Sparks College - Yearbook (Shelbyville, IL)

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MR. STIREWALT MR. WHITLATCH MR. GLEASON MR. BOLING Mr. N. C. Stirewalt is vice president of the C. I. P. S. Company in Springfield. He is also purchasing agent for this company. He buys trainloads rather than carloads of material. His office is on the top floor of the Illinois Building, highest in the city of Springfield. Mr. Floyd Whitlatch, Mr. Laurence Gleason, and Mr. Clem M. Boling were the only boys in their high-school class in Windsor. All three of them came to Sparks College. Mr. Floyd Whitlatch studied Gregg Shorthand, went to St. Louis, andgota job. Later he went to Oklahoma, where he held his job, studied law, and built a home for his parents. He lives in Tulsa. He is an attorney. Mr. Laurence Gleason studied bookkeeping and Stenotypy, and then went to New York City for employ- ment. He is the corporation secretary for Marx and Quirk, international abstractors, which company also has offices in London and Paris. He was sent to London, where he Americanized that office. Mr. Clem Boling studied bookkeeping and Stenotypy. He became world-champion stenographer, the first one to win such honors on a machine. Mr. Thomas Gather of Neoga is agent of the Illinois Central Railroad Company. He says his Sparks training, especially accounting, has helped him in all his work. Mrs. Mary Protsman Combs has been working in the Department of Public Welfare in Springfield for the past seventeen years. Miss Edith Storm married Lawrence Parish, who is now deceased. She still resides in Mattoon, where she is owner of the Parish Quality Cleaners and Fur Storage. Miss Stella Williams is now Mrs. Thomas L. Ruth, Sr. She lives in Chicago and works in the office of the Cook County Recorder. She feels that the most outstanding event in Sparks was her passing the 150- word test in stenography, and is a firm believer that high standards in training make successful graduates. Mrs. Edna A. Johnson Connelly now lives in San Antonio, Texas, and is a retired registered nurse. She recalls a bobsled ride to Tower Hill with the student body when the temperature was twenty below zero! She used her training in lieu of high-school credits for entrance to nurses training. Mrs. Mary Phillips Clark is working in the First National Bank of Chester, where her husband, Roscoe, is the executive vice president. Mr. Harry R. Sparks graduated from the Bookkeeping Course in 1913. He is now a retired teacher, living in Kirkwood, Missouri. Soon after he graduated, this incident occurred. It seems that his father had rented some hay land for cash rent and accepted notes in full payment. The notes were due in July. In May the renter put up the hay by baling it, then selling it. The father saw the renter working and said to the son, I am going to stop this renter until he pays me. Harry said, Father, you cannot stop him. You have the notes as payment, even though they are not due. Well, said the father, go get that business-college law book, and see whether you are right. Harry found that the book agreed with his statement, and the father was saved an embarrassing situation. Harry ' s grandfather was the Uncle Sam who took Bateman R. Sparks to see Mr. Ross, as indicated in the biography of Henry D. Sparks.

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Down Through The Years The members of the committee on the groups in the fifty years, one for each five years, have worked hard securing data and addresses of Sparks graduates. While the complete list of graduates is contained in this history, the committee makes mention of only a few here because space prohibits mentioning all of them. Usually but one graduate is mentioned where several of a family are graduates. Many highly successful graduates will not have special mention. Now by the years. First Five Years: 1909-1913, Mrs. Vera Rice Cook, Chairman MR. AND MRS. CRESWELL MISS JENKINS MR. DONALDSON MR. DeWITT Miss Alta Jenkins, Miss Ada Weakley, and Miss Nadine Hamer went through Federal Civil Service. Misses Jenkins and Weakley were in Washington, D. C, and Miss Hamer was in Field Service. All are stenographers. Mr. J. M. Donaldson went through the Postal Department in Washington, D. C., and finished by being appointed Postmaster General by President Truman. Miss Eva Fought finished State Civil Service, and is retired in Carbondale. She made the best grade in the Illinois Civil Service examination. Mr. Floyd C. Westervelt married Miss Mayme F. Rawlings and now lives in Flushing, New York. He is at present associated with Dominick and Dominick, Stocks and Bonds. He feels the most important incident of his school life was meeting his wife, who was also a student in the college. His Sparks train- ing has helped him in business administration and been most beneficial. Mr. Harmon L. Ruff married Miss Bertha E. Herron. They have one daughter, Nancy. Harmon is now president of The Modern Woodman of America, Rock Island, Illinois. He graduated with the first class. He states the ability to write shorthand has helped him most all these years for the reason that it gave him daily contact with men at the top. Mr. Willis Cihak of Tulsa, Oklahoma, has been purchasing agent with the Nelson Electric Supply Company of Tulsa for the past twenty-three years. He recalls many pleasant memories of his college days. His training helped him secure his first position. Miss Mabel Good has spent most of her life as an accountant in public institutions in Illinois. Several times directors have shown visitors her books, because of the neatness and accuracy of them. She is now in the Research Hospital inGalesburg. Mr. Foster Bennett came to Sparks on crutches, graduated, went to St. Louis, where he made up his high-school credits. He studied law and became a lawyer. He threw away the crutches. For many years he was the secretary of the Elks Lodge. Mr. and Mrs. R. A. Creswell live on a farm southwest of Shelbyville. Arch came from Canada. Nellie Tinsman, his wife, came from Shelbyville. Mr. Harry DeWitt was the first student in Sparks from Nokomis. He had a prominent position for years in the Mt. Vernon Car Manufacturing Company in Mt. Vernon. He is now retired. Mrs. Clotiel Beem Boys was very active as an accountant until her marriage to Dr. J. W. Boys. She lives in Pana.

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Second Five Years: 1914-1918, Mrs. Edna Herron Merrell, Chairman m r MISS RUSSELL MR. DUNCAN MR. CARPENTER MR. FORD Miss Gladys Russell (IVIrs. Paul Haagen), National Convention Reporter, reports conventions all over the United States. She lives in Long Beach, Michigan City, Indiana, and has an office in Chicago. She visited her Alma Mater since homecoming. Mr. Clayton E. Humphrey has been with the NFLA of Kewanee and PCA of Kewanee for the last twenty-five years. He has a son and a daughter. When in school, he roomed in the home of H. D. Sparks. Mr. J. J. Baker, now an attorney in Shelbyville, and his brother Bill were also roomers there at that time. Mr. E. R. Duncan is now executive vice president and cashier of the Windsor State Bank, Windsor, Illinois. Mr. Walter S. Carpenter is now the assistant chief, Appellate Division, Internal Revenue Service, in Springfield. He recalls the splendid basketball teams during his school days in Sparks. Miss Lelah E. Lohr retired two years ago from her position of chief clerk at the Chicago State Hospital, having worked there for 39 1 2 years. Her Sparks training qualified her to take the Civil Service examination for bookkeeper, which was a steppingstone to the position she attained. Mr. Carl Jackson has a wonderful reputation as a loan expert. He now lives in Nokomis. Mr. J. Leverett Tallman is president of J. L. Tallman, Inc., Decatur He has also been appointed trustee of Millikin University, director of Millikin National Bank, Y. M. C. A. , and Decatur Country Club, and trustee of Westminster Presbyterian Church. Sparks training has helped greatly in his work as business administrator. Mr. Glenn Stettbacher is a secretary in the home office of Lyons International in Chicago. He has much to do with personnel. Mr. Gordon G. Olive is postal clerk in New Douglas. Mr. Jesse Ford is vice president of one railroad and secretary of another. He is active in the State Chamber of Commerce. Mr. Clinton A. Pickett is general sales manager of the American Air Filter Company, also vice president and general manager of Illinois Engineering Company Miss Clarissa Hill, now Harrington, lives in Ferguson, Missouri. She recalls her school days at Sparks as very happy ones. She spent eight years in Civil Service in Washington, D. C. Mr. Ernest Reeder, a native of Shelbyville, has gone far with the Railway Express Company. He lives in Columbus, Indiana. Mr. Arthur Hendrix is a reporter for the United States in Federal Civil Service. He holds the highest grade. His wife, formerly Villa Doty, is a secretary in Civil Service. They live in Washington, D. C. Mrs. Laura Boaz Weary was a convention reporter for many years in New York City. She stated that her thorough training in Sparks was the basis for her success. She has traveled all over the United States and Europe while doing this kind of work. She is now retired, and lives in DeBary, Florida. Mr. George Kull was the genial postmaster in Strasburg, for many years - retired - resigned. MR. PICKETT MR. REEDER