BACKTRACKING
ItÕs a Small World
by Terry Hogan
ItÕs a Small world. At least it was in Galesburg in the
1950Õs. Bill Small was GalesburgÕs
mayor in 1958 when it became an All American City. Prior to his term as GalesburgÕs mayor, he had been the Illinois
State Attorney for Knox County. He
recently celebrated his 90th birthday in Indianapolis, where he now
lives. His daughter put together a
scrap book of memorable events and photos. She also got a key to the City of
Galesburg.
IÕm not much on doing
interviews. I never quite seem to
know what to ask. But Bill, at age
90, is outgoing, friendly, and has a remarkable memory, and a wide range of
interesting stories accumulated to date.
He recalls his years in Galesburg, and earlier, with fondness.
Like many of BillÕs contemporaries,
he served in WWII. He went through
Officers Candidate School (OCS) and became an Army officer. When he left the army after the end of
WWII, he was a captain. This is,
in itself, not all that newsworthy.
But his officerÕs training was notable. His OCS training was conducted in Miami, Florida – not
a bad tour of duty during the war.
Even better, he had a notable classmate. He was Clark Gable.
Bill, chuckling, speculates that Clark Gable had more fun on the
weekends at Miami than he did. The class graduated on October 28, 1942,
producing another batch of Army Air Corps 2nd Lts. (This was before the Air Force was formed.)
After the war, Bill attended the
University of Illinois, becoming a lawyer. That led him to Galesburg where he
became the State Attorney for Knox County. He went from that position to being
elected GalesburgÕs mayor. He has
a few interesting stories about this period of his life.
He recalled a raid on the Harbor
Lights Supper Club in Galesburg.
The purpose was to shut down an illegal gambling operation held at the
facility behind locked doors. The
operation was not a well-kept secret and complaints about the operation were
received.
He also recalled the porch bombing
of a well-known economics professor of Knox College. Dr. Alvin (ÒBroÓ) White was an activist or citizen reformer
in Galesburg. Dr. White, along with Rev. Fred Gilson and Rev. Alan Jenkins were
very active in trying to shut down gambling, underage drinking and
prostitution. It is also reported
that the group played an important role in the discovery of a Òwhite slavery
ringÓ that moved women in Galesburg, and other Illinois towns (Monson, 2002). Apparently Dr. WhiteÕs activities must
have upset someone as a bomb was placed on his homeÕs front porch. It exploded, damaging the porch, but
luckily not causing physical harm to anyone. To my knowledge, nobody was identified as the bomber. The event did, IÕm told, get national
attention, with an article appearing in the Parade
Magazine.
Although Mr. Small was the mayor of
Galesburg when it was named an All American City, he quickly noted that it was
Dr. White who filled out the forms and was the strong advocate for
Galesburg. This was also the
period that Galesburg was involved with solving its water supply problem by
running a pipe line from the Mississippi River to Galesburg. Even I remember the signs in a public
toilet in a small town along the Mississippi. It read, ÒFlush the toilet twice, Galesburg needs the
waterÓ.
Bill is not the only one to have
some interesting stories. His wife
is Lass Small, who is the author of approximately 65 romance novels, most of
which were published by Harlequin.
According to Bill, she generally wrote three or four novels a year. Lass also published several romance
novels under the name ÒCally HughesÓ. Although she no longer writes, her books
are readily available on the Internet.
A partial listing of her published books can be found at
www.romantictimes.com/authors_profile.php.
References
Monson, Bill. 2002. Year in Review – 1952. The Zephyr.
www.thezephyr.com/monson1952.htm
Reichel, Martin. 2008. Personal
Communication.
Romantic
Times Book Reviews.
www.romantictimes.com/authors_profile.php
Small, Bill. 2008. Personal
Communication.
Winick, Norm. 2008. Personal
Communication.
2/28/08