fall, 2016 - Slater Memorial Museum

The Muse
AN UNBREAKABLE BOND: NORWICH FREE ACADEMY
AND THE UNITED STATES COAST GUARD ACADEMY
The quarterly
newsletter of the
Slater Memorial Museum
by Vivian F. Zoë
From the Federal period to today, the U.S. Coast Guard continues to be dynamic and
proves its value to our country. Its connection to Norwich Free Academy is cemented
by alumni of both institutions.
From its website, we learn that “The U.S. Coast Guard is one of the five armed forces
of the United States and the only military organization within the Department of
Homeland Security. Since 1790 the Coast Guard has safeguarded our Nation’s maritime
interests and environment around the world.”
Conceived in 1789 by Secretary of the Treasury (1789-1795) Alexander Hamilton
(1755-1804), recently made famous by a Broadway musical, the Revenue Marine, later
named the Revenue Cutter Service, was an armed seagoing military service charged
with customs enforcement, vessel documentation, navigation and wartime naval
support.
Also empowered under the Secretary of the Treasury was the U.S. Life-Saving Service.
Established in 1848 and operating initially along the Massachusetts coastline, the service
grew out of the need to provide a more rapid and better prepared response to distressed
fall, 2016
(Continued on page 3)
Cadets drill on the parade ground of the
United States Coast Guard Academy
The Muse is published up to four times
yearly for the members of The Friends
of the Slater Memorial Museum. The
museum is located at 108 Crescent
Street, Norwich, CT 06360. It is part
of The Norwich Free Academy, 305
Broadway, Norwich, CT 06360.
Museum main telephone number:
(860) 887-2506. Visit us on the web at
www.slatermuseum.org.
Museum Director – Vivian F. Zoë
Newsletter editor – Geoff Serra
Contributing authors: Vivian Zoë,
Leigh Thomas
Photographers: Leigh Thomas, Vivian
Zoë, Barry Wilson
The president of the Friends of the
Slater Memorial Museum: Tricia
Staley
The Norwich Free Academy Board of
Trustees:
Diana L. Boisclair
Allyn L. Brown, III
Keith G. Fontaine
Lee-Ann Gomes, Treasurer
Thomas M. Griffin, Secretary
Thomas Hammond
DeVol Joyner
Denise Lindell
Theodore N. Phillips, Chair
Todd C. Postler
William Warzecha
Sarette Williams, Vice Chair
The Norwich Free Academy does
not discriminate in its educational
programs, services or employment
on the basis of race, religion, gender,
national origin, color, handicapping
condition, age, marital status or sexual
orientation. This is in accordance with
Title VI, Title VII, Title IX and other
civil rights or discrimination issues;
Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act
of 1973 as amended and the Americans
with Disabilities Act of 1991.
Photo: Harrison Judd
A MESSAGE FROM THE DIRECTOR
An active summer of collections and archives care
has brought us to a busy fall. Our summer interns
and youth employees were a terrific help, assisting
with the de-installation and installation of temporary
exhibitions as well as preparing objects to be sent
for conservation. You may find some old friends
re-installed on display, particularly in the long-term
exhibition, Crocker’s Norwich: Art and Industry in
the 19th Century. Many museums make temporary
changes to long term exhibitions for reasons usually
related to conservation. The Slater Memorial
Museum is no exception to this practice. Pieces
have been recently removed from this exhibition and
temporarily replaced with objects that are less often
displayed. We hope you enjoy the opportunity to see these substitutions and
return to view those that will be re-installed when conservation is complete. Our
collections committee met to consider accepting many new and exciting objects
as donations from Slater Museum members and NFA alumni. Please see page 11
for more information about these. We also will be partnering this fall with the
Norwich Historical Society to present several programs featuring Norwich’s very
important maritime history. We hope you will be able to join us for many of these.
UPCOMING EXHIBITIONS, PROGRAMS AND EVENTS
Fall, 2016
2016 WILLIAM B. STANLEY LECTURE SERIES:
Of Tides and Time: How the Thames River and Norwich
Harbor Shaped Norwich. Presented by the Slater Memorial
Museum and Norwich Historical Society. More information
on page 8.
Friday, October 7
EXHIBITION OPENING: Renaissance in Pastel, the
23rd National Juried Exhibition presented by the Connecticut Pastel Society. On view through November 12, 2016.
Saturday, October 23
1:00 - 3:00
EXHIBITION RECEPTION: Renaissance in Pastel, the
23rd National Juried Exhibition presented by the Connecticut Pastel Society. Gallery Tour at 1:00 with Gigi Liverant
and Laurel Friedmann. Award Presentation at 3:00. The
reception is free and all are welcome to attend.
Thursday, November 17
5:00 - 7:00
HOLIDAY PARTY & SHOPPING NIGHT: For one
night only, receive 10% off all merchandise while enjoying
refreshments, gallery tours, free gift wrapping and more.
This will be the easiest and most fun shopping you’ll do all
season!!
Thursday, November 17
EXHIBITION OPENING: Life’s Landscape: The Art of
Ron Wing on view from November 17 - December 3, 2016.
Free and open to the public.
Saturday, December 3
SILENT AND LIVE AUCTION: The paintings of Ron
Wing. Please see page 7 for more information.
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(Continued from page 1)
and operation of all U.S.
lighthouses and lightships.
A final agency was consolidated
under the Control of the Coast
Guard. The Bureau of Marine
Inspection and Navigation,
formed through the union
of the Steamboat Inspection
Service (1871) and the Bureau
of Navigation (1884), was
established to to enforce laws
relating to the construction,
equipment,
operation,
inspection,
safety,
and
The concept of assistance to shipwrecked mariners from shore based stations
documentation
of
merchant
began with volunteer lifesaving services and eventually became the purview
vessels. By executive order, its
of the Revenue Cutter Service, the precursor to the modern day Coast Guard.
functions relating to merchant
“The Start of the Life-boat, Cape Cod” postcard depicts deployment of a lifeboat from Old Harbor U.S. Life Saving Station in Chatham, Massachusetts,
vessel
inspection
and
collection of the Truro Historical Society.
documentation, safety of life
at sea, and merchant mariners
vessels. Eventually expanding down the
were fully transferred to the United States Coast Guard
eastern seaboard, these lifesaving stations
in 1946.
were managed by local municipalities.
On Jan. 28, 1915, President Woodrow
Wilson signed into law the “Act to Create
the Coast Guard,” combining the LifeSaving Service and Revenue Cutter Service
to form the Coast Guard, and with the
declaration of war against Germany in
1917, the Coast Guard was transferred by
Executive Order to the control of the Navy
Department.
After World War I, in 1919, the Coast
Guard reverted to Treasury Department.
The Coast Guard continued to expand its
role providing navigation, life-saving and
other maritime services to U.S. sea-farers.
In 1939 it absorbed the Lighthouse Board
(later, Bureau of Lighthouses), which was
formed in 1852 to coordinate the nation’s
lighthouse system. The U.S. coastline was
divided into 12 lighthouse districts, each
with an army or navy officer as lighthouse
inspector. Since the merge, the Coast
Guard has taken over the maintenance
The USCGC Icarus, a 165-foot cutter that previously had
been a rumrunner chaser during Prohibition, sank enemy
sub U-352 on May 9, 1942 off the coast of Charleston, South
Carolina, and took 33 prisoners, the first Germans taken in
combat by any U.S. force.
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President Grover Cleveland reopened the
School of Instruction in 1894, responding
to new conditions and a growing Navy.
The growing nation, expanding its
territories, wished to provide security at
sea and regulate expanding commerce.
Officers taught cadets on the classroom
ship Salmon P. Chase, named for another
Secretary of the Treasury. At a time when
America fell in love with travel at sea,
like the Slater Family on their ’roundthe-world cruise, the floating academy
attracted positive attention at its ports
of call. Dances and parties were held
ashore, bringing officers and cadets in
contact with civilians in polite company.
The U.S. Revenue Cutter Salmon P. Chase. Date and location unknown, but some time before decommissioning in 1907. The vessel
served as the second cadet training ship.
As an organization, the Coast Guard has been overseen by various
departments within the United Stated Government. Control of
the Coast Guard was again transferred to the Department of the
Navy in anticipation of World War II in November, 1941. After the
war, in 1946 the Coast Guard returned to Treasury Department
control, then in 1967, it was transferred to the newly formed
Department of Transportation. Finally, in March 2003, the Coast
Guard was formally transferred to the newly-created Department
of Homeland Security.
The United States Coast Guard Academy’s history and evolution
is deeply tied to the Coast Guard’s. The precursor to the Academy
was the Revenue Cutter School of Instruction, and was held aboard
a ship. Captain Alexander Fraser began an 11-month training
cruise, teaching raw lieutenants from the Merchant Marine and
the Navy the skills required of officers. His experience led him to
recommend the establishment of an Academy to prepare junior
officers for the Revenue Cutter Service’s specific needs. In 1876,
Captain John Henriques was selected to lead the first cadet training
ship, the topsail schooner Dobbin, out of Baltimore, Maryland.
Beginning with a handful, the Revenue Cutter School of
Instruction began sending a small number of well-trained and
educated young men to the fleet to serve as third lieutenants,
then the lowest officer rank. Their training proved successful but
in the face of political pressures against operating two maritime
academies, in 1889 President Benjamin Harrison closed the
Revenue Cutter School of Instruction then at New Bedford.
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In 1900, Captain David A. Hall was
ordered to sail the Chase to Arundel
Cove near Curtis Bay, Maryland, where
a homeport for the School of Instruction
was established on 65 acres. Although
the “dorm” was still the Chase, by 1903,
the two-year program was expanded to
three and the curriculum was expanded
to cover a full college curriculum plus
seamanship, navigation, astronomy,
electricity, gunnery, naval architecture,
law and service regulations, steam
engineering, hygiene and signals. In
addition, cadets fielded competitive
athletics.
Another significant change occurred
when engineer cadets were added
to the corps in 1906. Typically older
than line cadets, engineer cadets were
mostly college graduates and followed
a curriculum distinct from line cadets.
Not surprisingly, some rivalry developed
between these two groups of cadets.
By 1907, Chase needed replacement,
which was the 190-foot barquentinerigged Itasca, the first Revenue Cutter
Service training ship powered by both
wind and steam. More than a decade
earlier, the Slater Family’s Yacht Eleanor,
a steam-sail combination was built in
Bath, Maine.
Cadets drill on the parade ground at the Revenue Cutter School of Instruction, Fort Trumbull
Because the Itasca demanded more space than
available at Curtis Bay, in 1910, the War Department
assigned historic Fort Trumbull in New London
to the Revenue Cutter Service. Fort Trumbull
provided abundant space, ready access to the sea,
and the protection of Long Island Sound, but it was
a dated facility of the American Revolution, already
abandoned by the Army. Most cadets continued to
live aboard Itasca.
the U.S. Revenue Cutter Service Academy was
renamed the U.S. Coast Guard Academy.
For the construction of the new Coast Guard
Academy 40 acres were purchased from the Allyn
and Payne estates. On May 15, 1931, Treasury
Secretary Andrew W. Mellon laid the cornerstone of
Hamilton Hall. Cadets moved into the new buildings
in September 1932. In 1946, the academy received,
as a War Reparation from Germany, the 295-foot
tall ship barque Horst Wessel, which was renamed
the USCG Eagle. It remains the main training
vessel for cadets at the academy as well as for officer
candidates as the Coast Guard’s Officer Candidate
School, also on the grounds of the USCGA. The
academy was racially integrated in 1962, at the
request of President Kennedy and began admitting
women in 1976 at the request of Congress.
In 1914, a 205-foot barquentine-rigged cutter, which
had served as a gunboat in the Spanish American
War, was converted to become the Academy
training ship. Powered by a coal-fired, steam engine,
the ship was commissioned Hamilton to honor the
father of the Revenue Cutter Service. Although the
Academy made steady progress at Fort Trumbull,
political pressures again threatened the existence of
the Revenue Cutter Service. President William Taft
was seeking ways to economize and his Secretary of
the Treasury, Franklin MacVeagh, proposed making
the Life-Saving Service part of the Revenue Cutter
Service. With the consolidation of the two services,
Revenue Cutter Service cadets aboard their training
vessel, “Itasca,” ca. 1913.
Charles Satterlee (1875-1918) graduated from NFA
in 1895, dreaming only of joining the United States
Revenue Cutter Service (USRC), which President
Grover Cleveland had only re-opened the year
before. He graduated in 1898 from what would
become the U.S. Revenue Cutter Training School.
Little did he know that he would become the
officer of the United States Coast Guard ship most
renowned in World War I.
Captain Charles Satterlee was born to the family
of Mr. Charles Avery Satterlee on September 14,
1875 in Gales Ferry. The Satterlee family farm is
now known as Alice Acres and purportedly named
after his spunky sister, Alice Satterlee, who although
having two brothers, took over farm management.
5
Satterlee’s ship as U.S.S. Woodbury and assigned it
to the blockade off the port of Havana, Cuba.
Charles was appointed a cadet in the Revenue
Cutter Service in 1895 then in 1908 became
supervisor of anchorages at Sault Ste.
Marie, Michigan. The duty included
command of the USRC Mackinac.
In 1909, he was ordered to
the USRC Tahoma, out of
Baltimore, for a cruise to
the Pacific. The USRC
Service was joined with
the United States Life
Saving Service to form
the United States Coast
Guard and on September
1,1915, Satterlee was
promoted to Captain in
the Coast Guard.
Satterlee served in waters from
the Florida Keys to the North
Atlantic to the Pacific. In April
1912, shortly before the
USCGC Miami’s trial run,
the infamous Titanic struck
an iceberg in the North
Atlantic and sank with
1,517 passengers aboard.
From this incident, there
arose a universal demand
for a patrol of the ice
zone during the iceberg
season to warn passing
vessels of the day-to-day
dangers. The Miami was
one of two Navy scout cruisers
ordered to this patrol for the
Revenue Cutter Service. During
his time cruising these waters, Satterlee
became enamored of the Inuit, Klitikat,
Haida, Nootka and other Northern tribes, in the
new U. S. territory of Alaska, accessible only by sea.
He collected functional household and hunting
artifacts including baskets, knives, fish hooks and
protective clothing. His collection was donated to
the Slater Museum after his death.
Satterlee trained on the
ship Salmon P. Chase at
New Bedford, well before the
current Academy was built and
graduated first in his class. His first
assignment, as 3rd Lieutenant, was on the
U.S. Revenue Cutter Woodbury at Portland, Maine.
In April 1898 the U.S. declared war with Spain and
the U.S. Revenue Cutter Service was made part of
the Auxiliary Naval Force. The Navy designated
When the United States declared war with Germany
in 1917 shortly after the USCG was formed, several
ships were directed to serve in cooperation with
the U.S. Navy. The USCGC Tampa, originally
named Miami, was ordered under the command of
Captain Satterlee. Coast Guard cutters were refitted
and assigned to the U.S. Naval Base at Gibraltar.
The Tampa and others served as escorts to allied
merchant and military convoys between Gibraltar
and England. It is interesting to note that William
Slater’s Yachter Eleanor was enlisted into similar
service as the U.S. Harvard around the same time.
For nearly a year, Tampa escorted 18 convoys of
350 merchant ships, losing only two to a German
U-boat attack. In each of these, Captain Satterlee is
credited with ensuring that the crews of both vessels
were rescued.
The Satterlee Plaque located in the Tirrell Building on
the Norwich Free Academy Campus.
6
Life’s Landscape:
The Art of Ron Wing
Ron Wing (1929-2015), graduated from NFA in 1948
with a Fine Arts diploma. He exhibited at the National Academy in New York and in galleries in New
York City, New Jersey, Connecticut and Pennsylvania.
Wing’s love of nature, the mysteries of life and death
and other allegorical themes have been captured in
the mediums of oil, watercolor, pastel, pencil, charcoal
and etchings.
More than eighty Wing paintings will be on view in the Converse Art Gallery. A
silent auction of many works included in the exhibition will run November 17
through December 3. The live auction event will be held Saturday, December 3.
Live auction ticket price includes admission to the museum, a commemorative
booklet and gourmet hors d’oeuvres. To purchase tickets for the live auction event,
please complete the form below. Proceeds will benefit the museum’s collections fund.
LIFE’S LANDSCAPE: THE ART OF RON WING
SATURDAY, DECEMBER 3, 2016
LIVE AUCTION TICKET ORDER FORM
Advanced purchase price: $25 / $20 museum members
(Advanced purchase ticket orders must be received no later than Monday, November 28, 2016)
Door price: $35 / $30 museum members
Please remit order form with payment in the return envelope provided to:
Slater Memorial Museum ● 108 Crescent Street ● Norwich, CT 06360
# of tickets ordered:________ x
Member rate: $ ______
Non-member rate: $ ______
Total due: $ ______________
Check enclosed (payable to Slater Memorial Museum)
Visa
Mastercard
Please provide the following information. Tickets will not be mailed. You will be notified by email
(if provided) or by telephone to confirm your order.
Name:Street:
City:State:Zip Code:
Daytime Telephone: (___)
Evening Telephone: (___)
Email:
To pay with your credit card, please fill out completely:
Credit Card #__________________________________ Exp. Date: ___________
Credit Card Security Code (CVC2/CVV2,
last 3 digits on signature): __________
7
SignatureDate
NEW VOLUNTEER
OPPORTUNITIES
AT THE SLATER
MUSEUM!
The Norwich Historical Society and
Slater Memorial Museum present
Of Tides and Time
How the Thames River and
Norwich Harbor Shaped Norwich
Are you a lover of art or history? Do you
enjoy meeting new people, and are you
interested in becoming more involved with
the community?
Unless otherwise stated, all events to be held at the Slater Museum
Auditorium, 108 Crescent Street, Norwich. Free and open to the
public. Please call (860) 425-5563 for more information.
September 10 | 3 p.m. | “In the Heart of the Sea”
film screening with Slater Museum Director Vivian
Zoë introductory talk on Norwich’s whaling captain
Thomas Davis Winship.
If you answered yes, please join us for an
informational session about becoming a
volunteer interpreter at the Slater Museum!
September 17 | 3 p.m. | First Inhabitants – The
Mohegan Tribe and the Thames River region in the
17th Century presentation by Mohegan Tribe Elders
Beth Regan and Faith Davison.
September 24 | 3 p.m. | On the Riverfront: The
Importance of River Power in Norwich History
lecture by Three Rivers Community College Professor
Ed Derr.
PLEASE JOIN US TUESDAY,
DECEMBER 6 AT 10:00AM AT
THE SLATER MUSEUM
October 8 | 3 p.m. | “The Finest Hours” film screening with introductory talk by Slater Museum Director
Vivian Zoë on NFA Alumnus Charles Satterlee.
for an informational session about our 2017
volunteer training program.
Gala Event to be held at the Mercantile Exchange, 55 Main
Street, Norwich. Tickets $75 per person. Contact Regan Miner
at [email protected] to purchase. Funds raised benefit the
missions of the Norwich Historical Society and the Slater Museum.
Visit www.slatermuseum.org or call
(860) 425-5563 to learn more.
November 4 | 5-8 p.m. | Gala Event: A Celebration
of Native American Mariners featuring a keynote
lecture by Dr. Jason Mancini of the Mashantucket Pequot Tribe. “Catch the View” – 5 pm | Hors d’oeuvres,
Drinks & Live Music – 6 pm | Keynote Speaker – 7 pm
The William B. Stanley Lecture
Series honors Stanley’s passion
for his city’s rich history by featuring an annual lecture series
relevant to the history of Norwich delivered by an eminent
scholar. This year, the Norwich
Historical Society is collaborating
with Slater Memorial Museum
to present a series of events on
our featured topic: The Thames
River and Norwich Harbor.
8
On September 16, 1918 Tampa was awarded a
pennant by the U.S. Navy for outstanding Ocean
Escort work. The following day, escorting 32
merchant vessels, she sailed from Catalan Bay for
Liverpool, England with 11 Coast Guard officers,
3 U.S. Navy officers and 101 skilled seamen. In
addition, the Tampa was returning Royal British
Navy sailors and dockyard workers.
Charles Satterlee ca.
1898 in Revenue Cutter
(USCG) uniform
During the voyage, Tampa was ordered to detach
herself from the convoy near Milford Haven, Wales.
In a fateful twist of location and timing, a German
UB Coastal Torpedo Attack boat, was in need of
repair work after sinking a British merchant vessel
near the southwestern coast of Cornwall, England.
During heavy fog, the U-boat was repaired while
submerged, then surfaced under clear skies. The
German captain wrote a chilling account of the
lone, small cutter’s coming into perfect alignment
and sight for a direct hit.
Tampa was acknowledged the worst loss suffered
by United States naval forces during World War
I. Two ships in the United States Navy have been
named USS Satterlee for him as has Satterlee Hall
at the U.S. Coast Guard Academy, housing the
Academy’s Computer Science, Humanities, Math
and Management departments.
All that remained of the Tampa was a black cloud of
smoke. A second explosion, possibly from its own
depth charges, followed. The sinking vessel caused
a high water flume illuminated by the dusk sky.
The U-boat searched for the result of its attack, but
found none. In the aftermath of the attack, a threeday search by British and American ships recovered
only two unidentified Coast Guardsmen’s
bodies and a small amount of wreckage.
Louis Thomas O’Neill (1917-1974) is listed
among the alumni as having graduated
from NFA in 1936. He was originally
a member of the class of 1935, but
circumstances caused him to
graduate a year late. In The Day
of May 24, 1941, reporter Jack
Cruise asserted that O’Neill
attended Peekskill Military
Academy, which probably
constituted a “Sixth Year,”
intended to bring his
grades to a level to make
him eligible for entry in to
the USCGA. Jeff Canning,
writing for the PeekskillCortland Patch, September
15, 2011, reported that
Peekskill Military Academy
(PMA), began, like NFA, as a
Posthumous Purple Heart medals
were awarded to Captain Satterlee
and all U.S. servicemen on board
April 22, 1999. In another
twist of fate, when initially
no living relatives could be
found for Captain Satterlee,
his Purple Heart Medal was
held until a relative could be
located. In 2011, Satterlee
cousin Lyn Morgan Lawson
was designated to receive
the medal by the approval
of Admiral Robert J. Papp,
another NFA alumnus (class
of 1970). The presentation
ceremony was held May 12,
2012, at the newly reopened Coast
Guard Academy Museum. The
sinking of the U.S.S. Coast Guard Cutter
Louis Thomas O’Neil yearbook portrait
from the NFA Mirror, ca. 1936.
9
9
general admission school in the 19th century with
both girls and boys attending. Perhaps it was his
time at PMA that sealed O’Neill’s commitment to
the military and to athletics.
or possibly pressures at home caused him to do,
alternately, terrifically well and remarkably badly.
Although he didn’t box as a member of the team
his first year at the USCGA, he was spotted by
coaches there and added that to his list of sports of
excellence, becoming team captain his senior year.
As captain of the USCGA football team, O’Neill
played both offense and defense, at165 pounds
no small feat. Success and accolades followed and
in 1940, The Day’s poll of local sports fans named
him Outstanding Athlete of the year, the first for a
USCGA cadet, and named All State the same year.
Shortly before his untimely death in 1974, O’Neill
was named to USCGA’s Hall of Fame.
According to Canning, at one time PMA was one of
the largest preparatory schools in America. During
its 135 active years it physically and intellectually
challenged young men from 42 states and 27
countries. It brought worldwide prominence to
Peekskill. The New York Jets football team practiced
on PMA fields in the early 1960s. The school, which
had an annual budget of $780,000 (well over $6
million in today’s dollars) and employed 133 people
in 1965, was a key part of the local economy. The
school grew and prospered until the 1960s, when the
unprecedented anti-military attitude throughout
the United States plunged PMA’s enrollment. The
class of 1968 was PMA’s last. Unfortunately, the
academy’s assets were liquidated including artifacts
and historical records, leaving us guessing about
Louis Thomas O’Neill’s time there.
After graduation from the USCGA in 1940, Louis
served on the USCG Cutter Mohawk. The Mohawk,
built and launched in 1934 by Pusey and Jones, Co.,
in Wilmington, Delaware, was commissioned in
1935 and ended its military service in 1948. Sold
to the Delaware River Pilots’ Association, the ship
was found in a Staten Island scrap yard, moved to
Key West and later sunk in the Gulf of Mexico as an
artificial reef and memorial to veterans who served
aboard her.
The child of a Norwich policeman and homemaker,
O’Neill grew up on Oak Street. In the Mirror,
the NFA Yearbook, Louis stated that his highest
ambition was to be a professional football player.
A member of Phi Alpha Mu Sigma Fraternity,
he played baseball (Center Field) for both NFA
and USCGA. O’Neill started at PMA in the fall of
1937, so he may have also taken a “Gap Year” in
today’s parlance. A review of his records in the NFA
transcript books (only available in their original,
ledger-book form) shows us that his grades were
all over the map. Either his commitment to sports,
A fierce competitor, Louis was awarded the
Distinguished Flying Cross for his heroism while
participating in an aerial flight during service in
World War II. As a test pilot after the war, O’Neill
endured injuries that forced what surely for him
was an early retirement. The disease that killed him
was squamous cell cancer of the jawbone, leading
to surgeries and radiation therapy when these
Louis Thomas O’Neil with members of NFA’s football team, ca. 1936.
10
USCGC Mohawk during WWII
treatments were in their infancy and aggressive. This
form of skin cancer is one of the most common, and
typically results from over exposure to the sun. A
proud Irishman who wore green as if every day was
St. Patrick’s day, a sportsman and a warrior, O’Neill
most likely took few precautions and was outdoors
a great deal.
A native of Norwich, Admiral Robert J. Papp Jr.
(1952- ) is a 1970 graduate of NFA. Like O’Neill,
Robert J. Papp, Jr. was the son of a policeman. But
Robert Joseph Papp, Sr. (1932-2005) was a very
unusual man. A native of Norwich, he attended NFA
for two years (1946-1948), leaving to attend trade
school. The elder Papp served his country in the
United States Marine Corp (1950 -1957) during the
Korean conflict. In 1957 he joined the Connecticut
State Police, promoted to detective in 1961 and
became an inspector for the New London State’s
Attorney’s Office. In 1973 he was commissioned in the
United States Coast Guard Reserve
and commanded the Captain
of the Port of New York reserve
unit, retiring as a Commander
in 1990. In 1978, at the age of 46,
he passed the Connecticut State
Bar and became an Attorney with
the firm Rakosky, Smith, Miller
and Papp. In 1994 he and his wife
moved to Martha’s Vineyard and
in 2001 to Chesapeake, Virginia.
He informed the NFA Alumni
Association that he wished to remain apprised of all
class of 1950 events and updates..
Robert J. “Bob” Papp, Jr. was a “tri-captain” of the
NFA Football Team, jersey No. 71. In 1975, Robert,
Jr. graduated from the United States Coast Guard
Academy. He holds a Master of Arts in National
Security and Strategic Studies from the United
States Naval War College and a Master of Science
in Management from Salve Regina University.
Papp retired in 2014 after serving as the 24th
Commandant of the U.S. Coast Guard. He led the
largest component of the United States Department
of Homeland Security, with 42,000 active duty,
8,200 Reserve, 8,000 civilian, and 31,000 Auxiliary
personnel.
As a flag officer, Papp served as Commander, Coast
Guard Atlantic Area, where he was operational
commander for all U.S. Coast Guard missions
within the eastern half of the world and provided
(Left to right) Robert Papp Senior NFA yearbook picture11ca. 1975; Papp (far right) in NFA football uniform, #71.
support to the Department of Defense; as the Chief
of Staff of the Coast Guard and Commanding Officer
of Coast Guard Headquarters; as Commander, Ninth
Coast Guard District, with responsibilities for Coast
Guard missions on the Great Lakes and Northern
Border; and as Director of Reserve and Training where
he was responsible for managing and supporting
13,000 Coast Guard Ready Reservists and all Coast
Guard Training Centers.
Like O’Neill and Satterlee, Papp is a cutterman, having
served on six Coast Guard cutters and commanded
the cutters USCG Red Beech, USCGC Papaw,
USCGC Forward, and USCGC Eagle, the U.S. Coast
Guard’s training barque Eagle. He has also served as
commander of a task unit during Operation Able
Manner off the coast of Haiti in 1994, enforcing
United Nations sanctions. Additionally, his task unit
augmented U.S. Naval Forces during an American
intervention in Haiti.
Robert Papp’s official USCG photo, ca. 2015
Papp’s assignments ashore have included the
Commandant of Cadets staff at the U.S. Coast Guard
Academy; Aids to Navigation staff in the Third Coast
Guard District; Chief of the Capabilities Branch in
the Defense Operations Division; Chief of the Fleet
Development Team; Director of the Leadership
Development Center; Chief of the Coast Guard’s
Office of Congressional Affairs; and Deputy Chief of
Staff of the Coast Guard.
On July 16, 2014, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry
announced the appointment of retired Admiral
Robert Papp to serve as U.S. Special Representative for
the Arctic. Papp is the 13th Gold Ancient Mariner of
the Coast Guard, which is an honorary position held
by an officer, with the earliest date of qualification
as a Cutterman and over ten years of cumulative sea
duty. Papp accepted the 2010 Naval War College
Distinguished Graduate Leadership Award from the
Naval War College (NWC) during a ceremony held at
the Washington Navy Yard on May 6, 2010. In a cover
story interview published in the February 2012 issue of
Military Officer, he described his plans for budgetary
reductions in the U.S. Coast Guard. In additional,
Admiral Papp was presented with the Dwight D.
Eisenhower award in 2013.
Until May 2010, Papp served as Commander, Coast
Guard Atlantic Area in Portsmouth, Virginia and
Commander, Defense Force East. He served as the
operational commander for all U.S. Coast Guard
missions within the eastern half of the world; ranging
from the Rocky Mountains to the Persian Gulf and
spanning an area of responsibility across 42 states
with over 14 million square miles, serving with more
than 51,000 military and civilian employees and
Auxiliarists.
Papp was promoted to admiral and succeeded Admiral
Thad Allen as the U.S. Coast Guard’s commandant in
a change of command ceremony on May 25, 2010.
Papp made the first appointment in United States
history of a woman to head a United States military
service academy when he designated Sandra L. Stosz
as superintendent of United States Coast Guard
Academy.
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On July 30, 2005, Papp was inducted into the Reserve
Officers Association Minuteman Hall of Fame in
recognition of dedicated service to the nation in
support of the U.S. Coast Guard Reserve. He was
presented the Distinguished Public Service Award of
the National Maritime Historical Society in 1998 for
his service as the Commanding Officer of the Coast
Guard Cutter Eagle. In 2005 he was presented with the
“Native Sons Award” by his hometown of Norwich.
Shortly before his retirement, Admiral Papp returned
to NFA to address students whom he greeted with
warmth and humility.
COLLECTIONS ACQUISITIONS HIGHLIGHTS
The Slater Museum Collections Committee met in
July and considered the acquisition of several object
through donation and some through purchase. A number of sources provide the resources to make it possible
for the museum to purchase objects when appropriate.
These sources include the Hannah Dodge Purchase
Fund; the sale of work by William B. McCloy and Paul
W. Zimmerman, both artists who designated that their
work be sold by the museum for this purpose; and individual donors like Barry and Donna Wilson.
The Newent Congregational Church gave the
Slater Museum a Childs
chair used for the children’s Sunday School.
Seat bottom has applied
label from “The PlautCadden Company” address at 135-143 Main St.
Norwich, Conn.
Jo Ellen Leone of Norwich recently donated
an Egyptian Khayamiya, a traditionally
hand-stitched textile, in
this case of very large
proportion, made by
skilled men (khayamin
or tentmakers) along the
Sharia Khayamiya near
Bab Zuweila in Cairo.
They sit cross legged
with their backs supported against a wall to
appliqué small patches
of colored cotton across
a canvas backing, which
is discretely marked out
with a carefully ponced
(chalk or charcoal cartoon) design for guidance.
The process is handwork, using a needle, thimble,
and large pair of tailor’s scissors. Cotton pieces
are cut loosely and folded with precision to be
sewn into specific shapes.
Another purchase (below) was of an oil on canvas stilllife depicting silver, china, glass, flowers and game,
skillfully painted in the European manner, also by John
Denison Crocker. Look for these new objects to be installed for your viewing pleasure soon.
Through a donation from Donna and Barry Wilson, we were able to purchase an oil on board by
John Denison Crocker (above) depicting the village of Yantic with a stone wall, stone structure
(house), bridge in the rear ground and Fiacre in
the mid-ground. Many thanks go to the Wilsons,
also steadfast volunteers.
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Life’s Landscape:
THE ART OF RON WING
On view November 17 through December 3, 2016
JOIN US AS WE CELEBRATE
THE WORK OF RON WING
Ron Wing’s love of nature, the mysteries of life and death and
other allegorical themes have been captured in the mediums of
oil, watercolor, pastel, pencil, charcoal and etchings.
Silent Auction of original Wing works begins November 17,
2016. See page 7 for complete Live Auction registration details.
Please join us for a special live auction event!
Saturday, December 3, 2016
5:30 pm Gallery opens for preview.
6:30 pm Hors d’oeuvres & beverages.
7:30 pm Silent Auction closes.
7:30 pm - 8:30 pm Live Auction of select Wing paintings.
CHANGE SERVICE REQUESTED