May 1970

It's a long way down. At least that was the thought as I watched several workmen in the chill drizzle of a late winter morning. They were in the park eleven stories below and the things they were planting looked very dead and the labor hopeless.

Now a month has passed and the leaves are starting out on the trees. The red of the azaleas, the red, yellow and white of the tulips, and the blues of the border plants are saying something.

There is something to be said for starting with nothing, or almost nothing. You can add some faith and hope, a portion of TLC, the warmth of the sun, a well prepared seedbed, and the overwhelming spark of LIFE. The result can be anticipated is you are willing to wait the appointed time. It's not nearly as far down when there are colors in such perfect patterns to relate back to you.

How satisfied are you? Does the title "Federal Servant" bug a little? This is one thing the League of Federal Recreation Associations is all about. We want the world to know something about these folks who make up the great heartbeat that is the United States of America. True, we cannot all be identified, singled out and honored in the niche in which our talents are utilized. But...

But, aren't we part of the structure which placed men on the moon and brought three safely back from almost certain disaster? Is you position one calling for support of these proud young Americans on the line for their Country in Viet Nam? Or, are you in the services area making sure the mail goes through on time, that there are jobs for those who need them, that the production in this nation is in line with the needs, and the natural gifts of our environment are protected as we relate more and more to air and water conditions.

Perhaps you are involved in transportation and the moving of men and materials over, under and around. Roads, rails, airways and waterways tell us something about America and your role in her progress. Or, is it communications for defense or peace, business and pleasure? Could be you are in the midst of telling where we have been and projecting where we are going through a census survey, in interstate commerce, or by a relationship to our Interior?

As the stock market rocks around seeking level, you suddenly become fully appreciative of your position in the essential financial structure of the most blessed of the globe. Without the "me" in government what happens to budget, treasury, general accounting, federal deposits, home loans, small business, and securities to be held or exchanged?

You are a vital part of making things better for people everywhere. The health, the education, and the welfare of all are in your hands. Housing and the improvement of our cities occupy your time and ability. You are helping someone else through an immigration or naturalization maze just like someone in your own family experienced. You are part of the philosophy making certain there is equal justice under the law for all. Yes, even our friends in Internal Revenue give us that assurance.

My cup of tea is also in the heritage of our land and I reach out to those who want to hear about us, read about us, and see us in action yesterday and today. That's why I am enthused when I identify with the Library of Congress, the Archives, the Gallery of Art, Bureau of Standards, Patent Office, and the great and grand Smithsonian Institution.

A goodly number hit us where we live...We want to live longer, have less pain, and be able to enjoy what all these other government friends have done for us. That's why we direct a nod of pride to those who man the hospitals, research all areas of health and science, give us rehabilitation opportunities, and then economic security through gainful service to others.

David L. Brigham
Executive Director

Gladys Beall Brigham

Grandma passed away in her sleep this morning. She was 93 years old. Please check back in the next day or so, as I will post information on the funeral arrangements as soon as I have it. Thanks.
--Barb

12/30/08 - Edited to add:

The service for Gladys Brigham will be on Saturday, January 3, 2009, at 11:00 a.m. at the Oakdale Emory United Methodist Church in Olney, Maryland. The funeral service will be preceded by a private family burial at 9:30 a.m. No viewing is planned. There will be a reception in Brigham Hall at the church following the service. In lieu of flowers, the family asks that you send a donation to the Oakdale Emory UMC Music Fund. Thank you for all of the kind wishes.

Gladys Brigham is preceded in death by her husband David L. Brigham, her son David A. Brigham, her daughter Frances Ann Brigham, and her sisters Anna and Miriam. She is survived by her sisters Dorothy, Dolores, and Flora, sisters-in-law Marjorie and Helen, daughter Julie and her husband Rich, daughter Pat and her husband Tom, daughter-in-law Liz, grandchildren Paul and his wife Maria, Alison and her husband Scott, Barb and her husband Robb, David, Daniel, Georgi, and Robin, and great-grandchildren Anna, Christina, and Kelly.

The Sandy Spring Museum

I visited the Sandy Spring Museum last week and snapped a few photographs. I remember when the museum first opened in a small brick home in Olney. My father, David A. Brigham, was a charter member and somehow designated as the first person that the security company called every time the wind blew and set off the alarm. Many a late night got dressed and drove up over to reset the security system. It must have been a little like being in the fire department again. Both he and my grandfather lived to see the new facility open. And it is really a testament to the Sandy Spring community. I want to share some of our family's images from the museum and the website. Many of these appear in the book Sandy Spring Legacy, which you can purchase directly from the museum. (I also found used copies listed on Amazon.)

This photograph and text about Reuben Brigham is part of an exhibit at the museum. Reuben and David J. Lewis worked together on the Parcel Post bill.

Sherwood's first tackle football team, fielded in 1944, smiles despite a disastrous initial season. Coached by math teacher Dwight Hurley, left, they are, front row from left: Mike Conner, Jimmy Frenzel, Willard Derrick, Fred Fry, Tom Benson, Calvert Heil, Keith Himebaugh, and Charlie Morris; second row, William Miller, Kyle Cantwell, John Johns, Robert Franklin, Sonny Johns, Louis Bussler, and Arthur Brigham; back row, Dick Kimmel, Pete Black, and David Haviland.

Girls' tennis flourished at youthful Sherwood High of 1910. The players are, front row from left: Polly Janney (Shields), Lydia Chichester (Laird), and Katherine Nichols; second row, Deb Iddings (Willson), Barbara Miller, Irene Kimler (Miller), Helen Barnes, Annie Miller, Edith Shoemaker; third row, Gladys Brooke (Tumbleson), Lydia Tatum, Anna Snowden (Bussler), and Henrietta Waters.

Iced tea for 2,300 is brewed by Gladys Brigham (center) and Anne Gilpin (right) for the forty-third annual Hospital Supper and Bazaar in 1964. Mrs. Gilpin's sister, Mrs. C. Jones from England, observes. Staged by the Woman's Board, the annual supper and bazaar has been a major community event for nearly 80 years.

A childhood recollection of David L. Brigham, born 1916: "I curried the horses, mucked the stalls, milked the cows, slopped the pigs, fed the chickens, loaded the manure spreader, and cleared the barnyard and chicken house." In this photograph David L. Brigham rides up front and younger brother Francis Snowden Brigham shares the hay rake with grandfather Francis Snowden at Ingleside in 1922.

Two teams pull plows at Ingleside, just south of Ashton; the 1855 home stands at right. Gussie Holland works the plow in foreground, while Ingleside farmer Francis Snowden supervises the annual plowing ritual.

The museum website had photographs of David, Arthur, and Francis Brigham but none of their sister Marjorie.

December 1970

The bumper sticker below the license plate of an Alabama auto caught my eye. It said, "Wise Men Still Seek Him."

Christmas is upon us again. The tired, but fairly good natured crowd clogs up the streets and freedom of movement is lost in the stores. Clerks are worn out and still they smile. Sales must be made and jobs need to be maintained. The joy of the season is almost buried under the crush for things. But is this what it's all about?

The temptation is to recall the orange in the toe of a stocking, wax candles on the pine tree you cut yourself, a "Flying Arrow" sled, the yule log you helped haul to the big fireplace, and the fire on the plum pudding. The woodbox in the corner by the kitchen range was a favorite spot also. Here you could drowse and absorb the first aroma of turkey and duck.

There is a definite generation gap... How many can recall stale hard candy, nuts in the shell, apples and a pair of shoe laces as the heart of the stocking loot? Or, the icy vigil at the head of the stairs while the pipeless furnace was being fired up with soft coal and the wood you had brought in?

Then we gathered in the parlor to open presents... You never heard about a parlor, or a mantle, or a kerosene lamp, or an outhouse, of sloppin' the hogs, or crows foot and standin' cedar... How about ground pine and laurel, holly and spruce, bayberry and Santa Claus?

It's no wonder we have trouble looking back some 2000 years when we can't even tell about our Christmas Past without a world of definition. Somehow this is the time of year to relate to the past, present, and future. We read about Scrooge and Tiny Tim with great feeling. We squelch our doubts by once again reading aloud, "Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Clause!" At the same time we enjoy the superior smile of a boy who thinks he has found out there is no Santa and his Sister hasn't.

Tinsel and holly, Santa Claus, and children. Noise and confusion and the ring of cash registers; the tearing of credit slips (for Santa enters through a hole in the chimney and leaves through a hole in the pocket); above all these sounds are the notes of cornets and trombones playing "Holy Night" or "Little Town of Bethlehem." Wistful, little children look hungrily at shop displays; a child is made happy by a ten cent gadget (this is the season when we get the children something for Father to play with); Angels, wise men, and a special family; City lights and the light of a star. Luxury and a stable. Men of today and a manger of yesterday. Civilization and a Child.

To some the contrast seems a mockery and hypocrisy. Others there are to say romance and reality. I like the crowds and the three kings of the Orient. I like the city stores and the shepherds and the angels. Even in a world of confusion wise men see a star. Surely they say to young and old alike, "Help build a better tomorrow rather than to destroy an imperfect today."

The Wise Men following a Star, offering their gifts... This is a symbol of Christmas. If this ever be forgotten, the world will be the poorer. These Wise Men saw a Star. A radiance shone around them. Their hearts were not without wonder. These star-gazers related he brightness of the skies to the events of the earth. Even as the tides combine the waters of the earth with the pull of other planets, so these men responded to the unity and harmony of the larger universe.

These Wise Men saw a child. While it is possible to sentimentalize about childhood--or to fly off on another tangent in talk of little animals; nevertheless, most of us parents are saved by our children. The fires of our devotion are kindled around the manger of Bethlehem; or a tiny crib of a little child in any of our homes.

David L. Brigham
Executive Director

April 1970

So you are doing everything you can with what you have to work with... You don't need an association of employees... You can make it on your own without a crutch... What's the matter now... What do you mean I could do more if I didn't have a handicap?

The last thing I need is a sermon to tell me a League of Federal Recreation Associations is important. After all, I have worked with and for the League and I believe. Perhaps we are too self centered and interested only in our own corner.

Maybe we don't possess the time, interest and stamina needed to do the extra of being involved in another association. I can just be a member and drift along. Let the suckers and those who can't do the other things plod along with organizations that do for others: I've got enough just to keep me snowed under!

Yes, I did hear the great Helen Hayes say it. "We are all handicapped: some physically, some mentally, some emotionally, some financially, and some spiritually." This can explain away the struggle of the League to be a forceful, dynamic and vital representative of 140,000 individual members.

All of us are handicapped when it comes to putting something of ourselves into something of a general nature. We didn't sit unmoved in the Commerce Auditorium on 144th Street as representatives of the Civil Service Commission presented the Second Annual Award Ceremony and the Outstanding Handicapped Federal Employee of the Year.

If you are wondering what you can do with what you have to do with, there are some folks close by who can tell you. Let's meet a few together...

The Marine Corps Band played "This is My Country," and we were all invited to join in singing the Star Spangled Banner as the Color Guard of the combined services advanced the Colors. So that sounds routine...

Then look on the stage... In the spotlight were braces, artificial limbs, a crutch, wheelchairs and personalities. Their owners were the 10 Outstanding Handicapped Federal Employees of the Year.

Many like you were nominated and from the search came those who were deemed to have done the most with what they had. Let's call the roll...

The Department of the Air Force sent Jimmy Adams (polio-meningitis), a research chemist with a Master's degree and an Outstanding Performance Rating; Dr. Thomas Austin (polio quadriplegic), Director of the National Oceanographic Data Center of the U.S. Navy and "Honorary Citizen" of Dade County by the Mayors Council for service as Chairman of the Greater Miami Area Equal Employment Opportunity Committee; USDA nominee Dr. Jay Basch (born deaf), an outstanding chemist and author; and Mrs. Francis Garcia (polio) deaf, mute, total blindness in one eye, and a presser with the Sandia Base Laundry in New Mexico who represented the Defense Atomic Support Agency.

Also in the footlights, Ralph Harwood (spinal meningitis) drew the nod from the Defense Supply Agency where he is a public representative and chemist although completely deaf; Mrs. Dorothy Hickey (polio) confined to a wheelchair for the past 24 years, refused to dwell on her infirmities, became an effective counselor to others severely handicapped and performs with accuracy, efficiency and cheer for the U.S.I.A.; Earl Miller (cerebral palsy) conquered a wheelchair, crutches, braces and a cane to learn to walk alone and to be named the outstanding representative from the Civil Service Commission itself.

Next, Philip Pepper (polio) who was President of his class at U.C.L.A. with a Master's degree in social welfare and presently the distinguished Chief of the Office of Program Planning and Evaluation, Indian Health Service, for H.E.W.; Miss Magdalene Phillips (blind) a dictating machine transcriber at Letterman Army Hospital takes the dictation of six medical officers and in her spare time counsels newly blinded patients.

As if this were not enough to make you proud and inspired the last of the 10 nominees was called forward for his citation. He walked across the stage. So, what's so great about walking across the stage?

Bob Smith, a combat rifleman in Korea in the winter of 1950 was presented by the Veterans Administration by Administrator Don Johnson. Bob was shot, taken prisoner, and held for ten days without food or medical attention. His wounds, aggravated by frost bite and infection, necessitate a quadruple amputation. Since 1955 he has been with the VA from tabulating machine operator to computer programmer.

Bob refused to be handicapped. With pride and determination he walked across the stage to meet Harold Russell, Chairman of the President's Committee on Employment of the Handicapped, himself a double amputee.

Someone in the audience quipped, "The Iron Men are at work," as four artificial arms and functional hooks grasped the plaque. Who could better carry the title Outstanding Handicapped Federal Employee of the Year?

Bob Smith opened his own door to opportunity and as the program said, "He's making sure the door stays open for others now traveling that hard road back."

David L. Brigham
Executive Director

Namesake

My grandfather's full name was David Lewis Brigham. He was named after David John Lewis (1869-1952). The photo of Mr. Lewis to the left is from the Library of Congress. He was born in Nuttals Bank, Pennsylvania, the son of Richard Lloyd Lewis and Catherine Watkins. David J. Lewis began his career as a coal miner, studying to become an attorney in his spare time. He passed the Maryland Bar in 1892 and began practicing in Cumberland. In 1893 he married Florida Bohn. Mr. Lewis served in the Maryland state senate from 1902 to 1904 and then as the U.S. Representative from Maryland's 6th District from 1911 to 1917 and again from 1931 to 1939. He was a Democrat. Although I found no mention in any of the articles I found about him, Mr. Lewis played a major role in establishing domestic parcel post service within the United States on January 1, 1913, during the Taft administration, according to Brigham family lore. Gran tells the story of "the little Welsh coal miner from Cumberland" here.

--Barb

March 1970

So what's your Thing?... I guess the young fellow was a Mod and wanted to know what I do to keep active. Did he think the League was the Establishment or was I?

My Thing was a Trip and I'd like to arrange his travel in a plane or a ship. Perhaps a bus or a train. Had he read the schedule in the Register or called the numbers for Trips he could take? Man we can give you a Fix on most any place in a hurry. Before you know it you'll Be-In, Switched-On, and finding everything Groovy. If you want something Neat why not leave your Pad and look for Grass that is really green.

You can save Bread and not rob the mint through LFRA Travel Discounts. The Roll you won't need like from the bank and a Rock is outdated to be perfectly frank. So you can be a Swinger and not Hang-Up the phone. You don't want to be a Pill, worry about being a little Hippie and going to Pot. You need to get Hooked on our Travel Program and head for the Cool breezes of the Southern Seas. Fly with the Birds of a feather and leave the Fuzz to the Chickens.

Just to let you know the League Travel Program is up-to-date and we are Psychedelirious about it... It is not a matter of sending you on some Freak Scene journey. We have something to talk about and we want to say it in language all can understand.

If we lost you somewhere along the line, join the crowd. We are really Square and don't quite know how to tell you the full story in a few column inches. Try our phones and tell us what is wanted. If we don't have the trip in a package, we can soon tie one up to suit your taste.

In addition to such down to earth things as travel discounts and discount buying, the League needs to know there are those members who want the services it can provide. It must also know there are those willing to give some time to advance the broad base upon which it is established.

All who work with the League are "part-time." Each of us has another primary responsibility and what we do for the League and its membership comes from the heart and the pocketbook.

Those who give of themselves are the planners, the organizers, the workers and the Voice. Theirs is not a voice of protest; they want no act of disrespect or defiance of the law; these are part of America, a most vital part in the role of Public Servant.

Perhaps the League is the Establishment but it represents the best that America can boast. These are folks who make our country tick and who recognize that freedom demands a price -- It Is Not Free.

We of the League roll with the times in appreciation of a goodly heritage and in recognition of a the need to be current. We are working to make things just a little better for all who serve in the government related domain.

Perhaps there is an opportunity for you to participate a little beyond yourself and your present status in serving your own Recreation and Welfare Association.

There is room for you to help lift the League. We need news, participation, people going places on our Trips and above all the understanding Name of Big League for our 140,000 members and 56 Associations. "In the soul of a seed is the hope of the sod. In the heart of a child is the Kingdom of God." To Grow we Go Right On Working!

David L. Brigham
Executive Director

At his desk

This is David L. Brigham working at his desk. I do not have any other information about this photograph though. It was taken at his place of work and not at his desk at home, which was considerably more crowded. Please comment if you know the year, the photographer, and/or the location. Thanks!
--Barb