Sparks College - Yearbook (Shelbyville, IL)

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Third Five Years: 1919-1923, Mrs. Fern McDonald Scheer, Chairman MISS GOODRICK MR. SIMMERING REVEREND MR. EDDY Miss Helen Goodrick was a pioneer in machine shorthand. She has for several years been the reporter for the Court of Domestic Relations in Toledo, Ohio. Mrs. Freda Minor Hicks for the past twenty-one years has been in the Crippled Children ' s Division of the State Department of Public Welfare. She is the office manager. Mr. Fred Simmering is the Executive Secretary for the Urbana Chamber of Commerce. Mrs. Simmering, the former Miss Sadie Biedert, is a graduate of the Music Department. Mr. Lee D. Cosart is owner of the Cosart Motor Company in Portland, Oregon, dealer of Dodge and Plymouth since 1945. Prior to that, he spent twenty years with Chrysler Corp., in various executive capacities, including general sales manager of PljTnouth Division, sales manager. Dodge Truck Division, assistant operating manager of Chrysler Tank Arsenal, and spent three and one-half years in World War n building medium tanks. He feels that analytical thinking and concentration engendered by the study of English, business law, and particularly shorthand and typing courses were most helpful. Mr. W. C. Eddy is now Reverend W. C. Eddy. He holds a good charge in the Methodist Church in Sacramento, California. He is doing a good job. He helped make a good basketball team. Mrs. Jeanette Bigler Claar, whose husband, F, W, Claar, is now deceased, is still living in Charleston, Mrs. Claar is very active in church circles. She is a member of the official board of the Christian Church. She keeps in close touch with business conditions, about which Mr. Claar was an expert. Mr. Roy E, Burke, himself a CPA, is office manager for a firm of CPA ' s in Houston, Texas. His wife was Miss Irene Fetters. Mr. Herman Beetle conducts an accounting office in Champaign, He specializes in income-tax procedure. His ' . ' . ' ife, the former Miss Helen Randall, graduated from Sparks a year later than her husband. Mrs. Mabel Bigler Snyder is presently employed as bookkeeper for Neoga News in Neoga. Mabel says, Prof. Sparks ' s talks were always an inspiration to me, and I recall one slogan, ' Give value received and you will be amply paid, ' which I found to be true after I went to work. Mr. Clyde L. Beals is secretary and director of Progress Manufacturing Company, Inc., of Arthur, having been with the company since its inception 35 years ago. They have 300 employees, and make various products. He is assistant vice president and director of the State Bank of Arthur. He states he has noticed in handling office people that those who make the best employees have had business-college training. Mrs. Aly Alexander Meier, soon after graduation, was secretary to Dr. Lord, President, E. I. S. T. C, Charleston. Then she became registrar of the School of Speech, Northwestern University, then secretary for an oil company in Denver, Colorado, then head of Rehabilitation, State of Colorado. She is now retired. MRS. BEETLE MR. SIMS

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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

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Mr. George H. Monger is now manager of the Tuscola Cooperative Grain Company of Tuscola, promoted to this position last year. Mr. J. Everett Sims is the head of the Sims Lumber Company in Decatur. He worked for a lumber company in Decatur many years, learned by experience. His wife is the former Bermadyne Vest, also a Sparks graduate. Mr. Carrol E. (Bob) Prater, now of Western Springs, is senior vice president of the Chicago National Bank. On June 30, 1958, he completed 28 years of service in that institution. He began his career in the Charleston bank. Miss Geneva Klauser is a secretary in the home office of the Kiwanis International in Chicago. She has much to do with setting up arrangements for the international conventions of this service club. Mr. Van M. Dunbar of St. Louis, Missouri, has b een for the past 4 1 2 years a salesman for the Pinkerton National Detective Agency, being one of the top 10 salesmen in the United States out of a total of 65. Prior to this work, he owned and operated his own candy-vending-machine business for 25 years. Sparks training helped him secure a good secretarial job, where he met leaders in the business world, and where he could enter sales work. In other words, it was a steppingstone to better positions. Mr. Clyde Warren has charge of Cost Accounting and is the statistician in the Mattoon office of the New York Central Railroad Company. Definite facts and figures tell the story of the operation of the company. Mr. Harry E. Rogier, after graduating from the Bookkeeping and Stenographic Departments, took a position as Executive Secretary of the Shelbyville Chamber of Commerce. Later he went to work for the First National Bank of Vandalia, as bookkeeper. For several years, he has been president of that bank. He feels his Sparks training gave him self-confidence, an essential for success in the business world. Mr. George W.Scheef is married, and has two children. He now resides in Pontiac, and has been general manager of the Livingston Service Company for twenty years. He recalls that being able to discuss financial statements helped him in his interviews with Boards of Directors, and gave him background for his work. Fourth Five Years: 1924-1928, Mr. Maynard Wagner, Chairman MR. ALWERT MISS TANNER MR. COMBS MRS. GREEN MR. ALLSOP Mr. Roscoe Manning is the financial director of a large hospital in Lubbock, Texas. At this time, a large addition is being built. His wife, the former Lona Combest, is a good co-worker. Miss Edna F. Smith is now secretary to the president of Fred S. James Co., a large insurance agency in Chicago. She says, I recall most vividly the day I passed my typing final. Mr. Joseph M. Ingram of New Lenox is a rate clerk with the Chicago, Rock Island Pacific Railroad Company of Chicago. Mr. Martin C. Alwert, after graduating from the Bookkeeping and Stenographic Courses in 1926, went directly to the First National Bank of Altamont. He continued there until 1933, when he went to the Farmers and Merchants National Bank of Vandalia. Two years later, he went to the Altamont Lumber Company, Inc. He is the corporate secretary, and has controlling interest. He manages the company. He has been very active in the Effingham County Fair Association. He was secretary for a long time. He has been the treasurer for several years. Mrs. Velma Nichols Ingram is secretary to the president of the Gerlach-Barklow Company of Joliet, good-will advertising, calendars, greetings, business gifts, and specialties. She says, After our children were reared, I went back to a business career without difficulty, because something which was once learned well and thoroughly is not forgotten. Mr. Charles Thomas Bolds is now assistant manager of Tamms Industries, Inc., manufacturer of paint, and paint products of Tamms. He helped organize the Tamms State Bank in 1955, and was elected the first president, which position he still holds. He recalls receiving his Honor Pin for attaining the high- est average grades in his class in Sparks. Not a day goes by that he does not use the methods and business procedures he learned in Sparks College.