Darlene Norman - A Researcher’s Point of View
Darlene Norman, "Super Researcher"
"Part time literary researcher and writer for historic project; wanted to work on a bio/historical overview of a Fortune 500 company from the 50’s. Assist with preparation and research of stored documents. Would like someone who can understand business ups and downs as well as the difficulties and dynamics of a family company. Need a good smart team player."
I know close to zip about big business, so normally I wouldn’t have given the ad a second glance. However, the person wrote, “If you are interested in history this is perfect for you. A retired person is preferred who may have some perspective on the 1950’s.”
I was born in the 1950’s, I am indeed a retired person (yea!), and I’m definitely interested in history. I could answer in the affirmative on most of what the ad requested. As a genealogist, a passion I’ve cultivated since I retired, I have learned tons about digging through dusty old documents and websites. What did I have to lose by submitting a quick resume, and perhaps even making it to an interview?
Little did I know that I was about to embark on a most incredible journey.
I called her. She introduced herself as Ruth Fruehauf, and we set up an interview. I went on the Internet and found that Ruth was a member of the Fruehauf family of Detroit. Her grandfather was August Charles Fruehauf of Fruehauf Trailer Company and the inventor of the truck trailer. August founded the company back in 1914. There were references to some legal troubles, and some articles alluded to a feud or two that had damaged the family business.
Ruth and I chitchatted, and for the most part had the kind of regular interview one has for a job. I assumed from her ad that the research was in preparation for a book, so I asked who and what the book would be about. She introduced me to her father, Roy August Fruehauf. Not literally introduced as Roy has been gone for 50 years. She pointed out several cardboard office boxes stacked in her living room against the wall, and indicated there were several more boxes squirreled away in a closet. She had a metal 4-drawer file cabinet and indicated that she eventually wanted many of the documents contained in the cardboard boxes sorted and filed in an orderly fashion inside that file cabinet.
This story, and the book we are writing, had been in the back of Ruth’s mind for most of her life. The boxes she now possessed contained business documents, magazine and newspapers and old photograph albums. They had been stored for decades, and after Ruth’s mother passed away Ruth gained possession. Most of the material hadn’t been looked at since the death of Roy Fruehauf in 1965, nearly 50 years ago.
I know close to zip about big business, so normally I wouldn’t have given the ad a second glance. However, the person wrote, “If you are interested in history this is perfect for you. A retired person is preferred who may have some perspective on the 1950’s.”
I was born in the 1950’s, I am indeed a retired person (yea!), and I’m definitely interested in history. I could answer in the affirmative on most of what the ad requested. As a genealogist, a passion I’ve cultivated since I retired, I have learned tons about digging through dusty old documents and websites. What did I have to lose by submitting a quick resume, and perhaps even making it to an interview?
Little did I know that I was about to embark on a most incredible journey.
I called her. She introduced herself as Ruth Fruehauf, and we set up an interview. I went on the Internet and found that Ruth was a member of the Fruehauf family of Detroit. Her grandfather was August Charles Fruehauf of Fruehauf Trailer Company and the inventor of the truck trailer. August founded the company back in 1914. There were references to some legal troubles, and some articles alluded to a feud or two that had damaged the family business.
Ruth and I chitchatted, and for the most part had the kind of regular interview one has for a job. I assumed from her ad that the research was in preparation for a book, so I asked who and what the book would be about. She introduced me to her father, Roy August Fruehauf. Not literally introduced as Roy has been gone for 50 years. She pointed out several cardboard office boxes stacked in her living room against the wall, and indicated there were several more boxes squirreled away in a closet. She had a metal 4-drawer file cabinet and indicated that she eventually wanted many of the documents contained in the cardboard boxes sorted and filed in an orderly fashion inside that file cabinet.
This story, and the book we are writing, had been in the back of Ruth’s mind for most of her life. The boxes she now possessed contained business documents, magazine and newspapers and old photograph albums. They had been stored for decades, and after Ruth’s mother passed away Ruth gained possession. Most of the material hadn’t been looked at since the death of Roy Fruehauf in 1965, nearly 50 years ago.
Darlene Visits the Bayou
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Volunteering in a wildlife refuge
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My new furry friend
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Ruth and I spent many hours digging through those boxes, each a treasure chest of stories and fascinating pieces of history. We found about a dozen of Roy’s office date books. Every day contained mention of meetings with easily recognized names that connected to Roy’s life or business. Presidents, politicians, union mucky mucks, and big name businessmen like Ford, and Fisher of Fisher Auto Body and the Marathon Oil fortune, John Ruan of Ruan Transportation Management Systems of Des Moines, Warren and Suzy Avis, the founders of Avis Rent-A-Car, and Bill Packer of Packer Pontiac. That’s just the short list.
Then we ran into the Union names; Dave Beck who was the president of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, and of course the infamous Jimmy Hoffa as he was Dave Beck’s right hand. A close family friend was Joseph E. Davis, linked to a long succession of U.S. Presidents and a man who served as Ambassador to the Soviet Union, Belgium and Luxembourg, who happened to be the husband of Marjorie Merriweather Post. Joe and Marjorie were frequent dinner guests at the Fruehauf house. We found numerous communications between Roy and Drew Pearson who we learned was a Washington newspaper columnist for the Washington Merry-Go Round and made his money writing gossip about politicians and big names in business.
We found personal communication between Roy and Gordon Dean. We knew that name rang a big bell and found that he had served as the Chairman of the Atomic Energy Commission. What we found that we knew few people would know was that after he retired Dean became a Fruehauf Trailer Company board member, and a confidant of Roy Fruehauf’s.
I went home every evening salivating over a new name or incident that we had discovered that needed investigation. There were letters and news clippings and photos of President Eisenhower and Nixon. When Senator John F. Kennedy and brother Robert popped up playing major roles in the McClellan Senate hearings on racketeering and corruption in the Unions, and we found transcripts of testimony by Roy Fruehauf, his friend and attorney Alfonso Landa, and Union president Dave Beck that tied them all together in what Robert Kennedy, who was chief legal counsel for McClellan, called a plot of illegal Union money dealings, we were nearly overwhelmed at the prospect of digging into that story.
I’ve never seen myself as a ‘business world’ person, as business is usually a boring subject for me. But Roy Fruehauf’s life and career, as I learned over the months of research and digging, was anything but boring.
This website was created with the purpose of introducing you to Fruehauf Trailer Company. It is also an introduction to a book currently being prepared for publication about not only the company, but also the family. In that book you will find greed, pride and sibling rivalry as a backdrop for a saga of the Fruehauf family’s business dynamics during the American industrial boom. The book will include tales of labor unions, government interrogations, a Federal indictment and Supreme Court trial. It will reveal the Fruehauf family that the world has never before seen. It is a story we believe should not be lost to time.
I sincerely hope you enjoy a nostalgic journey through history as you scan these pages. Your feedback is important to us so before you leave, please visit our contact page and share your thoughts. Thank you for visiting.
Then we ran into the Union names; Dave Beck who was the president of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, and of course the infamous Jimmy Hoffa as he was Dave Beck’s right hand. A close family friend was Joseph E. Davis, linked to a long succession of U.S. Presidents and a man who served as Ambassador to the Soviet Union, Belgium and Luxembourg, who happened to be the husband of Marjorie Merriweather Post. Joe and Marjorie were frequent dinner guests at the Fruehauf house. We found numerous communications between Roy and Drew Pearson who we learned was a Washington newspaper columnist for the Washington Merry-Go Round and made his money writing gossip about politicians and big names in business.
We found personal communication between Roy and Gordon Dean. We knew that name rang a big bell and found that he had served as the Chairman of the Atomic Energy Commission. What we found that we knew few people would know was that after he retired Dean became a Fruehauf Trailer Company board member, and a confidant of Roy Fruehauf’s.
I went home every evening salivating over a new name or incident that we had discovered that needed investigation. There were letters and news clippings and photos of President Eisenhower and Nixon. When Senator John F. Kennedy and brother Robert popped up playing major roles in the McClellan Senate hearings on racketeering and corruption in the Unions, and we found transcripts of testimony by Roy Fruehauf, his friend and attorney Alfonso Landa, and Union president Dave Beck that tied them all together in what Robert Kennedy, who was chief legal counsel for McClellan, called a plot of illegal Union money dealings, we were nearly overwhelmed at the prospect of digging into that story.
I’ve never seen myself as a ‘business world’ person, as business is usually a boring subject for me. But Roy Fruehauf’s life and career, as I learned over the months of research and digging, was anything but boring.
This website was created with the purpose of introducing you to Fruehauf Trailer Company. It is also an introduction to a book currently being prepared for publication about not only the company, but also the family. In that book you will find greed, pride and sibling rivalry as a backdrop for a saga of the Fruehauf family’s business dynamics during the American industrial boom. The book will include tales of labor unions, government interrogations, a Federal indictment and Supreme Court trial. It will reveal the Fruehauf family that the world has never before seen. It is a story we believe should not be lost to time.
I sincerely hope you enjoy a nostalgic journey through history as you scan these pages. Your feedback is important to us so before you leave, please visit our contact page and share your thoughts. Thank you for visiting.
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The Sierra Nevada Mountains, our playground and a terrific place for retirement!
