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.
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