Gibbons Gray Cornwell Jr. (1902-1986)

From the Philadelphia Inquirer, July 12, 1959.

  From Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, we journey to Chester County to examine the life of another Keystone State burgess, Gibbons Gray Cornwell Jr. So far the only "Gibbons" this author has discovered, Cornwell was a fixture in the civic and business life of West Chester for over forty years. A former president and director of a major office supply and paper company, Cornwell served four years as Burgess of West Chester in the 1950s. The son of Gibbons Gray (1861-1912) and Ella (Eberman) Cornwell, Gibbons Gray Cornwell Jr. was born in West Chester on August 8, 1902.

  Cornwell's formative years were spent in West Chester, where his father was an attorney and prominent figure in the state National Guard. Young Gibbons was dealt tragedy with the suicide of his father in 1912, who shot himself while onboard a Philadelphia-bound train due to allegations of financial malfeasance. Following his father's death Cornwell was a student at the Haverford School and in the mid-1920s graduated from Yale University. In October 1928 he married in West Chester to Eva Chambers Parke (1903-1975), with who he had five children: Anne, Gibbons Gray III (1933-2013), William Parke (1936-2018), Daniel, and Timothy.

   For nearly fifty years Gibbons Cornwell was affiliated with the Denney Tag Co. of West Chester, a major supplier of office supplies, labels, and tags. Cornwell worked his way up the company ladder being assistant sales manager, sales manager, and general manager, and in 1945 was named company president. In 1948 he oversaw the move of its shipping department to a three-story structure in West Chester, and in 1960 saw the business expand with the purchase of the Reyburn Manufacturing Co., a Philadephia-based tag manufacturer. The company underwent a name change in January 1961 to the Denney-Reyburn Company, with Cornwell continuing as president until his retirement in 1968. Following retirement, he continued to sit as a member of the board of directors until 1973.

  In addition to his long tenure with Denney-Reyburn, Cornwell served twenty-six years (1946-1972) as president of the Southeast National Bank, and from 1949-1967 was president of the Downingtown Paper Co., located in Chester County. He was further active in the civic life of his county, serving on the board of managers of the Chester County Hospital for nearly three decades, and for fifteen years (1957-72) was board president. Additionally, Cornwell served a one year term as president of the West Chester College Board of Trustees from 1939-40 and was chairman of the Tag and Label Manufacturers Institute board of directors from 1949-50.

  Cornwell's numerous business and civic activities garnered him wide distinction in his region and in 1962 was named West Chester's "Outstanding Citizen" by the city chamber of commerce. He entered local politics in 1949 with his candidacy for the Republican nomination for burgess of West Chester and won the nomination in September of that year. He was elected that November, and served two terms, 1950-54, having not been a candidate for reelection in 1953. 

  Following his retirement from business in the 1970s Cornwell engaged in two unique pastimes, needlework and bas-relief sculpting. He would donate molds of his work for use by the Chester County Bicentennial Commission, and "created the 175th anniversary coin for West Chester and a U.S. bicentennial medal." In 1977 Cornwell created the "Remember Paoli" medal for the Paoli Memorial Association, a body devoted to the memorialization of 53 Revolutionary War patriots massacred by the British near Paoli, Pennsylvania. This medal, produced in a limited edition quantity, depicted both the battle itself, and the Paoli Memorial historic site.

  Widowed in 1975, Gibbons G. Cornwell remarried in 1978 to Mary Webb Parke (Bleecker) (1909-1979), who died of injuries sustained in a car accident a year following their marriage. Cornwell married for a third time in the 1980s to Barbara Ward, and continued residence in West Chester until his death at age 83 on February 25, 1986, at his home. His five children survived him, with his burial location being unknown at the time of this writing.

Hemphill Gay Whiteside (1906-1986)

  From the November 7, 1957 edition of the Anniston, Alabama Star.

   The name would be Hemphill Gay Whiteside. In all probability one of the oddest named Alabama political figures you'll get a chance to read about here on the site, Whiteside was long a distinguished figure in the city of Oxford, and in addition to serving sixteen years as its mayor had earlier served as a Democratic National Convention delegate.

  A lifelong resident of the Cotton State, Hemphill G. Whiteside was born on November 4, 1906, in Birmingham to Hemphill Prothro (1874-1913) and Nannie Gay Smith Whiteside. He inherited his odd first name courtesy of his father, and in the year of his father's death moved from Birmingham to Oxford, and received his education at the Calhoun County High School. He went on to graduate from the North Georgia Agricultural College and was a member of that college's Sigma Nu fraternity. 

  For a good majority of his life, Hemphill Whiteside was connected with the sale of insurance in Alabama, being a special agent with the Equitable Life Insurance Agency, headquartered in New York. His time with this company took him through the counties of Calhoun, Talladega, Clay, Clayburne, and Cherokee and he was honored on two occasions by this agency with a trip to a company conference in Biloxi, Mississippi for fulfilling his quota months ahead of schedule. During this same period, Whiteside engaged in farming and served as the head of the Alumni Association of the Calhoun County High School for four terms. The February 28, 1936 edition of the Anniston Star notes that during his time as head of this association, Whiteside was "one of the prime movers in the movement that gave the school its athletic stadium."

  In February 1936 Whiteside made his first attempt at public office, announcing his candidacy for a seat on the Calhoun County School Board in that year's Democratic primary. Although unsuccessful in his candidacy, Whiteside continued to be active in Calhoun County civic affairs and married in October 1938 to Burtie McLain (1909-1995) and later had two children. 

  Two years following his marriage Hemphill G. Whiteside was named as part of the Alabama delegation to the Democratic National Convention of 1940, serving as an alternate delegate from Alabama's fourth district. In September 1944 Whiteside won election as Mayor of Oxford over the Republican nominee Dr. R.T. McGraw, and during his sixteen-year tenure in this office led the fight for many civic improvements, including the announcement of a "super-modern 100 unit tourist hotel" to be erected near the interstate in early 1961. Four years after his election as mayor Whiteside was chosen to head the Calhoun County March of Dimes drive to raise money for the awareness of infantile paralysis, and a write-up on his work with this campaign was featured in the December 12, 1948 edition of the Anniston Star, shown below.

   Early in his lengthy tenure as mayor Whiteside was appointed to the Executive Committee of the League of Municipalities and in 1956 won re-election to another term, defeating Republican nominee C.B. Hosey by a vote of 556 to 194. Whiteside's long mayoralty saw him become a beloved figure in Oxford, and is recorded by his obituary as having walked "house to house to collect water payments from residents so the city could pay its bill". Additionally, Whiteside was the primary figure in the $20,000 purchase of the land where the new Oxford city hall was erected.

  Hemphill G. Whiteside continued to be active in Oxford city affairs following his mayoralty and in 1978 served as chairman of the RMC Memorial Foundation Fund in 1978. Whiteside died at the Oxford Regional Medical Center on February 12, 1986, at age 79. His wife Burtie survived him by several years and following her death in 1995 was interred alongside her husband at the Oxford Memorial Gardens Cemetery in Oxford, Alabama.

Mayor Whiteside in his office at the new Oxford, Alabama city hall, from the Anniston Star, June 1952.