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38

photo is mounted below and following it, are a few comments:

[[photograph of dining table and head table]]

[[underline]] Ralph Beers [[/underline]], who was a oldtimer in Transit Sales, was their installation engineer who went around to the car builder plants and advised them on the assembly of our equipment into their vehicles, which might be trolley cars, subway cars, rapid transit cars, trolley coaches or diesel buses with electric drive. Ralph was a big, tall, impressive-looking man who strongly resembled President Harding. His wife was small, pretty, plump and aging and a delightful little lady. Ralph was perhaps best known for his profanity, which was frequent but clean, and delivered so naturally that you simply paid no attention to it; it might take a new secretary a short while to adjust to it. In this respect he was very much like Chubby Maise. Evelyn LeCorchick was a femme fatale with whom I shall deal later. Then there's [[underline]] Art Packer [[/underline]] with the hearing aid. He was another old time transit man but on the statistical and budget end of the business, was very deaf as well as a semi-cripple with something wrong with his legs or feet that made him walk in a somewhat stiff-legged way. He was always the soul of friendliness and helpfulness as crippled people sometimes are, having apparently a good outlook on life. He was approaching retirement. Next is [[underline]] C.A. Burleson [[/underline]], who'd been head of the Urban Transit Section but had been demoted to make room for Whitey. "Burly" was a severe-looking man, always well-dressed and groomed, with a long background in the business. I'll never forget when in 1928 as a cub I was working for Charlie Reed in Motor Engineering doing speed-time studies on a proposition for rapid-transit cars on the Key System from Sausalito north and Burleson was out there in San Francisco personally directing operations. Burly would fire in telegraphic requests for additional speed-time curves without mercy and I got the impression he was a very difficult character. But when I got to know him several years later and even later than that, became his "big boss", I was to find out what a really great guy he was and what a fine sense of humor he had. Also he had a very charming wife.