It was a cool, sunny day in mid-February 1974 when I alighted from the old Greyhound bus station on West Street in Annapolis. There to greet me was Commander Bob Brewer, executive director of the Naval Institute. I had a job interview for a vacancy on the Proceedings magazine staff.
As we were about to enter Preble Hall, Commander Brewer introduced me to now-retired George Belt, saying, “Here’s the man who runs everything around here.” Belt, who was the building supervisor and operated the Naval Institute’s mail room for many years, did indeed make sure that things ran smoothly in Preble Hall. And he has such a friendly personality that to know him is to like him.
That 1974 interview comes to mind because in mid-February 1999, the Naval Institute leaves Preble Hall for its new quarters in Beach Hall. That marks the end of a 60-year tenancy in the building and 25 years— almost to the day—since I first set foot in Preble Hall. Much has changed in that time.
For instance, 25 years ago, that Greyhound bus terminal played a role in getting Proceedings published each month. We typically worked on three issues at a time. They were in various stages of editing and production, which necessitated sending copy, illustrations, layouts, and galley proofs between the Institute and the typesetter/compositor in York, Pennsylvania. Greyhound buses carried them back and forth. The old bus station has long since been replaced by a luxury hotel. Computers now speed much of the copy and layouts between the two locations.
The bottom floor of Preble Hall now consists of a beautiful walk-in Naval Institute Bookstore and a model ship gallery of the Naval Academy Museum. Twenty-five years ago, the bookstore was in just about the same location as now— but it was literally a hole in the wall. A customer walked up, told a clerk at the window what he or she wanted, and the clerk went back into the stacks and found the items. There was little chance to browse. Payment was in the form of cash or check—period. Credit cards are now an option, as is ordering over a toll- free telephone line or online via the Naval Institute’s Web site.
The now brightly lit model gallery had a different use in 1974. Back then, the basement area housed the Naval Institute’s business and accounting section (now across town in a building known as the Operations Center), the mail room, photo archives and reference library, and the Proceedings cubicles. Twenty-five years ago, the basement had a seedy look about it that fortunately has since changed. The entrance lobby had all the charm of a loading dock and was “graced” by machines that dispensed soda or candy at 20 cents a pop.
Nearly every office now has at least one computer. The height of technology when I arrived was an electric typewriter. We used blue ribbons, which I thought was a nice touch for a naval organization.
One thing that has been a constant— though the faces have changed—is the quality and friendliness of the people. Commander Brewer, for example, was a model of southern amiability and courtesy. Jean Ellinger, who worked for many years as assistant to Commander Bud Bowler, the Institute’s secretary-treasurer, created a family atmosphere that permeated the organization. On the Proceedings staff, secretaries Rae Morgan and Mary Tyler took new editors under their wings with a wonderful mothering instinct.
The editor-in-chief of Proceedings was Clay Barrow, a retired Marine Corps master sergeant who personified the concept of leadership. His philosophy was simple: Hire good people, give them guidance and support, and then leave them alone to do their jobs. The managing editor was Herb Preston, a retired Marine colonel who went through a fair number of cigarettes a day in an era when it was still permissible to do that in one’s office. He invariably was respectful and deferential to Clay Barrow, even though their status was inverted from their ranks of active-duty past.
There were two more retired Marines on the staff. Fred Stolley was head of the marketing department, and Delroy Kiser was the art director for Proceedings. I used to joke that I was the token Navy man on the magazine’s staff, although we took our marching orders from Commanders Bowler and Brewer and from the editorial board of active-duty sea-service officers. The junior officer on that board was Lieutenant Commander Bud Flanagan. As a further indication of the passage of time, he retired recently as a four-star admiral.
Two blonde ladies rounded out the Proceedings staff in 1974. Pat Perry was the production editor, who made sure that we followed house style in editing manuscripts. She also was responsible for seeing that all those packages made the trip to York so they could be turned into published magazines. LeAnn Bauer was the design assistant, cutting apart the long paper galleys and taping them to layout sheets to show where type, photos, and captions were to appear.
A quarter-century later, looking virtually the same as she did back then, LeAnn still makes up the page designs— now doing it while sitting in front of a computer. Today, many of the illustrations are in color. Black and white was by far the norm in the mid-1970s issues of Proceedings. LeAnn now works on an additional magazine as well. The inauguration of Naval History in 1987 was a milestone in the history of the Naval Institute and certainly in the memory of this former editor.