Object ID: 773674
Headline: TIME TO SERVE Davenport woman maintains 40 years of community involvement
Byline: John Willard
Source: Quad-City Times
Publication Date: August 31, 2004
Page: B1

Estefania Rodriguez is a civil rights worker, community activist and the mother of five military sons, one of whom was killed in action and another wounded.

At 80, she remains active in the Davenport Council 10 of the League of Latin American Citizens, or LULAC. She was the organization's first secretary when it was founded 40 years ago and now serves as the chairman of the committee spearheading an expanded veterans memorial at its center.

Next month, she will be involved in one of the organization's biggest events of the year, its annual fiesta celebrating Mexico's independence from Spain.

Her northwest Davenport home where she has lived for 34 years reflects her full and active life. The living room walls are lined with photos of her children, grandchildren and brothers who have served in military or public safety roles.

"My mother always told me to never settle for what you have but to always go forward. What is most important is to give of yourself and help people," she said.

She maintains the independent spirit that she forged as a child growing up in a railroad box car in Bettendorf's "Holy City" barrio.

She was the fifth of 11 children of a Mexican immigrant father and a mother of mixed black, white and American Indian ancestry who came from Alabama. Her father moved from Albia, Iowa, to Bettendorf in 1923 to take factory jobs at the Bettendorf Co. plant and Zimmerman Steel.

The family's homes included a pair of box cars in Holy City, a housing enclave built by the Bettendorf Co. for workers it had recruited to make railroad car parts at its sprawling shops. In 1937, the family moved to Davenport. She dropped out of Davenport High School but eventually earned her General Educational Development certificate at age 67.

During World War II, she went to night school to learn how to operate drill presses and turret lathes and held several jobs in industry, including a stint at the Rock Island Arsenal. She also was a busy mother to her 11 children, seven sons and four daughters.

Her oldest son, Sgt. Norbert Simmons, was killed June 15, 1966 while on patrol with fellow Marines near Da Nang, South Vietnam.

Her third son Albert Simmons, Rock Island, received the Purple Heart after being wounded in action while serving with the U.S. Army in Vietnam. Her second son Fredrick Simmons, Davenport, served as a U.S. Army paratrooper in the Dominican Republic.

Her other sons who served in the armed forces are Esteban Jimenez, Los Fresnos, Tex., and Frank Jimenez, of Davenport, U.S. Air Force.

Other family members with military backgrounds are granddaughter Belva J. Hickey, a lieutenant in the U.S. Air Force, and grandson Robert Mayne, who served in the Army National Guard. A great-granddaughter, Shila Rowland, is serving in the National Guard.

A daughter, Carolyn Jimenez, recently retired after serving more than 20 years as a New York City police officer.

Her sons' interest in the military, she said, likely came from their six uncles who served during World War II. Another factor, she said, was the military-style organization she instituted with the family to get household chores done.

She found time for community service. Her brother, Ernest Rodriguez, a founder of the Davenport LULAC council, got her interested in the organization. The nation's largest and oldest Hispanic civil rights organization, LULAC sponsors a variety of programs and keeps Mexican heritage alive through events such as the Davenport council's Fiesta, which begins at 6 p.m. Sept. 4 at the LULAC Center, 4224 Ricker Hill Road, Davenport.

As Council 10's first secretary, she recorded the minutes and wrote for the chapter's newsletter.

Henry Vargas, the council's first president, describes her as a dynamic person who gained respect. "She was very involved and was always willing to lend a hand to any committee. People respected her for that," he said.

She also was among the first members of the Davenport Civil Rights Commission, served on the board of directors of HELP legal assistance, was a foster mother and a senior volunteer for Friendly House. She also has been active with Gold Star Mothers and Veterans of Foreign Wars.

In 1969, she was instrumental in the development of a "tot lot" at 6th Street and Sylvan Avenue in the neighborhood she lived in at the time. She also was an organizer of Community Active Mothers and once sold $1.50 tickets for a dinner featuring neck bones, pig's feet, beans and other humble ingredients to show how people of lesser means prepared meals.

Her family includes 22 grandchildren and 35 great-grandchildren, to whom she offers this advice:

"Look up my young America, Stand firmly on the earth. Noble deeds and mental powers give title over birth."

John Willard can be contacted at (563) 383-2314 or jwillard@qctimes.com.

Object ID: 773673
Headline: How we celebrated Labor Day in 1944
Byline: John Willard
Source: Quad-City Times
Publication Date: August 31, 2004
Page: B1

Powwows of the Sauk and Fox nation attracted huge crowds to Blackhawk State Park, spectators cheered the races at the Farmers Union Show and a newspaper editorialized about the unprecedented power of American labor.

It was the first weekend of September 1944. Across America, the Quad-Cities and other communities were celebrating the nation's 50th Labor Day.

World War II was raging, and the likes of the chicken catching contest, the doughnut eating contest and the ladies' mule apple race all staged at the Farmers Union Show gave Quad-Citians a welcome diversion from the fighting.

At the same time, the demands of the war had brought huge gains to organized labor in the Quad-Cities and elsewhere as The Davenport Democrat and Leader noted in an editorial.

As we prepare to observe Labor Day 2004, let's take a look at how Quad-Citians celebrated the nation's annual salute to working people 60 years ago.

Stores, offices and public buildings in the Quad-Cities were closed, but the Rock Island Arsenal and other defense plants operated as usual

Children prepared to go back to school. In Davenport, 10,500 youngsters returned to classes that Tuesday, with attendance estimated at 8,500 at public schools and 2,000 at parochial schools.

Many farm youngsters spent the weekend showing their prize livestock at one of the weekend's most popular events, the annual Farmers Union Show at the Mississippi Valley Fairgrounds. The LeClaire Township team, composed of John Freund and David Peltscher, won the grand championship in the demonstration contest by showing how to feed dairy cattle in war time.

More than 20,000 spectators attended the four-day event that wrapped up Labor Day night with the Victory Revue of 1944. That afternoon, a race program held in front of the grandstand featured such contests as a chuck wagon race, pony express race and a businessmen's mule chariot race. In addition to the 20,000 paid admissions to the grandstand, thousands thronged the midway during its four-day run. Cooperating with the Farmers Union and the fair association in staging the event were the Scott County 4-H clubs and the Scott County Farm Bureau.

Another big draw was the annual Sauk and Fox powwow at Blackhawk State Park. As the dancers prepared for their last performance of the weekend, the park superintendent announced that a permanent 40-by-40 foot asphalt stage, dressing rooms and seats would be constructed in a natural bowl of the park for future powwows. The theater was built in the late 1940s, but it fell into disuse and was torn down in the mid 1990s to create parking.

As they enjoyed the Labor Day holiday, Quad-Citians took advantage of a tradition that had begun in 1894 when the nation set aside a day in honor of working people. Labor Day, which had been observed previously in Oregon and New York, became a national holiday that year with the signing of a bill by President Grover Cleveland. It is observed on the first Monday of September.

Labor Day 1944 offered an opportunity for newspaper commentary.

In a story carried by The Davenport Democrat and Leader, Joseph A. Loftus, of the Associated Press, noted that labor in the United States remained a house divided, with any chances of a merger between the American Federation of Labor and the Congress of Industrial Organizations less likely than ever before.

The AFL, established in 1886, had organized workers according to their trades and skills. The CIO, established in 1935, wanted to organize workers according to the industries in which they worked, regardless of whether they were skilled or unskilled.

Loftus wrote that reasons for labor's split included the AFL's reluctance to become political and the AFL's perception that President Franklin Roosevelt favored the CIO in his appointments to the National Labor Relations Board.

"Labor thus faces an unpredictable, immediate future with its forces divided," he wrote.

The AFL and the CIO formally merged in 1955 to create the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations.

In its Labor Day editorial, The Davenport Democrat and Leader noted that American labor had made unprecedented gains because of the war, "which requires united co-operation industrially as well as on the war front."

"But even with the very strong position which labor now holds, its future strength and prosperity will still depend largely on its own moderation and statesmanship," the newspaper said.

John Willard can be contacted at (563) 383-2314 or jwillard@qctimes.com.

Object ID: 772972
Headline: VINTAGE EQUIPMENT Wilton manworks to keep1927 tractorup to speed
Byline: John Willard
Source: Quad-City Times
Publication Date: August 28, 2004
Page: G1

Kenneth Lage was driving to a dinner out when he spotted an old tractor languishing in a pasture near Oxford, Iowa,

He went back the next day, arranged to buy it and launched a restoration.

Thirty-one years later, Lage, of Wilton, Iowa, still has the brawny machine, a 1927 Hart-Parr 18-36. He plans to show it at this weekend's seventh annual Antique Tractor Show in the Village of East Davenport. More than 100 vintage tractors are expected to line the streets of the old lumber center overlooking the Mississippi River for the free show.

Lage's Hart-Parr should turn heads. Powered by a two-cylinder engine designed to run on kerosene, the big forest green machine with steel wheels without tires performs as well as it did when it was breaking technological ground 77 years ago.

Lage, 69, grew up on a Cedar County farm and farmed for 47 years until he retired three years ago. His Hart-Parr is one of 16 vintage tractors he has acquired since he got interested in old tractors while attending antique tractor pulls in Eldridge, Iowa, in the early 1970s, His son, Kent, has helped him restore old tractors. His 22-year-old grandson, Tony Behal, has taken up the hobby and likely will be the next curator to the collection.

A fascination with the workmanship of old tractors and the mechanical ingenuity of their designers are reasons why Lage has spent three decades collecting them.

"Our forefathers were very smart people," he said.

His Hart-Parr is a good example of such technical know-how. While most tractors carried oil in the crankcase, his Hart-Parr had a separate oiler running off the crank shaft. The oiler could be adjusted to allow the oil to drip into the engine pins and inner workings as it was needed.

The tractor also had enclosed gears to protect them from dust and dirt. Yet another feature was an engine fan that blew the air outward instead of sucking the air inward. The design prevented chaff from being sucked into the radiator and clogging it.

The tractor is referred to as an "18-36" because it develops 18 horsepower at the draw bar and 36 horsepower at the belt pulley. It was built by the Hart-Parr Co., Charles City, Iowa. The company was founded in 1897 by Charles W. Hart and Charles H. Parr, who had had met as mechanical engineering students at the University of Wisconsin in 1892.

They are credited with building the first commercially successful farm tractor powered by an internal-combustion engine in 1903. Starting out in a small factory in Madison, Wis., they moved to Charles City in 1905, where they focused solely on tractors. In 1907, W.H. Williams, the company sales manager, is said to have coined the word "tractor" in company advertising. By 1912, the company was using the word "farm tractor."

In 1929, Hart-Parr, the Oliver Chilled Plow Co., the Nichols & Shepard Co., and American Seeding Co. merged to form the Oliver Farm Equipment Co., later the Oliver Corp. In 1960, Oliver was acquired by the White Co.

Lage restored his Hart-Parr at a time when antique tractor collectors had few resources to help them in their hobby. His work included punching out pistons that were frozen in place because the tractor had been run without the oiler working. He replaced them with aluminum pistons from a LeRoy diesel truck.

He enjoys owning the tractor because it is unique.

"I like the oddballs," he said.

John Willard can be contacted at (563) 383-2314 or jwillard@qctimes.com.

Object ID: 772099
Headline: Blacks discuss politics in 1912
Byline: John Willard
Source: Quad-City Times
Publication Date: August 24, 2004
Page: B1

William G. Mott praised the "Bull Moose" party, saying that Teddy Roosevelt "would bring home the bacon in November."

Jacob R. "Jake" Busey vowed to return Republican Howard Taft to the White House or he else would move to China.

Alex Roberts said he had voted for the Democratic ticket since 1874 and that Democratic presidential candidate Woodrow Wilson would "treat black men and their interests with farsighted fairness."

Mott, Busey and Roberts all were prominent black residents of Davenport early in the 20th century. They presented their views on 1912 presidential hopefuls in guest editorials published 92 years ago this week in The Davenport Democrat and Leader.

As the Republicans gear up for their national convention next week in New York, let's take a closer look at what the three black leaders were saying on the eve of the 1912 presidential election.

The 1912 presidential race was an interesting contest, one marked by divisions in both the Democratic and Republican parties. After conservative Republicans had renominated President William Howard Taft, the party's progressive wing broke away and formed the Progressive Party, which was nick-named the "Bull Moose" party. The Progressives nominated former President Theodore Roosevelt, who was a Republican when he served as president from 1901 to 1909.

A similar fight ensued over the nomination of the Democratic presidential candidate. Progressive Democrats backed Wilson as the candidate to replace William Jennings Bryan, who had lost the Presidency three times. During the party's convention in June 1912, Champ Clark, the speaker of the House of Representatives, received a majority of delegates' votes on the 10th ballot but failed to receive the two-thirds necessary for the nomination. Bryan eventually threw his support to Wilson, who finally won the nomination on the 46th ballot and went on to win the presidency.

The three-way presidential race prompted The Davenport Democrat and Leader to publish the opinions of Mott, Busey and Roberts in its Sunday edition of Aug. 25, 1912 under the headline "Political Views of Our Colored Folks."

All three men were widely known in the community.

Mott, a Missouri native, came to Davenport around 1899 as the city's first black lawyer and maintained an office at 425 Harrison St. until his death in 1913 at age 42.

Busey, whose mother was a slave, was among 34 members of the Davenport High School Class of 1877. He taught school and later worked as a janitor until his death in 1913 at age 56. His daughter, Hazel Busey, graduated in 1915 from Davenport High School, the school's first black female graduate.

Roberts arrived in Davenport in 1880, worked as the head porter at the Davenport Hotel and once was described in a newspaper article as "the statistician and the political leader of the colored race in Davenport." He died in 1929 at age 76. (For more on Roberts and Busey, see our columns published Feb. 4, 2003 and Feb. 24, 2004.)

In their editorials, the black leaders each made a case for their respective candidates:

"For me it's Teddy Roosevelt, the first, last and all the time. We colored people are this year free to vote as we please … Roosevelt stands squarely on the principles which he advocates. He is a representative of the masses, not the classes. God bless him. He caters to the will of the people, not to the bosses or the money powers," Mott's editorial stated.

Busey's column was presented in dialect. The technique may have been an attempt to capture his personality, but it is condescending and stereotypical.

" Jus' put me down foh Willyum Howard Taft, first, last and this fall ... No mo' will th' colored population of th' land be forced to mow th' lawns of th' white folks so as to make a few cints because the election of Mistah Taft this fall will mean continental prosperity and mo' than evah before th' colored population will be afoded th' uplifting aspirations to which they have clung through these long years.' "

Roberts described Wilson as a "cultivated scholar."

"He will not advance the cause of oligarchy in the South, he will not seek further means of 'Jim Crow' insult, he will not dismiss black men wholesale from office, and he will remember that the negro in the United states has a right to be heard and considered."

(Vern Wriedt and Craig Klein provided research assistance for this story.)

John Willard can be contacted at (563) 383-2314 or jwillard@qctimes.com.

Object ID: 772098
Headline: New Trinity administrator builds relationships
Byline: John Willard
Source: Quad-City Times
Publication Date: August 24, 2004
Page: B1

Michael S. Wallace once donned a cap and apron and helped cafeteria workers scrub down the kitchen of a hospital he once managed in order to get a better understanding of their jobs.

These days, he is immersing himself in the work-a-day-world at Trinity at Terrace Park in Bettendorf, which he oversees as the vice president of operations for Trinity Regional Health System.

As the hospital marks its first six months, he says the construction continues, though not with brick and mortar.

"We are building relationships." says Wallace, who became the hospital's top administrator on July 1. "We want to create a better health care experience as we work to connect with patients, physicians and the community."

Wallace, 42, is well suited to the challenge of running the $72 million, 250-bed hospital at 4500 Utica Ridge Road. The chief executive officer of a suburban Phoenix, Ariz., rehabilitation hospital at age 32, he came to Trinity two years ago after serving as chief executive officer of Lucas County Medical Center in Chariton, Iowa.

He was vice president of operations at Trinity's Illinois campuses before he assumed his duties at Terrace Park, Bettendorf's first hospital and the Quad-Cities' first new hospital in two decades. In addition to running the day-to-day operations at Terrace Park, which opened Feb. 18, he is responsible for certain other medical services within Trinity Regional Health System.

Colleagues describe Wallace as a modest, caring and visionary leader who lets others get the credit.

"He is experienced and fair," Mike Dessert, director of cardiology services at Trinity Regional Health System, said. "He puts the right people in the right places and lets them run things as if they were running their own businesses."

Lana Kuball, the administrative services director at Lucas County Medical Center, recalls the time that he joined the hospital's kitchen staff as part of his plan to become familiar with all hospital departments.

"He leads by example and shows others that he really cares," she said

During his four years at the hospital, she said, he changed the culture of the organization. "The morale was low, but with his guidance the situation turned around 180 degrees," she said.

Bill Leaver, president and chief executive officer of Trinity Regional Health System, said Wallace has the experience, management style and personality necessary to be effective. "He exemplifies the responsive attitude we are trying to achieve in our relationships with patients, families, employees and physicians," he said.

Wallace grew up in Warsaw, Ind., the youngest of five children of Jerry Wallace, a financial planner, and Helen, a home maker and community volunteer. He was an Eagle Scout and played varsity tennis and golf at Warsaw Community High School, graduating in 1980. At DePauw University, Greencastle, Ind., he made the golf team and earned a bachelor's degree in history and economics.

As a college student he broadened his horizons with summer adventures that included scuba diving in the Florida Keys and studying in Athens, Greece. Seeking internship opportunities in his senior year, he wrote to some DePauw alums who were in hospital administration.

"The business side of health care appealed to me," he said. "I saw it as a way of doing well by doing good."

He spent a month rotating through 100-bed and 300-bed hospitals in Columbus and Cleveland, Ohio. He liked the work and went on to earn a master's degree in health administration at the University of Pittsburgh.

After graduate school, he spent a dozen years in the Phoenix, Ariz., area. He worked as assistant and associate administrator at two medical centers, including a 700-bed teaching hospital in downtown Phoenix, before rising to chief executive officer at two rehabilitation hospitals in suburban Glendale and Scottsdale operated by HealthSouth.

Looking for a change from a for-profit, publicly-traded corporation and a better environment for his growing family, he returned to his Midwestern roots and joined the 56-bed Lucas County Medical Center in Iowa as its chief executive officer.

While at Lucas County Medical Center, he learned about Iowa Health System, Trinity's parent corporation, and the opportunities to move on to bigger hospitals in the Quad-Cities.

"We did some exploration and came out to the Quad-Cities. I thought the community was a gem, and the professional opportunities were good," he said.

He describes himself as a participatory manager who is supportive and visible. "I like to present direction and goals and then let people be their own boss." Sharing the same name with Mike Wallace, the veteran CBS "60 Minutes" correspondent, is a good conversation opener and sometimes gets him through quickly when making telephone calls, he said.

He and his wife of 17 years, Kristin, have two children, Carly, 9, and Meghan, 6, who both attend Pleasant View Elementary School. Kristin, whom he met at DePauw, also has master's degree in health administration and was an operations administrator at Mayo Clinic Scottsdale. She now is the executive director of The Women's Connection, a women's networking organization.

He maintains a single-digit golf handicap and scored his first hole-in-one at the recent Bettendorf Chamber of Commerce Golf Outing. Other hobbies include tending to the yard of his Victorian-style home in Bettendorf's Century Heights, just five minutes from work.

He is a firm believer in balancing work with family. "My success will be measured by how well my kids do," he said.

John Willard can be contacted at (563) 383-2314 or jwillard@qctimes.com.

Object ID: 770459
Headline: Readers recall prisoners, hotel
Byline: John Willard
Source: Quad-City Times
Publication Date: August 17, 2004
Page: B1

Our column on Italians who volunteered for duties at the Rock Island Arsenal after being captured in the fighting during World War II triggered memories for Mona Loss, of Bettendorf.

She and her late husband, Joseph, were vacationing in Italy after the war and stopped at Carrara, a town nestled at the foot of the Apuan Alps and world famous for the white marble quarried there. At they time, they were living in Germany, where her husband was stationed with the U.S. Air Force.

While perusing a shop selling marble, they began chatting with a young salesman. He asked them to come back the next day.

Upon their return, he said he had waited for his boss to be gone so that he could so something special for his American guests.

"He said that during the war he been a prisoner and had volunteered to work for the American war effort at a place called the Rock Island Arsenal. He said it was one of the best times of his life because, for the first time, he had enough to eat. He said he could watch movies and go bowling. When it was time to return to Italy, a woman's club outfitted him with new shoes and a new suit, complete with a handkerchief in the pocket."

The 400 Italian prisoners of war at the Arsenal technically were "signees" because they had signed pledges in which they had promised to do non-combat duties on behalf of the American war effort.

Because of his good treatment, the young man had vowed that he would return the favor to the first American he met after the war, she said.

Her husband was reluctant to accept the shop clerk's generosity, but decided to make him happy. The couple picked out marble for the two end tables and a coffee table that they kept throughout their many moves as a military couple. After her husband's death, she moved to the Quad-Cities at the suggestion of relatives and learned more about the military base that had made such an impression on the young Italian.

The tables with his carrara marble still are among her furnishings.

She regrets that she never got the young man's name. "He was so grateful to us. I would like to think that he came back to America to live. He seemed to love it here so much."

Mississippi Hotel

The Mississippi Hotel holds memories for Lois Levi Grover, of Bettendorf.

Our column on the venerable Davenport hotel at the northeast corner of Third and Brady streets streets prompted her to share stories of living there during the summer of 1947 when she was a young girl. Her family had moved from Spokane, Wash., to work at the new Alcoa plant then nearing completion.

At the time, the hotel and the RKO-Orpheum Theater in the same complex had been built just 15 years earlier as a downtown showplace. Operated by Blackhawk Hotels Corp., it had 200 rooms for transient guests and 50 apartment ranging from one to four-room suites.

Her unit was not air-conditioned, but she has fond memories of living downtown at a time when there was no shortage of dining spots, such as the Club Mokan on the lower level of the Kahl Building on Third Street.

The residents who now occupy 44 apartments in the hotel must move as a result of plans to enlarge the stage and make other improvements to the theater, now known as the Adler Theatre. The city owns the theater and recently purchased the hotel, which is targeted for future renovation as a residence after theater improvements are completed.

John Norton, of Moline, also recalled the Mississippi Hotel's glory days. He is a son of the late Paul Norton, a popular watercolorist known for his paintings of Quad-City places and people.

"I remember some great lunches in the downstairs coffee shop with my father and his L.W. Ramsey Advertising crew in the '40s and '50s, collectively admiring the wonderful historic mural of the river and railroad."

Norton thinks the mural might have survived. Does anybody know what might have happened to it?

John Willard can be contacted at (563) 383-2314 or jwillard@qctimes.com.

Object ID: 770458
Headline: Our man in Havana Vinje Dahl samples classic American cars of Cuba
Byline: John Willard
Source: Quad-City Times
Publication Date: August 17, 2004
Page: B1

Vinje Dahl is back from his seventh trip to Cuba, where he has been forging diplomatic ties based on tail fins, wrap-around windshields and whitewall tires.

Dahl, a Davenport automobile dealer and antique car collector, has been sharing camaraderie with residents of a Caribbean nation where the streets are veritable museums of vintage American cars.

Since a revolution put communist dictator Fidel Castro in power in 1959, Cuba has been locked in an automotive time warp because of trade and travel sanctions against the country. Without imported cars from America, the largest source of Cuba's vehicles in pre-revolution days, Cubans lovingly hold on to those they have, often passing them down through generations as if they were cherished family heirlooms.

About half of the old American vehicles on Cuba's streets date back to the 1950s. Mindful of the nostalgic appeal of fins, chrome and panoramic windshields, the Cuban owners of these classics go to great lengths to keep them running, often making their own parts. They proudly parade their vintage vehicles at caravans and other old car events, prompting heads to turn wherever they go.

The big American cars are all the more special in a nation where people earn an average of $25 a month and pay $4 a gallon for gasoline.

"The people recognize the vehicles as part of their heritage," Dahl said. "They are a national treasure but they also serve as everyday transportation."

Dahl, who has traveled extensively for pleasure in communist-block nations, made his first visit to Cuba in 1977. He was drawn immediately to the nation, the Caribbean's largest and least commercial island. In addition to its classic American cars, Cuba is known for its beaches, stately colonial buildings and the nightlife of its fabled capital, Havana.

Dahl, president of Dahl Ford of Davenport, immersed himself in Cuban culture during his most recent visit. He, his wife, Suzanne; his son, K.V. Dahl; and other family members and friends were invited as the guests of the office of the city of Havana historian, who oversees the Havana Auto Museum. They toured the country in old car caravans, dined in private homes and rubbed shoulders with car owners and mechanics.

Because of his roots with a family-owned Ford dealership that dates back to the 1930s, he was warmly welcomed by the nation's old car fraternity. He brought along catalogs and offered other advice to help his hosts prepare to tap into automotive markets once the trade embargo is lifted.

It is estimated that about 192,000 passenger cars are registered Cuba, of which about 31,760 are pre-1959 American cars, and hundreds of other unregistered cars hide in barns and other places. Russian-built Ladas and other marques such as Mercedes-Benzes and BMWs, many of which were sold by departing diplomats, also cruise Cuban streets.

The classic American cars still running in Cuba have exceeded their Detroit manufacturer's intended design life by up to seven times, thanks to the ingenuity of their owners and mechanics, Dahl said. There are no auto parts stores, but the Cubans have become experts in making do with what they have. They often make their own parts or adapt other manufacturer's parts to fit their vehicle.

He saw a 1955 Cadillac convertible equipped with a Russian-built carburetor. Another driver had a car with master cylinder gaskets fashioned from tractor tires.

"The people are very inventive when it comes to making their own parts," he said.

Someday, he predicts, normal relations will resume between the United States and Cuba, one of the world's last bastions of communism.

"Cuba has a magic. I am not enamored with its politics, but the people are unbelievable survivors. Like their old American cars, they just keep going," he said.

John Willard can be contacted at (563) 383-2314 or jwillard@qctimes.com.

Object ID: 768828
Headline: Back in time with lime from Port Byron
Byline: John Willard
Source: Quad-City Times
Publication Date: August 10, 2004
Page: B1

A simple stone cottage on Illinois 84 at the southern end of Port Byron, Ill. is the most visible survivor of an industry that once flourished in the historic Mississippi River town.

The "block house," recently restored, is an original building of the Port Byron Lime Association. The association was a consolidation of the interests that made the community a center for the production of lime, a material widely used in construction and other industries.

Other vestiges of Port Byron's lime industry can be seen in such places as the former town dump along Illinois 84, where crumbling stone outcroppings hide in the brush

Lime manufacturing boomed in Port Byron in the mid 19th and early 20th centuries, eventually falling victim to change.

As Port Byron and its Iowa neighbor across the Mississippi, LeClaire, prepare to wage their annual Tug Fest/Great River Tug battle this weekend by tugging on a rope stretched across the river, let's look at Port Byron's once burgeoning lime industry.

Lime is a coarse, white, solid substance used in the manufacture of mortar and cement and other products ranging from medicines to fertilizers. Ancient civilizations used lime, and there are frequent references to lime in the Bible.

Lime is produced by heating pieces of crushed limestone in ovens, or kilns, to high temperatures. At such temperatures, the limestone changes to lime and carbon dioxide gas.

Port Byron's early settlers quarried limestone from the rocky outcroppings surrounding the community for use as building materials. Rufus Chase is said to have gotten the idea for making lime in 1836 when he built a fireplace of stone and noticed the chemical change in the material when he lit fires.

By 1867, the wood-fired kilns of R.B. Chase & Son were producing 400 barrels of lime a day.

"The extent of the business conducted by them may be known from the fact that they ship lime to all points up the river, as high as St. Anthony, Minn., and down as far as Oquawka," the Rock Island Union reported on June 20, 1867.

Also prominent in Port Byron's lime industry were Henry Trent and David Metzgar.

Henry Clay Trent was born on Sept. 22, 1830 in Concord, Ky. An orphan by the time he was 16, he and other family members traveled down the Ohio River and up the Mississippi to Cordova, Ill., where he worked on a farm until 1852 when he moved to Port Byron to work as a wagon maker. During the Civil War, he was wounded and captured by the Confederates at the Battle of Chickamauga while fighting as a lieutenant with the 51st Illinois Infantry Regiment. He returned to Port Byron after the war to run a grocery store and later owned a lime kiln.

"The immense lime kiln of H.C. Trent is again running, and turns out about 150 barrels of lime every 24 hours," the Moline Review-Dispatch reported on July 29, 1881.

David S. Metzgar arrived in Port Byron from Pleasant Unity, Pa., in 1855, returned briefly to Pennsylvania and then moved back to Port Byron to try his hand at steamboating and other businesses. After 1872, he and his sons got into lime manufacturing.

Judson D. Metzgar, grandson of David Metzgar, wrote that in the late 19th century his family acquired Port Byron's lime interests and incorporated the business as the "Port Byron Lime Association" under the management of George A. Metzgar, Judson D. Metzgar's uncle.

The lime produced in Port Byron was noted for its pure white color and was highly desirable as a substance used in plaster for homes. The use of white lime in stucco also was popular.

While the limestone quarried in Port Byron was a source of fine white lime when burned in a kiln, it was too rich for the production of slaked lime, which results when lime reacts with water. Slaked lime is widely used today in the production of steel and certain kinds of glass. It also is used in refining sugar, to make bleaching powder and to make some nitrogen-rich fertilizers.

By the 1925, Port Byron's lime industry had vanished. Its story is told briefly in words and pictures in a Riverway historical marker installed on the riverfront by River Action Inc.

(Carl Palmer, Port Byron Historical Society, provided research assistance for this story.)

John Willard can be contacted at (563) 383-2314 or jwillard@qctimes.com.

Object ID: 767207
Headline: ARCHITECTURAL GEM Deere's World Headquarters is centerpiece of new exhibit
Byline: John Willard
Source: Quad-City Times
Publication Date: August 03, 2004
Page: B1

Spanning a ravine in the wooded bluffs of south Moline is a steel and glass structure hailed by architects as one of the world's most important buildings.

It is the Deere & Co. World Headquarters, which is celebrating its 40th anniversary this year. Designed by the internationally acclaimed architect Eero Saarinen, whose works include the St. Louis Arch, the seven-story building rises from its tree-studded site as if it were part of it.

The structure reflects the philosophy of William A. Hewitt, Deere's chairman when it was built.

"In thinking of our traditions and our future, and in thinking of the people who will work in or visit our new headquarters, I believe it should be thoroughly modern in concept, but at the same time, be down to earth and rugged," he wrote Saarinen in 1957.

Since it opened in April 1964, the Deere & Co. World Headquarters has won numerous architectural awards. The honors include the American Institute of Architects' Twenty Five Year Award, presented annually to buildings 25 to 35 years old that exemplify what judges believe is design of enduring significance. In recognizing Deere's World Headquarters, the institute said it is "revered by a generation of architects for its simplicity of form, technological innovation and brilliant siting."

The building, located at One John Deere Place, Moline, is hosting a special architectural exhibit this month in salute of the 31 recipients of the Twenty Five Year Award. They include Frank Lloyd Wright's Guggenheim Museum, Ludwig Mies van der Rohe's Seagram Building, both in New York City; and Saarinen's Gateway Arch.

Deere's World Headquarters reflects the vision of Hewitt, who took over company leadership in 1955. In planning a new headquarters to consolidate the functions carried out at four major locations in downtown Moline, he wanted a building symbolic of a company that was changing from a Midwest purveyor of farm machines to a corporate player on the world stage.

Such a building, Hewitt believed, would require the services of an outside architect. He convinced the company's board of directors that Saarinen was the man for the job, and a contract was signed with Eero Saarinen and Associates on Jan. 31, 1957.

Born in Finland in 1910 to an architect father and sculptor mother, Saarinen had immigrated with his family to the Detroit area in 1923. After studies at the Yale School of Architecture, he worked at his father's architectural firm and then broke out on his own, earning a reputation as an architect who refused to be bound by preconceived notions. His works include the General Motors Technical Center, Warren, Mich.; CBS offices, New York City; and Dulles International Airport, Washington, D.C.

Saarinen told Deere that he wanted not only to provide a functional efficient space but to create "the kind of pleasant and appropriate environment for employees which is part of Twentieth Century thinking."

In selecting a site, he and Hewitt rejected property the company owned along the Mississippi River near 34th Street in Moline. They opted instead for a 680-acre site nestled in the wooded bluffs overlooking the Rock River, far removed from industry. (See "Landscaping was dear to their hearts" on Page B1.)

He designed a main office building that straddles the floor of a wooded ravine where a creek once flowed. On the plateau east of the ravine is a building containing product display space and a 400-seat auditorium. A glass-enclosed bridge connects it to the main building at the fourth floor. Two lakes in front of the main building not only add beauty and but serve a function by cooling water for the air conditioning system.

For the building's exterior, Saarinen selected a corrosion-resistant, unpainted steel that turns a rich cinnamon brown as it weathers. The color prompts some to affectionately refer to the building as the "rusty palace."

The design reflects Saarinen's intent of creating a headquarters that was in keeping with Deere and its products.

"I wanted the buildings to be functional, simple, handsome, enduring, without chrome doodads and showiness. We tried to use steel to express strength, No brashly modern or pretentious building would have been right," he said.

Saarinen died of a brain tumor at age 51 just a week before construction began in September 1961. Taking over the project were his partners, Kevin Roche and John Dinkeloo, who went on to design the west office building addition completed in 1978.

The World Headquarters, originally known as the Deere & Co. Administrative Center, held its grand opening in June 1964. Employees had begun work in the building that April.

The building remains a classic.

In his book, "John Deere's Company: A History of Deere & Company and Its Times," Wayne Broehl writes: "It was one of Saarinen's greatest triumphs."

"As an architectural and aesthetic success, the Deere Administrative Center is outstanding," he writes.

John Willard can be contacted at (563) 383-2314 or jwillard@qctimes.com.

Object ID: 767206
Headline: Landscaping was dear to their hearts
Byline: John Willard
Source: Quad-City Times
Publication Date: August 03, 2004
Page: B1

For one week in the fall of 1959, Ralph Carmichael tramped through acres of wooded farmland high on a bluff overlooking the Rock River in Moline, attaching aluminum tags to the best trees he found.

Carmichael, the Quad-City district representative for the Davey Tree Expert Co., was on a mission. William Hewitt, chairman of Deere & Co., had asked him to inventory the trees on the site as part of the planning for a new headquarters that the farm and construction equipment wanted to build. Hewitt and the architect, Eero Saarninen, wanted to save as many as possible.

Carmichael, who still tackles yard work at his Bettendorf home at age 88, went on to land the landscaping contract for the project. The job included the planting of 800 trees in time for the building's grand opening in June 1964, planting 30 acres of lawn and removing 2,500 elms subject to Dutch elm disease.

Also busy was Stu Dawson, an associate with Sasaki Associates Inc. Watertown, Mass., the project's landscape architect. He recalls doing sketch after sketch for a pond design in order to satisfy the hard-to-please Saarinen.

They are good people to meet as the Deere & Co. World Headquarters marks its 40th anniversary by hosting an exhibit recognizing it and other architecturally important buildings. (See "Architectural Gem" on this page.)

Even before he got his assignment from Hewitt, Carmichael had learned about the proposed new headquarters from a client who owned one of the five farms comprising the site. Mindful of the land's rich resources, he brought his fly rod to the job and caught two small mouth bass in the creek while taking a break from his explorations.

Saarinen and Hewitt had been captivated by the trees and scenic vistas afforded by the site. By August 1956, they were scouting sites, including Deere-owned property along the Mississippi River at 34th Ave., according to "John Deere's Company: A History of Deere & Company and Its Times," by Wayne Broehl.

The property was rejected because of its undesirable location bordered by a junk yard and railroad tracks, Broehl writes. They eventually chose the site overlooking the Rock River Valley, borrowing a hoist truck from a utility company in order to see what the site would look like from a multi-story building, he writes.

Oaks were the predominant timber, said Carmichael who affixed aluminum tags to the trees. The tags were stamped with the letters "D.T.E. Co." for Davey Tree Expert Co. Later, he would have some fun by telling Deere people the letters stood for Deere Tractor and Equipment Co.

Davey was not the low bidder for the landscaping, but Carmichael eventually secured the job after the low bidder failed to meet contract specifications. Led by foreman Terry Jay, Davey's crew completed the job in nine months. Challenges included planting 25 hard-to-find sugar maples that Carmichael had tracked down at an abandoned Ohio nursery and had shipped by rail to Silvis, Ill.

The Davey team worked closely with Dawson, who had just earned his degree in landscape architecture from the University of Illinois. He remembers removal of trees infected by Dutch elm disease and Saarinen's painstaking efforts to fit the building to the site. At one point, he tethered helium-filled balloons on the site in order to test the building's height.

Fresh out of school, Dawson was a little intimidated by the stern-faced Saarinen, who once mumbled, "When is the landscape architect coming out to work with the architect" when he looked at some sketches he was doing for the pond. Advised by a colleague that he better do an alternative, Dawson worked late to produce 40 sketches, one of which met Saarinen's approval. The young landscape architect finally felt secure when Saarinen invited him to lunch and offered him a cigar.

Carmichael, who spent 35 years with Davey Tree in the Quad-Cities and California, says the Deere project remains one of his all-time career highs. While most landscaping does not age well, he said Deere's has stood the test of time. "It looks natural. There is nothing cute about it," he said.

Dawson, who today is a principal with Sasaki Associates, said the Deere & Co. World Headquarters is successful because of its relationship to the site. "The fact that it fits so nicely in subservience to the central space is really wonderful," he said.

John Willard can be contacted at (563) 383-2314 or jwillard@qctimes.com.

Object ID: 769733
Headline: The Lotus position Original owner shows his legendary sports car at British Autofest
Byline: John Willard
Source: Quad-City Times
Publication Date: August 14, 2004
Page: G1

As a U.S. Air Force officer serving in England, Dave Strieter fulfilled his more earthly dream of acquiring a British sports car that he had coveted since college.

It was a new 1970 Lotus Elan S4, a styling and technological trendsetter designed by one of England's foremost race car builders.

He returned home and joined Strieter Motor Co., the Davenport car dealership that his father founded in 1939 as one of the nation's first Mercury franchises. He has had his choice of cars over the years, but he never parted with his Lotus.

"It's truly a unique car and one that is 100 percent original," he said.

On Sunday, he will be showing his Lotus at the 17th annual Heartland British Autofest in the Village of East Davenport. The free event, presented by the Quad-City British Auto Club, features antique, vintage and special interest British autos and motorcycles from a six-state area. As visitors stroll the streets of the historic logging community overlooking the Mississippi River, they can take in the likes of the Jaguar, M.G., Rolls-Royce, Bentley, Triumph, Austin-Healey and Sunbeam Alpine.

The Lotus Elan is another legendary British car. It was designed by Colin Chapman, whose rear-engine Lotus racers dominated the Grand Prix circuit in the 1960s and later won victories at the Indianapolis 500, ending the reign of old front-engine roadsters at "The Brick Yard."

Produced from 1962 until 1973, the Elan featured a fiberglass body, four-wheel disc brakes, a twin-cam 1558 cc, four-cylinder engine and four-wheel independent suspension all put together to offer a comfortable ride and incredible road handling. The car's graceful lines, accented by retractable headlights, provided styling cues for the Mazda Miata.

The Elan had always appealed to Strieter, who was supervising the maintenance of F4 Phantom fighters as a captain with the 81st Tactical Fighter Wing at RAF (Royal Air Force) Woodbridge when a salesman for Anglo American Automobiles came calling. Specializing in the tax-free sale of British cars to American service members, the dealer sold him a white fixed-head coupe, outfitted with left-hand drive for the American market, for $3,666.

With gauges neatly clustered in a walnut dashboard, a steering wheel with Colin Chapman's signature, power windows and optional J.A. Pearce magnesium alloy wheels, the coupe provided him the perfect transportation to explore the English countryside and to tour Sweden and Norway. Back home, he continued to drive and preserve one of the classics produced by the Lotus Group. The company now makes the Lotus Elise and Esprit sports cars at its factories near Norwich, England.

His Elan retains its original paint, upholstery and other features right down to its British license plates, Royal Automobile Club decal and badge and annual tax decal dated December 1970, the last tax sticker the car carried. The odometer reads 20,180 original miles.

Original sales receipts, brochure and other papers complete the time warp.

"I'm really not a pack rat, but this car is special," he said.

John Wllard can be contacted at (563) 383-2314 or jwillard@qctimes.com.

Object ID: 767208
Headline: All the right moves
Byline: John Willard
Source: Quad-City Times
Publication Date: August 03, 2004
Page: B2

For Jerry Vermeulen, the opening of the Deere & Co. World Headquarters was a moving experience.

A member of the company's move committee, his job was to oversee the installation of furniture and equipment and coordinate the move of more than 900 employees from various downtown Moline locations to the new building on the bluffs overlooking the Rock River south of town.

Long before moving day, he was working out of a makeshift office in the basement when the structure was just a shell. As Deere's representative on site, he coordinated with the general contractor, Huber Hunt & Nichols, of Indianapolis. He also worked closely with architects and representatives of the electrical workers and sheet metal workers unions to make sure all was going according to plan.

The building sported innovations for its day, including concealed wiring for telephones. It was one of the first in the nation to have telephones with Touchtone dialing, he said.

The move itself was a logistical challenge. Employees packed their belongings in boxes stamped with numbers assigned according to the floors where they worked. Beginning on Friday, a convoy of semi-trucks began hauling the boxes round the clock until Sunday night. All was ready for employees when they reported to work at 8 a.m. Monday.

Vermeulen, 76, was a supervisor in the advertising department when he retired from Deere in 1986 after 40 years. He has fond memories of his service as the World Headquarters' "advance party."

"It was hard hat work and it was fun. It was really exciting to see the building go from a shell to the day when people sat down at their desks to work," he said.