Obituary of NWHS Archives Benefactor

Wed Jun 6 16:21:45 EDT 2018

Ray,

Somewhere down the line I plan to write an article for The Arrow about 
my summer jobs on the N&W (a lot to write about here), the Christmas 
mail handling job (not much to write about here), and my rail fan trips 
financed by these N&W jobs (a lot here too).  I'm slowly working on a 
couple of things ahead of this, so no one should held his/her breath 
awaiting the jobs article.

Gordon Hamilton

On 6/4/2018 7:03 AM, NW Mailing List wrote:
> Gordon,
>
> Thanks for sharing these items.
>
> I want to second John's motion regarding an article or two about the Christmas mail rush. From what I can piece together this was a big  deal continuing into the 1960s. I know that one or two of the passenger  trains coming off the Southern at Lynchburg had second sections devoted to mail  for two weeks or so in December each year.
>
>     Ray Smoot
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: NW-Mailing-List <nw-mailing-list-bounces at nwhs.org> On Behalf Of NW Mailing List
> Sent: Sunday, June 3, 2018 9:57 PM
> To: nw-mailing-list at nwhs.org
> Subject: RE: Obituary of NWHS Archives Benefactor
>
> Gordon, Thank you for these memories. Approximately when was he Gen. Supt. in Bluefield? 40's? 50's? 60's?
>
> Sure would be nice to read a short article in the Arrow sometime about what it was like to work the Christmas mail rush at Bluefield; the trains, the mail, the people, the weather, etc. Precision Transportation at work!
>
> John Garner, Newport VA
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: NW Mailing List [mailto:nw-mailing-list at nwhs.org]
> Sent: Saturday, June 2, 2018 3:27 PM
> To: NW Mailing List <nw-mailing-list at nwhs.org>
> Subject: Re: Obituary of NWHS Archives Benefactor
>
> John,
>
> I apologize for this late reply.  In answer to your question, I remember little of the Blair family when he was superintendent in Portsmouth, OH.  When he was general superintendent in Bluefield I remember that one Christmas my mother and I visited him and my aunt in their N&W owned home on Summer Street just around the corner from the division office building where he worked (I believe I remember that the house they lived in was heated by steam from the N&W shop there  - anybody know?).  I also remember visiting in his Bluefield office once, possibly when I sought a summer job with the N&W while I was in college (I ended up working for the N&W as a laborer for four summers). I'm certain that he was also instrumental in my getting a job handling mail at the Bluefield station during two Christmas vacations from college.
>
> At some point in his career when he was working in Roanoke, and apparently expecting more transfers, he and my aunt lived in an apartment on Avenham Avenue in Roanoke, and I visited them there when I was in Roanoke for some reason.  Later, when he apparently thought that his transferring was over, they lived in a home on Peakwood Drive in Roanoke, and I visited them there once when some of my cousins from Louisiana were visiting there.
>
> I don't remember any other contacts with the Blair's, except: Once when I was working full time in the N&W Motive Power Department in Roanoke Mr. Blair called me to ask if I wanted to work for him in the coal traffic department.  After considering the drawbacks of working for a relative, I called him back and politely told him that I was interested in my work with locomotives, cars and facilities and that I though that I should stay in the Motive Power Department.  I have often wondered what turns my career with the N&W might have taken if I had accepted his invitation!
>
> Gordon
>
>
> On 5/25/2018 9:59 AM, NW Mailing List wrote:
>> Did you see much of him considering how much the NW moved him around as he advanced from one high-profile position to another? I wish I had met him. I only knew his daughter.
>>
>> John Garner
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: NW Mailing List [mailto:nw-mailing-list at nwhs.org]
>> Sent: Thursday, May 24, 2018 12:09 PM
>> To: NW Mailing List <nw-mailing-list at nwhs.org>
>> Subject: Re: Obituary of NWHS Archives Benefactor
>>
>> Yes.  He married my father's sister.
>>
>> Gordon
>>
>>
>> On 5/24/2018 9:16 AM, NW Mailing List wrote:
>>> Gordon, Does that mean C. P. Blair (Supt Pocahontas Div. & V.P. Coal
>>> Traffic) was your uncle?  Thx,  John Garner
>>>
>>> -----Original Message-----
>>> From: NW Mailing List [mailto:nw-mailing-list at nwhs.org]
>>> Sent: Wednesday, May 23, 2018 2:18 PM
>>> To: 05NWHS Mailing List <nw-mailing-list at nwhs.org>
>>> Subject: Obituary of NWHS Archives Benefactor
>>>
>>> The Sunday, May 20, 2018, issue of the Roanoke Times newspaper carried the obituary of Charlean Fisher, 83.  Although few may recognize her or remember her late husband, Thomas Fisher, each played a role in the NWHS archives collection.  Her husband had worked in the N&W Engineering Department, and he contributed a number of photographs of signal construction on the Norfolk Division.  His wife contributed the Bluefield, WV, passenger station arrival and departure board that hangs in the archives today.  She once told us that she enjoyed the time that she and her husband spent in Bluefield earlier in his career, so she related that when passenger service was discontinued through Bluefield she called Bob Claytor, then Exec. VP N&W I believe, and apparently had enough "pull" that the requested board was delivered to her house in Roanoke by N&W personnel.  Later she donated it to the archives.
>>>
>>> As an aside, Thomas Fisher was the brother to the late Hugh Fisher, who married my cousin Catherine Blair Fisher.
>>>
>>> Gordon Hamilton
>>>
>>>
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