Re: [at-l] an aside to the IN listers...

[Datto <datto992@yahoo.com>]

> DATTO! -- there's nobody still alive who can remember ever
> hearing the name Wendel Wilke 

Hey, sidenote -- other famous Hoosiers, Jane Pauley, Jim Davis
(cartoonist), Crystal Gayle, Orville Redenbacher (of popcorn
fame), George Rogers Clark, Michael Graves (famous in the
architectural circles -- part of the New York Five), Benjamin
Harrison, Knute Rockne, Bob Griese.

> and I'm blessed if I can remember a danged thing
> about him 

Wendell Wilke was from Elwood, Indiana near Muncie, Indiana (home
of Ball State University). My first roommate at Ball State
University was from near Elwood -- his father owned a funeral
home and every Monday, Rick would return to school from home
riding on the hearse from the funeral home with the siren and
lights flashing. Sometimes Rick's eyes weren't even bloodshot
too. The hearse would wait outside the dormitory until Rick would
run in and grab his books, followed shortly thereafter by a ride
on the outside running boards down to Rick's first Monday morning
class, siren and lights still going strong.

Rick said he'd give all of us a ride in the hearse but every time
we showed up for our "Ride Down McKinley Avenue To Class" there
was a 'guest' in there. No one would get in with the guest. This
was pre-'Weekend at Bernie's' -- we didn't known any better.

Geez we all had a good time at BSU. 

Wendell Wilke (some spell it Willkie) -- 1892-1944

Businessman, presidential candidate; born in Elwood, Ind. Trained
as a lawyer, he practiced briefly before entering the Army in
World War I. An active Democrat, he was delegate to the 1924
national convention. In the 1930s, as president of an Indiana
utilities holding company, Commonwealth and Southern Corp., he
battled public ownership of that industry under Franklin
Roosevelt's New Deal programs such as the Tennessee Valley
Authority. Though not widely known outside the business
community, he was recruited as the "dark horse" Republican
candidate against Roosevelt in 1940. He lost the election, but
tallied the greatest number of popular votes of any Republican to
that date. During World War II he supported Roosevelt's
Lend-Lease program to Britain, promoted an organization to
protect world peace, and fought to improve civil liberties in the
U.S.A. In 1942 Roosevelt named him goodwill ambassador to the
Middle East, China, and the Soviet Union. His 1943 book One World
was a best-seller. In 1944, he was defeated in the presidential
primaries, well behind the eventual Republican candidate, Thomas
E. Dewey. 

Datto

__________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Thousands of Stores.  Millions of Products.  All in one place.
Yahoo! Shopping: http://shopping.yahoo.com
* From the Appalachian Trail Mailing List |  http://www.backcountry.net  *

==============================================================================