Earle Steele was born in Highland Park, Illinois back in 1891.  He graduated from the University of Illinois.   During World War I he served in the Armed Forces attaining the rank of captain.  After the war he worked for the Chalmers Motor Company and the Liberty Motor Car company in the early 1920’s.In 1934, he joined General Motor becoming the chief design engineer of the Chevrolet division in 1935.  He was the chief engineer of the Chevrolet Cadet project, when the project was canceled in 1947 he left General Motors and joined the Ford Motor Company later that year.  His job was to provide a suspension design for the 1949 Ford Vedette.  In 1950, his suspension was on the Fords Zephyr and Consul, the first vehicles in mass production using his suspension system.  In 1952, he became ch... 09/09/2021

Catherine Macfarland was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania back in 1877 to john and Nettie.  Her mother convinced her to get into the medical field.  At the age of 16 she entered the University of Philadelphia in 1893 earing a Bachelor of Science in Biology in 1895.  She continued her education earning her medical degree from the Women’s Medical College of Pennsylvania.  She did her postgraduate work at John Hopkins University.  While at the Women’s Hospital of Philadelphia she held the position of instructor in obstetrics.  In 1900, she began her private practice until 1903.  In her last year of private practice, she was the first practitioner to use radium in cancer treatment.  In 1922, she was appointed professor of gynecology at the Women’s Medical College of Pennsylvania, a positi... 08/27/2021

Michael Francis Egan was born in Ireland back in 1761. He joined the Order of Friars Minor (Franciscan order) and studied at the Old University of Leuven and at Charles University in Prague.  After graduation he received minor orders, subdiaconate and diaconate at Mechelen, Belgium.  In 1785 he was ordained a priest in Prague.He advanced rapidly to position of responsibility in the Franciscan order. By 1787, he was appointed guardian of the province of Munster in Ireland.  He remained in Ireland until 1788, when he made a visit to the United States.  He returned to Ireland working as a missionary in Ireland returning to the United States in 1802. He served as assistant pastor to Louis de Barth in Adams County.  Michaels preaching abilities traveled back to Philadelphia where the parishi... 08/23/2021

Emmett Littleton Ashford was born in Los Angeles, California back in 1914.  His father abandoned the family leaving his mother to care for Emmett and his brother Wilbur.  He earned money by selling Liberty magazines and as a cashier in a supermarket.  He attended Jefferson High School.  After graduation he attended Los Angeles Junior College and Chapman University.   In 1936 he worked for the post office as a clerk a position he held for 15 years.  during World War II he served in the Navy.  In 1951, he took leave of office where he moonlighted as a Santa Ana municipal league softball and Nation Night Ball League umpire.  He moved to the Western International League in 1953 and was promoted to the Pacific Coast League in 1954.  He spent 12 years in the PCL, where he became known for his... 08/16/2021

Carl John Luksic was born in Honolulu, Hawaii back in 1921.  He enlisted in the United States Army Air Force in 1942, entering into the Aviation Cadet Training Program.  Later that year he was commissioned as a second lieutenant at Luke Field, Arizona.  He was assigned to the 487th Fighter Squadron, 352nd Fighter Group flying P-47 Thunderbolts at Westover Field, Massachusetts in 1943.Later that year he was deployed to England, attached to the Eight Air Force stationed at RAF Bodney in Norfolk, England.  In 1944, his squadron transitioned to P-51 Mustangs.  On this first flight 8 May 1944 he attacked 15 German planes shooting down three before he was separated from his flight.   He rejoined friendly planes and assisted in attacking 20 more enemy planes, claiming two more victories.  With... 08/04/2021

Frank Fowler Loomis was born in Akron, Ohio back in 1854 to Joseph and Elizabeth.  His father died when he was eight, so he lived with an uncle at Wadsworth, Ohio.  He attended the Akron public schools.  In 1869, he worked on the Ohio & Erie Canal for a few months.  In 1870, he became a volunteer fireman at the Akron’s Fire Department.He became a paid fireman at Steamer No. 1 in 1871 when the current engineer had died.  By 1874, he and James H. Stanford built four fire alarm telegraph signal boxes at key businesses in Akron.  Realizing they needed more fire alarm boxes he designed an alarm box for police patrolmen requesting a wagon, additional police, or required firemen.  He was promoted to the city’s Chief Engineer in 1980, a position he held for 27 years.What you may not know about ... 07/18/2021

Crawford Williamson Long was born in Danielsville, Madison County, Georgia back in 1815 to James and Elizabeth.by the age of fourteen he had graduated for the local academy.  He attended the University of Georgia in Athens, after receiving his A.M. degree, he continued his education at Transylvania College in Lexington, Kentucky.  He transferred to the University of Pennsylvania receiving his M.D. degree in 1839.  After graduation, he did an 18-month internship in New York before returning to Georgia.  He started his medical practice in Jefferson, Jackson County in 1841.  He was a member of the Demosthenian Literary Society and a cousin of the western legend Doc Holliday.  Doctors Day is celebrated on March 30 every year to commemorate Long’s contributions.  A statue of Long stands in t... 07/15/2021

Barry Gordon Livingston was born in Los Angeles, California back in 1953 to Hilliard and Lillian.  He began his career as a child actor in the late 1950’s.  His first film was with Paul Newman in Rally ‘Round the Flag, Boys! (1958).  In 1961, he was cased in a film called The Errand Boy.  He had TV roles in The Adventures of Ozzie & Harriet.Throughout the 1970-80’s he continued to work steadily in films, made-for-TV moves and episodic television including Police Woman, Sidewinder 1, Simon & Simon and many more.  In 2007, he appeared in Zodiac.  He had a major role in the Hallmark Channel movie Final Approach.  He appeared in You Don’t Mess with the Zohan, The Social Network, Horrible Bosses and War Dogs.If you haven’t figured it out by now you won’t so while (for those of you old enough... 07/01/2021

Joseph Lister was born in Upton, West Ham, Essex, England back in 1827 to Joseph and Isabella.  He attended Brown Academy.  After graduation he entered the University College London Medical School.  He graduated with honors with a Bachelor of Medicine in 1852.  In that same year he passed the examination for the fellowship of the Royal College of Surgeons.  In 1853, he was working as an assistant at the University of Edinburgh and the Edinburgh Royal Infirmary.  In 1855, he was elected a Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh.  In 1877, he moved from Edinburgh to King’s College Hospital, London.  He was elected President of the Clinical Society of London.  He was known as the first surgeon to use catgut ligatures, sutures and rubber drains.  He died in 1912, he was 84.What... 06/24/2021

Grace Lethbridge was born in Liverpool, England back in 1895 to Sidney and Grace.  In 1920, she married Sir Robert Hay Dummond-Hay, her husband was nearly fifty years older.  He died when Grace was 31.  To help support her she wrote for the British paper such as The Sphere, she began to write for Hurst papers in the late 1920’s.  she also wrote for the Chicago Herald and Examiner.She went to war zones such as Ethiopia working as a foreign correspondent in China.  During WWII she was interned in a Japanese camp in the Philippines.  She was set free in 1943, returning to the United States she died of coronary thrombosis in 1946.What you may not know about Lady Drummond-Hay, is that in 1929, she was aboard the airship LZ 127 Graf Zeppelin.  It was the first airship to circumnavigate the wo... 05/21/2021

Henrietta Swan Leavitt was born in Lancaster, Massachusetts back in 1868 to George and Henrietta.  She attended Oberlin College before transferring to Harvard University’s Society for the Collegiate Instruction of Women (now Radcliffe College).  during her fourth year she took a course in astronomy earning an A-.  She started working as one of the women “computers” at the Harvard College Observatory to measure and catalog the brightness of starts as the appeared in the observatory’s photographic plate collection.  In 1898, she became a member of the Harvard staff as their first “Curator of Astronomical Photographs”.  She left for Europe returning in 1903, she was paid $0.30 per hour or about $10.50 per week.  She died in 1921 from stomach cancer, she was 53.What you may not know about H... 05/14/2021

Arthur S. Jefferson was born in Ulverston, England back in 1890 to Arthur and Margaret.  He attended school at King James I Grammar School in Bishop and the King’s School in Tynemouth.  He moved with his parents to Glasgow Scotland completing his education at Rutherglen Academy.  In 1912, he worked in the Netherlands and Belgium as a comedy double act with Ted Desmond known as the Barto Brothers.  He moved to the United States where he registered for military service in 1917, he was not called up.  by 1924, he had given up the stage for full-time film work, in the movies.  In 1926, he signed up with the Hal Roach studio, as they say the rest is history.  In 1941, he signed with 20th Century-Fox to make ten films over five years.  In 1947, he returned to the United Kingdom where he perfo... 04/17/2021

Frank Purdy Lahm was born in Mansfield, Ohio back in 1877 to Frank and Adelaide.  His grandmother was related to Daniel Webster.  His mother died when he was three and his father on the advice of doctors left him in care of relatives.  His father came every summer to see his son, he made more than fifty trips crossing the Atlantic Ocean.In high school he excelled in football and baseball.  He left with his father to travel to France in 1893.  He attended the Albert-le-rand school near Paris.  He attended the Michigan Military Academy before entering the United States Military Academy in 1897.  After graduation, he was commissioned a second lieutenant, 6th Cavalry where he was shipped to the Philippines for two years. At the age of 56, he purchased a balloon completing the requirements h... 03/24/2021

Margaret Ingels was born in Paris, Kentucky back in 1892.  She graduated from the University of Kentucky in 1916.  After graduation, she worked for the Chicago Telephone Company in the traffic engineering department. Later she left, moving to Pittsburgh where she worked for the Carrier Engineering Corporation.In 1920, she earned her Mechanical Engineering profession degree.  In 1921, she joined the American Society of Heating and Ventilating Engineers research lab.  While there she perfected a new portable machine that determined the amount of germ-laden dust in schoolrooms and public places.  In 1931, she returned to Carrier-Lyle Corporation where she stayed until her retirement.  While at Carrier she helped perfect the sling psychrometer, a device that read the relative humidity of th... 10/31/2020

Clara Helene Immerwahr was born in Polkendorf, Kingdom of Prussia back in 1879 to Philipp and Anna.  Her mother died in 1890 from cancer, Clara moved in with her father in Breslau.  She studied at the University of Breslau, in 1900 attaining her degree in chemistry.  She continued her studies finally getting a PhD in Chemistry, she graduated magna cum laude.She converted to Christianity in 1897, marrying Fritz four years later.  In those days due to societal expectation that a married woman’s place was in the home, her ability to conduct research was limited.  During WWI Fritz became a staunch supporter of the German military, he played an important role in the development of chemical weapons.  He supervised the first successful deployment of a weapon of mass destruction in military his... 10/25/2020

James Franklin Hyde was born in Solvay, New York back in 1903 to James and Ann.  After graduating from Solvay High School when he was 16 he attended Syracuse University.  After earning his Bachelor of Arts, he continued his education earning him a Master of Arts.  He then continued earing a Ph.D. in organic chemistry at the University of Illinois. Not to be deterred he received his Doctorate at Harvard University.  In 1931, he was the first organic chemist to work at Corning Glass.  He was hired to investigate a new plastic.  In 1934, he applied for a patent, which was granted in 1942, U.S. Patent 2,272,342.  He stayed with the Research Laboratory at Corning retiring in 1951.  By the time he left Corning he held over 100 patents.  He died in 1999, he was 96.What you may not know about J... 10/16/2020

Muriel Fay Buck was born in Huron, South Dakota back in 1912 to Andrew and Jessie.  After graduating from high school, she attended Huron College, where she met her future husband.  By all accounts it was love at first sight.  They married in 1936.  She followed her husband where he pursued a graduate degree at Louisiana State University.He decided to get into politics where he won the office of Mayor of Minneapolis.  Afterwards he served three consecutive terms as a Senator from Minnesota.  He was the Vice President of the United States.  He would later run for the Presidency losing the bid.  Afterwards, he ran for Senate and won again.  While in office he died and she was appointed to the Senate vacancy by the Governor of Minnesota.  She died in 1998, she was 86.What you may not know ... 10/09/2020

Eugene Maurice Orowitz was born in Forest Hills, Queens, New York back in 1936 to Eli and Peggy.  When he was four the family moved to Collingswood, New Jersey.  He attended Collingswood High School. Because of his athletic skills he was awarded a scholarship to the University of Southern California. Because of an injury he turned to show-business.  He started out with television series Telephone Time.  He also released a single record with Candlelight Records.  In 1959, he began his first starring TV role, the series lasted until 1973.  Seeing the decline in ratings in 1972 he began recording another series for television.  That series lasted for 10 seasons.  in 1991, he was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, it was inoperable and terminal. He died in 1991, he was 54.So, does the name r... 09/21/2020

John Hope was born in Augusta, Georgia back in 1868 to James and Mary.  He was eight when his father died leaving school in the eighth grade to help support the family.  Undeterred he saved enough money to put himself through school graduating from Worcester Academy in 1890.  He continued his education graduating from Brown University in 1894.After graduation he moved to Nashville, Tennessee where he began his teaching career.  In 1898, he was chosen to be president of Atlanta Baptist College, where he stayed until his death in 1936. His tenure was interrupted by WWI, when he served as the YMCA secretary.  After being discharged he organized the Commission on Interracial Cooperation serving as its first president. What you may not know about John is that his father was white and his mot... 09/12/2020

Maude Cecilia Acklin was born in Baxter County, Arkansas back in 1914. She married William Hopkins (age 86) when she was 19.  William has enlisted in the Confederate States Army in Pikeville, Kentucky when he was 16. He served under General Samuel G. French’s Battalion of Virginia Infantry.He was captured in 1863, later was a part of a prisoner exchange.  He supported Maude with his pension of $25.00 per month. He died in 1937, he was 89. She remarried twice more having three children. She died in 2008, in Lexa, Arkansas, she was 93.What you may not know is that she was the last surviving widow of a Civil War veteran.Your day is worthwhile when you make someone smile, so give the free gift of a smile today 09/05/2020