder
<span>The displayed collection is housed at </span><a href="http://web.uflib.ufl.edu/spec/" target="_blank">Special and Area Studies Collections</a><span> at the University of Florida in Gainesville, Florida. Rights to this item belong to the said institution, and therefore inquiries about the item should be directed there. </span><a href="http://riches.cah.ucf.edu/" target="_blank">RICHES of Central Florida</a><span> has obtained permission from Special and Area Studies Collections at the University of Florida to display this item for educational purposes only.</span>
Source Repository
<span>University of Florida, </span><a href="http://web.uflib.ufl.edu/spec/" target="_blank">Special and Area Studies Collections</a>
Document
A resource containing textual data. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre text.
Original Format
6-page typewritten letter on Chase & Company letterhead
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
Letter from Joshua Coffin Chase to Sydney Octavius Chase (October 19, 1934)
Alternative Title
Chase Correspondence (October 19, 1934)
Subject
Chase, Sydney Octavius, 1860-1941
Chase, Joshua Coffin, 1858-1948
Southern Railway (U.S.)
Citrus fruit industry--Florida
Description
An original letter of correspondence written by Joshua Coffin Chase to his father and Chase & Company business partner, Sydney Octavius Chase. The letter discusses a meeting Joshua attended in Lakeland about the specifics on the proposed Federal Marketing Agreement on citrus and nationally standardized shipping rates. Chase participated in a meeting where citrus growers identified the production and merchandising issues they faced when selling grapefruit.
Chase & Company was established in 1884. The company sold insurance and later invested in storage facilities and fertilizer sales. Chase & Company was known mainly for its agricultural interests and maintained a series of citrus groves throughout Central Florida. The company was based out of Sanford and became one of the city's largest employers into the early twentieth century.
Creator
Chase, Joshua Coffin
Source
Original letter from Joshua Coffin Chase to Sydney Octavius Chase, October 19, 1934: <a href="http://web.uflib.ufl.edu/spec/pkyonge/chase.htm" target="_blank">Chase Collection</a> (MS 14), box 3, folder 13.49, Special and Area Studies Collections, George A. Smathers Libraries, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida.
Date Created
1934-10-19
Is Referenced By
Folder referenced in Chase Collection finding guide, <a href="http://web.uflib.ufl.edu/spec/pkyonge/chase.htm" target="_blank">http://web.uflib.ufl.edu/spec/pkyonge/chase.htm</a>.
Requires
<a href='http://www.adobe.com/reader.html' target='_blank'>Adobe Acrobat Reader</a>
Format
application/pdf
Extent
9,859 KB
Medium
6-page typewritten letter on Chase & Company letterhead
Language
eng
Type
Text
Coverage
Chase & Company Office, Jacksonville, Florida
Chase & Company Office, Orlando, Florida
Lakeland, Florida
California
Seattle, Washington
Spokane, Washington
Portland, Oregon
Tampa, Florida
Washington, D.C.
Winter Haven, Florida
Largo, Florida
Ocala, Florida
Orlando, Florida
Vero Beach, Florida
DeLand, Florida
Lake Wales, Florida
Frostproof, Florida
Sebastian, Florida
Lake Gem, Florida
Winter Park, Florida
Auburndale, Florida
Titusville, Florida
Spatial Coverage
30.3167, -81.6500
28.538084, -81.378593
28.0333, -81.9500
36.747138, -119.770317
47.607089, -122.332878
47.658913, -117.425423
45.523668, -122.674828
27.951345, -82.456627
38.907866, -77.037216
28.021985, -81.732502
27.909789, -82.787529
29.187236, -82.139683
28.539291, -81.377907
27.63898, -80.39712
29.028255, -81.303005
27.901559, -81.586368
27.745863, -81.530631
27.817216, -80.470448
28.617679, -81.370865
28.599896, -81.339026
28.066224, -81.788803
28.612555, -80.807934
Temporal Coverage
1934-10-18/1934-10-19
Accrual Method
Donation
Provenance
Entire <a href="http://web.uflib.ufl.edu/spec/pkyonge/chase.htm" target="_blank">Chase Collection</a> is comprised of four separate accessions from various donors, including Cecilia Johnson, the granddaughter of Joshua Coffin Chase and the children of Randall Chase.
Rights Holder
The displayed collection item is housed at <a href="http://web.uflib.ufl.edu/spec/" target="_blank">Special and Area Studies Collections</a> at the University of Florida in Gainesville, Florida. Rights to this item belong to the said institution, and therefore inquiries about the item should be directed there. <a href="http://riches.cah.ucf.edu/" target="_blank">RICHES of Central Florida</a> has obtained permission from Special and Area Studies Collections at the University of Florida to display this item for educational purposes only.
Contributing Project
<a href="http://web.uflib.ufl.edu/spec/" target="_blank">Special and Area Studies Collections</a>, University of Florida
<a href="http://ufdc.ufl.edu/" target="_blank">Digital Collections (UFDC)</a>, University of Florida
Curator
Marra, Katherine
Digital Collection
<a href="https://richesmi.cah.ucf.edu/map/">RICHES MI</a>
Source Repository
University of Florida, <a href="http://web.uflib.ufl.edu/spec/" target="_blank">Special and Area Studies Collections</a>
External Reference
Warner, S.C. "<a href="http://www.fshs.org/Proceedings/Password%20Protected/1923%20Vol.%2036/198-200%20%28WARNER%29.pdf" target="_blank">Development of Marketing Citrus Fruits in Florida</a>." <em>Florida State Horticultural Society</em> vol. 36 (1923): 198-200.
Daniells, W.C. "<a href="http://fshs.org/proceedings-o/1936-vol-49/97-103%20(DANIELLS).pdf" target="_blank">The Plight of Grapefruit</a>." <em>Florida State Horticultural Society</em>, vol. 49 (1936): 97-103.
"<a href="http://floridacitrushalloffame.com/index.php/inductees/inductee-name/?ref_cID=89&bID=0&dd_asId=321" target="_blank">Sydney Chase Sr. (1860-1941)</a>." <em>Florida Citrus Hall of Fame</em>. Copyright 2012. http://floridacitrushalloffame.com/index.php/inductees/inductee-name/?ref_cID=89&bID=0&dd_asId=600.
Hopkins, James T. <a href="http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/1219230" target="_blank"><em>Fifty Years of Citrus, the Florida Citrus Exchange: 1909-1959</em></a>. Gainesville, Florida: University of Florida Press: 1960.
Transcript
CHASE & CO.
SANFORD, FLORIDA
October 19, 1934
Mr. S. O. Chase
P. O. Box 23
Asheville, North Carolina
Dear Dad:
Attended the meeting in Lakeland yesterday afternoon composed of 96 growers and shippers who united last August in fighting the proposed new Agreement. There were a few other growers of the Lakeland territory present, also representatives of the Atlantic Commission Company, and two new grower-shippers, making a total of 98 now instead of 96.
L. P. Kirkland was elected as chairman of the meeting and stated briefly the reason for the meeting, stressing particularly the point that in his opinion an effort was being made by Washington and urged by interests in California more or less at the request of a certain group in Florida to force the Florida citrus industry into national prorating. Mr. Kirkland pointed out that national prorating was unsuited to Florida, because California enjoyed a freight rate which allowed them to put their fruit into the east at $1.17 a box, whereas Florida could not go west of the Mississippi River due to the very high freight rate. He also pointed out that California would want to prorate their Naval crop against our entire crop of oranges, including Valencias, and in this way allow them a very clear and unobstructed noncompetitive market for their Valencias.
It was later brought out in the meeting that Florida's freight rate to Seattle and Spokane, Washington, and Portland, Oregon and surrounding territory amounted to $1.91 a box, including refrigeration, and that California, if they wanted to, could place their oranges in Tampa. Florida by rail at $1.17 a box.
Mr. Kirkland then asked Judge Holland to review the whole matter of the fight against the Agreement which Washington proposed last August, and the results that had been obtained by the 96 grower-shippers who had fought the matter together, as a unit, and he urged that they all continue to meet the matter in a united effort, as he believed that was the only way to secure recognition in Washington to such an extent that they would listen and give the Florida citrus industry a representative and fair group of grower Control Committee members, which Washington had agreed to do when they met in that city in September, and which Washington has not done, as evidenced by the group of names just received from Washington, and which I gave you as a list in my letter of two days ago.
Judge Holland reviewed the matter, beginning with last June up through his last visit to Washington in September. He emphasized the fact that Washington was very much astounded at the united front and effort made by the 96 growers, and that they had not considered this possible before last August. He pointed out that this united action had secured practically every concession that had been asked for, and that the attitude of the Department of Agriculture was entirely different after August, due to the strength shown by the majority of the shippers in the state, representing a decided majority of the fruit. He also stated that it was his personal opinion that the naming of the Grower Control Committee as sent out from Washington was a last effort to try to bluff the industry into national prorating and ram down the throats of the majority what California would like to see and the old Control Committee clique would like to have. He said he he felt reasonably sure that if united effort was continued as in the past would be able to secure a Grower Control Committee that would be fairly selected and in line with what Washington had agreed to do in selecting the Grower Committee.
Dr. Aurin was asked to say a few words. He brought out the Tampa Tribune and read part of a statement issued by Commander, wherein Commander said he hoped the independent shippers and buyers would consider for once the growers of the state of Florida. Dr. Aurin said that he was an hundred percent in accord with Commander in regard to that part of his statement, and that he sincerely hoped that all of the shippers present and in the state would consider the poor growers of the state and see that they would not get the Grower Control Committee as handed down by Washington, but one that would be fair to the growers of the state; that it was high time that the continued effort of a certain group to coerce growers into the Exchange be stopped, and that the growers be allowed to ship and sell their fruit to those shippers which they themselves might choose. Dr. Aurin said that, in looking over the group of growers appointed to the committee by Washington, that he could not believe that the leopard had changed its spots any more than if someone told him that Hitler was a friend of the Jews.
Howey was called to say a few words, which he did, and a great deal of it amounted to politicings; he tactfully said that he felt that some of the good Democrats present would be making good Republicans by the time the present administration got through trying to run their business for them by groups of people who new nothing about it. He was asked the question as to what he thought the loss would be if Florida was forced into national prorating. Howey very carefully avoided giving his own opinion, but did say what he had heard the loss would be from several different sources, which amounted to anywhere from $250,000 annually to a $1,500,000 annually. He also stated that he had been informed when in Washington by good authorities that some businesses which Washington was trying to run by would-be experts who knew nothing about the businesses or any business were suffering a loss in some instances as high as $7,000,000 a year.
We heard next from Jeff Sligh, who was very brief and said that he did approve of Mr. Howey politicing in such meetings. This was all good natured. Sligh did bring out something in regard to what Florida's loss would be if they participated in national prorating for several years. He said the real loss would amount to about $50,000,000 or the citrus industry in Florida. This brought down some real applause, and even Howey nodded his agreement.
Several other growers and shippers spoke briefly, one or two stressing the difference of freight rates from California and Florida. Judge holland drew up a motion protesting the appointment of the grower Committee
and alternates selected by Washington, which was unanimously approved.
W. J. Howey next moved that the chair appoint a committee to form an organization and incorporate same, including the group present and as many more as they could secure for united action in all such matters .The Judge had already prepared a motion which was substituted for Howey's, and, we believe, a very good one.
A fully detailed report as to the motions and committee appointed, and the whole meeting, will undoubtedly follow from the Clearing House within the next day or two.
The press was present and were told in un mistakable words that the paper would not publish all of what was said at the meeting would never be allowed at a meeting again, and that it would be made known why. It was stated that in the past it has been very noticeable that some of the papers in the state published very damaging and unfair articles pertaining to the growers and shippers meetings in the past by not giving all of the information, and by omitting parts and misconstruing many facts. This was directed, I believe, primarily at the Orlando Sentinel. Their reporter was present, and certainly got red around the ears when he received these instructions. The reporter for the Lakeland paper, which has been so active in the past in getting fair and correct information, was present, and I noticed he remained after the meeting to get some of the details he was unable to catch and record as the meeting progressed. I did not see the SEntinel reporter doing this, and I will be interested to see how the two papers compare.
Affectionately yours,
SCCjr/b
Copy:
Mr. J. C. Chase
FLORIDA CITRUS CONTROL COMMITTEE
GROWER MEMBERS AND ALTERNATES
_________________________________
MEMBERS--
Grower
Geo. B. Aycrigg[?], W. Haven
John S. Taylor, Largo
Harry L. Borland, Ocala
Judson J. McReynolds, Orlando
A. W. Young, Vero Beach
Francis P. Whitehair, DeLand
I. A. Yarnell, Lake Wales
Shipper
Exchge. L. L. Lowry, Tampa, Exchge.
Exchge. C. C. Commander, Tampa, Exchge.
AFG W. H. Mouser, Orlando, Ind.
Exchge. C. A. Stewart, Frostproof, Ind.
Exchge. L. C. Edwards, Tampa, Ind.
Exchge. Harry L. Askew, Lakeland, Ind.
LWCGA-Exchge. influenced
ALTERNATES
Grower
H. E. Cornell, W. Haven
Marvin H. Walker, Tampa
A. F. Pickard, Lakeland
E. W. Vickers, Sebastian
James Tillman, Lake Wales
W. T. Blend, Lake Gem
C. E. Stewart, DeLand
Shipper
Exchge. E. E. Patterson, Tampa, Exchge.
Exchge. Frank G. Clark, Indian
Comm. 50, River City, Exchge.
AFG J. C. Chase, Winter Park, Ind.
LWCGA L. P. Kirkland, Auburndale, Ind.
AFG W. G. Roe, W. Haven, Ind.
Exchge. J. J. Parrish, Titusville, Ind.
Is Format Of
Digital reproduction of original letter from Joshua Coffin Chase to Sydney Octavius Chase, October 19, 1934
Is Part Of
<a href="http://web.uflib.ufl.edu/spec/pkyonge/chase.htm" target="_blank">Chase Collection</a> (MS 14), box 3, folder 13.49, Special and Area Studies Collections, George A. Smathers Libraries, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida.
<a href="https://richesmi.cah.ucf.edu/omeka2/collections/show/93" target="_blank">Citrus Collection</a>, Chase Collection, RICHES of Central Florida.
Mediator
History Teacher
Civics/Government Teacher
Economics Teacher
Geography Teacher
AFG
Asheville, North Carolina
Askew, Harry L.
Atlantic Commission Company
Auburndale
Aurin
Aycrigg, George B.
Blend, W. T.
Borland, Harry L.
California
Chase and Company
Chase, Joshua Coffin
Chase, Sydney Octavius
citrus
citrus growers' Florida Citrus Exchange
citrus industry
Clark, Frank G.
Clearing House
Commander, C. C.
Cornell, H. E.
Daniells, W. C.
Daniells, W.C.
DeLand
Democrats
Edwards, L. C.
FCE
Federal Marketing Agreement
freight rates
Frostproof
grapefruit
Grower Control Committee
Hitler, Adolf
Holland
Howey
Jews
Kirkland, L. P.
Lake Gem
Lake Wales
Lakeland
Largo
Lowry, L. L.
LWCGA
McReynolds, Judson J.
Mouser, W. H.
Ocala
oranges
orlando
Parrish, J. J.
Patterson, E. E.
Pickard, A. F.
Portland, Oregon
Republican
River City
Roe, W. G.
Sanford
Seattle, Washington
Sebastian
shipping
Sligh, Jeff
Southern Railway
Spokane, Washington
Stewart, C. A.
Tampa
Taylor, John S.
The Orlando Sentinel
The Tampa Tribune
Tillman, James
Titusville
U.S. Department of Agriculture
USDA
Valencias
Vero Beach
Vickers, E. W.
Walker, Marvin H.
Washington, D.C.
Whitehair, Francis P.
Winter Haven
Winter Park
Yarnell, I. A.
Young, A. W.
-
https://richesmi.cah.ucf.edu/omeka/files/original/1e3d6a8903fd876f397fb8e874e95303.mp3
fcc6d527a46d56948c35456b7a21f329
https://richesmi.cah.ucf.edu/omeka/files/original/d3db22861b20e15022993b037d91af11.pdf
7fa2aef6d827b83921203af64caa1714
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
Linda McKnight Batman Oral History Project Collection
Alternative Title
Linda McKnight Batman Collection
Subject
Ocala (Fla.)
Orlando (Fla.)
Oviedo (Fla.)
Port Tampa (Fla.)
Sanford (Fla.)
Silver Springs (Fla.)
Titusville (Fla.)
Zellwood (Fla.)
Description
Collection of oral histories depicting the history of Seminole County, Florida. The project was funded by Linda McKnight Batman, a former teacher, historian, and Vice President of the State of Florida Commission on Ethics.
Language
eng
Type
Collection
Curator
Cepero, Laura
Digital Collection
<a href="https://richesmi.cah.ucf.edu/map/" target="_blank">RICHES MI</a>
Source Repository
<a href="http://www.seminolecountyfl.gov/departments-services/leisure-services/parks-recreation/museum-of-seminole-county-history/" target="_blank">Museum of Seminole County History</a>
External Reference
<span>Museum of Seminole County History, and University of Central Florida. </span><a href="http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/744676869" target="_blank"><em>Researcher's Guide to Seminole County Oral Histories: Linda McKnight Batman Oral History Project</em></a><span>. [Sanford, Fla.]: Museum of Seminole County History, 2010.</span>
Contributor
<a href="http://www.seminolecountyfl.gov/departments-services/leisure-services/parks-recreation/museum-of-seminole-county-history/" target="_blank">Museum of Seminole County History</a>
Coverage
Seminole County, Florida
Ocala, Florida
Oviedo, Florida
Port Tampa, Florida
Sanford, Florida
Silver Springs, Florida
Titusville, Florida
Zellwood, Florida
Contributing Project
Linda McKnight Batman Oral History Project
Oral History
A resource containing historical information obtained in interviews with persons having firsthand knowledge.
Interviewer
Morris, Joseph
Interviewee
Whittington, Charles
Location
<a href="http://www.seminolecountyfl.gov/departments-services/leisure-services/parks-recreation/museum-of-seminole-county-history/" target="_blank">Museum of Seminole County History</a><span>, Sanford, Florida</span>
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
Oral History of Charles Whittington
Alternative Title
Oral History, Whittington
Subject
Sanford (Fla.)
Celery
Agriculture--Florida
National Aeronautics and Space Administration (U.S.)
Army
Air Force
Description
An oral history of Charles Whittington b. 1938), conducted by Joseph Morris on November 18, 2011. Whittington was born in Sanford, Florida, in March of 1938. In the interview, he discusses his childhood in Sanford and Charleston, celery and gladiola farming, his father's service in the U.S. Navy, his mother and sister, how Sanford has changed over time, his employment history, his world travel experiences, his activities after retirement, his work with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA),his wife and children, his service in the U.S. Army and in the U.S. Air Force, and the Apollo 8.
Table Of Contents
0:00:00 Introduction
0:00:56 Growing up in Sanford and Charleston
0:04:33 Father’s gas station
0:05:13 Celery and gladiola farming
0:09:55 Working on a farm
0:14:07 Father’s service in the Navy
0:19:29 Parents and sister
0:23:04 How Sanford has changed over time
0:25:44 Employment history
0:29:05 World travel experiences
0:34:06 Retirement
0:37:15 Working with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration
0:40:11 Wife and children
0:45:25 Serving in the Army and the Air Force
0:55:04 Apollo 8
0:57:01 Closing remarks
Abstract
Oral history interview of Charles Whittington. Interview conducted by Joseph Morris at the <a href="http://www.seminolecountyfl.gov/departments-services/leisure-services/parks-recreation/museum-of-seminole-county-history/" target="_blank">Museum of Seminole County History</a> in Sanford, Florida.
Type
Sound
Source
Original 58-minute and 16-second oral history: Whittington, Charles Interviewed. by Joseph Morris. November 18, 2011. Audio record available. <a href="http://www.seminolecountyfl.gov/departments-services/leisure-services/parks-recreation/museum-of-seminole-county-history/" target="_blank">Museum of Seminole County History</a>, Sanford, Florida.
Requires
Multimedia software, such as <a href="http://www.apple.com/quicktime/download/" target="_blank"> QuickTime</a>.
<a href="https://get.adobe.com/reader/" target="_blank">Adobe Acrobat Reader</a>
Is Part Of
<a href="http://www.seminolecountyfl.gov/departments-services/leisure-services/parks-recreation/museum-of-seminole-county-history/" target="_blank">Museum of Seminole County History</a>, Sanford, Florida.
<a href="https://richesmi.cah.ucf.edu/omeka2/collections/show/123" target="_blank">Linda McKnight Batman Oral History Project Collection</a>, Seminole County Collection, RICHES of Central Florida.
Coverage
Sinclair Oil Corporation Gas Station, Sanford, Florida
Charleston Naval Shipyard, Charleston, South Carolina
Sanford, Florida
Anchorage, Alaska
Creator
Morris, Joseph
Whittington, Charles
Contributor
Vickers, Savannah
Date Created
2011-11-18
Date Modified
2014-10-10
Date Copyrighted
2011-11-18
Format
audio/mp3
application/pdf
Extent
451 MB
197 KB
Medium
58-minute and 16-second audio recording
22-page typed transcript
Language
eng
Mediator
History Teacher
Civics/Government Teacher
Economics Teacher
Provenance
Originally created by Joseph Morris and Charles Whittington, and trasncribed by Savannah Vickers.
Rights Holder
Copyright to this resource is held by the <a href="http://www.seminolecountyfl.gov/departments-services/leisure-services/parks-recreation/museum-of-seminole-county-history/" target="_blank">Museum of Seminole County History</a> and is provided here by <a href="http://riches.cah.ucf.edu/" target="_blank">RICHES of Central Florida</a> for educational purposes only.
Accrual Method
Donation
Curator
Cepero, Laura
Digital Collection
<a href="https://richesmi.cah.ucf.edu/map/" target="_blank">RICHES MI</a>
Source Repository
<a href="http://www.seminolecountyfl.gov/departments-services/leisure-services/parks-recreation/museum-of-seminole-county-history/" target="_blank">Museum of Seminole County History</a>
External Reference
Sanford Historical Society (Fla.). <a href="http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/53015288" target="_blank"><em>Sanford</em></a>. Charleston, SC: Arcadia, 2003.
Mills, Jerry W., and F. Blair Reeves. <a href="http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/11338196" target="_blank"><em>A Chronology of the Development of the City of Sanford, Florida: With Major Emphasis on Early Growth</em></a>, 1975.
Transcript
<p class="Body"><strong>Morris<br /></strong>This is an interview with Charles Whittington. This interview is being conducted on the 18<sup>th</sup> of November, 2011, at the Museum of Seminole County History. The interviewer is Joseph Morris, representing the Linda McKnight Batman Oral History Project for the Historical Society of Central Florida. Sir, could you tell us about where and when you were born?</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Whittington<br /></strong>Yes, I was born in Seminole County, in Sanford, at the old Fernald-Laughton Sanford Hospital, and that was in March of 1938. The building is still standing, and the last time I was by there, it was used as a—I believe it was a halfway house of sorts. I’m not really sure, and I’m not well-informed on that, but that was my understanding. But it is still there. It’s across from the old Sanford library.</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Morris<br /></strong>Okay, sir, and can you describe the place where you grew up?</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Whittington<br /></strong>Yes, my dad owned a Sinclair [Oil Corporation] gas station on the corner of [South] Park Avenue and [East] Second [Street], and we had a little home on Oak Avenue.</p>
<p class="Body">When World War II broke out in 1942, my dad was offered a job as a machinist in the Navy shipyard<a title="">[1]</a> in Charleston, South Carolina. And we moved up there, and my dad worked in the division of the shipyard that later became the test bed for our first nuclear research into nuclear-powered ships. And it was highly classified and very structured, and he didn’t understand why at the time. and I didn’t either, until later, realized that no wonder was it top secret—I mean, because this was our first involvement in nuclear research for, you know, powering anything.</p>
<p class="Body">And then, in the latter part of 1943, my dad had saved enough money to come back here and buy a farm. We bought a little 13-acre farm on Richmond Avenue, and moved down there. And my dad—it was sort of a lifelong dream for him—went into farming. And at that time, primarily we grew celery, and corn and cabbage, other crops that could be shipped up north.</p>
<p class="Body">But the days of the small farmer in Seminole County, toward the end of that decade—the end of the ‘40s—was starting pretty rapidly to come to an end. The soil was worn out, and much of the farming had moved to the Everglades, to the area around Lake Okeechobee. And my dad hung on, and tried to make it, and he finally realized that we were going under, and this just wasn’t going to do it for us. And we sold the farm, and moved to Pasco County, down near Tampa, and he got back into the poultry industry there and did, you know, quite well.</p>
<p class="Body">But I hated to leave. I loved Sanford. I loved being raised on a small farm, and it was a big disappointment for me to leave Sanford, especially in my sophomore year in high school. The two schools were just as, you know, much different as night and day—the high school here and the high school down there. The one down there wouldn’t come anywhere near the quality of what we had here in Sanford, and I missed that very much. And I come back to Seminole County as often as I can, and that’s why I’m here today, for this interview and also to meet with some former classmates. And I still feel like this is my hometown, but it’s also, if anyone asks me where I’m from it’s always Sanford, not Zephyrhills.</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Morris<br /></strong>Okay, sir. And you said your dad, prior to World War II, he ran or owned a...</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Whittington<br /></strong>A Sinclair gas station.</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Morris<br /></strong>A gas station. What happened to that when he moved to South Carolina for the machinist job?</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Whittington<br /></strong>Okay. He sold it to someone else, and the station now is the office of Edward Jones Investment Agency, and Bill Kirchhoff had that, and I believe he has been here and talked to you folks. And he and I are good friends. Matter of fact, I’ve got a tractor radiator cap for him. I’ve got to get to him after our interview.</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Morris<br /></strong>Okay, sir.</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Whittington<br /></strong>But his dad was involved in the overall agricultural structure of Seminole County during the time that we had the farm on Richmond Avenue. He raised gladiolas in Florida and also in New York, and I think he even had some farms on the West Coast, and he would, you know, follow seasons. And also there was a problem with a little microbe in the soil here called a “nematode” that was not present in the soil of New York, because, you know, the soil freezes up there in the winter and kills these things. And here it doesn’t freeze, and these little guys do pretty well, and they really wreak havoc on both celery plants and gladiola bulbs.</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Morris<br /></strong>These were nematodes, you said?</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Whittington<br /></strong>Nematodes. Right. It’s a little microbe, and they attack the roots of the young plants.</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Morris<br /></strong>How did you counter those when you were farming?</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Whittington<br /></strong>You would flood the area. You would dam in a little area of the farm that would be the area for the seed beds, where the young celery plants were growing, and flood it for about two and a half weeks. And just keep, you know, a couple inches of water on it, with the well running in there, you know, all the time, and keep the water in there for about two and a half weeks. And that would kill the nematodes in this area, and you would raise your young celery plants in seed beds in this area. And once the plants caught up to, you know, a height of like three or four inches, they could deal with these little bugs. But it was the little bitty plants that they would go after.</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Morris<br /></strong>And when they were the little bitty plants, that’s when you flooded, or did you flood and then plant?</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Whittington<br /></strong>No. You flooded, then planted.</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Morris<br /></strong>Okay.</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Whittington<br /></strong>You would flood, drain it, and form the seed beds, and plant those. And I’ve got pictures I’ll send you too. You had to put muslin covers over the seed beds, because when the plants first came up, they were very sensitive to sun. So you had to keep them covered during the hot part of the day, and in the afternoon you would open the side of the cover, along all the way, halfway through the field, and let air, fresh air and sunlight in, with the sun over here, and in the morning, you would open, you know, the back side, other side, west side, and get air and sunlight in there. But not direct sunlight, because they were very, very—a celery plant is a very tender little guy when it’s, you know, when it’s an inch high.</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Morris<br /></strong>Okay. And the sun would just be too strong for it early on?</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Whittington<br /></strong>If you just opened it up, they couldn’t handle it.</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Morris<br /></strong>Did you have to do that when they, when the little celery grew up, or...</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Whittington<br /></strong>No. Once the celery got to a height of maybe two or three inches, then you could take the cover off, and it was okay then. But it was just when they were first starting, first coming up, that they were so sensitive to the sun.</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Morris<br /></strong>Okay. What other kinds of problems did you have while raising celery, other than the sunlight, and other than the microbes? Was there any other kind of difficulty that you found out about?</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Whittington<br /></strong>Well, the main difficulty would be weather during the, you know, winter months, when you planted celery—typically wasn’t an issue. But the real issue was the market price of the celery when you harvested it. You know, if it was good, why, you did okay. And if it was bad, you know, it was just another bad year. </p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Morris<br /></strong>What affected these—what would change from year to year that would make it a good year or a bad year for selling celery?</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Whittington<br /></strong>Well, just the market price in New York. That was where we shipped. We shipped from the Sanford [State] Farmers’ Market, usually to New York and that—you know, the New England area. And it was just the price of celery up there that, you know, was whether you made it that year or not. And we had too many of the had-not years.</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Morris<br /></strong>Oh, really?</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Whittington<br /></strong>Yeah.</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Morris<br /></strong>Okay. And what was your involvement? Like how old were you when you moved to the farm? And what was your involvement while you lived there?</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Whittington<br /></strong>Well, I was five years old when we moved there, and we started farming. We started farming with a pair of mules. [<em>laughs</em>] Now this is how far back it goes. We used mules for plowing and discing and so forth.</p>
<p class="Body">And after this, we bought a Model F Fordson tractor. I’ve got a picture of this, and there are several online now. And my dad would let me drive it, but it was so hard to steer, until I was about 12 years old, I could not turn it around at the end of the row. It took that much power to turn the steering wheel. And also, I didn’t weigh enough to push the clutch in. The clutch was the lever that stuck out of the transfer case, and you had to press down on it, and I could stand on it, and it wouldn’t go anywhere. [<em>laughs</em>] So, obviously, I couldn’t operate the Fordson by myself.</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Morris<br /></strong>Right.</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Whittington<br /></strong>We later got rid of that and got a Model 8N Ford, and that’s the radiator cap for the one I have in my car, and it was, you know, had power steering and the hydraulic lift in the back, and so forth. And so, I did a lot of plowing, and discing, and running the tractor. That was, you know—10 years on, I did a lot of it. That was my part of helping.</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Morris <br /></strong>No planting or harvesting necessarily?</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Whittington<br /></strong>No. We—for harvesting the celery crops, we usually used crews of labor that we would hire locally. And they would plant the celery, and also cabbage or couple other plants that required—you know, physical planting—and then they would also do the harvesting and packing. And you contacted a crew leader, a team leader, and contracted with him to do the harvesting in your field. And we were just responsible really for, you know, making certain that the celery—if it was celery, or whatever the crop—was sprayed, in case there was any kind of a blight or a fungus, or some sort of an insect problem, that we sprayed it with the proper spray, and that we fertilized it, and also cultivated the rows to keep the weeds down, and it was a very labor-intensive occupation.</p>
<p class="Body">And I was very upset with my dad, especially in the later years, because he could’ve stayed on forever. He already had his foot in the door in the nuclear—the government nuclear involvement in the Military, and he didn’t even know it. I mean, he knew he was under a very tight security environment, but he didn’t know why. But he was an excellent machinist. He was moved up shop chief in no time at all, making good money, but his dream was always to come back to Sanford and own a farm. And, I mean, it was quite obvious by the end of, you know, the ‘40s, that the farming here was in trouble. And, you know, in later years, I thought, “Why couldn’t you have just stayed in Charleston with the Navy?” And, you know, gotten a civil service retirement. And we wouldn’t have, you know, been in the situation that we found ourselves in here. Although, like I say, I do really love Sanford, and loved growing up here.</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Morris<br /></strong>Okay. A little bit of a catch-22.</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Whittington<br /></strong>Yeah. That’s a very good comparison there.</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Morris<br /></strong>Now, you said you moved here—you moved to Sanford when you were five.</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Whittington<br /></strong>Uh huh.</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Morris<br /></strong>How long was your dad a machinist for the Navy? Because I know when he moved up to South Carolina, you must have been only a couple years old.</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Whittington<br /></strong>Right. Well, I was born in ’38, and we moved up there in ’42.</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Morris<br /></strong>Okay.</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Whittington<br /></strong>And he worked for about 18 months, and put everything aside. And that was enough to buy that farm, and so we came back. And that—and plus he had sold the gas station by this time, and he had some income from that, and so he put it all in that farm and getting some equipment, and…</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Morris<br /></strong>Mules.</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Whittington<br /></strong>Yeah. Mules. He had mules, and then the Fordson and then the Model 8N Ford, which I’m trying to find—got a couple leads on it—but I’d like to learn how to get some pictures of it.</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Morris<br /></strong>Okay. So I’m kind of surprised, because when you moved to Sanford, World War II was still going on.</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Whittington<br /></strong>Right.</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Morris<br /></strong>And they didn’t have a problem, coming from a very heavily secured area, and during World War II, an able-bodied man—I’m surprised they just—that he was able to leave his job and become a farmer.</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Whittington<br /></strong>That’s an excellent point, and I would be surprised at it except that farming was a fairly high-priority occupation, as far as the government was concerned, because you were feeding, you know, you were feeding the population, and providing some foods that could be used in preparation of foods for the—you know, our military. So that was effective. We came back here, and we’re going into farming wasn’t a problem. And he had—my dad had served in World War I in France.</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Morris<br /></strong>Oh, okay.</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Whittington<br /></strong>And he was past the draft age. So that was something else too. I mean, he was too old for, you know, for required military service.</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Morris<br /></strong>Okay. And what was the cap at this time for age? The age cap before you could no longer be drafted?</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Whittington<br /></strong>Joe, I don’t remember exactly. I think somewhere in the 30s—like 35?</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Morris<br /></strong>Oh, okay.</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Whittington<br /></strong>I believe that was it. I’ll do some checking, get back to you on that.</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Morris<br /></strong>All right. Thank you, sir.</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Whittington<br /></strong>I believe that was in, you know, mid-30s.</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Morris <br /></strong>I was a little surprised they’d let such an excellent machinist, you know, leave so easily.</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Whittington<br /></strong>Well…</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Morris<br /></strong>Unless they put up a fight trying to entice him and keep him to stay. But it just seemed, during World War II, to let him go to farming—I mean, maybe they didn’t have any say in the matter, as well. That’s just where my question was going.</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Whittington<br /></strong>Right. And I really wish that, of the many things you want to go back and ask your parents, something I’d really like to talk to my dad about is why you left. I mean, was farming that important to you, that you would leave, you know, a high-tech, high-paying, secure job like that, and go back into something that, you know, almost going in it was a known gamble, because there was problems with weather, insects, and, you know, always the market fluctuations?</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Morris<br /></strong>Did he like his career as a machinist?</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Whittington<br /></strong>Yes. He did. I mean, he liked that very much, but it didn’t have the pull that, you know, being his own boss in farming did.</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Morris<br /></strong>I guess maybe it could have been just his own culture growing up, attached significance to farming and independence.</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Whittington<br /></strong>Right. Well, he was raised on a farm in North Carolina.</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Morris<br /></strong>Oh, okay.</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Whittington<br /></strong>So, you know, that was his—where his roots were. He wanted to get back into it down here. And, of course, you know, in the ‘30s, Sanford couldn’t produce enough celery. I mean, it was the celery capital of the world.</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Morris<br /></strong>Right.</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Whittington<br /></strong>And some of that aura sort of hung over for quite some time, that, you know— “Oh, get a farm and get celery growing. You’ll get rich.” Well, that didn’t always work out that way.</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Morris<br /></strong>Shoot.</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Whittington<br /></strong>But, anyway, that was…</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Morris<br /></strong>How long did your family own the farm?</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Whittington<br /></strong>We sold the farm in 1950, and he leased another farm, and we stayed on ‘til 1953, and at Christmas that year, my sophomore year in high school, we left and went to Zephyrhills.</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Morris<br /></strong>So how long did you live, then, in Sanford, from the first farm up until that, 1953?</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Whittington<br /></strong>Okay. I was born here, and we lived here until we left in 1942, and then—the early part of 1942—and then toward the latter part of 1943, we came back. So I was only gone, like 18 months.</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Morris<br /></strong>Okay.</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Whittington<br /></strong>And then we stayed here until 1953, and I was a sophomore in high school at that time.</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Morris<br /></strong>Okay, sir. Then, I know we talked a little bit about your father. Could you tell me more about your parents and any kind of siblings?</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Whittington<br /></strong>I had one sister that was 17 years older than I was, and she graduated from Florida State [University], which was Florida [State] College for Women back then, with a degree in education. And she went to Melbourne and got a teaching job there, and when World War II started, the City of Melbourne offered her the directorship of the USO that they’d built in Melbourne for the, mainly the sailors, because there’s a lot of Navy and Coast Guard. You know, all these war activities at that time in that area. And so, Melbourne built a USO and offered my sister a job to run that, and she took it and did that until the war ended.</p>
<p class="Body">And my dad had a couple years of mechanical engineering at NC [North Carolina] State [University], and that’s why he did well at Charleston, because he had that—already had some college training in, you know, the math end of mechanical engineering. Well, it’s primarily math. But, the, you know, his roots in North Carolina—being raised on a small farm—just were too strong, and he wanted to go back to it. Plus, he just—he had the problem that a lot of folks have of not wanting to work for somebody else. That’s why he ran the gas station is because, you know, he was his own boss there, and, you know, he could hire somebody else to help him, but he didn’t report to anybody else. He was his own station, and he ran it the way he wanted to.</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Morris<br /></strong>Okay. And what about your mother, sir?</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Whittington<br /></strong>My mother helped my dad a lot. I mean, farming was sort of a family thing that you got into, because, I mean, there was just so much work to be done, that my mother frequently would help, not only, you know, taking care of running the home, but she would actually physically help with some of the labor on the farm itself. And I didn’t like that. It just seemed wrong that a woman should be, you know, having to make ends meet, to have to work, you know, on the farm. Even though it was not really heavy labor work. It was the fact that she still had to chip in and help us to make it. That bothered me. But she did, and never complained about it. But it was, you know—it was something that many families here did. The whole family was involved in farming. And I didn’t mind, you know, running the tractor at all. I liked it. I mean, that was [<em>laughs</em>]—especially the Ford that I could handle, not the big Ford, but the little one that was newer.</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Morris<br /></strong>Well, sir, how has Sanford changed over the years, from…</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Whittington<br /></strong>Sorry?</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Morris<br /></strong>How has Sanford changed over the years?</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Whittington<br /></strong>How’s it changed?</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Morris<br /></strong>From when you grew up to how it is now, sir.</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Whittington<br /></strong>Oh, okay. Well, the change that I noticed when I first came back was the decline of the downtown area, which is so typical of many small towns. The shopping moves out to shopping centers in the suburbs, and that has happened to me—that Downtown Sanford’s the perfect example of it. Because we had, downtown, we had a Firestone store and a JCPenney, and Lerner Clothing Store, and a McCrory’s Five and Dime [Store]—I can’t think of—two hardware stores, some regional area chain department stores, and two banks. And it was just, you know, it was a very functional little downtown area.</p>
<p class="Body">And you could see that starting to go. You know, stores would close and be empty, and then somebody else would try something else in it. It wouldn’t make it. Now, it’s a lot of antique shops down there, and that’s about it. I mean, that’s that whole main street, is antique shops. And I didn’t like to see that. The old telephone company was over the JCPenney store. There was an old manual switchboard with operators on the second floor of the JCPenney building, and then there was the Thudson[?] Drugstore on one corner, and the Roman Anderson[?] Drugstore on the other. There were no Target or pharmacy or CVS, any of those. You know, there were none of the chain stores. The Eckerd chain was the first one down here—Eckerd and Walgreens. But, you know, during my growing up years, those two were places that you hung out, and you could get a hamburger and a malt, or, you know, whatever. And, also, there was a pharmacy there. And I hated to see those go, because that was, you know, that was just a very active part of Sanford.</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Morris<br /></strong>Okay, sir. And where have you lived over the course of your life?</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Whittington<br /></strong>Well, after I got discharged from the hospital following that jet accident in the Air Force, I immediately went right back to the Cape [Canaveral] and applied to NASA [National Aeronautics and Space Administration] and got on. This was during the Gemini program.<a title="">[2]</a> I got on at the flight simulator over at the Cape. And I worked the NASA contracts. I was at Houston[, Texas] twice. I was in Ecuador for one time, and then a tracking station in the Smokey Mountains, and was there through, well, after the end of the Skylab program. When that ended, and the shuttle program wasn’t yet, you know—we’d gone to the Moon and done that thing with the Apollo series, and the shuttles weren’t flying it, so there was a massive layoff. I got caught in that.</p>
<p class="Body">And I got into the telecom industry, and followed that all over the country as a contractor. And I found that I could—of course, you weren’t building any pension or retirement—but I found that I could make more money than a company employee. I could make more money as a contractor if I was willing to move around. And you just had to discipline yourself, and put aside what otherwise would have been your retirement from the company. And I did that and did all right. And I liked to travel. But I ended up in an ISP [Internet service provider] Internet hosting outfit in Seattle[, Washington], and was doing that when I retired in 2001. You know, the travel and, you know, the change, the challenges of new jobs, and being able to go to a new area and move into the new company and a new job—that part of moving around was attractive to me.</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Morris<br /></strong>What kind of places did you move, sir? For example?</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Whittington<br /></strong>Okay. I was in San Francisco[, California], and was there during the earthquake, and was in Los Angeles[, California], and then in the Seattle area for about 10 years. and then, prior to that, I had moved around just for, like, a few months at a time, in various places all over the U.S.—Indianapolis[, Indiana] and Chicago, Illinois]—you know, for like maybe six weeks or two months at a time on just a contract job. And, it was interesting, but I was single then, and just pull up and move without any real concern. It was okay.</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Morris<br /></strong>You said you liked to travel, sir. Have you ever traveled outside of the country? Or—vacation travel?</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Whittington<br /></strong>Yes. Yes. I have. I’ve traveled to, well, the South America travel was mainly as a function of the Military and NASA time. But I’ve traveled to England, and done the Hawaiian Islands, was in Israel in Tel Aviv for five weeks for a company school. And that was an eye-opener. That really was. I mean, I got a good look at the Holy Land. It was [<em>laughs</em>]—it was a lot different than I expected. It really was.</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Morris<br /></strong>How so, sir?</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Whittington<br /></strong>Well, those people have got an unreal—I’m talking about the Israelis—have got an unreal work ethic. I mean, if they are asked to work 24 hours a day, and there’s a need for it, they’ll do it, and no griping. You don’t find that very much in the U.S.</p>
<p class="Body">I mean, they are very, very much—uh, I can’t really express myself here—loyal to Israel, and to their faith, and to the country. I mean, just, you know, they’ve got a country, and they’re going to hang onto it now. And the [<em>laughs</em>], the guys around them had better not mess with them. I can say that from being there, and being in the technology. I know what they’ve got. And they can—the guys around them can end up a big smoking hole in the ground over there, if, you know, they push Israel too hard.</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Morris<br /></strong>All right, sir.</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Whittington</strong>They might hurt Israel too, but they’ll come out the losers.</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Morris<br /></strong>And have you travelled anywhere else, sir, for work or vacation? You said South America. What countries in South America?</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Whittington<br /></strong>Okay. I’ve been over a good bit of England, and I was in Alaska, and was in the Army up there. I liked that, but I’ve been back just as a tourist with my wife, and took my in-laws up there. And the Hawaiian Islands several times. I’ve not done China. I’d like to see China. I really would. And that’s kind of the feeling I got, because there was a contract. The Chinese were going to completely replace their aging landline system with a…</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Morris<br /></strong>Towers?</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Whittington<br /></strong>With a tower network.</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Morris<br /></strong>Okay.</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Whittington<br /></strong>Yeah. With towers, and cell phones. And several different companies had some pretty good contracts over there, if you’d go and stay for as long as you could take it. But, some of the places I heard about, you know, they were all right, and some were pretty Spartan—I mean, food and accommodations. And you having been there, you probably would validate some of that. I don’t know.</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Morris<br /></strong>Some of it, sir. When was this going on? When were these contracts for landlines or...</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Whittington<br /></strong>Okay. The contracts for China were, like, in the mid-‘90s.</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Morris<br /></strong>Okay, sir.</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Whittington<br /></strong>There was some openings there, and that kind of moved around. It would change a lot, and I never could get somebody to, you know, sit down with me and say, “Okay,” you know, “here’s what we can offer you, and here’s when you leave.” And I never was able to find it at that point. Perhaps it’s a good thing. But anyway, I’ve not been there. I’ve met a good friend my wife worked with in San Francisco and Seattle that is from Ethiopia—not Ethiopia. [<em>sighs</em>] Can’t say it. Starts with “E,” and it’s part of the Soviet Union. Oh, fiddle.</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Morris<br /></strong>Is this in Africa or Asia?</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Whittington<br /></strong>No, it’s in…</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Morris<br /></strong>Oh, is it Estonia?</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Whittington<br /></strong>Yeah. Estonia. [<em>laughs</em>]</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Morris<br /></strong>Oh, okay.</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Whittington<br /></strong>I couldn’t say it. And he’s gone back to Russia several times, and the pictures and so forth. And the stories I got from when I would talk to him afterwards, I don’t really have any desire to travel in Russia. And that’s not one of the things I want to do. I want to do Europe first, and really work it over really good, and Hong Kong and Japan. Those are ones that I really wanna [<em>laughs</em>]…</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Morris<br /></strong>They’re both very nice. Sir, are you still working right now?</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Whittington<br /></strong>No. I’m retired now.</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Morris<br /></strong>Okay. How long have you been retired, sir?</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Whittington<br /></strong>I retired in 2001.</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Morris<br /></strong>Okay. And what have you been doing to, you know, kill your time since then, sir?</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Whittington<br /></strong>Okay. I’m very much into researching my ancestry—into genealogy. I’ve got a solid trace back to, now, I don’t if you’ve ever heard of this, the story of Dick Woodington and his cat.</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Morris<br /></strong>No, sir.</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Whittington<br /></strong>But this was a guy who was Lord Mayor of London four different times. And anyway, he was a far-distant cousin, and I’ve gone 200 years past him, with a solid trace back, and that was a lot of fun. And I think I’ve got my own family tree built now. I’m working my wife’s, and just anybody else that pops up. I thought, “Well, let’s just see what,” you know, “theirs looks like.” That’s a lot of fun.</p>
<p class="Body">I’ve been in ham radio for, since, well, it was 11 years old, and that technology keeps advancing. I mean, we were digital before digital phones were, you know, the thing. We were bouncing, you know, signals off the Moon, communicating that way. We’ve got a whole bunch of satellites up. Not our satellites, but we’ve got ham radio, we would piggyback on a lot of satellites that are up there. So you can send up with a little handheld and talk to somebody on the other side of the earth. And that, to me, is fascinating. So that’s been something that’s kept me really busy with my time—is ham radio.</p>
<p class="Body">And my wife and I like to travel, and, you know, if we get a few days that we can see we can get away to do something, we get in the car and go. And that’s, you know—we had a great big map when we were in California, a huge, plasticized, ceiling-to-floor map of the whole state. And when I was there, I was able to take off, you know, and be gone for a week at a time, with no charge against any vacation time, because I was on-duty 7 by 24 out there. They didn’t require that much support, but I had to be there. So if I wanted to leave, they’d fly one of the managers out there to watch my equipment, because it was a little vacation for him to San Francisco, and we’d take off. And we went to little towns that we’d just find this map and say, “Let’s go there this weekend.” And we’d go to little towns in California that the average Californian had never heard of, and go spend the night, or sometimes not spend the night. Just go, come back. The travel was a big thing out there, especially in the mountains. Of course, California’s got a lot of them, and that was an interesting thing.</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Morris<br /></strong>Okay, sir.</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Whittington<br /></strong>I was involved in the Voyager aircraft project that flew around the world, non-refueled, nonstop. It was the bird [Burt] Rutan designed. Canard, weird-looking airplane. And I worked on that for about two and a half months, or two and a half years, as a volunteer on the staff for the world-record flight, and they wanted me for my NASA background, because I knew how to solder without putting a lot of weight in the airplane and solder. Because they proved that if you improperly—if the crews that built the big Saturn [inaudible] spacecraft that we used to go to the Moon—they used too much solder—you could end up with five tons of solder in the spacecraft, that it would never get off the pad. And, so there’s a very finite point in soldering where you can, you have just barely enough but not too much solder, and I had instructors for hand-soldering for, you know, air space flight hardware. And the Voyager crew wanted me for that reason, because I could keep the weight down. We put something in the plane in the wiring—in the way it’s hooked up.</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Morris<br /></strong>And when’s this again, sir? Like, can you give me a time frame?</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Whittington<br /></strong>This was from, like, ’84 through, the plane flew in ’87. It was those years.</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Morris<br /> </strong>Okay, sir.</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Whittington<br /></strong>And they were up for just under 10 days, but they flew all the way around, you know, nonstop, from Edwards Air Force Base, back to Edwards Air Force Base, in California, nonstop and non-refueled.</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Morris<br /></strong>Did you enjoy working for NASA and with NASA projects?</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Whittington<br /></strong>Oh, yeah. Yeah. I was very much into that, and I also enjoyed the work when I was assigned to Patrick [Air Force Base] over at the Cape, because we were supporting the NASA effort, and we were right on the cutting-edge of everything there. And that was extremely, extremely fascinating and challenging. And it was the kind of a job you’d go into early, not to be on overtime—‘cause you couldn’t just go clock in arbitrarily—but just to be part of it. And I worked the midnight shift, and a lot of times I’d still be over there at noon just hanging around, watching stuff. You know, just to be part of it, and, you know, you’d realize, “Hey, I’ve got to go home and get some sleep.” And sometimes they’d run you out, when there were too many of us hanging around, but it was extremely fascinating.</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Morris<br /></strong>And, sir, you mentioned your wife. How long have you been married, and who is she? Where did you meet her?</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Whittington<br /></strong>Okay. My first wife I met here locally. She was from Plant City, and we were married 16 years, and got a divorce. I was divorced 12 years, and I met my second wife in Zephyrhills, and she was with a company in California that provided mortgage insurance—was part of this thing. It kept the housing bubble sort of going, because it allowed you to buy a home with mortgage insurance instead of a much larger down payment. And it was a good concept. There was nothing under-handed about it. But anyway, she had 20 years with them, and she was in charge of a team that would go to the various offices around the country and underwrite, you know, maybe 500 loans at one time. They’d be there a week, and as such, you know, they flew constantly, and we always had a whole stack of frequent flyer tickets on the dresser. And we flew to England, to Ecuador, to Hawaii, to Alaska twice, on frequent flyer passes [<em>laughs</em>]. And took her folks to Alaska. And she enjoyed her work and enjoyed the travel, and I enjoyed being able to grab those tickets and say, “Let’s go to jolly old England.” [<em>laughs</em>]</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Morris<br /></strong>That must have been very convenient.</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Whittington<br /></strong>It was.</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Morris<br /></strong>And do you have any children, sir?</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Whittington<br /></strong>Yes. I do. I have a daughter and two boys. And my daughter lives in Brooksville, and the boys are in the Atlanta[, Georgia] area.</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Morris<br /></strong>What are their names and ages, sir?</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Whittington<br /></strong>Okay. My daughter is 46 now, and the oldest boy is 44, and the youngest one is 37. So they’re getting up there.</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Morris<br /></strong>Are they all from the first marriage?</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Whittington<br /></strong>All from the first marriage. Right.</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Morris<br /></strong>Okay, sir. And, okay. Are they doing anything similar to what you did?</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Whittington<br /></strong>No. My daughter worked as a—she did hematology studies for Smith Klein Beacham in veterinary medicine. And I thought she was going to stay with it, because it was, you know, an excellent field, and she got out, and got into, of all things, running a business, and she’s got a fairly large one. But have you noticed on the freeways, you’ll see a large load being hauled on the freeway, and there’s a truck ahead of it with a flashing light?</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Morris<br /></strong>Mm-hm.</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Whittington<br /></strong>Called a pilot car?</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Morris<br /></strong>Yes, sir.</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Whittington<br /></strong>Well, she has a pilot car operation in Brooksville, and she’s the biggest company east of the Mississippi. And she covers the whole country, because she’s got contract drivers for her all over the country. That one driver can take the load from here to there, and then somebody else picks it up and goes on. And she even had a contract with NASA to escort those solid rocket boosters from the West Coast to the Cape. [<em>laughs</em>] And, you know, this was—she said, “Well, Dad will be proud of this.” And I was. And she asked—they would always—when they would ship these boosters back, they would send two engineers from the plant with them, because they were very critical insofar as temperature and pressures and so forth went, even though they were solid fuel. And one of the engineers told her one time, he said, “If you see smoke coming out of the casing for one of those boosters, run.” And she said, “Right, sir! But let me ask a question: which way?” [<em>laughs</em>] And I thought her sarcastic humor was a little bit funny, because, really, which way is it gonna go if it pops, you know? But, anyway, she does that.</p>
<p class="Body">And the oldest boy, regrettably, had a stroke a couple years ago, and his, you know—he won’t be working anymore. And the young one works for a granite quarry in Atlanta—the north side of Atlanta—and is driving a truck, a dump truck. [<em>laughs</em>] So…</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Morris<br /></strong>Very eclectic.</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Whittington<br /></strong>Yeah. But he’s still—even in this economy, he’s still staying employed. So, you know, more power to him. [<em>laughs</em>]</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Morris<br /></strong>Definitely, sir. Could you tell us a little about your military experience?</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Whittington<br /></strong>Military experience. The first one—I was in the Army, and they sent me to Indianapolis for court reporter training, and I thought, “Wow,” you know, “A court reporter!” And after four months there, learning to transcribe, you know, court proceedings, they sent three of us to Alaska, and we got up there, and they had civil service court reporters and no need for us. So they assigned me to the Army dock in Downtown Anchorage[, Alaska], and it was one of those dream tours that you get one of in the service. There were seven of us assigned there. There was a captain, and two NCOs [non-commissioner officer], and the rest of us were enlisted.</p>
<p class="Body">And during the summer months, when the port was open and—you know, real busy, you’d work sometimes 36 hours straight, and during the winter months, when it was froze up and closed, you’d pull secure watch for 24 hours and, you know, you were off 48. Well, it wasn’t missile science for us to get together and say, “Hey guys, let’s pull it for a week straight and take two weeks off.” [<em>laughs</em>] So I lived to ski though. I did. I loved skiing, and during winter months, you know, I’d work my week and then that was it. They wouldn’t see me again until two weeks’ time went by.</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Morris<br /></strong>You would have to be awake for a week straight, sir?</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Whittington<br /></strong>Oh, you wouldn’t have to be awake. You’d just have to be on-duty there. The place was closed up and frozen over really. And you just had to be there and answer the phone. That’s all.</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Morris<br /></strong>Okay, sir.</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Whittington<br /></strong>And also pull fire watch, and whatever.</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Morris<br /></strong>No. I understand.</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Whittington<br /></strong>But you didn’t do anything. There were only two TV stations in Anchorage at that time. [<em>laughs</em>]</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Morris<br /></strong>Got a lot of reading done, sir?</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Whittington<br /></strong>Yeah. You did a lot of reading.</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Morris<br /></strong>Caught up on world events?</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Whittington<br /></strong>[<em>laughs</em>] But anyway, I should have stayed in. I mean, I was—I made E[nlisted Rank]-4 after 18 months. and I had my private license at that time, and if you had any college at all—I had one year at Southern—Florida Southern [College]—you could apply for the warrant officer program, go to Fort Rucker, Alabama, and get helicopter training. And I always wanted a rotary wing rating. I mean, I wanted a chopper rating. But some little voice said, “Don’t do it.” Because if I had, I’d have been one of the first Huey pilots in [the] Vietnam [War].</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Morris<br /></strong>Yeah.</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Whittington<br /></strong>One of the first, ‘cause this was in 1959, and I would have gotten through warrant officer school and flight training by about 1961, and Vietnam was just starting to stir about then. And a good friend from high school here was the first commissioned officer killed in Vietnam, Terry Cordell. First one killed over there. And I knew Terry. He was our football captain, and he was a senior, and I was a freshman. Just a real nice guy. But flying an observation plane, got shot down. That was the end of Terry.</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Morris<br /></strong>And then you got out of the Army. What after that, sir?</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Whittington<br /></strong>Went out of the Army in 1959, and enlisted in the Air Force in ’62, and was in there until July ’64, when I got the medical discharge. And I was actually [<em>laughs</em>] —I don’t even like to tell people about it, but in—when I saw the end of the NASA thing coming, the Army had a program at that time called “Stripes for Skills,” and they offered me an E-5 and choice of assignment, which I took Denver, Colorado—but based on my NASA background. They wanted somebody that had some satellite experience, and so the deal was that I go through a little three-week refresher basic, and then would be assigned to Denver, Colorado, as an E-5. And they enlisted my wife at the same time. This was my first wife. She had court reporter experience, and they would put her through the same program, and she would have to go through the full wide basic, but they would assign us to both to go to the same base, and as much as they could, you know, in the military, would keep us together.</p>
<p class="Body">But at that time, I’d had a medical discharge, I had three kids, I was overage, I had all kind of disqualifiers. And a retired general and old-timer [inaudible] there where I was working for NASA, said, “Go to the Pentagon.” And, like a dummy, I climbed in the car, and we headed off to the Pentagon, and got there at eight o’clock in the morning, and got in with the crowd that, you know, was going into work, and I fell in with this bird colonel, and he said, “Where are you going?” And I said, “Well, I need to see the Army G2.” And he says, “Oh, yeah?” [<em>laughs</em>] He couldn’t believe this—me and my wife and three kids. I mean, it blew him away so badly, that he took us and signed us in, and he says, “Stay right here.” And finally, somebody from that office came down, and saw all of us kind of sitting there, and he said, “What do you want?” I said, “I want a waiver for the disqualifiers that are keeping me out of the Minuteman program.” And I talked to the guy for about an hour, and I’ve got the letter that waives my disqualifications to go back in the Army. [<em>laughs</em>] You know, this was after a medical discharge, three kids, and overage.</p>
<p class="Body">But anyway, I went to Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, went through this little basic training, which was kind of fun—learning the new weapons and new techniques and stuff. And then, everybody else left, and no assignment. Another guy and I were by ourselves in the outfit, and just the cadre people were still there, and finally, they came through and they said, “We hate to admit it, but the Army has enlisted about 10 people in that career field for every slot we have.” And he said—this was the [inaudible]—said, “We can’t offer you Denver, Colorado.” Or Fort—can’t think of the base there now—but he said, “We can offer you Fort Monmouth, New Jersey, and E-3, and no concurrent assignment with your wife.” And I said, “Or what else?” And he said, “Or a discharge.” And I said, “Let’s go with plan B.” [<em>laughs</em>] So, I mean, I had a very short second enlistment in the Army.</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Morris<br /></strong>After all that trouble.</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Whittington<br /></strong>After all that trouble, you know.</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Morris<br /></strong>Shoot.</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Whittington<br /></strong>But I didn’t really like the changes I’d seen in the Army either, at that time. I just don’t know. It just—there was a change in discipline, and attitudes, and stuff, that I would have had trouble with, because of coming from the Army of the late ‘50s to the Army of the mid-‘70s. And, I mean, there were guys, even in the training barracks, sitting in the dark smoking pot, and it was—I mean, I’m not that much against pot, but it was against Army regulations and against common sense. And to think like that, I was just this lad, and it didn’t work out, because I’m sure that would have gotten me in trouble, complaining about it—those kind of issues later on. So it’s just as well that I didn’t end up in that.</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Morris<br /></strong>Okay, sir. And was that the end of your military experience then?</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Whittington<br /></strong>That was the end of it.</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Morris<br /></strong>Okay. Are there any historical events that come to mind, over the course of your entire life, sir? Like anything in your life that you felt like stands out or was, you know—that just changed your world, I guess I could say?</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Whittington<br /></strong>Well, being on the biomed[ical] council at Houston for the flight of the Apollo 8, the slingshot flight around the Moon, that to me was, it was just sort of a highlight in my life, because I was part of something that it was a first for us, for the U.S., that we were going to the Moon, and I’ll be in a small part. I was part of it. And I was just so impressed with the guys in the spacecraft. I was watching all their, you know—their biomedical functions, and I had no medical training at all. I was there being able to feed the biomed data that was being stripped out of the calorimetry to anyone in mission control that needed it for any reason. All they did was call me and say, “Give me biomed.” And I could patch that data to them, and I had to keep the equipment that stripped it out of the calorimetry downstream, had to keep that up and running, and it was real fussy stuff, because it was built very hurriedly. But, I was watching all of their, you know, their vital signs, and Frank Borman—Colonel Frank Borman—the mission commander’s pulse at T-2 was 80, and mine was way over 100. I mean, I was wound up. We’re going to the Moon! And, here he’s up there, “Okay, let’s—gonna go?” You know. And I was—I thought, <em>Wow. The ultimate test pilot</em>. You know, the thing could blast into a million pieces. You know, he was ready to take a chance on it.</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Morris<br /></strong>Okay, sir. That’s interesting.</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Whittington<br /></strong>That was, that’s sort of a highlight, and the time in Israel was, that too was a definite attitude-adjuster for me because, you know, seeing the way those people live, the way they felt about their country, and their faith and everything, it just—and I felt that every American Jew, really—they can’t now, because of the mess over there—but I felt that back then, they should spend some time in the Holy Land and see, you know, where they came from, and get an experience with the people who still lived there. The attitudes over here are a lot more lax and whatever than they are in Israel.</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Morris<br /></strong>Definitely, sir. Is there anything you’d like to discuss that we haven’t covered?</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Whittington<br /></strong>That’s about it. It’s been a real pleasure discussing this with you.</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Morris<br /></strong>Thank you, sir. It’s been a pleasure.</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Whittington<br /></strong>And, you know, if you can send me a CD or something, I’d love to have it for the record.</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Morris<br /></strong>I will definitely do that, sir.</p>
<p class="Body"><strong>Whittington<br /></strong>Okay.</p>
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<p><a title="">[1]</a> Charleston Naval Shipyard.</p>
</div>
<div>
<p><a title="">[2]</a> Project Gemini.</p>
</div>
</div>
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<a href="https://richesmi.cah.ucf.edu/omeka/files/original/1e3d6a8903fd876f397fb8e874e95303.mp3" target="_blank">Oral History of Charles Whittington</a>
2nd Street
agriculture
Apollo 8
Army
Bill Kirchhoff
celery
Charles Whittington
Charleston Naval Shipyard
Charleston, South Carolina
court reports
Dick Woodington
Downtown Sanford
E-4
E-5
Enlisted Rank 4
Enlisted Rank 5
farmers
farming
farms
Frank Borman
gas stations
genealogy
gladiolas
ham radios
Historical Society of Central Florida
Israel
Israelis
Jewish Americans
Jews
Joseph Morris
laborers
Linda McKnight Batman Oral History Project
machinists
Model 8N Ford
Model F Fordson
Museum of Seminole County History
NASA
National Aeronautics and Space Administration
nematodes
New York
nuclear power
Oak Avenue
Park Avenue
Project Gemini
Richmond Avenue
Sanford
Saturn
Second Street
Seminole County
Sinclair Oil Corporation
Skylab
Stripes for Skills
Tel Aviv, Israel
Telecommunications
Terry Cordell
tractors
U.S. Air Force
U.S. Army
U.S. Navy
Voyager Program
World War II
WWII
Zephyrhills