and he chuckles -
Don't feel bad - my memory is running out of corpsucles or whatever
mush my brain is made of. The first time I remember meeting John
Sudimak was the Cleveland Convention where Randy Sappo's wife showed
up with a cat! (Remember that one?) I believe that was that
convention where Howard Phillips had the 2-8-0. Maybe Frank Titman
can shed some light on the sequence of events.
I never really knew Howard Sandusky - bought a lot of his stuff from
him and later from Josh Seltzer after he took over the line following
Howard's death, but not much more about him than he was a swell
fellow. But I do recall he had a voice that could lull a raging bull
t' sleep. I remember the 1973 convention at Worcestor where he won
the Bernie Thomas award and either myself or Don Riley cut his speech
short lest we all march off to the land of Nod! I think Don Thompson
was there and may recall it.
That was an interesting convention (and a lot of fun). There was a
gas crisis and it was actually canceled but Ed Schumacher called me
(since I was the Bristol Club President at the time) and pleaded with
me hold it anyway. We were (if I recall correctly) gonna hold it in
Nashua again but the convention chairman (Bill Boucher) said it was
too much to do with the shortage of gas and all. Anyway, Ed felt that
it would be a blow to the Gauge to interupt the tradition so I called
Don Riley and we set it up in Auburn, Mass. (can't remember the name
of the hotel but his son worked there) and it came off anyway. Don
had arranged a deal with a few gas stations to at least fill up cars
for the trip home and seventy or so showed up.
There was one incident I'll always remember. Martin Daley (of
Tarrytown, NY) was there with his wife (who was dying of some sort of
malady) and he made the mistake of asking me (on Saturday afternoon)
what was on the menu for that night's banquet. Me being the wag I
was, I told him we were on a short budget and would have finger rolls
with chicken, egg and tuna salad. An hour or so later Win Blake came
to me and said Martin was ready to leave in a snit because he wanted
something special for his wife as it might be her last convention. So
I got Martin aside and told him we'd make sure she was well taken
care of. That seemed to assuage him and actually the banquet
consisted of lobster, clams, shrimp, steamships of beef and ham and a
variety of potables set out in a buffet that was one of the finest
convention meals ever. Needless to say Martin laid me out in lavender
later for pulling his leg - but I did get a hug from his wife!
She did pass away later that year but I'll always remember her
smiling face at the end of the banquet.
BTW, the banquet at Nashua in 1968 gave members a choice between
Filet Mignon or baked stuffed lobster. I think it was six bucks - try
and get a meal like that today and you'll have to take out a loan!
I'm sorry Bill that I can't give you much more about Howard Sandusky.
Unfortunately time and distance kept most of us apart and sadly
before we knew it, the 'Little Train' carried the friends and
acquaintances we knew off to the last stop. The short time I spent at
Lowell this year didn't leave much opportunity to renew old
friendships and I missed a lot of familiar faces. Hopefully I can
make another before my 'Train' leaves...
Raleigh in cool and comfortable Maine
P. S. - At Lowell, Don Thompson reminded me of the convention where I
crashed a wedding party and made the memorable comment about a rather
'portly' woman - "She could feed a tribe of pygmies for a week!" Wish
I could remember which convention it was... R.
P. P. S. - Like to see the picture of me "Hawking" American Flyer at
Nashua sometime. I have one of you in a 'zoot suit' taken at Woburn I
believe... R. again.
At 05:39 PM 8/29/2008, Bill Fraley wrote:
>Rollie,
>
>I screwed up, most likely was John Sudimak with Howard Phillips at Nashua.
>
>Anyway, refresh me on Howard Sandusky?
>
>Or am I too old and have the names wrong?
>
>I also have a picture of you "Hawking" American Flyer at Nashua. 8>)
>Bill
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
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