Monday, June 4, 2018
Friday, December 20, 2013
Essay for Harvard college 1957 fiftieth reunion book
My mother, Sophie Barrett, was active many years in Roslindale + West Roxbury Massachusetts Historical Societies. In November 1978 she spoke on the Pearl Harbor attack at the Roslindale Knights of Columbus Hall. The photo [for this book] was probably taken by Jim Dolliver or Tony Solimene for the West Roxbury Transcript, where editor Jason Korell took a great interest in the Barrett memoirs and programs on Brook FArm, Faulkner Hospital, and Boston Latin's 350th anniversary.
My father was a career naval officer who tried to warn of the danger of a Japanese air attack when he was assigned as assistant war plans officer at Pearl Harbpr in July 1941.
He was disregarded and transferred to be Assistant Personnel Officer in October; for four years he handled space assignments on Navy ships leaving Hawaii, including military personnel, and, after the December 7 attack, a great many families. My mother and I worked for several years on a memoir + preserved hundreds of photos.
I served as an air force reserve Medical Service Specialist 1960-66 after Harvard Law School 1957=60.
One of the great challenges of our time is cancer, the leading cause of death in Americans under age 85 Genetics is a major factor I have been interested in the research of Drs. Robert Weinberg at MIT and of Judah Folkman and Lan Bo Chen at Harvard Medical School.
Omega-3 polyunsaturated oils are an important health discovery of recent years: Dr. Artemis Simopoulos has been a leader in research + education in this area. A Harvard Medical School team led by Dr. Wang at Massachusetts General Hospital has managed to transfer genes into mice that enable them to make Omega-3s in their own bodies, so we may soon get the longer-chain forms Docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) from milk and meat and plant sources as well as fish, which are often overutilized and affected by mercury and other pollution.
Global warming is one of the great challenges of this century and millennium, but with propoer leadership it will probably be manageable. Fusion power is the main long-term solution, but conservation is significant, as well as re-processed fission materials from nuclear power plants. There must be care agains terrorism and diversion to military use, but I believe it can be done. We should reduce the use of fossil fuels as much as possible + avoid long-term underground storage of radioactive materials, such as the proposed dangerous dump at Yucca Mountain, Nevada.
We are still expected to experience ice ages, because of the 26,000-year cycle of the earth's perihelion - now January 3 which reduces the critical Northern Hemisphere winters, which are affected by the amount of sunlight reaching the extensive land masses around sixty degrees north latitude. In the very long run, however, the overheating of the sun as helium accumulates in the core limits how long the earth can remain habitable without human intervention. Although a small group might colonize other solar systems, the mass of humanity and the diversity of plant and animal life and microorganisms would perish with the earth, so I believe we should study the technology to reduce the mass of the sun by slow stages. This requires overcoming the high gravity at the surface of the sun, but I expect it will be done eventually, and we should try to performs a small experiment on these lines in the present century.
Physicists may soon learn a great deal about fundamental particles and whether the universe has dark matter and dark energy + accelerating expansion. In 2007 I was living in Forks with Dr. Ken + Heidi Romney + their eight talented children (now nine).
I have done a great deal of botany geology + other natural history + have known many of the Harvard science faculty particularly biologists in association with Arnold Arboretum, New England Botanical Club, Farlow Herbarium of Cryptogamic Botany (algae, fungi, mosses) Cambridge Entomological Club + museums of Comparative Zoology MCZ, Geology, Botany, + Anthropology. Harvard can be proud of Peter Ashton, Edward O. Wilson, Andrew Knoll, Don Pfisterm Heinrich Holland, Paul Hoffman, David Boufford, Shiu-Ying Hu, David Haig, Richard Lewontin, Dan Hartl, Farish Jenkins, Karel Liem, John Dowling, + human rights specialists like Marshall and Merle Goldman.
= John Barrett
= John Barrett
Saturday, November 9, 2013
By John Barrett
"I have done all sorts of writing - the website Barrett Family Memoir http://barrettfamilymemoir.com was started primarily to conserve what my mother wrote... Red Headed Stepchild mainly 1969-1974."
"I have written a great deal on botany and conservation biology - about removing mass from the sun to prolong the habitability of the earth and diverse subjects. When I revised materials on the website, I generally did not delete the earlier copy, for fear of inadvertently deleting parts of the earlier text. So there is a lot of repetition. My mother's 1925 Mount Holyoke master's thesis The Young Offender and the Law in Massachusetts is on the website and my father's 1924 Tactics thesis at the Naval War College, and his 1950s tax thesis at Northeastern Law School. The emphasis should be on things relating to my father and mother and their relations, perhaps some material about my 1970s visits to Ireland and relations there. From about webpage 85 to end, most of the material is less important, except some photos."
photos
https://www.google.com/search?q="barrett+family+memoir"&tbm=isch
http://barrettfamilymemoir.blogspot.com
(The Barrett family memoir of Navy Life) by Sophie Ruth Meranski with photos  Click here to view the New Revised Edition of "Red Headed Step Child" |
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"On the first page of my website there is a dedication and a list of the locations by webpage of the major chapters - there are ones on various relations and Navy and coast guard years, and then starting at webpage 55 to about 68 there is most of the main text.
"Here is the outline of the important parts
| 1 |
Locations of RED HEADED STEPCHILD text chapters by WEB PAGE sequence
p ONE at photo #7 Philadelphia 1937 .........
p TEN at photo #78 GERHSOM BRADFORD ......................
p 13 THIRTEEN at photos #100,101,102 HANNIBAL Panama-Costa Rica 1933-4-5 -but see best photo at p 102 # 1482 -=-..........
p FOURTEEN # 109 at B.C. Law faculty photo "home is the Sailor" 1947-69
p. FOURTEEN # 111 WILLIAM JOSEPH BARRETT -........ =-
p.SEVENTEEN-EIGHTEEN 5 China-TULSA main text at p. 18 #139 photos at #135,#136,#137,138,#139 -=-
p.EIGHTEEN 18 #142 BROOKLYN-NEW YORK- HYDROGRAPHIC OFFICE August 1939-July1941 ........... -
p. TWENTY-FOUR 24 #783 EAGLE 19 BOSTON and family photo p.36 #922 -=-................
p TWENTY-FIVE HONEYMOON on PRESIDENT PIERCE January-March 1932 via Philippines, Egypt, Europe-=-........
p TWENTY-NINE #864 TRUXTUN ...............
p. TWENTY-NINE 29 #867 OVER THE MOUNTAIN" WESTERN NATIONAL PARKS summer 1947. -=............-
p. THIRTY-ONE at photo #877 Boston Latin School 1902-1906. Related photos p 41 #960,#961. -=- .............
p. FORTY-TWO at #965 or #333 HOME IS THE SAILOR 1947-1969 ....................-
p FORTY-FOUR #986 VOYAGE to the ORIENT "SLOW BOAT TO CHINA" transport USS HENDERSON 1930 -=-............
p 53 CHILDHOOD +SCHOOLS .....................
p.FIFTY FOUR Frank DELAHANTY letters relate to battleship WYOMING, Naval War College, Virginia 1935 destroyer CLAXTON 1936 Hawaii 1946 and to 1970s. -=-.................
page 55 FIFTY-FIVE Web page FIFTY-FIVE contains First five chapters of VOLUME ONE of RED HEADED STEPCHILD Sophie Ruth Meranski Barrett family, Hartford Connecticut and Mount Holyoke College, social work, and marriage to 1930.
Chapter ONE is Hartford and Mount Holyoke.
Chapter TWO discusses social work 1923-1930 mainly in Philadelphia and New York.
Chapter THREE GREENWICH VILLAGE ROMANCE Sophie meets Lieutenant Jack Barrett August 1928,and they marry June 1929 .
Chapter FOUR contains text of Sophie's 1925 Economics + Sociology master's thesis "The Young Offender and the Criminal Law in Massachusetts".
Chapter FIVE presents Meranski family letters.-=-
Web page FIFTY-SIX 56 begins with VOLUME ONE
CHAPTER SIX "Musical Interests of Sophie and Jack Barrett"
Web page Fifty-Six then contains VOLUME TWO chapters of Jack Barrett's years at Hydrographic Office and in U.S. Navy from 1912 through about 1927. The first item focuses on Jack's mentor at Naval Hydrogaphic Office 1913-1916 Gershom Bradford, and his maritime writings, including material on S-4 submarine sinking and rescue effort December 1927.
The next chapter begins when Jack returned to South Boston after Revenue Cutter School November 1911, has material on his Lighthouse Service experience in Maine 1912, four years in Washington 1913-1916 at Naval Hydrographic Office, Naval Reserve Officer duty World War I and commercial experience. Then there is material on destroyer TOUCEY 1921, battleship WYOMING 1922-2. -=-
Web page FIFTY-SEVEN 57 gathers materials on Barrett family years in Hawaii 1941-1947, including Jack's frustrating attempt as Assistant War Plans Officer to warn superior officers of grave danger at Pearl Harbor, and then his work four years 1941-5 as Assistant Personnel Officer in charge of Overseas Transportation Office, handling all surface transportation of Navy Personnel and families.Other materials are being placed in more convenient sequence, and over 550 photos relate to materials. -=-
Lower half Web p. SIXTY-FIVE second copy of Sophie Barrett 1925 Master Thesis Mount Holyoke -=-
p SIXTY-SIX In 1923-4 Jack took Junior Course at Neval War College, Newport, Rhode Island,
and his TACTICS thesis spring 1924 appears on web page SIXTY-SIX 66. -=-
Material on MARBLEHEAD 1924-1927 is being gathered on web page SIXTY-SEVEN and includes subsequent experiences of Phil Dahlquist, Micky and Maimie Ashley of Shanghai, Harold Fultz, Eddie Arroyo, George Phillips, Forrest Close, Alexander Sharp, the Craig family of Melbourne, Australia, and the Anderson and Rainey families of New Zealand. -=-
p. SEVENTY-EIGHT Material on Revenue Cutter School 1909-11 includes many photos of Mediterranean cruises and text now on web page SEVENTY-EIGHT 78. --
p.EIGHTY-ONE tanker TRINITY 1938-9 and Coronado-Pardees p EIGHTY_TWO COMMAND of DESTROYER CLAXTON 1935-6 p EIGHTY-TWO #1312. -=-
p NINETY-ONE Jack Barrett 1953 Northeastern Law School master's thesis in Taxation, - portion of chapter "HOME IS THE SAILOR 1947-1969".
Web page 102 best photo of HANNIBAL personnel May 1934 with first portion of chapter text.. I am thinking of dividing RED HEADED STEPCHILD into Three VOLUMES.
The first is fairly complete - Young Sophie Meraanski and her family, Hartford, Mount Holyoke College, social work marriage.
The SECOND VOLUME follows JACK BARRETT AT SEA - Revenue Cutter School, briefly LIGHTHOUSE SERVICE, RESERVE + REGULAR NAVY 1909 to 1947, most of the time away fom Boston except 1912 and 1932-3. This VOLUME is getting near completion, as this week I have got the very long CHINA- TULSA chapter 1931 in near final form - a very important chapter that had to be pieced together from many sources, which has a great deal of Sophie's personal reminiscence.
Most of VOLUME TWO will soon be ready for proofreaders.
The EAGLE 19 chapter 1932-3 and
NEW YORK- BROOKLYN HYDROGRAPHIC 1939-41 chapter have been put together during August 2000.
There remains VOLUME THREE - THE BARRETTS in BOSTON -
The WILLIAM JOSEPH BARRETT chapter with important ANITA DOUREDOURE material has been on the website for some time,
and in AUGUST the BOSTON PUBLIC LATIN SCHOOLS chapter has been re-edited with many additions, including materials on Dan Lyne, David Niles, John Carroll Poland of West Roxbury Historical Society, Dr. James B. Moloney Captain USN and more.
Sophie Barrett's chapter on {early) "BARRETT FAMILY HISTORY" may be split and expanded, as a great deal of material is available, and also materials on Cork Ireland and South Boston
and the chapter "CHILDHOOD + SCHOOLS."
A considerable portion of a chapter on Jack Barrett's father "JOHN ROBERT BARRETT" 1854-1942 is in existence, and there is material for Chapters on Jack's half-sister Mollie, various Buckley O Farrell Hartigan Lane Lynch Mehegan and Fahrbach relations, which will require considerable time and effort.
Currently Sophie's chapter H-O-M-E I-S T-H-E S-A-I-L-O-R 1947-1969 is the next priority, partly because Jack Barrett's Boston College Law School 1951 classmates will be observing their fiftieth reunion in 2001.
Jack's legal interests probably will deserve a separate chapter - he began law school nights 1927-9 at Fordham Bronx campus- completed LL.B 1951 at Boston College and wrote master's tax thesis at Northeastern Law 1963. His thesis on abolition of Sixty-Five Day Rule in federal income taxation of Trusts and Estates appears on lower portion of web. page ninety-one. Jack and Sophie took a great interest in the debating at Roxbury Latin School under Albert Kelsey and in the music of Giuseppe deLellis, and Sophie raised a great deal of money for Roxbury Latin School TRIPOD magazine - they lived three blocks from the school, and this part of their story can be put together.
Many photos survive from their West Roxbury years,and these will be listed and described. They both were active in West Roxbury Historical Society - Sophie for more than a decade.
Comments of interested persons might be very helpful, especially those with photos or other material, and proofreaders specializing in particular chapters could help enormously -=-
RED HEADED STEPCHILD -DEDICATION KELSEY,MAGUIRE,GEETTERS In late August 2000 I thought of the idea of a dedication for the Barrett family memoir RED HEADED STEPCHILD. It would have to be in keeping with my mother's wishes, as I consider her the senior author, who wrote most of the basic text and painstakingly copied down a great deal of correspondence, which would otherwise have been lost in 1993 thefts. I have had to make many judgments how she would wanted various materials handled and arranged, but I have tried to conform to what her intentions were.
At the moment I am thinking of a four part dedication, honoring both the individuals and certain classes of people they symbolize. The four are:
ALBERT KELSEY, who taught English, especially Boswell's Life of Samuel Johnson, and assigned a biography project for each student to do an interview of a moderately prominent person in Boswell's style, with as much direct quotation as possible. Bert symbolizes many wonderful teachers- those Jack had at Boston Latin, Revenue Cutter School, Naval War College, Fordham, Boston College, and Northeastern Law Schools, those Sophie had in Hartford and at Mount Holyoke College, and those I had -
Mrs. Barbour,
Miss Ponte,
Mrs. Davidson at Thomas Jefferson School Waikiki,
and my piano teacher Giuseppe deLellis and many more. We read many other biographies - classical Plutarch, Xenophon, Plato, Suetonius, Samuel Johnson's Lives of the English poets, Carl Sandburg's six volume life of Abraham Lincoln. Also Sophie and Jack were very close with Albert Kelsey through Roxbury Latin debating, which they followed closely for six years, and through Camp Kabeyun, Alton Bay, New Hampshire.
Also Lee Lockwood as 1949-1950 TRIPOD editor began a "Meet the Faculty" series on which I did much work.
The Odyssey is a kind of biography we studied closely with Cary Potter 1950 - he strongly seconded Homer's words that the greatest blessing in life is a happy marriage - this is a central theme of RED HEADED STEPCHILD a love story in time of war and travel, like the Odyssey.
With Frederick Weed we read the fictional Forsyte Saga by Galsworthy, which has had some influence on the family history research that will appear in Volume Three of 'STEPCHILD'.-
SECOND: -- PACIFC FLEET CHAPLAIN WILLIAM A. MAGUIRE, who found Sophie accomodations at Chefoo during Asiatic Fleet exercises 1931 and was a hero in December 7, 1941 attack and wrote up Jack Barett's work in Pearl Harbor OVERSEAS TRANSPORTATION OFFICE 1941-1942 in chapter "BREAD ON THE WATERS" in "THE CAPTAIN WEARS A CROSS" 1943. It was Father Maguire who first said "there ought to be a book" about Jack Barrett and his work. Father Maguire symbolizes Jack's friends in Navy, Marines, and Coast Guard, including those that died, especially the two thousand four hundred victims at Pearl Harbor, where he tried to warn opinionated Admirals of the danger of air attack. In many ways Pearl Harbor is the climax of the forty-chapter memoir - Jack was well trained to try to save American lives but the RED HEADED STEPCHILD was frustrated by Roosevelt's "fair-haired boys".
REBEKAH + ISADORE GEETTER The remaining dedication will probably be to my mother's baby sister Rebekah Geetter and her husband Dr. Isadore Geetter, who were an inestimable comfort to Sophie during seventeen and a half years of widowhood 1969-1987. They symbolize many wonderful relatives - and I do not desire to slight any of the others. Jack's relations are described extensively in the text, including chapters on his father, and his half-brother Bill and half-sister Mollie and relations like Loretto Buckley in Ireland, May and Ed Hartigan, and the Mehegans and Fahrbachs, who assisted greatly in finding information. Sophie's other sisters Esther Meranski and Bertha Pollack and her brother Pete Meranski of Baltimore were of great importance to her, but in the years this memoir was written the friendship and frequent hospitality of the Geetter family were overwhelmingly important. So my present plan is to dedicate this memoir to Albert Kelsey, William Maguire and Rebekah and Isidore Geetter. ................
"KEY WORD" SEARCH SYMBOLS KEY WORD tools-- Enter these symbols in brackets or (capital) parentheses to find chapter materials and photo subjects quickly. In parentheses:
(7)TAX THESIS
(8) MOUNT HOLYOKE COLLEGE
(9) REVENUE CUTTER SCHOOL 1909-10
(R) Roxbury Latin School
(Y) Yosemite, Yellowstone, Over the Mountain chapter, summer 1947 photos in west
(**) botany+ Arnold Arboretum topics.LETTERS in REVERSED,CAPITALIZED BRACKETS:
}C{ .....indicates best edited text of each chapter,"RED HEADED STEPCHILD".
Other REVERSED,CAPITALIZED BRACKETS:
}C3{ Materials for PART THREE Barrett relations and early history in preparation
}F{ Fordham Law School + New York 1928 with XANTHOS letter
}M{ light cruiser MARBLEHEAD 1924-1927 photos + chapter text,
}A{ Astronomy. LETTERS or NUMBERS IN CAPITALIZED BRACKETS:
{B}BUCKLEYS
{C} CLAXTON 1936
{D} DAHLQUIST
{F} Hartford-Meranski-family
{G} Grandpa Barrett
{H}Hawaii
{I} Ireland
{J} Jack Barrett
{M} Mollie Barrett
{N} New-York-Brooklyn 1939-1941
{P} Panama + survey ship HANNIBAL 1933-5 {R} West Roxbury years after 1947
{S} Sophie Meranski Barrett
{T} TRUXTUN 1929-1930 + TRINITY 1938-9
{W} William Joseph Barrett
{X} XANTHOS letter, Dedication, guides, and explanations of purposes of memoir
{Z} Barrett family photos before 1900 and family history chapter.
{4} Jack 1912-1920
{5} VOYAGE TO THE ORIENT - TRANSPORT HENDERSON 1930 {7} HONEYMOON January March 1932
{9} NORTH CHINA 1930 --September 2, 2000 -John Barrett junior
p 71-1215 --
TO NAVIGATE WEBSITE- Scroll down past first eight photos to bottom of first web page - then select desired WEB PAGE or enter YEAR or KEY WORD to find material "Red Headed Stepchild" & 500+ photos theses, letters, recent essays and news.
Web Pages 1-50 contain mainly photos.
P. 54 has FRANK DELAHANTY LETTERS.
P 55 Has Part I Chapters 1-4 Sophie Meranski Barrett Early Years -Hartford CT, Mount Holyoke College, social work + Statistics, GREENWICH VILLAGE ROMANCE, letters.
p. 56 has Ch. 5 Musical Interests of Sophie + Jack Barrett and Jack Barrett years at sea 1911-1920s Hydrographic Office WORLD WAR I SEATTLE 1919 WESTERNER 1920 TOUCEY 1921 WYOMING 1922 1911-1920s and GERSHOM BRADFORD CHAPTER.
Web p 57 has PEARL HARBOR + WAIKIKI 1941-1947
p. 66 has JACK BARRETT "TACTICS" thesis 1924.
p 67 MARBLEHEAD 1924-1927.
William Joseph Barrett chapter on web p. 14 at photo #111.
Revenue Cutter School 1909-11 web p. 78.
INDEX top web p 75.
Caption by Jim Ullyot: "John admired his father, who was in charge of the Overseas Transportation Office Pearl Harbor at this time. This picture was taken shortly after the attack on Pearl Harbor."
"Jim Ullyot, Harvard l962, set up this website through his company Creative Communications. I met Jim when he visited his brother Dan at Harvard spring l958 and saw him often when he was an English Major l961-l962 in Quincy House and sports editor of Harvard Crimson. His brother Dan was Treasurer of Pi Eta Club l957-8 and played hockey - became cardiac surgeon California. Thanks to Jim Ullyot and his assistant Chris Teigen for outstanding handling of photos and material.
John's mother at home , 52 Emmonsdale Road, West Roxbury. p ONE photo #2 {S}{R}
One of John's favorite photos of his mother, she reads quietly in front of the family's home in West Roxbury, about 1966. (jim Ullyot caption) Norway maple trees stood in front of house in l947 and grew very large. Yews and arborvitaes kept house remarkably cool in cellar. Paving of street in l963 had adverse consequences. A small stream formerly flowed down from property of Rev. and Mrs. Harold Arnold across street at #55 Emmonsdale on the former Hewins property. we learned that Carolyne Hewins, who grew up there, became the Hartford, Connecticut children's librarianan, whom Sophie and the Meranskis knew from l890's to l926. She wrote a memoir "A Mid-Century Child and Her Books." Her family conrresp[onded with the Britissh novelists, the Bronte's sisters and helped them get American Books.Mrs. Arnold became an authority on the Brontes and a member of the Bronte society.
Thanksgiving dinner l984 Sophie Meranski Barrett with her sister Rebekah Geetter family gathering at home of Dr. David and Joan Geetter 165 Terry Rd., Hartford Connecticut photo by Dr. David Geetter.Sophie had attended the June l958 wedding of David Geetter and Joan Trouboff in Brooklyn after David's graduation from Jefferson Medical School.Sophie and family also attended David's l955 graduation at Trinity College, Hartford,where his father, uncle Pete Meranski, and his brothers Albert and Harold were also graduates.On this l984occasion Sophie saw her sister Babe's five children David, Albert, Thalia Price, Harold, and Suzy Geetter and Babe's eleven grandchildren- Darya Erica, Joshua Adam,Thora, Jennifer, Lauren Geetter, Eric, Jessica and Hilary Price,and very young Sarah Kashdan.Also present were Mrs. Trouboff senior- mother of Joan Geetter, Millie Geetter, Ava Geetter, Norman Kashdan,and John Barrett, jr. Joshua Geetter showed slides of rock climbing on three-thousand-foot granite El Capitan in Yosemite Valley - he took a five year master's program U. Colorado Boulder on mountain environment ecology and later conducted recreational mountaineering for Berkeley Ca university students.{S}{F}{R}
{S}{J}{R}
John's parents outside their home, about 1966. Jack's "Sutter's gold" rose bush and coreopsis blossoms near Rustic Road and sun porch are visible. page 1 photo #4
Jack always kept many folding chairs, which the family enjoyed. Neighbors often used them too.Lilac was planted by Albert Van Steenbergen, former owner who taught at Boston Latrin School. When Jack was a student at Boston Latin, he heard Edward Everett Hale,(1822-l909) who frequently spoke to the students and was active in alumni.Hale is principally remembered today for his short story "The Man Without a Country", which reflects patriotic feelings of the era just before the Civil War, comparable to Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's stirring "Sail on O ship of State - Sail on O nation strong and great" or Walter Scott's "Breathes there a man with soul so dead Who never to himself has said, 'This is my own, native land?'" Edward Everett Hale was a grandnephew of Revolution hero Nathan Hale.In later years he was appointed Chaplain of the United States Senate in a period of corruption and muck-racking. He comically remarked,"I looked at the Senators, and I prayed for the country."Jack quoted this a number of times.{S}{J}{R}
Under Commander Paul Rice, the TULSA won Asiatic Fleet gunnery competition June l93l at Chefoo. It was stationed near Tientsin for inelligence purposes, the northernmost ship of the Asiatic Fleet and sent first report of Japanese attack and capture of Mukden, Manchuria, September l3, l931, beginning of thirteen years war. In 1930 Jack was acting Executive Officer of the TULSA commanded by Walter Decker, who was succeeded by Commander Rice. When Lieutenant Commander Leonard Doughty arrived, he became the Executive Officer, and Jack was First Lieutenant and Gunnery Officer. p 1 # 6
Sophie Barrett is wearing l931 coat of sea otter furs from Manchuria. The fur buyers escaped to Tientsin by rail with first report of Japanese aggression and capture of Mukden, September l9, l931. Sophie telephoned news to Captain Paul Rice on TULSA at Taku Bar. He telegraphed the report to Asiatic Fleet headquarters at Shanghai.
Shore Duty in Philadelphia Chapter XX twenty P-H-I-L-A-D-E-L-P-H-I-A C-Y-N-W-Y-D . 209 In August, l936 Jack received orders to report for shore duty in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in October.Very late in August he took leave so we could go to my sister Bee Pollack's home in Overbrook outside Philadelphia to stay while we hunted for a place to live.Jack considered the crowded district of South Philadelphia near the Navy Yard unfit for a baby,so we searched mainly in the suburbs. We learned there would be a house vacant in the Bala Cynwyd Estates about October first.We asked the manager to show it to us,but he couldn't,because the occupants had paid their rent until October first & refused to have anyone impair their privacy by going through their house. We looked at the outside of the house at 7l2 Stradone Road & looked at the inside of an identical house next door where the Hellerman family were sympathetic to a Navy couple with an infant who needed a place to live. The childless Hellermans were ideal neighbors as Jack & Mr.Hellerman were interested in growing tomatoes.
On the return trip to Norfolk I kept telling Jack that we couldn't possibly make the ferry to Newport News on time & that he should plan to drive all the way to Norfolk by road. But he told me he had heard on the radio in Philadelphia that there was to be a hurricane in Norfolk & vicinity the next day,& that ferry if we could make it, would cut many hours off our trip.Hours after it was scheduled to leave,- that ferry was still at the dock.As we bought our tickets we were told that the ferry had been very late arriving there owing to the choppy waters. But it started immediately on what turned out to be its last trip for two days.When we reached our apartment,our next door neighbor, the French consul was busily putting his car up on blocks to guard against the expected flooding, & Jack 210 left me at the house & drove off to look after the ship.Although we had a hurricane,it was not as severe as anticipated,& the CLAXTON experienced only slight damage from a ship that grazed it.
Jack reported for duty at the District Staff Headquarters, Building #1,Navy Yard Philadelphia on 4 November l936 to the chief of staff & aide, H.E.Shoemaker. His regular & additional duties in Philadelphia: Assistant District (War) Plans Officer from ll/4/36 to 1/4/37; Acting District Plans Officer beginning 1/4/37; Operations Officer,Instructor First Battalion USNaval Reserve; Member & Recorder Local Joint Army & Navy Planning committee. Captain Pamperin was one of Jack's commanding officers, and Jack again had much contact with Reserve training, as in New York 1927-9 and Boston 1932-1933. These experiences contributed to his outspokenness later when assigned to War Plans July-October 1941 at Pearl Harbor Fourteenth Naval District, along with his experience 1918-19 as Instructor at Officer Material School Hampton Roads, Virginia under wartime conditions. Jack was detached from the CLAXTON Sept. 30, l936.
When we took the sleeper from Norfolk to Philadelphia with our six-month-old infant, we had with us Nora Jackson, our black maid who had asked to continue to work for us & live with us in Philadelphia, although she had been just a part-time cleaner for us in Portsmouth & Norfolk, Virginia. She asked for the change of a change & steady employment. She had spent a night in a Portsmouth jail -wanted to get away from a companion.We arrived at the house early in the morning- it was absolutely bare except for the Kiddie Koop (bed) for John that came on the train with us- & a new refrigerator which we had purchased through the Ships Service in Philadelphia - it had been installed before our arrival.We started to look for the truck from the Boston D.W.Dunn Storage Company., where our furniture had been in storage for two years. The company had promised delivery at ten o'clock the next morning. Jack went to a store, which delivered two beds & matresses late that afternoon. He had to buy sheets, pillow cases, & two blankets, also dishes, & pots to be used for dinner.
He had to buy food also in Bala Cynwyd as there were no stores near the Cynwyd Estates where we lived.Our home in Cynwyd was really isolated- the only exit from the estates being by an exit bus,which ran infrequently.We got a radio for Nora Jackson, & she got acquainted with the maid who worked across the street for an Editor of the Saturday Evening Post, Eventually Nora found work in the city of Philadelphia & later telephoned to say she was married.
We advertised for a maid who would "live in" do housework & plain cooking.We hired Ellen "Nellie" Kelly a hard-working young Irish woman of about thirty-five years who had been working in a hospital in New Jersey. She lived alone on our third floor where she had a room & private bath- & although she had no clock or watch, she was always in the kitchen early in the morning getting breakfast & sterilizing John's bottles even though those winter mornings were very dark. After I called down to her from the second floor-where I had no clock- & where I rarely wore my wrist watch when I was bathing & dressing John- "Nellie, what time is it?" Our only clock was in the kitchen. Her answer usually was,"It is about ... o'clock" or "It is about noon." She never gave the exact time. One morning soon after I had inquired the time, she told me that she wanted to leave the job to go back to the hospital but would stay until we got another maid.I questioned her about her reasons & found she was distressed because she couldn't tell time. In a very short time I taught her to tell time- to her great relief as she liked working for us & was fond of young John. When I asked her if the third floor was warm enough & if she enjoyed the radio & was getting enough to eat, she replied, "I hope I always get as good." (In later years Jack would quote this line when he liked food or service - often Sunday roast beef).
Every evening as Jack carried John in his arms toward the stairs leading to the second floor, Nellie would take him in her arms, sing an Irish tune,& dance a jig with him, & when it was over John would invariably pull Nellie's hair. I authorized her to slap his hand, but she never did & always danced with him. As spring approached, Nellie told us she had a five year old son boarding with a private family in New Jersey, & since she could neither read nor write she couldn't send the money for his board & room. She had not heard from the family since she came to work for us.This was a real problem. I sent a check for the child's board & room & asked the family to write to Nellie saying I would read the letter to her & write her replies. Then weather permitting, we often drove Nellie to see her son on Sunday afternoons.She became a contented worker who spent half a week's wages to buy John a toy stuffed cat for his second birthday.It was a lovely gray cat bought at Schwartz's Toy Store in Ardmore, Pennsylvania. We insisted on returning the full week's wages of ten dollars which she had given to John on his birthday.We usually drove to Ardmore near Cynwyd on Saturday to shop & took Nellie along for an outing as she never took a day off.When we left Philadelphia for Coronado in August l938 we gave Nellie the radio & placed her in the home of a Marine officer who promised to pass her on eventually to another Service family.For years we sent Christmas cards to Nellie, who could not read or write, but eventually we lost track of her.
Housekeeping in Cynwyd was a trying task.There were no stores of any kind in the Cynwyd Estates,& Jack had to have the car for the long drive to the Navy Yard...One afternoon as I was pushing the big heavy baby carriage up the steep hill where we lived at 712 Stradone Road, I saw a tremendous black car in front of my house & I thought it was a funeral coach.Jack greeted me with the news that he was planning to buy the used Lincoln car as our Buick was no longer reliable for the daily commute in all weather.I refused to agree to the purchase of the big car, so Jack took it away & finally returned with a new l937 Lincoln Zephyr car, which served us until the fall of l954.We used it in Waikiki & in Pearl Harbor during World War II & for our l947 trip to the Western National Parks & acrosss the country to the east coast.At Pearl Harbor, driving to & from work,Jack had authority to stop & arrest servicemen who were driving carelessly or breaking traffic laws.One time he asked a young sailor why he was drving very fast - the answer -:"I was low on gas-I wanted to get to a service station before the gasoline gave out."
We bought a car seat for John,& with Nellie Kelly sitting in the back seat we took many rides, especially on Saturday afternoon - up & down steep roads we described as "roller coaster" roads. Our neighbor,Mr. Hellerman, was an editor of the Saturday Evening Post. He and his wife lived across from us at the top of the very steep hill- a large house with spacious lawns.One time I set John down on the grass so I could rest.Although he had not previous walked, I was amazed to see him take his first steps at a running pace to go over & pick a dandelion.From then on he walked well without going through a crawling stage.
The twenty-three months at Bala Cynwyd October 1936-August 1938 are well represented in photos. Jack Barrett entered dates of many in a large photograph album that escaped 1993 thefts, and many negatives have survived. Besides numerous photos of Sophie, Jack, and John during this period, this website contains photos of our Ireland-born Cynwyd maid Nellie Kelly - photos of Mollie Barrett in Cynwyd kitchen November 1936, shortly after our arrival, photos of Bill Barrett and his Philadelphia friend Anita Douredoure summer 1937, and a group of "Grandpa" John Robert Barrett outdoors spring 1938. From March to August 1938 Jack was Executive Officer of the tanker TRINITY, which was being reconditioned.
Bill Barrett was concerned that Jack was scheduled to travel to the Philippines and Dutch East Indies at a time when their eighty-three year old father - recently a widower- was very attached to the Philadelphia family. Bill contacted some friends in Congress, but Jack told him the Navy strongly disapproved of outside influence, and Jack was prepared to undertake the difficult oversea assignment cheerfully. The story of the TRINITY forms the next chapter with letters of Captain Haskell C. Todd from Belfast, Maine recounting the colorful skipper Captain Fred Holmes and a contact with young Hyman Rickover at Cavite.
PAGE ONE photo #8 LOOK FOR PAGE NAVIGATOR AT BOTTOM OF THIS WEB PAGE
Red Headed Stepchild
(The Barrett family memoir of Navy Life)
by Sophie Ruth Meranski with photos
(The Barrett family memoir of Navy Life)
by Sophie Ruth Meranski with photos
John and his father, Commander Barrett USN 1942, Waikiki Hawaii. DEDICATION + Web Page ONE, PHOTO ONE
| Subject: | Hawaii father |
| Year: | 1942 |
Locations of RED HEADED STEPCHILD text chapters by WEB PAGE sequence
p ONE at photo #7 Philadelphia 1937 .........
p TEN at photo #78 GERHSOM BRADFORD ......................
p 13 THIRTEEN at photos #100,101,102 HANNIBAL Panama-Costa Rica 1933-4-5 -but see best photo at p 102 # 1482 -=-..........
p FOURTEEN # 109 at B.C. Law faculty photo "home is the Sailor" 1947-69
p. FOURTEEN # 111 WILLIAM JOSEPH BARRETT -........ =-
p.SEVENTEEN-EIGHTEEN 5 China-TULSA main text at p. 18 #139 photos at #135,#136,#137,138,#139 -=-
p.EIGHTEEN 18 #142 BROOKLYN-NEW YORK- HYDROGRAPHIC OFFICE August 1939-July1941 ........... -
p. TWENTY-FOUR 24 #783 EAGLE 19 BOSTON and family photo p.36 #922 -=-................
p TWENTY-FIVE HONEYMOON on PRESIDENT PIERCE January-March 1932 via Philippines, Egypt, Europe-=-........
p TWENTY-NINE #864 TRUXTUN ...............
p. TWENTY-NINE 29 #867 OVER THE MOUNTAIN" WESTERN NATIONAL PARKS summer 1947. -=............-
p. THIRTY-ONE at photo #877 Boston Latin School 1902-1906. Related photos p 41 #960,#961. -=- .............
p. FORTY-TWO at #965 or #333 HOME IS THE SAILOR 1947-1969 ....................-
p FORTY-FOUR #986 VOYAGE to the ORIENT "SLOW BOAT TO CHINA" transport USS HENDERSON 1930 -=-............
p 53 CHILDHOOD +SCHOOLS .....................
p.FIFTY FOUR Frank DELAHANTY letters relate to battleship WYOMING, Naval War College, Virginia 1935 destroyer CLAXTON 1936 Hawaii 1946 and to 1970s. -=-.................
page 55 FIFTY-FIVE Web page FIFTY-FIVE contains First five chapters of VOLUME ONE of RED HEADED STEPCHILD Sophie Ruth Meranski Barrett family, Hartford Connecticut and Mount Holyoke College, social work, and marriage to 1930.
Chapter ONE is Hartford and Mount Holyoke.
Chapter TWO discusses social work 1923-1930 mainly in Philadelphia and New York.
Chapter THREE GREENWICH VILLAGE ROMANCE Sophie meets Lieutenant Jack Barrett August 1928,and they marry June 1929 .
Chapter FOUR contains text of Sophie's 1925 Economics + Sociology master's thesis "The Young Offender and the Criminal Law in Massachusetts".
Chapter FIVE presents Meranski family letters.-=-
Web page FIFTY-SIX 56 begins with VOLUME ONE
CHAPTER SIX "Musical Interests of Sophie and Jack Barrett"
Web page Fifty-Six then contains VOLUME TWO chapters of Jack Barrett's years at Hydrographic Office and in U.S. Navy from 1912 through about 1927. The first item focuses on Jack's mentor at Naval Hydrogaphic Office 1913-1916 Gershom Bradford, and his maritime writings, including material on S-4 submarine sinking and rescue effort December 1927.
The next chapter begins when Jack returned to South Boston after Revenue Cutter School November 1911, has material on his Lighthouse Service experience in Maine 1912, four years in Washington 1913-1916 at Naval Hydrographic Office, Naval Reserve Officer duty World War I and commercial experience. Then there is material on destroyer TOUCEY 1921, battleship WYOMING 1922-2. -=-
Web page FIFTY-SEVEN 57 gathers materials on Barrett family years in Hawaii 1941-1947, including Jack's frustrating attempt as Assistant War Plans Officer to warn superior officers of grave danger at Pearl Harbor, and then his work four years 1941-5 as Assistant Personnel Officer in charge of Overseas Transportation Office, handling all surface transportation of Navy Personnel and families.Other materials are being placed in more convenient sequence, and over 550 photos relate to materials. -=-
Lower half Web p. SIXTY-FIVE second copy of Sophie Barrett 1925 Master Thesis Mount Holyoke -=-
p SIXTY-SIX In 1923-4 Jack took Junior Course at Neval War College, Newport, Rhode Island,
and his TACTICS thesis spring 1924 appears on web page SIXTY-SIX 66. -=-
Material on MARBLEHEAD 1924-1927 is being gathered on web page SIXTY-SEVEN and includes subsequent experiences of Phil Dahlquist, Micky and Maimie Ashley of Shanghai, Harold Fultz, Eddie Arroyo, George Phillips, Forrest Close, Alexander Sharp, the Craig family of Melbourne, Australia, and the Anderson and Rainey families of New Zealand. -=-
p. SEVENTY-EIGHT Material on Revenue Cutter School 1909-11 includes many photos of Mediterranean cruises and text now on web page SEVENTY-EIGHT 78. --
p.EIGHTY-ONE tanker TRINITY 1938-9 and Coronado-Pardees p EIGHTY_TWO COMMAND of DESTROYER CLAXTON 1935-6 p EIGHTY-TWO #1312. -=-
p NINETY-ONE Jack Barrett 1953 Northeastern Law School master's thesis in Taxation, - portion of chapter "HOME IS THE SAILOR 1947-1969".
Web page 102 best photo of HANNIBAL personnel May 1934 with first portion of chapter text.. I am thinking of dividing RED HEADED STEPCHILD into Three VOLUMES.
The first is fairly complete - Young Sophie Meraanski and her family, Hartford, Mount Holyoke College, social work marriage.
The SECOND VOLUME follows JACK BARRETT AT SEA - Revenue Cutter School, briefly LIGHTHOUSE SERVICE, RESERVE + REGULAR NAVY 1909 to 1947, most of the time away fom Boston except 1912 and 1932-3. This VOLUME is getting near completion, as this week I have got the very long CHINA- TULSA chapter 1931 in near final form - a very important chapter that had to be pieced together from many sources, which has a great deal of Sophie's personal reminiscence.
Most of VOLUME TWO will soon be ready for proofreaders.
The EAGLE 19 chapter 1932-3 and
NEW YORK- BROOKLYN HYDROGRAPHIC 1939-41 chapter have been put together during August 2000.
There remains VOLUME THREE - THE BARRETTS in BOSTON -
The WILLIAM JOSEPH BARRETT chapter with important ANITA DOUREDOURE material has been on the website for some time,
and in AUGUST the BOSTON PUBLIC LATIN SCHOOLS chapter has been re-edited with many additions, including materials on Dan Lyne, David Niles, John Carroll Poland of West Roxbury Historical Society, Dr. James B. Moloney Captain USN and more.
Sophie Barrett's chapter on {early) "BARRETT FAMILY HISTORY" may be split and expanded, as a great deal of material is available, and also materials on Cork Ireland and South Boston
and the chapter "CHILDHOOD + SCHOOLS."
A considerable portion of a chapter on Jack Barrett's father "JOHN ROBERT BARRETT" 1854-1942 is in existence, and there is material for Chapters on Jack's half-sister Mollie, various Buckley O Farrell Hartigan Lane Lynch Mehegan and Fahrbach relations, which will require considerable time and effort.
Currently Sophie's chapter H-O-M-E I-S T-H-E S-A-I-L-O-R 1947-1969 is the next priority, partly because Jack Barrett's Boston College Law School 1951 classmates will be observing their fiftieth reunion in 2001.
Jack's legal interests probably will deserve a separate chapter - he began law school nights 1927-9 at Fordham Bronx campus- completed LL.B 1951 at Boston College and wrote master's tax thesis at Northeastern Law 1963. His thesis on abolition of Sixty-Five Day Rule in federal income taxation of Trusts and Estates appears on lower portion of web. page ninety-one. Jack and Sophie took a great interest in the debating at Roxbury Latin School under Albert Kelsey and in the music of Giuseppe deLellis, and Sophie raised a great deal of money for Roxbury Latin School TRIPOD magazine - they lived three blocks from the school, and this part of their story can be put together.
Many photos survive from their West Roxbury years,and these will be listed and described. They both were active in West Roxbury Historical Society - Sophie for more than a decade.
Comments of interested persons might be very helpful, especially those with photos or other material, and proofreaders specializing in particular chapters could help enormously -=-
RED HEADED STEPCHILD -DEDICATION KELSEY,MAGUIRE,GEETTERS In late August 2000 I thought of the idea of a dedication for the Barrett family memoir RED HEADED STEPCHILD. It would have to be in keeping with my mother's wishes, as I consider her the senior author, who wrote most of the basic text and painstakingly copied down a great deal of correspondence, which would otherwise have been lost in 1993 thefts. I have had to make many judgments how she would wanted various materials handled and arranged, but I have tried to conform to what her intentions were.
At the moment I am thinking of a four part dedication, honoring both the individuals and certain classes of people they symbolize. The four are:
ALBERT KELSEY, who taught English, especially Boswell's Life of Samuel Johnson, and assigned a biography project for each student to do an interview of a moderately prominent person in Boswell's style, with as much direct quotation as possible. Bert symbolizes many wonderful teachers- those Jack had at Boston Latin, Revenue Cutter School, Naval War College, Fordham, Boston College, and Northeastern Law Schools, those Sophie had in Hartford and at Mount Holyoke College, and those I had -
Mrs. Barbour,
Miss Ponte,
Mrs. Davidson at Thomas Jefferson School Waikiki,
and my piano teacher Giuseppe deLellis and many more. We read many other biographies - classical Plutarch, Xenophon, Plato, Suetonius, Samuel Johnson's Lives of the English poets, Carl Sandburg's six volume life of Abraham Lincoln. Also Sophie and Jack were very close with Albert Kelsey through Roxbury Latin debating, which they followed closely for six years, and through Camp Kabeyun, Alton Bay, New Hampshire.
Also Lee Lockwood as 1949-1950 TRIPOD editor began a "Meet the Faculty" series on which I did much work.
The Odyssey is a kind of biography we studied closely with Cary Potter 1950 - he strongly seconded Homer's words that the greatest blessing in life is a happy marriage - this is a central theme of RED HEADED STEPCHILD a love story in time of war and travel, like the Odyssey.
With Frederick Weed we read the fictional Forsyte Saga by Galsworthy, which has had some influence on the family history research that will appear in Volume Three of 'STEPCHILD'.-
SECOND: -- PACIFC FLEET CHAPLAIN WILLIAM A. MAGUIRE, who found Sophie accomodations at Chefoo during Asiatic Fleet exercises 1931 and was a hero in December 7, 1941 attack and wrote up Jack Barett's work in Pearl Harbor OVERSEAS TRANSPORTATION OFFICE 1941-1942 in chapter "BREAD ON THE WATERS" in "THE CAPTAIN WEARS A CROSS" 1943. It was Father Maguire who first said "there ought to be a book" about Jack Barrett and his work. Father Maguire symbolizes Jack's friends in Navy, Marines, and Coast Guard, including those that died, especially the two thousand four hundred victims at Pearl Harbor, where he tried to warn opinionated Admirals of the danger of air attack. In many ways Pearl Harbor is the climax of the forty-chapter memoir - Jack was well trained to try to save American lives but the RED HEADED STEPCHILD was frustrated by Roosevelt's "fair-haired boys".
REBEKAH + ISADORE GEETTER The remaining dedication will probably be to my mother's baby sister Rebekah Geetter and her husband Dr. Isadore Geetter, who were an inestimable comfort to Sophie during seventeen and a half years of widowhood 1969-1987. They symbolize many wonderful relatives - and I do not desire to slight any of the others. Jack's relations are described extensively in the text, including chapters on his father, and his half-brother Bill and half-sister Mollie and relations like Loretto Buckley in Ireland, May and Ed Hartigan, and the Mehegans and Fahrbachs, who assisted greatly in finding information. Sophie's other sisters Esther Meranski and Bertha Pollack and her brother Pete Meranski of Baltimore were of great importance to her, but in the years this memoir was written the friendship and frequent hospitality of the Geetter family were overwhelmingly important. So my present plan is to dedicate this memoir to Albert Kelsey, William Maguire and Rebekah and Isidore Geetter. ................
"KEY WORD" SEARCH SYMBOLS KEY WORD tools-- Enter these symbols in brackets or (capital) parentheses to find chapter materials and photo subjects quickly. In parentheses:
(7)TAX THESIS
(8) MOUNT HOLYOKE COLLEGE
(9) REVENUE CUTTER SCHOOL 1909-10
(R) Roxbury Latin School
(Y) Yosemite, Yellowstone, Over the Mountain chapter, summer 1947 photos in west
(**) botany+ Arnold Arboretum topics.LETTERS in REVERSED,CAPITALIZED BRACKETS:
}C{ .....indicates best edited text of each chapter,"RED HEADED STEPCHILD".
Other REVERSED,CAPITALIZED BRACKETS:
}C3{ Materials for PART THREE Barrett relations and early history in preparation
}F{ Fordham Law School + New York 1928 with XANTHOS letter
}M{ light cruiser MARBLEHEAD 1924-1927 photos + chapter text,
}A{ Astronomy. LETTERS or NUMBERS IN CAPITALIZED BRACKETS:
{B}BUCKLEYS
{C} CLAXTON 1936
{D} DAHLQUIST
{F} Hartford-Meranski-family
{G} Grandpa Barrett
{H}Hawaii
{I} Ireland
{J} Jack Barrett
{M} Mollie Barrett
{N} New-York-Brooklyn 1939-1941
{P} Panama + survey ship HANNIBAL 1933-5 {R} West Roxbury years after 1947
{S} Sophie Meranski Barrett
{T} TRUXTUN 1929-1930 + TRINITY 1938-9
{W} William Joseph Barrett
{X} XANTHOS letter, Dedication, guides, and explanations of purposes of memoir
{Z} Barrett family photos before 1900 and family history chapter.
{4} Jack 1912-1920
{5} VOYAGE TO THE ORIENT - TRANSPORT HENDERSON 1930 {7} HONEYMOON January March 1932
{9} NORTH CHINA 1930 --September 2, 2000 -John Barrett junior
p 71-1215 --
TO NAVIGATE WEBSITE- Scroll down past first eight photos to bottom of first web page - then select desired WEB PAGE or enter YEAR or KEY WORD to find material "Red Headed Stepchild" & 500+ photos theses, letters, recent essays and news.
Web Pages 1-50 contain mainly photos.
P. 54 has FRANK DELAHANTY LETTERS.
P 55 Has Part I Chapters 1-4 Sophie Meranski Barrett Early Years -Hartford CT, Mount Holyoke College, social work + Statistics, GREENWICH VILLAGE ROMANCE, letters.
p. 56 has Ch. 5 Musical Interests of Sophie + Jack Barrett and Jack Barrett years at sea 1911-1920s Hydrographic Office WORLD WAR I SEATTLE 1919 WESTERNER 1920 TOUCEY 1921 WYOMING 1922 1911-1920s and GERSHOM BRADFORD CHAPTER.
Web p 57 has PEARL HARBOR + WAIKIKI 1941-1947
p. 66 has JACK BARRETT "TACTICS" thesis 1924.
p 67 MARBLEHEAD 1924-1927.
William Joseph Barrett chapter on web p. 14 at photo #111.
Revenue Cutter School 1909-11 web p. 78.
INDEX top web p 75.
Caption by Jim Ullyot: "John admired his father, who was in charge of the Overseas Transportation Office Pearl Harbor at this time. This picture was taken shortly after the attack on Pearl Harbor."
"Jim Ullyot, Harvard l962, set up this website through his company Creative Communications. I met Jim when he visited his brother Dan at Harvard spring l958 and saw him often when he was an English Major l961-l962 in Quincy House and sports editor of Harvard Crimson. His brother Dan was Treasurer of Pi Eta Club l957-8 and played hockey - became cardiac surgeon California. Thanks to Jim Ullyot and his assistant Chris Teigen for outstanding handling of photos and material.
John's mother at home , 52 Emmonsdale Road, West Roxbury. p ONE photo #2 {S}{R}
| Subject: | mother boston west roxbury reading |
| Year: | 1966 |
One of John's favorite photos of his mother, she reads quietly in front of the family's home in West Roxbury, about 1966. (jim Ullyot caption) Norway maple trees stood in front of house in l947 and grew very large. Yews and arborvitaes kept house remarkably cool in cellar. Paving of street in l963 had adverse consequences. A small stream formerly flowed down from property of Rev. and Mrs. Harold Arnold across street at #55 Emmonsdale on the former Hewins property. we learned that Carolyne Hewins, who grew up there, became the Hartford, Connecticut children's librarianan, whom Sophie and the Meranskis knew from l890's to l926. She wrote a memoir "A Mid-Century Child and Her Books." Her family conrresp[onded with the Britissh novelists, the Bronte's sisters and helped them get American Books.Mrs. Arnold became an authority on the Brontes and a member of the Bronte society.
Sisters Rebekah Meranski Geetter and Sophie Meranski Barrett Thanksgiving l984
at home of Dr. David and Joan Geetter l65 Terry Rd. Hartford, photo by Dr. David Geetter PAGE ONE photo #3
at home of Dr. David and Joan Geetter l65 Terry Rd. Hartford, photo by Dr. David Geetter PAGE ONE photo #3
| Subject: | Rebekah Geetter and Sophie Barrettie |
| Year: | 1984 |
Thanksgiving dinner l984 Sophie Meranski Barrett with her sister Rebekah Geetter family gathering at home of Dr. David and Joan Geetter 165 Terry Rd., Hartford Connecticut photo by Dr. David Geetter.Sophie had attended the June l958 wedding of David Geetter and Joan Trouboff in Brooklyn after David's graduation from Jefferson Medical School.Sophie and family also attended David's l955 graduation at Trinity College, Hartford,where his father, uncle Pete Meranski, and his brothers Albert and Harold were also graduates.On this l984occasion Sophie saw her sister Babe's five children David, Albert, Thalia Price, Harold, and Suzy Geetter and Babe's eleven grandchildren- Darya Erica, Joshua Adam,Thora, Jennifer, Lauren Geetter, Eric, Jessica and Hilary Price,and very young Sarah Kashdan.Also present were Mrs. Trouboff senior- mother of Joan Geetter, Millie Geetter, Ava Geetter, Norman Kashdan,and John Barrett, jr. Joshua Geetter showed slides of rock climbing on three-thousand-foot granite El Capitan in Yosemite Valley - he took a five year master's program U. Colorado Boulder on mountain environment ecology and later conducted recreational mountaineering for Berkeley Ca university students.{S}{F}{R}
{S}{J}{R}
John's parents outside their home, about 1966. Jack's "Sutter's gold" rose bush and coreopsis blossoms near Rustic Road and sun porch are visible. page 1 photo #4
| Subject: | parents mother father boston west roxbury |
| Year: | 1966 |
spring lilacs by the garage Sophie and Jack Barrett l966 PAGE ONE photo # 5
| Subject: | Sophie. Jack, and New England lilac, Syringa vulga |
| Year: | 1966 or l967 |
Jack always kept many folding chairs, which the family enjoyed. Neighbors often used them too.Lilac was planted by Albert Van Steenbergen, former owner who taught at Boston Latrin School. When Jack was a student at Boston Latin, he heard Edward Everett Hale,(1822-l909) who frequently spoke to the students and was active in alumni.Hale is principally remembered today for his short story "The Man Without a Country", which reflects patriotic feelings of the era just before the Civil War, comparable to Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's stirring "Sail on O ship of State - Sail on O nation strong and great" or Walter Scott's "Breathes there a man with soul so dead Who never to himself has said, 'This is my own, native land?'" Edward Everett Hale was a grandnephew of Revolution hero Nathan Hale.In later years he was appointed Chaplain of the United States Senate in a period of corruption and muck-racking. He comically remarked,"I looked at the Senators, and I prayed for the country."Jack quoted this a number of times.{S}{J}{R}
1931 Jack Barrett Christmas card showing gunboat TULSA based in TIENTSIN, China.{9}
| Subject: | Gunboat TULSA - l93l Jack Barrett Christmas cardhr |
| Year: | 1931 |
Under Commander Paul Rice, the TULSA won Asiatic Fleet gunnery competition June l93l at Chefoo. It was stationed near Tientsin for inelligence purposes, the northernmost ship of the Asiatic Fleet and sent first report of Japanese attack and capture of Mukden, Manchuria, September l3, l931, beginning of thirteen years war. In 1930 Jack was acting Executive Officer of the TULSA commanded by Walter Decker, who was succeeded by Commander Rice. When Lieutenant Commander Leonard Doughty arrived, he became the Executive Officer, and Jack was First Lieutenant and Gunnery Officer. p 1 # 6
Aunt Mollie Barrett visits Bala Cynwyd suburb of Philadelphia p 1 photo 7 {S}}C{M} PHILADELPHIA CHAPTER TEXT at RIGHT
| Subject: | Aunt Mollie visits the Barretts at Bala Cynwyd |
| Year: | 1937_ |
Sophie Barrett is wearing l931 coat of sea otter furs from Manchuria. The fur buyers escaped to Tientsin by rail with first report of Japanese aggression and capture of Mukden, September l9, l931. Sophie telephoned news to Captain Paul Rice on TULSA at Taku Bar. He telegraphed the report to Asiatic Fleet headquarters at Shanghai.
Shore Duty in Philadelphia Chapter XX twenty P-H-I-L-A-D-E-L-P-H-I-A C-Y-N-W-Y-D . 209 In August, l936 Jack received orders to report for shore duty in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in October.Very late in August he took leave so we could go to my sister Bee Pollack's home in Overbrook outside Philadelphia to stay while we hunted for a place to live.Jack considered the crowded district of South Philadelphia near the Navy Yard unfit for a baby,so we searched mainly in the suburbs. We learned there would be a house vacant in the Bala Cynwyd Estates about October first.We asked the manager to show it to us,but he couldn't,because the occupants had paid their rent until October first & refused to have anyone impair their privacy by going through their house. We looked at the outside of the house at 7l2 Stradone Road & looked at the inside of an identical house next door where the Hellerman family were sympathetic to a Navy couple with an infant who needed a place to live. The childless Hellermans were ideal neighbors as Jack & Mr.Hellerman were interested in growing tomatoes.
On the return trip to Norfolk I kept telling Jack that we couldn't possibly make the ferry to Newport News on time & that he should plan to drive all the way to Norfolk by road. But he told me he had heard on the radio in Philadelphia that there was to be a hurricane in Norfolk & vicinity the next day,& that ferry if we could make it, would cut many hours off our trip.Hours after it was scheduled to leave,- that ferry was still at the dock.As we bought our tickets we were told that the ferry had been very late arriving there owing to the choppy waters. But it started immediately on what turned out to be its last trip for two days.When we reached our apartment,our next door neighbor, the French consul was busily putting his car up on blocks to guard against the expected flooding, & Jack 210 left me at the house & drove off to look after the ship.Although we had a hurricane,it was not as severe as anticipated,& the CLAXTON experienced only slight damage from a ship that grazed it.
Jack reported for duty at the District Staff Headquarters, Building #1,Navy Yard Philadelphia on 4 November l936 to the chief of staff & aide, H.E.Shoemaker. His regular & additional duties in Philadelphia: Assistant District (War) Plans Officer from ll/4/36 to 1/4/37; Acting District Plans Officer beginning 1/4/37; Operations Officer,Instructor First Battalion USNaval Reserve; Member & Recorder Local Joint Army & Navy Planning committee. Captain Pamperin was one of Jack's commanding officers, and Jack again had much contact with Reserve training, as in New York 1927-9 and Boston 1932-1933. These experiences contributed to his outspokenness later when assigned to War Plans July-October 1941 at Pearl Harbor Fourteenth Naval District, along with his experience 1918-19 as Instructor at Officer Material School Hampton Roads, Virginia under wartime conditions. Jack was detached from the CLAXTON Sept. 30, l936.
When we took the sleeper from Norfolk to Philadelphia with our six-month-old infant, we had with us Nora Jackson, our black maid who had asked to continue to work for us & live with us in Philadelphia, although she had been just a part-time cleaner for us in Portsmouth & Norfolk, Virginia. She asked for the change of a change & steady employment. She had spent a night in a Portsmouth jail -wanted to get away from a companion.We arrived at the house early in the morning- it was absolutely bare except for the Kiddie Koop (bed) for John that came on the train with us- & a new refrigerator which we had purchased through the Ships Service in Philadelphia - it had been installed before our arrival.We started to look for the truck from the Boston D.W.Dunn Storage Company., where our furniture had been in storage for two years. The company had promised delivery at ten o'clock the next morning. Jack went to a store, which delivered two beds & matresses late that afternoon. He had to buy sheets, pillow cases, & two blankets, also dishes, & pots to be used for dinner.
He had to buy food also in Bala Cynwyd as there were no stores near the Cynwyd Estates where we lived.Our home in Cynwyd was really isolated- the only exit from the estates being by an exit bus,which ran infrequently.We got a radio for Nora Jackson, & she got acquainted with the maid who worked across the street for an Editor of the Saturday Evening Post, Eventually Nora found work in the city of Philadelphia & later telephoned to say she was married.
We advertised for a maid who would "live in" do housework & plain cooking.We hired Ellen "Nellie" Kelly a hard-working young Irish woman of about thirty-five years who had been working in a hospital in New Jersey. She lived alone on our third floor where she had a room & private bath- & although she had no clock or watch, she was always in the kitchen early in the morning getting breakfast & sterilizing John's bottles even though those winter mornings were very dark. After I called down to her from the second floor-where I had no clock- & where I rarely wore my wrist watch when I was bathing & dressing John- "Nellie, what time is it?" Our only clock was in the kitchen. Her answer usually was,"It is about ... o'clock" or "It is about noon." She never gave the exact time. One morning soon after I had inquired the time, she told me that she wanted to leave the job to go back to the hospital but would stay until we got another maid.I questioned her about her reasons & found she was distressed because she couldn't tell time. In a very short time I taught her to tell time- to her great relief as she liked working for us & was fond of young John. When I asked her if the third floor was warm enough & if she enjoyed the radio & was getting enough to eat, she replied, "I hope I always get as good." (In later years Jack would quote this line when he liked food or service - often Sunday roast beef).
Every evening as Jack carried John in his arms toward the stairs leading to the second floor, Nellie would take him in her arms, sing an Irish tune,& dance a jig with him, & when it was over John would invariably pull Nellie's hair. I authorized her to slap his hand, but she never did & always danced with him. As spring approached, Nellie told us she had a five year old son boarding with a private family in New Jersey, & since she could neither read nor write she couldn't send the money for his board & room. She had not heard from the family since she came to work for us.This was a real problem. I sent a check for the child's board & room & asked the family to write to Nellie saying I would read the letter to her & write her replies. Then weather permitting, we often drove Nellie to see her son on Sunday afternoons.She became a contented worker who spent half a week's wages to buy John a toy stuffed cat for his second birthday.It was a lovely gray cat bought at Schwartz's Toy Store in Ardmore, Pennsylvania. We insisted on returning the full week's wages of ten dollars which she had given to John on his birthday.We usually drove to Ardmore near Cynwyd on Saturday to shop & took Nellie along for an outing as she never took a day off.When we left Philadelphia for Coronado in August l938 we gave Nellie the radio & placed her in the home of a Marine officer who promised to pass her on eventually to another Service family.For years we sent Christmas cards to Nellie, who could not read or write, but eventually we lost track of her.
Housekeeping in Cynwyd was a trying task.There were no stores of any kind in the Cynwyd Estates,& Jack had to have the car for the long drive to the Navy Yard...One afternoon as I was pushing the big heavy baby carriage up the steep hill where we lived at 712 Stradone Road, I saw a tremendous black car in front of my house & I thought it was a funeral coach.Jack greeted me with the news that he was planning to buy the used Lincoln car as our Buick was no longer reliable for the daily commute in all weather.I refused to agree to the purchase of the big car, so Jack took it away & finally returned with a new l937 Lincoln Zephyr car, which served us until the fall of l954.We used it in Waikiki & in Pearl Harbor during World War II & for our l947 trip to the Western National Parks & acrosss the country to the east coast.At Pearl Harbor, driving to & from work,Jack had authority to stop & arrest servicemen who were driving carelessly or breaking traffic laws.One time he asked a young sailor why he was drving very fast - the answer -:"I was low on gas-I wanted to get to a service station before the gasoline gave out."
We bought a car seat for John,& with Nellie Kelly sitting in the back seat we took many rides, especially on Saturday afternoon - up & down steep roads we described as "roller coaster" roads. Our neighbor,Mr. Hellerman, was an editor of the Saturday Evening Post. He and his wife lived across from us at the top of the very steep hill- a large house with spacious lawns.One time I set John down on the grass so I could rest.Although he had not previous walked, I was amazed to see him take his first steps at a running pace to go over & pick a dandelion.From then on he walked well without going through a crawling stage.
The twenty-three months at Bala Cynwyd October 1936-August 1938 are well represented in photos. Jack Barrett entered dates of many in a large photograph album that escaped 1993 thefts, and many negatives have survived. Besides numerous photos of Sophie, Jack, and John during this period, this website contains photos of our Ireland-born Cynwyd maid Nellie Kelly - photos of Mollie Barrett in Cynwyd kitchen November 1936, shortly after our arrival, photos of Bill Barrett and his Philadelphia friend Anita Douredoure summer 1937, and a group of "Grandpa" John Robert Barrett outdoors spring 1938. From March to August 1938 Jack was Executive Officer of the tanker TRINITY, which was being reconditioned.
Bill Barrett was concerned that Jack was scheduled to travel to the Philippines and Dutch East Indies at a time when their eighty-three year old father - recently a widower- was very attached to the Philadelphia family. Bill contacted some friends in Congress, but Jack told him the Navy strongly disapproved of outside influence, and Jack was prepared to undertake the difficult oversea assignment cheerfully. The story of the TRINITY forms the next chapter with letters of Captain Haskell C. Todd from Belfast, Maine recounting the colorful skipper Captain Fred Holmes and a contact with young Hyman Rickover at Cavite.
Sophie Ruth Meranski l920's photo Mount Holyoke or Philadelphia
| Subject: | Sophie Ruth Meranski{S} |
| Year: | 1925 |
PAGE ONE photo #8 LOOK FOR PAGE NAVIGATOR AT BOTTOM OF THIS WEB PAGE
Friday, November 8, 2013
Lieutenant Commander John Barrett in commander of CLAXTON and destroyer squadron P2-#9
| Subject: | Lt. Commander Jack Barrettt and sea story |
| Year: | 1936JackClaxton |
Jack Barrett used to tell a story about a sea captain who made an entry in the ship's log, "Mate drunk today." The mate was upset and asked the captain if it was necessary to make such a report. The Captain replied, "It's true, isn't it?" The mate thought this over and made his own log entry, "Captain sober today." I think they finally agreed to remove both entries. WEB PAGE TWO 2 photo # 9
THE OMEGA THREE OILS slow CELL DIVISION MITOSIS + give immune system a chance to destroy small cancers before they become dangerous. Best sources are fish + raw vegetables especially FLAX seed + BLACK CURRANT SEED OIL + the cabbage family. However the plant form ALPHA-LINOLEIC ACID is VERY PERISHABLE destroyed in cooking + get RANCID - antioxidants like VITAMIN E help keep these oils fresh.
The ANIMAL form EPA EICOSAPENTANOIC ACID -twenty carbon chain with five C=C unsaturated double bonds is more stable, found in cold water oily fish like SALMON + STEELHEAD trout. DHA DOCOSAHEXAENOIC Acid a longer Omega three acid should be added to baby formulas. Most POLYUNSATURATED OILS are GOOD for HEART + ARTERIES but RATIO of OMEGA THREE to OMEGA SIX OILS is extremely IMPORTANT regarding CANCER. They affect RATE of MITOSIS - CELL DIVISION. Omega SIX OILS ACCELERATE MITOSIS - + have CANCER RISK whereas Omega THREE BLOCK RECEPTORS in CELLS + SLOW MITOSIS down. Go easy on CORN-SOY-PEANUT OIL with COMMON LINOLEIC ACID.
However it is thought SOME GAMMA-linoleic acid is beneficial. Humans can make it themselves in the body, but it is thought obese persons, + older persons with heart problems possibly diabetes may benefit from some GAMMA LINOLEIC in diet. It is very PERISHABLE- this is one reason FORMULA-FED BABIES may be obese - GAMMA-linoleic is PERISHABLE. It is scarce in diet - there are traces in FRESH vegetables - supplement BLACK CURRANT SEED OIL is excellent source of BOTH ALHPA- and GAMMA- linoleic. AVOID Hydrogenated at PARTIALLy Hydrogenated fats - bad for heart + arteries. Also SATURATED fat in meat + coconut.
Milk protein CASEIN is suspected of being CANCER PROMOTER especially BREAST + PROSTATE see August 2000 "DISCOVER" magazine p. 44 for evidence - research centered at Cornell - taken seriously by Dr. Walter Willett chief of Nutrition Department at Harvard School of Public Health, whom I used to know.
OSTEOPOROSIS- I have switched to powdered DOLOMITE CALCIUM-MAGNESIUM + CABBAGE family especially COLLARDS best plant source of Calcium, and I take eight hundred units 800 of Vitamin D daily- also Vitamin K in green vegetables plays role in building bones. Vitamin d is crucial, and deficiencies occur especially in autumn and winter when sunlight is unavailable to supplement dietary vitamin D. A harmful amino acid homocysteine plays major role in hardening of arteries by atherosclerosis, and a subsatantial dosage of Vitamin B6 is needed to prevent it. Eat bananas every day. They are the best natural source. Folic acid in raw green leaves is also needed. B-12 with a trace of the element cobalt is also needed, but deficiencies occur mostly in malabsorption in pernicious anemia or in strict vegetarian diets. Vitamin E is probably also a factor in preventing homocysteine deposits, and the optimum dose is many times more than the inadequate level in government guidelines. Vitamin E, selenium, and substances in gree tea, blueberries, strawberries, pine bark, grapeseed, are anti-oxidants that protect against harm by peroxide radicals that danage body cells or unsaturated fats.
For immune system zinc is particularly important, and teenagers need a lot - it is important at all ages, but men need more zinc than women - women lose iron, but men should avoid too much iron - alcoholics accumulate iron abnormally, and hematosis is a factor in cirrhosis of the liver. Look at your fingernails. White spots are a sign of major zinc deficiency. Extra zinc often helps get over infections.
OSTEOPOROSIS is very common in older persons. Young people should be aware of loss of bone density with age. However, and article August 2000 p 44 in DISCOVER magazine presents evidence that the common milk protein CASEIN is a CANCER PROMOTOER - it doesn't cause the MUTATION but makes cancerous cells proliferate and escape from IMMUNE CONTROL - a MITOGEN- learn this word. This is particularly true of BREAST and PROSTATE CANCERS. So just recently about a month ago I switched to DOLOMITE - a calcium - magnesium powder and COLLARDS - the vegetable highest in CALCIUM. All the cabbage - mustard family BRASSICACEAE are high in calcium - in many parts of the world especially Asia leafy vegetables are the principal source of calcium. Excess protein intake causes calcium excretion. It is important for reserchers to understand calcium EXCRETION as well as intake. Fad high protein diets probably cause CALCIUM + other MINERAL DEFICIENCY.
Excess protein may even aggravate diabetes - it releases SUGAR by a processs called KETOSIS, and the amino acids go to waste and make work for the liver and kidneys. Vitamin D is VERY IMPORTANT for CALCIUM to be utilize in bone, which is recycled continually - OSTEOBLASTS make bone, - OSTEOCLASTS destroy it. Adenomas are non-cancerous tumors of parathyroid glands - pararthyroid hormone makes bones release calcium. Most vitamin formulas do not contain VITAMIN K, which also is needed for bone formation and strength. The main source is leafy vegetables like broccoli. Exercise is very important for bone strength.
Just running quickly thru some other topics I'll do another time -
HEART ARTERIES - WORST of ALL are TRANS_FATTY ACIDS found in "PARTIALLY" Hydrogenated fats - AVOID PROCESSED FOODS except BREAD. Thank goodness they don't seem to put them in BREAD.
Next worse SATURATED FATS - MEAT and COCONUT. Bakers use them because they stay fresh, but they are bad for you. GOOD FOR HEART = ARTERIES Key vitamins against harmful HOMOCYSTEINE - for most people VITAMIN B6 is the most important - somewhere between 25 and 200 mg - bananas are best natural source. Eat BANANAS EVERY DAY!!!!
Other vitamins are necessary but B12 is usually not a problem except in VEGETARIANS and people with MALABSORPTION disease called "PERNICIOUS ANEMIA". FOLIC ACID is also necessary, and is destroyed in COOKING. Get LEAFY green SALAD every day especially DARK GREEN VEGETABLES. - BROCCOLI, KALE - LETTUCE is OK. ads claim Orange juice has Folic Acid. Vitamin E probably affects homocysteine, but research studies leave doubt how much is necessary. Vitamin E also protects polyunsaturated fats from oxidation and becoming rancid.
Some persons accumulate particular minerals abnormally and require caution and specialist advice- calcium is accumulated abnormally in sarcoidosis, and some people accumulate dangerous levels of potassium, but they are a small percentage,- much more common is danger of potassium depletion when people take diuretics, creating risk a arrhythmic heart attacks. Supplements of mineral chromium may benefit diabetics and help sugar metabolism. Except in extreme cases diabetics should not be afraid of small tastes of sugar and sweets, but starch and protein can release sugar. Starch foods differ greatly in the rate of release of sugar - rice pudding releases food value much faster than brown rice, which has vitamins and minerals in the husk. A diabetes-prone Native American tribe of Arizona apparently used acorns as a staple food for centuries - the acorns released carbohydrate very slowly. Lima and other beans have protease inhibitors that slow release of carbohydrate, - beneficial fo rmany people.
Fats have more concentrated calories than sugar- some people worry about sugar and become obese on fats. Hydrogenated, saturated and OMEGA SIX polyunsaturated fats should be avoided in most people unless they get plenty of exercise and are sure they are not overweight.
The known beneficial fats are OMEGA THREE oils, GAMMA LINOLIC ACID (very small quantity only) and probably MONOUNSATURATES like OLIVE OIL, The nutritional role of the monounsaturates is not completely understood - whether they might affect cancer one way or the other, but they are filling and do much less damage to heart + arteries than most other oils. Olive oil seems particularly good. Most natural foods have a mixture of oils. Even fish has some saturated fat, for people concerned about obesity and calories. Soy oil is bad, though soy protein is believed to have an anti-cancer effect.
Selenium is one of the most important anti-oxidants- and zinc and selenium are highly soluble and have been leached out of soils in glaciated areas - New England, New York, most of Ohio, Pennsylvania, Canada, and so people in these areas may need supplements - Finland has one of the most severe selenium shortages, causing both heart disease and cancer. Areas like New Mexico with young volcanic soils show lower cancer rates.
Calcium in Plant-Based Diets Many people choose to avoid milk because it contains fat, cholesterol, allergenic proteins, lactose sugar, and frequent traces of contamination. Milk is also linked to juvenile-onset diabetes and other serious conditions. Happily, there are plenty of other good sources of calcium. Keeping your bones strong depends more on preventing the loss of calcium from your body than on boosting your calcium intake. Some cultures consume no dairy products and typically ingest only 175 to 475 milligrams of calcium per day. However, these people generally have low rates of osteoporosis.
Many scientists believe that exercise and other factors have more to do with osteoporosis than calcium intake does. Calcium in the Body Almost all of the calcium in the body is in the bones. There is a tiny amount in the blood stream which is responsible for important functions such as muscle contraction, maintenance of the heartbeat, and transmission of nerve impulses. We constantly lose calcium from our bloodstream through urine, sweat, and feces. It is renewed with calcium from bone. In this process, bones continuously lose calcium. This bone calcium must be replaced from food. Calcium needs change throughout life. Up until the age of 30 or so, we consume more calcium than we lose. Adequate calcium intake during childhood and adolescence is especially important. Later, the body begins to slip into �negative calcium balance,� and the bones start to lose more calcium than they take up. The loss of too much calcium can lead to soft bones or osteoporosis. How rapidly calcium is lost depends, in part, on the kind and amount of protein you eat as well as other diet and lifestyle choices. Reducing Calcium Loss A number of factors affect calcium loss from the body: Diets that are high in protein cause more calcium to be lost through the urine. Protein from animal products is much more likely to cause calcium loss than protein from plant foods. This may be one reason that vegetarians tend to have stronger bones than meat eaters.
Caffeine may slightly increase the rate at which calcium is lost through urine, but one recent study questions if there is a major effect. Diets high in sodium increase calcium losses in the urine. Alcohol inhibits calcium absorption. The mineral boron may slow the loss of calcium from bones. Exercise slows bone loss and is one of the most important factors in maintaining bone health. Sources of Calcium Exercise and a diet moderate in protein will help to protect your bones. People who eat plant-based diets and who lead an active lifestyle probably have lower calcium needs. However, calcium is an essential nutrient for everyone. It is important to eat calcium-rich foods every day.
VITAMIN C DOSAGE - Government standards recommend a low dosage of vitamin C that was found to prevent acute scurvy observed on long ocean voyages. Vitamin C is necessary in blood vessel repair, and increases are needed when prople have colds and infections. I have known paraplegics who were advised to take 2000 mg of C per day to retard urinary tract infections. Persons in danger of bleeding may benefit for anti-coagulant effect of ascobic acid Vitamin C, but a phenomenon of electric charge apparently keeps it normally from triggering occlusion problems such as stroke and thrombosis.The most serious evidence that high Vitamin C might have harmful effects was a 1999 study of a small group of people in which neck arteries to brain had thickened walls and reduced blood flow in some persons on high vitamin C - it may probe to be statistical fluke, but as vitamin C promotes blood vessel healing, excess might narrow blood vessels? Further studies will clarify how serious a problem this may be - how frequent.
Persons who take aspirin may need extra vitamin C and smokers also. Many foods affect blood clotting. Cardiologists say that large numbers of persons with atrial fibrilliation {irregular rhythm in upper chamber of heart] are vulnerable to formation of clots that can and often do cause strokes.
They say many more people should receive prescription anti-coagulants, and not enough Americans have access to regular cardiological care. Persons on anticoagulants should discuss their diets with their doctors, and doctors increasingly should adjust medication to permit patients to utilize dietary knowledge. Polyunsaturated oils, Vitamin E, aspirin all tend to reduce blood clotting, which benefits the majority of people with a tendency to clotting and thrombosis.
On the other hand vitamins C and K tend to increase clotting, but apparently with some built-in safeguards in the majority of cases.
One recent study favored use of aspirin for suspected stroke, on the theory it benefits those with occlusion but does not seem to hurt those with hemorrhage as long feared. New data may change opinions. Buffered aspirin and chewed aspirin or aspirin applied topically may reduce hazards of stomach-intestinal bleeding with aspirin or ibuprofen, and doses should be moderate. However, the Johnson and Johnson company, which makes a form of acetomophin, has conducted scare campaigns against aspirin while their product often causes major liver damage.
There are many ANTIOXIDANTS, which seem to work in different tissues, some in blood and body fluid, some in cells, some in brain. The element selenium is essential and is an antioxidant as are C, E and many of the B vitamins. There is interest in those that penetrate the brain - perhaps green tea for use in first aid against stroke. Hesperidin in oranges seems a strong anti-oxidant, and extracts of pine bark and grape seed. Blueberries and strawberries are very rich sources, and apples and many, probably most fresh plant foods contain antioxidants.{J}
Sophie and John at Harry Pardee's lemon ranch. Saticoy, Ventura county, California p 2 #10
| Subject: | Pardee Lempon ranch Saticoy,Ventura county |
| Year: | l939 |
Sophie and Jack Barrett became friends with Mr. and Mrs. Harrry Pardee on passenger liner PRESIDENT PIERCE January-February l932 traveling from Kobe, Japan to Naples Italy. They also saw Mr. and Mrs. Pardee in Rome at the opera, and Venice, where the Barretts helped Mr. Pardee warm up in unusually cold weather- he sat on the radiator at their pension in long underwear.
After Jack completed Asiatic duty on oil tanker TRINITY June l939, the Barretts closed their home in Betsy Ross apartments D Street Coronado and visited Mr. and Mrs. Pardee about ten days before heading to visit grandfather Barrett in South Boston August l939. While Jack searched for an apartment - next 96l5 Shore Road Brooklyn while he worked as Branch Hydrographic Office New York, where he was at first assistant to Captain Baggalley, then in charge l940 to June l94l
---Notebook Four p 90 "THE BOSTON TRAVELER Established 1825 76 Summer Street June 6, 1908 TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN - John B. Barrett has been in the employ of this company for six months to April 1, 1907. Mr. Barrett is a young man of exceptional ability, of good address, and while in our employ proved himself a valuable man, and I can say without hesitation that he is most deserving of any position that he might seek. He left the employ of the paper to better himself in another position. Very truly yours, The Boston Traveler Company (SIGNED) George R. Gould, Superintendant of carriers."
--p 117 -- 138 Puritan Road, Swampscott, Massachusetts 01907 August 15, 1970 Dear Mrs Barrett, I have carefully studied the list of names you sent me, and the only one at all familiar to me is Barry Sullivan. Barry Sullivan was my grandfather's name, but as he died long before I was born, I never knew him or much about him. I knew he was married twice, but did not know he had four children by his second marriage, although I knew there were three. I have never known anyone by the name of Mehegan so cannot help you there. = One definite fact about the Sullivans I can tell you, however. There is no longer any member of Barry Sullivan's desecendants living in the Boston area. Two daughters by his second marriage never married, and both are deceased. They had a brother Richard B.[Barry born 1881] Sullivan who survived them. He went west when he was in his late teens, and has never lived here since. He was married and had a large family. = Of the other people you mentioned as friends the only one I recall is James Moloney. The other two names I do not recognize. I regret I am unable to assist you further in your project. Sincerely, Katherine D. [Devine] Kennedy."
Jason and Thalia Pollack, Overbrook Pennsvlvania p 2 # 11
| Subject: | THALIA AND JASON POLLACK IinPA. |
| Year: | 1939 |
RED HEADED STEPCHILD is a woman's story - a LOVE STORY - old fashioned marriage for life. There is a lot of material on womens education and opportunities + obstacles.
I don't want to make the DEDICATION too long, but I think I have got to work that in. My hour at Port Angeles is up - Yahho was on fritz most of hour. -JB
Sophie Barrett's sister Bertha Meranski married Sam Pollack Phi Beta Kappa Harvard l920 in Chemistry June 1924 at the Meranski home at Wooster Street, Hartford. Born in Minsk, Russia, Sam Pollack developed the basic formula for Zarex soft drinks and at this time was a chemist at LaRoux Liqueurs Philadelphia and later a Vice President of Schenley Industries in QUALITY CONTROL.
BLACK NOTEBOOK FOUR pp 227-8 Captain C.C. Todd U.S. Navy Acting Hydrographer, Hydrographic officDear Captain Todd: It has come to my attention that efforts are being made by other government agencies to obtain the space now occupied by the Branch Hydrographic Office in the Custom House, New York. If such agencies succeed in obtaining this space, it would cause considerable inconvenience and hardship upon the masters of merchant vessels in obtaining necessary information prior to clearing the Port of New York. The clearances of vessels from the Port of New York are handled through the Marine Division at the Custom House and through the Commander, New York District of the Coast Guard. All of such clearances are approved by the Ship Control Board, Treasury Department, Washington, D.C. Whenever the clearance of a vessel is approved, the master is given a signal number by the Coast Guard through the Marine Division at the Custom House.As you know, the average master desires the very latest information, and it is only fitting and proper that he should get this information just prior to his sailing from the Port of New York. Therefore, in my capacity as Commander, New York District, U.S. Coast Guard and Captain of the Port of New York, I urgently recommend that thr Branch Hydrographic Office in the Port of New York remain in its present location in the U.S. Custom House. Very truly yours, R.W. Dempwolf Captain U.S. Coast Guard, Commander New York District"
Sophie and john outdoors Cynwyd Pennsylvania
| Subject: | Sophie and john |
| Year: | 1938 Sophie |
I heard Egil Leer of U. Oslo speak in 1995. I don't want to embarass him but publicizing an offhand opinion he was kind enough to offer in conversation, but he suggested that at the present rate of solar wind, it would take on the order of a hundred trillion years for sun to lose all its mass. Suppose we set a target that we would remove eighty per cent of present solar mass in four billion years. That is just a first approximation to stimulate somebody else to argue. In the 1930s a French physiologist was reported to have proved that bumblebees cannot fly, but they do anyway. There is a solar wind, and other stars have stellar winds - observation is fundamental in science. Not all particles in a gas travel at the same speed. A temperature is an average - observations are always approximate. But there are molecules traveling at escape speed, and we just need give them a little help. There are areas of the lower temperature where temperatures are MILLIONS OF DEGREES, and experts don't completely understand why. A variety of structures are observed in the outer CHROMOSPHERE, and these can be targets, where there must be fast moving particles. Study of hotter stars will give us ideas. Look at STARS! Some stars have gaseous envelopes- are these transitory or long lasting?
ANTIMATTER is great stuff if you can handle it properly. If you could beam antimatter at the solar surface, you would annihilate some of the sun's mass and generate a great deal of heat. This was a new idea last night. Of course, it may be like the mice trying to bell the cat- where do we get the antimatter- could it be contained and directed magnetically? Would antimatter be easier to handled if cooled to superconducting temperatures- though it would annihilate ordinary matter, it might be relatively inert near absolute zero? There is more than one way to skin a cat - a sentiment that may originally have referred to catFISH, someone has suggested. I won't elaborate other exotic ideas jusy now as molecules with mesons, being tested in fusion at Oxfordshire. I shall save for another E mail the possibility of disrupting the solar chromosphere [magnetically perhaps] and exposing hotter matter beneath. In some respects the escape of solar wind is comparable to evaporation - the hottest molecules escape, leaving a cooler residue. Get the resideue out of the way and let more inner heat escape.
Your brother Nick was a wrestler -- I forget [or never knew, having graduated 1953] whether you were also. Wrestlers and ju-jitsu practitioners let the opponent's own momentum work in their favor. The sun will be both friend and foe. We hope mostly to apply the sun's own energy to our purposes. I find new ideas coming rapidly - I want no monopoly - team back -huddle- get other people thinking!-John Barrett ---
Dave Latham wrote: David - At 5500 degrees C. many particles in the > solar surface are already just below escape velicity and need just a little boost to escape into the solar wind. My impression is that the typical speed for atoms in the solar atmosphere > is a few km/s, which is much less than the escape velocity, which is more than 500 km/s. To first order you will need to supply all the energy implied by the escape velocity to remove mass from the sun to infinity.
John with his mother at home, Hawaii early 1942 #13 p 2
| Subject: | john mother home hawaii |
| Year: | 1942Sophie-John |
The greater part of a Navy man's life is spent at sea, and this may account, strange as it may seem for the fine family spirit he has of affection and loyalty. The Navy wife, unlike the Army wife who lives on a government reservation,always faces,when she arrives at the port at which her husband's ship is based, the strenuous business of house hunting.
Among my most vivid memories are the strange shacks and boarding houses Navy people called home years ago on the Asistic Station. But they were cheerful about it, and they still laugh when telling of their experiences.They will tell you about the many times they went "broke".Even though the Navy furnishes funds for transportation and the shipment of household effects,change of duty usually means spending the family's savings.Moving from the tropics to northern zones requires buying a new outfit of clothing for the family. Furniture, on arrival, is usually in need of repair; and the rents seem to grow unusually high when the Navy comes to town. Departures of ships from Honolulu were made in military secrecy. Announcements of sailings came by telephone to the homes with only a few hours alloted for getting trunks and hand-bags to the dock.This uncertainty and the necessity of staying at all times near the family 'phone put ordinary shopping tours in the class of strategic planning. If someone failed to get the word about a sailing, there was always a willing substitute waiting with bag and baggage at the ship's gangway.Navy families for months literally lived "out of a suitcase." As was to be expected, in accordance with ancient tradition, word got around that the chaplain could "fix it." ...in Honolulu.When they found their names listed among those to go, not knowing that it would be unwise to load a ship entirely with sick people, they protested and suddenly thought,"maybe the chaplain can fix that too."Those without children who had jobs in the Navy Yard and in the city shops could not understand why they had to leave. Others, whose husbands were on duty on repair ships anchored in Pearl Harbor, felt they were being badly handled.The families of those who served in our cruisers and other ships who came in periodically for brief overhaul periods,wanted to remain because it would afford an occasional family reunion which they could not have had on the mainland.It was a dificult situation, and it was my job to be a sort of buffer between the wives and the Navy Yard officers whose unpleasant responsibility it was to make the final decisions. The work of assisting the evacuees required one or more trips to the Navy Yard to plead my cases.
An office had been established in the administration building, which was called the "OVERSEAS TRANSPORT[ATION] SERVICE." The one in charge was an experienced officer of the regular Navy, Commander John B. Barrett. We had served together in 1930 in the Asiatic Fleet.I marvelled at the patience of this harried officer,and I have since wondered how he kept going. On entering his office, there was usually a crowd of women and children waiting for a chance to get the ear of one of Barrett's assistants or even the ear of Barrett himself.His job was anything but a sinecure. I actually felt sorry for him every time I came and presented, with a tear in my voice, the demands of some unhappy Navy wife who complained that the blackout was ruinous to her little boy's peace of mind, or the woman of wealth who had a palace in Pasadena which needed her personal supervision.Commander Barrett was so kind and sympathetic in squeezing so many of my clients on board that I became eloquently profuse in my thanks. He was particularly kind in helping me find a place on board a transport for Captain Barry Wilson's colored maid Claribel.One day with a smile on his freckled face, he exclained, "How can I refuse you? Don't you remember the night in Chefoo when my wife arrived alone from Tientsin? They told her there wasn't a room in town, not even a park bench. A ricksha coolie got hold of you, and you scouted around until you found a room in Wineglass's boarding house. I wish I could forget, but I can't. All I can say is, 'Take it easy, chum; you're running me ragged.'" The Chefoo incident had vanished from my memory. Unknowingly, ten years before, I had cast Chinese bread upon the waters.
John Barrett was equal to the challenge of that heart-breaking emergency. I can still see him checking the long list of evacuees and shaking his weary head to the accompaniemnt of a woeful, pidgin English, "No can do." But he salvaged his sense of humor, always finding time for a friendly chat. I seldom left his noisy office without a new story.
One afternoon with Father [Walter} Mahler in tow, I drove out to his home on the Ala Wai to pay my respects. I had not see Mrs. Barrett since that night of house hunting in Chefoo [1931].John was about five years old. He showed us his menagerie of stuffed animals.It was the best variety of wild beasts I had ever seen.It struck me that Commander Barrett's old shipmates had the boy's collection in mind whenever they went ashore in strange and foreign ports of the world.John had a little pigeon that came every morning for crumbs and sat outside the window while they both enjoyed the radio program.He flew away when John [left] for school but always returned when the child got back, for thyen it was time to play together on the front lawn.[The pigeon disappeared for a week or so...] then One morning he discovered his bird-buddy again standing outside the window-screen, chipper and as good as new. When orders came for Father Mahler and me to proceed to San Diego for a tour of shore duty, Commander Barrett again showed that he meant what he said about the little favor I had done him in China. He visited at least three ships before deciding that he had found the one that would suit us. He had little to choose from, and he was not a bit pleased with the results. He took us one day in June [1942] to a transport, a ship that for years had made the round-trip from New York to Havana, heavily laden with freight cars. It was really an old ferry-boat, but it was the best thing afloat at the disposal of Commander John B. Barrett, U.S.N. also on p 66
John and Jack Barrett at Geetter home 92 Fern Street, Hartford Ct. back yard p 2 # 14
| Subject: | Jack & John at 92 Fern Street |
| Year: | 1948 |
The Barretts stopped in Hartford about August 12, l947 en route to Boston after touring the west, and on this occasion they saw Sophie's sister Esther, her sister-in-law Sadie Taylor Meranski, her sister-in-law Ethyle Berenson Meranski and her daughter Carol Jane, and Dr. and Mrs. Geetter and their five children, David, Albert, Thalia, Harold, and Suzy.
On this occasion, Sophie's sister Bertha and her husband Sam Pollack came east from Cincinnati, where they moved in l946, and Sophie's young brother Peter (Israel Peter) and his wife Jen came from Baltimore. Pete had been in Georgia and France in United States Army as doctor l942-l946 while his wife Jen educated their daughter Deborah, born deaf l935. They later had a son Danny born l951.
The Barretts played Michigan rummy with the youngest Geetter son Harold, in the upstairs "rumpus room" of their large new home, where Esther Merasnki lived with her sister, brother-in-law, and the five children. Dr. Geetter grew tomatoes, pears, lilacs, and a varied garden. He trained as an anesthesiologist, - became an administrator at New Britain General Hospital where his family lived until he was drafted in Navy l944 - then family relocated to Fern St. and he became administrator of Mount Sinai Hospital in Hartford.
Sophie and Jack with d'Aubert pets.wp 2-15
| Subject: | Barrett with d'Aubert pets |
| Year: | 1944 |
I recall our doctor on the MARBLEHEAD flying over to visit the Leper colony on Molokai, and possibly your father may have acompanied him.As for Lahaina, it was a large anchorage off the southwest coast of Maui where the fleet anchored frequently after exercises. There wasn't much there at the time [May 1925] except large [sugar] cane fields.I remember Captain J.R. Van Nagel and Captain Fultz slightly.As I may have told you, I left the MARBLEHEAD about June 1926 to go to the SubmarineSchool, New London, Connecticut.
In October 1926 having been disqualified physically for Sub duty, I joined the CINCINNATI in the Brooklyn Navy Yard and served on her until June 1929 when I was ordered to the Naval Academy for duty as an Instructor. However, I did see the MARBLEHEAD during 1926-1929 as we operated with her in Hawaiian waters and then to China in the summer of 1927, returning to the States in company with her in July, 1929. I didn't know Miss Ashley mentioned in your last letter.
The Litton Industries Destroyer contract is reviving the shipping industry on the Gulf coast.New Orleans has a very good shipbuilding facility -Avondale- which has a large contract for ship construction, both Naval and commercial. I didn't know anybody living in Cuba,but I do recall reading some of Thomason's stories about the services. Re-our visit to the Galapagos Islands we stopped there on our return from the Australian cruise to make a survey of the islands, as the charts available at the time were antiquated and out of date. I don't recall anyone going ashore there.
As I recall, we, along with the RICHMOND, remained near the islands about a week taking soundings with our Sonic Depth Finders. The islands are peaks of high mountains, with great depths of water close inshore. Your father must have had a lot of friends according to your letter. I do recall his having a very friendly and interesting manner and he was a good conversationalist.
Re: -problems on the MARBLEHEAD when the ship was new there were a few that I recall. I was Torpedo Officer, and our torpedo tubes were in semicircular areas just aft of the ship's beam, fairly close to the water line, so that in heavy weather and when the ship turned sharply- as in maneuvers-Green Sea would wash through the torpedo areas, salting up everything. Shortly thereafter,the tubes were removed from the ship, and the areas closed in.Your father had a difficult duty on the ship, and in my opinion he performed his job in an outstanding manner.I do recall in Papeetee [Tahiti] having had Shore Patrol duty there.It was a difficult assignment as liquor and women were cheap and the men ashore quite disorderly after a long cruise. Thank you again- Eddie Arroyo- In 1941 some Naval officers were disgusted by what seemed ineertia and incompetence of the vast Pearl Harbor machinery."
Mrs. Rebekah Geetter with Harold probably at New Britain home p2-16
| Year: | 1941 |
After graduating from Jefferson Medical School l929, he bacame anethesiologist, then administrator at New Britain General hospital, where David l933, Albert, l935, Thalia l938, Harold (in photo l940, and Suzanne l942 were born. Dr. Geetter was drafted in Naval Reserve and served at Samar, Phiulippines.
After World War II he became head of Hartford Mount Sinai Hospital, overseeing construction of modernization and expansion.Babe helped Dr. Geetter during Medical School. They became sweethearts in l922 when Babe was fifteen years old. She took typing and business courses and studied the piano. Her sons David and Albert studied violin at Hart School, Hartford. Babe hosted enormous family gatherings including many Thanksgiving dinners, Albert's bar miktvah spring l948, David's graduation from Trinity College l955,and Thalia Geetter's marriage to Michael Price of Brookline Massachusetts June l0, l96l.
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