Detroit Free Press from Detroit, Michigan • Page 14

1 MEET THE MEN WHO KNQW YOU DETROIT FREE PRESS Section Sunday, April 24 Key Know hoy 1 I a little eight-story building then." He tells about the many changes that have taken place since he started work. He remembers when the branch library across the street didn't exist and when the store's customers used to drive up in horse-drawn vehicles. "Now, some of these people drive up in big cars," Williams relates. "Most of the old-timers are gone, though. "BUT MEMBERS of those families come here week after week.

The people I used to help have had children, and now I open doors for their children's children." BY BOB PERRIX Krre Frees SUf Writer DOORMEN at Detroit's stores and clubs greet thousands of people by name daily. Many of the smiling men who go about their work in all kinds of weather have been "at their posts for years. John T. Williams, of 4739 Moore Place, is probably the City's veteran doorman. The genial, 69-year-old man has opened doors, rain or shine, for more than 34 years at the J.

L. Hudson Store entrance on Library St. "I'VE BEEN on the job right here since Nov. 2, 1914," Williams said. "This was just r- ft V-7 A V' 1 if I fc 11 mm run imi nirirnmir- lHiiiill- mIKlMmimtrreiJS wmm mZ I illiams said he had only to see a customer twice before he remembered the name for good.

He estimate how many people he has called by name in his 34 years. There is another veteran who runs a close second to Williams at the Detroit Athletic Club. He is British-born Howard Wickison, 69, of 1017 Owana. Howard has stood inside the door at the DAC ever since that door first opened in 1915. HOWARD'S job is to check the club's 4,000 members in and out.

And he knows each and every one by name. "There's not much of a trick to learning their names," he said. "After all, I've been in this business since I was 12 years old." Howard said he got his first job in a London club. He had to carry a tray for three years before he was allowed to put dishes on the table. "We wore three uniforms during the day," he recalled.

"At night we had to wear knee britches and silk hose. "I LDXE IT much better over here. The big trouble is, everyone seems to be in such a hurry. "A member starts to give me a message at the door, and by the time he finishes it, he's at the elevator," Howard said. i mB 'A -A 4 a ree tress i-noios HOWARD WICKISON Britches and silk hose The Detroit Club at Fort and Cass has two men who have served the club for a total of 29 years.

They are Alfred Stepp, 43, of 3504 Beaubien, and San-ford Woods, 40, of 3733 French Rd. Stepp, who started his job in 1931, is the Bell Captain. He keeps track of the club's 800 members, and manages a staff of five bellboys. HE IS ANOTHER old-timer in the business. He.

said he started in private service in iortn uaroiina almost ou years ago and has been at it ever since. Sanford Woods, the smiling bluecoated doorman, hen I has been at his post 11 years. Like Stepp, Sanford can greet every club member by name. Grow Up WOODS STEPP Both greet Detroit Club members by name HUDSON O'S WILLIAMS OPENS AUTO DOOR Once horse-drawn vehicles stopped at his FOR SHOPPER station Plant Doc He Protects tKe i Life of Industry A. HOUGH IWWllsMlWMIslMMsWIWWsWWsWIssM illll (fph iliiliii? Wf fsz, vl BY GEORGE Free Press a measured amount of effort puts on the heart the plant doctor decides whether Joe's heart will let him come back to work.

Treatment of the heart ailment is not up to the plant doctor Joe's own physician takes care of that. The plant doctor decides Joe can work again and over to the employment office he goes. With him goes a card from the plant medical department that state's he's physically qualified. The card doesn't say that Joe has a bad heart that's a matter between Joe and the medical department. But the card does tell what Joe can and can't do.

IT TELLS HOW LONG Joe can stand, how much walking, lifting, or carrying he can do. Now the handling Joe got wasn't unusual. It was just more thorough because Joe was coming back to work with a bad heart. But every Chrysler worker gets a thorough physical checkup when he applies for work and a work card detailing his capacity for work is made out. JOE FACTORY WORKER collapsed while shoveling snow last winter.

He was hospitalized with a bad heart and later spent weeks at home getting his strength back. Then Joe who is 50-ish and sole supporter of his family wanted to go back to work. Years ago that ailing heart would have meant the end of a useful working life. Factories were no place for sick men. THAT IS NO longer true, for industry has taken medicine in at the factory gate and the plant doctors will find a job for Joe one that he can do and still nurse his heart.

A while ago several thousand doctors who practice Industrial medicine met in Detroit to talk over common problems. Amond them were dozens of physicians, surgeons, and hygienists from Detroit area industrial plants. Present Generation Ignores George Washington By Science Service SPRINGFIELD, Mass. Not so many young-sters of today want to grow up like George Washington and other historical figures as did their grandfathers. Modern thirteen-year-olds tend to worship heroes like Babe Ruth, Gene Autry, Jack Benny and Betty Grable.

Dr. Lawrence A. Averill, of State Teachers College, Worcester, discovered this when he duplicated a study made in May, 1898. In both cases, boys and girls in the seventh and eighth grades were asked to name a person they would like to be like. FIFTY YEARS ago 78 in 100 picked historical figures.

Today only 33 in 100 made that choice. In 1898 figures in literature accounted for 12 choices in 100. Now none lists literary A half-century ago 10 per cent listed their father, mother, uncle or a family friend. No change there. One in 10 made the same choice.

But sports figures weren't considered in 1898, while today 23 in 100 pick athletes, with Ted Williams and the late Babe Ruth leading. Another new category was movie and radio stars. Fourteen in 100 made choices here. Gene Autry and Jack Benny were tops with boys Betty Grable and Jane Powell with girls. WORDS IN SCIENCE Probably one of the outstanding industrial health programs is that of the Chrysler headed by Dr.

John J. Prender-gast, one time medical director of Receiving Hospital. Dr. Prendergast heads a staff of nearly 150 doctors, nurses, and medical personnel who care for 80,000 Chrysler workers throughout the country. Joe Factory Worker wit a his ailing heart is a major headache to Dr.

Prendergast and his staff. "Our job is to evaluate the physical capacity for work and find a suitable job for Free Press Photo DOCTOR LOOKS OVER AN ARM INJURY Paints, oils, solvents are all checked X-Rays are taken of all Chrysler employes, too. to find unsuspected" tuberculosis. Physical examinations are given when a man's health record indicates the need. "MUCH OF OUR work is preventive medicine," Dr.

Prendergast says. "For our industrial hygiene department tests all materials coming into the plants to determine their safety. Paints, oils, solvents, and greases are all checked to prevent irritating or poisonous products being placed in the workers hands," Dr. Prendergast pointed out. At Chrysler, too, the medical department has much to say about working conditions.

"We try to make the job safe," Dr. Prendergast says. SO EFFECTIVE is Chrysler's safety program that Dr. Prendergast considers first aid and treatment of injuries a minor part of this program. Careful health records are kept on all men employed In Chrysler plants.

With these records plant doctors are aided in diagnosis of serious ailments. "We think," Dr. Prendergast says, "that if we have a good, safe, healthy place to work, that our employes will be hap-pier--and better workers." Making Things Smaller BY SCIENCE SERVICE MINIATURIZATION is a big word which means, of course, making things smaller. Today, it is an important term in electronics, and particularly military research in electronics. The idea is simply that space is precious on a military vehicle such as a ship or plane.

Radio, radar and other equipment can take up a lot of space. By making them smaller much precious space is saved. Miniaturization is now the watchword in military electronics design. the heart case," Dr. Prendergast says.

Of course other illness or physical defects which limit a worker's ability are treated much the same heart cases. So when Joes comes back to work he's given a battery of tests to determine his "heart reserve" to find out just what work he can safely do. WITH THE AID of the electro-cardiograph and a little set of steps which enables the physician to measure the strain WHY THAT NAME? Staff Writer mi Dr. Prendergast better moniker, took the name of an older and abandoned community five miles away where, indeed, there had been both a forest and hills. PORT HURON Some 123 years ago this area in St.

Clair County was enjoying a land boom. A new turnpike had sudden opened up the entire area north of Detroit and speculators rushed northward. At the junction of the Black and St. Clair Rivers stood four tiny villages. They vvere Desmond, Gratiot, Peru and Huron.

In the 1830's these four communities decided it might be better to join in the construction of a metropolis. They formed a single village and called it Port Huron. UNION CITY This community, located a few miles southwest of Jackson on M-60, boasts two rivers, the Cold-water and the St. Joseph. They merge or form a union at Union City.

Thus, the. name. IRON MOUNTAIN Here is. a city with a name meaning- The Founders Had Class; Thus, the Town of Romeo E5t W. E.

Cfip-ntlt Sr4ttxe us? The Spring urge which impels a youth to infect the only girl with an ardent love for baseball. (She's trying hard to be enthusiastic and is saying, "Why, Sid! I always supposed there were eleven men on each Bffill Co. Tne. 1 I mi if 3- ful and logical. Under its buildings were located some of the richest Menominee hematite in all of the Upper.

Peninsula's vast ore area. Before its natural wealth was extracted the city sat virtually on a "Mountain of Iron." TAWAS CITY The name of this community is an abbreviation of the word "Ottawa." It is located on what formerly was known as Ottawa Bay and has since been changed to Tawas Bay. According to Joseph Barkman the "city" half of the name was adapted in a sudden twist of buoyant expectation. ST. IGNANCE Named after St.

Ignatius Loyola who at one time commanded the Spanish Army and later renounced his worldly goods and gathered followers who assisted him in establishment of the Jesuit order. (Is there an interesting story connected with the naming of your community? If so, send it to "Why That Name," care of the Sunday Magazine, Detroit Free Press, and, if correct, it wrill be used in subsequent articles in this series.) BY CHARLES MARENTETTE i Free Presa Special Writer ROMEO Here is one of the most unusual names for any community in all of Michigan. History records that settlers from New England were the first to locate here. They were a cultured group, well read and with a varied background in the arts. "None of the usual names for us," they are reported to have declared.

"We'll have none of the run of the mine. Give us I something unusual, something distinctive." They got it. MUSKEGON Sand dunes shield much of Muskegon from the winds whipping off Lake Michigan but along the Muskegon River itself is marshy land. The Indians called it "Muskego" or River of Big Marshes. FOREST IULL This one baffles motorists who see neither a hiU nor a forest.

The present village was established because of the fine soil in the area and because an improved road was under consideration. Residents, for I want of a if. Si ism V1 km The Main Street wolf who has lain dormant during the Winter months. Spring rouses the sleeping love urge. The shower for the Spring bride-to-be.

This is a miscellaneous shower which means that you can give her anything and get away with it. The bride-to-be has her face all fixed to show gladsome surprise as each gift is enwrapped. The new Spring hat which the little woman with that springtime urge to look lovely knows will do wonders for her..