Sepia Saturdy 684. Fifth in a new series about letters written by my dad’s brother Frederic Mason Charboneau while in the US Army during WWII.
According to my dad (Norm Charboneau), his brother Frederic Mason Charboneau worked in an Army field office during WWII. This got me wondering. What previous skills or or training did Uncle Fred have that would qualify him for that assignment?
In the only school photo I have of him, Uncle Fred looks studious and serious at age 14 — no big smile nor even an impish grin. Just a straight look into the camera with his collar askew like an absentminded professor.
So, what sort of course work would have appealed to him? Once again, newspaper research gives some clues.
Uncle Fred’s clerical skills
Hunting through New York State newspapers, I discovered that Uncle Fred, at 15, passed his Regents Exam in Bookkeeping I in July 1933.
I particularly enjoyed this news story because my Aunt Gig (who later married my dad’s oldest brother Owen, becoming Fred’s sister-in-law) also passed a couple of Regents Exams the same year. She is listed as Aline Desjardens, her maiden.
But bookkeeping wasn’t Uncle Fred’s only clerical skill. I was surprised to find another news story in 1934 listing him, at 16, as a finalist in a shorthand contest! Who even knew that was a thing back in the day?
Alas, Uncle Fred didn’t win — but he did make it to the regionals in Rome, N.Y., according to the article below, so he must have been pretty good.
Uncle Fred takes to the mic
With no personal memories of Uncle Fred, I am not familiar with his personality. I might even have judged him shy from his childhood photos.
But it turns out that Fred, like my dad, was a talker — and a skilled one at that — because in 1935, at 17, he came in third in a public speaking contest at his Forestport, N.Y., school (below).
Not only that, but Fred took home the second-prize award of $2.50 (worth about $55.40 today) because the student who came in second was barred from receiving it — having won it the year before.
A perfect set of office skills
So there you have it. In addition to the usual academic courses, Uncle Fred learned some valuable office skills in high school. And he was apparently a good communicator, too, who took to public speaking.
I wonder whether my grandparents steered him toward these pursuits — so he could help them run the Otter Lake Hotel — or whether he just naturally gravitated to bookkeeping, shorthand, public speaking and other office/communication skills.
Either way, Uncle Fred’s skill set helped determine his assignment once he enlisted in the Army during WWII.
Up next: Uncle Fred’s tech school training and hotel job. Please stop back! Meanwhile, please visit the other intrepid bloggers over at Sepia Saturday.
© 2023 Molly Charboneau. All rights reserved.
You are finding a lot of fantastic articles in the paper on your uncle and family! Seems like your uncle really liked clubs ( last post) and contests! I learned something new; I would have never have thought that a boy would take so many secretarial courses! 🙂
Yes, Uncle Fred was a joiner and competitor — and apparently adept at office skills, which in that period employed many men. See Kristin’s comment below.
I remember taking shorthand in high school and I was terrible at it. My teacher told me it was a skill that would serve us well in the future. LOL. But she was also my typing teacher and that skill stuck, thankfully! Love getting to know your uncle through his recognitions.
I skipped typing in High School due to a scheduling conflict and suffered for it through college. Finally learned after graduation — thank goodness! An invaluable blogging skill even in these days of dictation software 🙂
This is a very clever way of filling out a person’s life story. I’ve encountered a number of similar reports about young people from this era who participated in school debate and essay competitions. In the 1930s I don’t think many school systems could afford equipment and fields needed for competitive sports. But debate teams didn’t need anything!
Fred’s instruction in short hand is interesting as I think we forget how important it was back in olden times for young people to learn good handwriting skills. Practically every job required writing stuff in a notebook or in a form. In following my dad’s life I realize now that he learned his orderly military habits in school. I have a collection of dozens of his weekly essays carefully written in pencil on college ruled paper. His handwriting and sentence structure became very useful in the army. Though I think he always preferred writing to typing.
Uncle Fred’s bent toward office tasks does imply an orderly personality — but his public speaking and wayward shirt collar seem to indicate there was more to his life than number crunching and note-taking 🙂
The newspaper articles about his achievements are terrific finds. One cannot always judge from a photo about a person’s strengths.
So true, Anne — these news clips have been invaluable in developing Uncle Fred’s story.
That’s quite the photo of Uncle Fred with his collar askew. 🙂 Today’s photographers would make sure that it was straightened before they snapped the picture.
I’m actually glad they didn’t straighten it as it provides a more candid look at Uncle Fred at that age.
He does look pretty serious. In reading old books I’ve found that men often had the secretarial skills we think of today as belonging to women.
Thanks for this info, Kristin. It led me to an interesting table on “Gender & the Office” on the Early Office Museum website that offers some statistical insights on this.