William A. Redmond Memoir - Illinois Digital Archives

Q: Yes.
A: Law, medicine and engineering had the numbers and I was elected president of the
class. And I was active in a lot of other stuff like . . . well the homecoming stuff, I was
involved in that. The American Society of Mechanical Engineers, the student branch, I was
active there. I was pretty active in the engineering thing.
Oh, yes, St. Patrick was the patron saint of engineers. I don't know why he was, but on
St. Patrick's Day they used to have a big doings and they used to have a parade on Wisqonsin
. Avenue and they would select the St. Patrick. I don't know what the qualifications
were. But I was elected St. Patrick. And they had a sedan chair and they carried ma down
Wisconsin Avenue one time. I had a green robe and a crown. (chuckles) And sane of
the Irish objected to desecrating St. Patrick in that respect, so they protested. I'm not too
sure that they ever had St. Patrick again. (laughs) I'm sure they never had that parade
again.
But I was St. Patrick. (chuckles) And again I don't know what the qualifications were or
how it happened, but it did. Well I guess among the things some people were made engi-
neering Knights of St. Patrick and there again I don't know what the qualifications were. I
was one of those guys. But when I was St. Patrick, I had the big sword and I - they'd
kneel down in front of me and I then on the shoulder would tap them and say, "I dub thee
Knight of St. Patrick." (chuckles) It was very . . . it was like Westminster Abbey. But
the Irieh objected to it, they didn't think it was very good.
But all of that kind of stuff. You know, active in the goings on in the engineering school
and in my junior class.
Q: So what year was it that you graduated from Marquette?
A: In 1931. There w i no ~ work. Direct selling, door-to-door, was all there was. So the
folks were willing to finance me to law school and so I went to Northwestern Law School.
Q: Your father's job was secure during the Depression?
A: Oh, yes. He never missed a payroll or a paycheck.
Q: (pause) What sort of feelings do you have about the Depression? How did . . .
A: Pretty grim. Pretty grim. (pause) They . . . they had a World's Fair in Chicago in
1933 and that kind of gave a, you know, a shot to employment and I would say optimism
in the Chicago area. And I got a job as a spieler on a sight-seeing bus. "Ladies and
gedemen, you are starting a complete tour of Chicago with the idea of an organized seeing
in a short spw of time a general view of our city. And on the corner on the right is lovely
. . . " (chuckles) So I was a spieler on the sightseeing buses and - and . . . you know
there was no work other than - and that didn't pay anything to speak of.
People used to stand at the foot of the elevated stairs, it would be a block long, asking for
a handout of the morning paper so they could look at the help wanted ads. You
papers were only two cents so you can imagine. . . . But a lot of people slept under
level of Wacker Drive, no place to stay. And they would cover themselves with
they - they'd get, you know, wooden chips and that sort of thing and build a
to keep them warm in the colder weather. Over near where the post office
William A. Redmond Memoir - Archives/ Special Collections - Norris L Brookens Library - University of Illinois at Springfield - UIS