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TWENTY-SIX
THE BULLETIN OF THE CATHOLIC LAYMEN’S ASSOCIATION OF GEORGIA
AUGUST 25, 1945
John W. Gleason, K.S.G.
Retiring From Cotton
Business in Savannah
(Special to Yhe Bulletin)
SAVANNAH, Ga. — John W.
Gleason, K. S, G., pioneer Savan
nah cottofi man, will close his of
fice on September 1, after over
sixty years in the cotton factorage
business. Mr. Gleason rounded
out his sixty-third season as a
cotton factor on July 31.
Mr. Gleason is a past president
of the Savannah Cotton and Na
val Stores Exchange and has
served as a director for many
years. He is vice-president of the
Female Orphan Benevolent Soci
ety, which operates St. Mary’s
Home here, and is one of the
city’s outstanding Catholic lay
leaders. He was Jionored by His
Holiness Pope Pius XI with
knighthood in the Order of St.
Gregory the Great.
During his long career on cot
ton row. Mr. Gleason has witness
ed the rise and decline of King
Cotton as Savannah’s No. 1 com
modity. When he chose the cot
ton business as his life work,
sailing vessels choked the harbor,
and what few streets of the city
* were paved, were paved in cob
blestones.
Kerosene was the popular
source of illumination and elec
tricity and the telephone were
“modern wonders’’ back when Mr.
Gleason, as a young man, entered
the cotton business. He vividly
recalls the 20's when cotton re
ceipts at Savannah rose {o well
over a million bales, whereas the
annual receipts now will average
only 10,000 bales annually.
Looking back over six decades,
Mr. Gleason recalled how Bay
street a half century ago was the
focal point of Savannah’s business
district. The life of the city re
volved around cotton and the
tramp of mule-drawn drays was a
continuous sound all day as they
moved cotton to the ware houses
and docks.
“Many a fortune was made and
lost,’’ Mr. Gleason observed.
Back in the “old days’’ Savan
nah boasted at least fifteeen cotton
factorage firms, in addition to
other dealers in the fleecy staple.
For some years Mr. Gleason was
the sole surviving cotton factor
in the city.
He began his career in the cot
ton business as office boy with the
John Flannery company, and sub
sequently worked in many posi
tions with that firm. He estab
lished his own business in 1918,
and in 1924 took over the John
Flannery company.
Commenting on Mr. Gleason’s
retirement. The Savannah Evening
Press declared in an editorial:
“The type of man with whom it is
a pleasure to do business, Mr.
Gleason has had a long and hon
orable career. He has sustained
the best traditions of Savannah as
a trading center and his company
will long be remembered for its
fairness and probity, a business
whose word was its bond.
“Mr. Gleason retires to take a
well deserved rest with the most
pleasant recollections held by a
long line of satisfied customer.
Hus many friends wish him many,
many more years to enjoy his
leisure.”
CHAPLAINS RECEIVE
BRONZE STAR AWARDS
WITH THE U. S. ARMY ON
LUZON — (Delayed) — The Rev.
Daniel F. X. Shannon, Army
chaplain and priest of the Diocese
of Brooklyn, has been awarded
the Bronze Star for his service
during the Leyte and Luzon cam
paigns. In addition to the Bronze
Star, he has received four battle
stars, the Philippine liberation
medal and the Asiatic Pacific
ribbon. He has been overseas two
years and has participated in the
New Britain, New Guinea, Leyte
and Luzon campaigns.
HONOLULU. — (N. C.) Lieut.
Col. Leonard A. LeClair, priest of
the Diocese of Portland, Maine,
and head chaplain of the 96th Di
vision on Okinawa, has been dec
orated with the Bronze Star for
bravery during the Leyte cam
paign.
When Father LeClair, who is a
veteran of twenty-two assault
landings in the Pacific, received
his decoration, one of the first to
congratulate him was Col. Philip
4. Newman, priest of the Diocese
of Springfield in Illinois, who
holds the same decoration. Father
Newman was a sergeant in the A.
K F. during World War I and now
fc head chaplain of the XXIV
.Army Corps, which participated
in the Leyte and Okinawa cam
paigns.
“Leper Priest" Joins
Army Chaplain Corps
AUGUSTAN AWARDED BRONZE STAR—Major Angelo J. Punaro, son of Mr. and Mrs, Anthony Punaro,
of Augusta, is pictured as he received the Bronze S tar Medal, for heroic achievement in action against
the enemy, from Brigadier General Andrew C. Tyscn, assistant commander of the 100th Infantry Division
in Germany. He is attached to the 399th Infantry Regiment. Major Punaro’s wife is the former
Miss Anina Benedetto, daughter of Mrs. Aristide A. Benedetto, of Macon, and the late Mr. Bendetto.
They have a young son, Anthony Joseph Punaro, who has not yet had the opportunity to become ac
quainted with his soldier father.—(Signal Corps Photo—Courtesy of The Augusta Chronicle),
Distinguished Speakers Have Addressed
Conventions of Laymens Association
Annually since its first conven
tion in Macon the members of the
Catholic Laymen’s Association of
Georgia have met in convention
to enable the members to learn of
the work accomplished during the
year just closing and to make
plans and elect officers for the
coming year.
These annual conventions were
unique gatherings, that brought
together Catholics from every part
of the sixty thousand square miles
of Georgia territory. They pro
vide opportunity to make ac
quaintances that ripened into
friendships.
At each convention a brilliant
feature was the address delivered
by a guest speaker, and some of
the leading Catholic laymen of the
United States have honored the
Laymen’s Association, with their
presence on these occasions, some
of them appearing before its ses
sions several times.
Among those who addressed the
Laymen’s Association were Mi
chael Williams, noted author and
editor of the Commonweal; John
Moody, distinguished convert and
one of the world’s leading eco
nomists, internationally known
in the field of commerce and
finance; the late Admiral William
S. Benson, a former Georgian,
chief of the United States naval
operations during the first World
War, and Victor Ridder, New York
publisher.
On several occasions the Lay
mens’ Association heard Honor
able David I. Walsh, United States
Senator from Massachusetts. It
was also addressed by Col. P. H.
Callahan, of Louisville, Ky„, who
as chairman of the Religious Pre
judice Committee of the Knights
of Columbus, rendered great serv
ice to the Laymen’s Association in
its early years, and through whom
the Association came in contact
with Benedict Elder, editor of the
Record, and a leading attorney of
Louisville. Mr. Elder has been
prominently identified with the
work of the Laymen's Association
from the beginning, has attended
practically ail of its conventions,
spoken at many of them, and still
continues to serve the Laymen’s
Association in an advisory capaci
ty-
The Laymen’s Association also
had among its convention speakers
Dr. John G. Coyle, physician, edu
cator, lecturer and writer, of New
York, and head of the Knights of
Columbus lecture bureau. Mem
bers of the Association' were also
privileged to hear a stirring ad
dress by Maj. Gen. Paul B. Malone,
of the United States Army, and
other addresses by Dr. Clarence E.
Manion, professor of law at the
University of Notre Dame; Hon.
Jack J. Spalding, K.S.G., leading
attorney and prominent Catholic
laymen of Atlanta, who was an
officer of the Association until his
death several years ago. They
were also addressed by Bartley J.
Doyle, distinguished Catholic lay
man of Philadelphia.
At the convention in 1936, at
which time the University of Notre
Dame conferred its Laetare Medal
upon Richard Reid, then serving
as executive secretary of the Lay
men's Association, the convention
speakers included the Most Rev.
John F. O'Hara C.S.C., Bishop of
Buffalo, who at that time was the
president of the University of
Notre Dame; Rev. Michael Earls, S.
J., faculty moderator of alumni,
Holy Cross College; the Rev. Law
rence A. Walsh, S. J., Dean of the
Graduate School of Fordham Uni
versity; Vincent de-^Paul Fitzpat
rick, editor of The Baltimore Cath
olic Review, and Thomas J. Hamil
ton, • publisher of the Augusta
Chronicle.
At its Silver Jubilee convention
held in Savannah in 1940, the Lay
men’s Association was honored by
the participation of His’ Excellency
the Most Rev. Amleto Giovanni
Cicognani, Apostolic Delegate to
the United States, who addressed
the afternoon session held at the
Savannah Municipal Auditorium.
Other speakers on the program
of the Silver Jubilee convention
were Honorable Clare Gerald
Fenerty, Judge of the Court of 1
Common Pleas, Philadelphia;
Frank J. Sheed, noted author, lec
turer and publisher, of New York
and London; Richard Reid, former
executive secretary of the Asso
ciation, and the late Mayor
Thomas Gamble, of Savannah.
The following year, at the con
vention in Rome, Mrs. Frank
Sheed, who under her maiden
name, Maisie Ward, has gained re
nown as a writer, was the guest
speaker.
At the convention held in Macon
in 1942, the Hon. Charles Fahy,
Solicitor General of the United
States, a brother of Bernard S.
Fahy, of Rome, present president
of the Laymen’s Association, was
the guest speaker.
Speakers at the 1943 convention
held in Augusta were Bishop
O’Hara and Richard Reid, and F.
Frederick Kennedy, acting mayor
of Augusta, who extended a wel
come to the delegates.
At the twenty-ninth annual con
vention of the Laymen’s Associa
tion, held in Atlanta last October,
the Hon. James F. McGranery, the
Assistant Attorney General of the
United States, was the guest speak
er. Others on the program were
the Hon. Ellis Arnall, Governor of
Georgia, and Mayor William B.
Hartsfield, of Atlanta.
Until the nature of this year’s
session has been definitely decid
ed upon, it will not be known
whether or not a speaker will be
invited to address the gathering.
HIS HOLINESS Pope Pius XII
received a carved ivory miniature
of the statue of Christ the King, a
symbol of peace, which dominates
King Island, between Asia and
North America, when he received
the Rev. Bernard R. Hubbard, S.
J., the American “Glacier Priest"
in audience. The miniature, pre
sented by Father Hubbard, was a
gift of Alaskan Eskimos to the Holy
Father. Father Hubbard is in
Europe photographing Jesuit
houses destroyed in the war. He
is also giving lectures to American
soldiers on the post-war possibili
ties of Alaska.
FOUR YEARS SERVICE as a
Navy Chaplain has convinced Lt.
Comdr. John F. Woloch, priest of
the Dloeese of Rochester, that “the
men in service have not lost their
reunion,” bat on the contrary,
"many have found their religion.”
CAPT. HAVERTY, ATLANTA,
JUST MISSED V-2 BOMB
ATLANTA, Ga.—A well-known
Atlantan can lay claim to have
been as close to one of the Ger
man terror bombs as any other
man, a picture in a recent issue of
The Saturday Evening Post reveal
ed!
He is Capt. James Rawson Hav-
erty, son of Clarence Haverty, one
of the leading Catholic laymen of
Atlanta.
The picture in The Post was one
of the illustrations of an article
entitled “How Antwerp Was Sav
ed,” and shows Capt. Haverty with
his foot resting on the nearly
whole wreckage of a Nazi V-2 fly
ing bomb.
NEW BRITAIN, Conn. — The
Rev. Joseph P, Sweeney, widely
known as New Britain’s “leper
priest”, has been commissioned in
the Army Chaplains Corps. After
a six-week training course at Fort
Oglethorpe, Ga., he will be assign
ed to a foreign post.
Father Sweeney has expressed
the hope that his foreign assign
ment will take him back to China,
where he conducted a mission un
til his labors were interrupted by
the war.
FORT OGLETHORPE, Ga. —
Father Joseph P. Sweeney, who is
the hero of the first chapter of
“Men of Maryknoll”, a colleition
of true stories of young Ameri
cans from Maryknoll-on-the-Hud-
son working for their fellow men
in troubled corners’ of the earth,
was among the guests at a dinner
given at the Reed House in Chat
tanooga for the Catholic chaplains
at the Army Chaplain Corps school
here.
Father Sweeney spent twenty-
two years as a Maryknoll Mission-
er in Asia, ten if which were lived
in a leper colony in South China.
The Most Rev. Francis J. Spell
man, Archbishop of New York,
and Military Vicar, who was host
at the dinner, was represented by
the Most Rev. William T. McCar
ty, C. SS. R., Military Delegate.
The Most Rev. William L.
Adrian, D. D., Bishop of Nashville,
was represented by the Right Rev.
Msgr. Albert A. Siener, Vicar Gen
eral of the Diocese of Nashville.
A special, guest was the Most
Rev. Gerald P. O’Hara, D. D., J.
U. D., Bishop of Savannah-Atlanta,
and Military Vicar, who was ac
companied by the Rev. James Mc
Cann, C. SS. R., of Dalton.
Twenty-one Catholic chaplains,
three of them members of the iac-
ulty, and the others students at
the school for chaplains, attended
the dinner. ’
Dining and Dancing
Nightly
AT THE
CARMICHAEL
CLUB
South of Augusta on Old Savannah Road
•GOOD FOOD »GOOD MUSIC
COMFORTABLE, BECAUSE IT’S AIR COOLED
Special Attention Given Parties
DIAL 2-2683 or 2-2877
Best Wishes
~7tie
Jones
fURniTURc company inc
Augusta, Georgia