Jack Berger launched the subject of this web page by emailing the group stating:
“I was having a nostalgia moment this morning, and recalled two Elsies in my life at Illinois:
“1. The first was Elsie Wilson, Herb Carter's secretary, who was the de facto head of the Department of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering.
“2. The second was Elsie the Typist, who did dissertations for most of the guys at the princely sum of $0.70 per page back in those years. I cannot for the life of me, remember her last name.
“I recall in ChE, Sunny Jim's secretary had the last name Hahn, but I can't dredge up her first name. There was another young lady in the office with her, whom I can visualize, but don't recall her name at all. (Tom Govindan recalls that these ladies’ names were Marjorie Hahn and Charlene Rossi.)
“We should also try to record the technicians and machinists. I remember Stan and Virgil in ChE, but there were a couple of others as well. I think we should collect the names of these support people for our website as well.”
Richard Palmer recalls:
“There was Mr. Merrill (sp?) who manned the "special glassware" stockroom, who once told me he couldn't give me the three-necked, 2-liter round bottom flask I asked for because he only had one, and someone might need it.”
Dennis Chamot contributed this memory:
"I seem to recall a fellow named Nemeth (don't remember the first name) who did elemental analyses, among other analytical services. He was rather angry when I submitted some sulfur crystals for analysis that I innocently thought was an organic reaction product. He thought I was testing his abilities, which was the furthest thought from my mind. I recall him seething, and saying to me in his Hungarian accent, "If you ever give me eleemental sulfur again I vill keel you!"
James T. Lee adds:
"He was Josef Nemeth, as in “Joe Nemeth”. I recall him well and I don’t think I ever saw him smile except once, when I told him about how we had hooked up the electric bell in the ceiling outside Stan Smith’s office. We were able to ring it by remote control and it nearly drove SS nuts."
And Dave Herlocker contributed the following recollection:
“Josef Nemeth and his lab were a godsend to those of us who did preps, especially hygroscopic ones. I don't know how folks who have to send their samples out survive. We were truly spoiled.”
Dave supports Jack’s feelings about Elsie Wilson by stating:
“You are absolutely right about Elsie Wilson. At the end of the first semester of the 1962-1963 academic year, Mike Bowers went home to Spokane to get married, and he asked me to do his registration for him. The thing that bothered me the most was getting his ID car validated for the second semester. He was taller than I, his hair was darker than mine, and he wore glasses in the ID picture. How was I going to fake being him?
“The real problem was that Mike hadn't done the paperwork for being a TA the second semester. Thus the folks at registration wanted me to invent money for tuition for the second semester. Being your typical grad student, I didn't have a couple thousand dollars in my checking account, bank account, pocket. etc, and I knew he certainly didn't have it.
“What do you do on a SATURDAY morning under such conditions? The answer is, you find Elsie Wilson, who can and did solve everything in a phone call. The validation of the ID was a piece of cake compared to what Elsie did. All hail secretaries. They were never paid what they were worth.”
Keith Shelton adds:
“There was the glassblower, who bowled a perfect score, and got his name in the newspaper. Unfortunately it happened during working hours and he had a big backlog of glasswork. I don't remember his name but after being fired he went to work for someone who specialized in reactions to radiolabel compounds in hivac systems. They kindly taught me how to perform glassblowing under hivac, radioactive conditions, for which I was very grateful.”
J. Carney adds this recollection:
"Stan Crouch will remember Applegate, the analytical stock room keeper with his Rigid Tool calenders. But who were the two master glass blowers? The first fellow was German I think and had a true artistic temperament that required a bit of massaging to receive quick turnaround. The guy who replaced him was from New England and had us all saying "quatz" for quartz."
And Stan Crouch recalls:
"In addition to Applegate, the analytical storekeeper that Joe Carney mentioned, there was Verle Walters building and repairing instruments and many, many other staff members whose names I can't recollect. They usually saved our butts.:
So how about the rest of you adding your recollections of staff members who made a lasting impression on you, who added to your educational experience or were just memorable for another reason? Send your contribution to either Jack Berger or Larry Gundersen.
While the faculty of the Department of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering were pivotal to our education, a number of staff members also contributed to our educational experience. This is reflected by the fact that, now 35-40 years later, we have vivid recollections of interactions with these key staff members.
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