August 27, 1981
Picture #1 – Harry N. Walters – Asst. Secretary of Army
Harry N. Walters, born in Fostoria, Ohio July 4, 1936, became assistant secretary of the Army for Manpower and Reserve Affairs recently.
In his new position he is responsible for the supervision of all Army policy pertaining to manpower and personnel management (military and civilian), mobilization manpower, equal opportunity, quality of life areas, force structure requirements and operational readiness, and management of reserve affairs, to include the Army National Guard and the U.S. Army Reserve.
Many Fostorians will remember his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Harry W. Walters, when they resided here. Mr. Walters was district manager of Western & Southern Life Insurance Co. He was transferred from Fostoria to Akron in about 1935 and from there to the home office at Cincinnati, where he became manager of sales, according to Herm Faber, a retired Western & Southern employee here.
Mr. Walters, the new assistant secretary of the Army, received his BS degree from the United States Military Academy, West Point, N.Y. in 1959, after graduating from Mariemont High School in Cincinnati. While at West Point, he lettered in basketball and football, receiving All American honors as full back on Army’s undefeated “Lonely End” football team.
Commissioned in the Infantry, Mr. Walters attended the Army Airborne and Ranger schools at Fort Benning, Ga., and then served with the 25th Infantry Division in Hawaii, Laos and Thailand. Walters completed his active service in January 1963 but continued in the Army Reserve until 1965, serving as commander of Special Forces “A” Team.
In civilian life, Mr. Walters was executive vice president at the Standard Paper Manufacturing Company, Richmond, VA. from 1973 to 1976 and served as consultant for Howard Paper Mills, Inc. until 1977. He was previously associated with the Plainwell Paper Company, Plainwell, MI, as their national sales and marketing manager; Kimberly Clark Corporation in Neenah, WI., as their projects manager for new business development; Kimberly Clark Corporation in New York City as their accounts manager for publication papers and Pure Oil Company (Union Oil of California), Miami, FL., in various sales and marketing assignments.
In 1977, as an industrial entrepreneur, Mr. Walters purchased and became president and chief executive officer of the Potsdam Paper Corporation, Potsdam, N.Y. The paper mill had been idle in this high unemployment area. The company flourished and brought prosperity and success to hundreds of the mill’s employees.
Mr. Walters has completed various marketing and management courses during his career, including Kepner-Tragoe courses, American Management Association courses and American Marketing Association courses.
Mr. Walters and his wife, Illa of Pekin, ILL., have two children, Bradley, 18 and Kelly, 12. They reside in McLean, VA.
Although Mr. Walters did not grow up in Fostoria, readers will be glad to know he has been honored with this appointment, especially those who knew his parents when they resided here.
FEEDBACK: WAINWRIGHT
That story…about Jack’s “Boys” and the 107th Army Band, brought several responses.
William F. Stevens, Risingsun, telephones to say that he attended Oberlin Academy when Wainwright was there, and when he was already active in directing bands. Stevens had read the earlier series of articles about Wainwright too.
Stevens was a teacher for 42 years and also in the hardware business.
After reading the latest Wainwright story, Mrs. Paul Ward asked me If I had a copy of The Review Times when Jack’s Fostoria High School band was National Champions in 1923. I had to tell her I didn’t. She had found that paper among the collection of her mother’s effects after her death.
In talking with Mrs. Ward, I mentioned the telephone conversation with Mr. Stevens. She had him for a teacher at Risingsun, where she attended school as a girl.
The photo of the 107th Army Band is now in the possession of Ernie Duffield. It will be posted in the Music Room at the Fostoria Area Historical Society which Ernie is organizing with a variety of memorabilia of Fostoria’s musical events and organizations.
BRISTOW STORY
From Walter Bristow, Peoria, IL, came a letter expressing pleasure in the story about his life and career. He liked the photo so well that I loaned him the photo used with the story to have copied made for friends and family. Walt’s friends at Caterpillar were also pleased with the writeup about him.
LUTHERAN CHURCH
Church histories do no prompt numerous responses, even though they are read and appreciated, but one came from Henrietta of The Review Times as soon as she saw that day’s story.
She said, “The picture of Rev. Clessler looked just like I remembered him”. She knew I was writing that story, and told me that Rev. Clessler had baptized her children. I liked the old round-shaped pews in the old church, she said.
CURIOUS READER
A telephone call from Pam Taylor, 537 S. Poplar St. a regular Potluck reader revealed she was curious about two things.
(1) A little metal emblem, fastened to a wall in the house where she moved, reading “Fostoria Hardware”. She wondered how old it was. The Fostoria Hardware was located at 102 S. Main St. in the Alcott Block, which was destroyed by fire in 1962.
Fostoria Hardware succeeded Rothrock-Pifer Hardware in about 1915-16 and discontinued business in about 1935. Therefore the metal emblem might be between 46 and 66 years old now.
(2) Mrs. Taylor has a collection of Weekly Readers, used in the public schools many years ago. Remember? They were kept by her two older brothers. She wondered how old they might be. More about that later.
1918 DRAFTEE PHOTO
Mrs. Paul Myers, 869 Columbus Ave., owned and old photo which she and her husband found a public sale some years ago.
The photo was taken by W.H. Weaver, Fostoria photographer, and showed over 200 draftees for the U.S. Army during World War I. Undoubtedly, there are many Fostorians in the photo, which was taken by a revolving camera.
Approximately 42 inches wide and eight inches deep, the exceptionally clear photo shows buildings, some of which still remain and some no longer standing. Columbia High School (now a junior high). Jr. Order United Mechanics headquarters and several old frame buildings are in the photo. In the extreme background is a church, which was at the corner of Market and Jefferson, but no longer there. I don’t know what church it was.
Mrs. Myers gave this interesting old photo to me.