Thank you to our sponsors Warren Harley-Davidson and Motozilli.
]]>March 9th 6:30 pm- "Cocktails at Kitty's":
Mrs. Kitty Packard is hosting a cocktail party at the museum! Come dressed in your best “Roaring 20’s” attire and join in on the gossip of the late 1920s.Limited Seating. RSVP March 5th. $20 per person. Doors open @ 6:00
March 12th 6:30pm- "A Presentation on Bagger Racing":
Event Postponed, Stay Tuned for an Updated Date
By Rob Buydos. Event is Subject to change. This night also includes Museum Motorcycle Helmet Auction (Pinstriped by Guy Shively). Event is free with paid admission to the museum.
April 20th 12:30pm- "Vintage Parts and Re-pops":
A presentation by the Banks Brothers in adjunct with our 24th annual Motorcycle exhibit. Event is free with paid admission to the museum.
July 27th 9-3pm: "Corvettes and Classics Car Show":
Join us for The National Packard Museum’s Corvettes and Classics Car Show with the Mahoning Valley Corvette Club. This event will also include a presentation: “1949: Packard’s Golden Anniversary Year”. Come visit some old-style cars and learn about the Golden Anniversary Year of the Packard Car Company.
September 7th: "Arsenal of Democracy: Working at Packard During WWII":
Join us to learn about Packard’s contribution to World War II. Presentation by Director of Education, Charlie Ohlin.
More Events to be Announced Soon.
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Join a cast of elite socialites for a theatrical, entertaining and enlightening evening as guests dish about friends and neighbors, society page headlines and the scandals of the late 1920’s.
Produced and directed by former WFMJ-TV personalities Glenn & Regina Stevens.
Tickets are $20 and can be purchased online, by phone, or in the gift shop.
Tickets are limited, Reserve by March 5th.
]]>This event is free admission, and donations will be accepted at the door. Food and beverages will also be available for purchase.
The event will run from 7:00pm to 9:00pm
]]>We appreciate your support for the museum and hope to have another successful car show in the future.
]]>The Museum will be closed on the following dates. Happy Holidays from The National Packard Museum!
Closed:
Sunday, December 24th
Monday, December 25th
Sunday, December 31st
Monday January 1st
]]>The museum will be closed Thursday November 23rd for Thanksgiving, and Sunday November 26th for a Private Event.
]]>This event is something you certainly don't want to miss.
Ghosts WD Packard and Kitty Packard (Charlie Ohlin and Cindee Mines) will take you through the cemetery and dive deep into the lives of the Packard family.
Tickets are $10 each and can be purchased online or in store.
]]>Come dressed in your best traditional or best historical costume for a chance to win our costume contest!
Tickets cost $40 a person, or $75 for a couple. These can be purchased in the gift shop or online: Slapstick, Spirits, and Sorcery 2023 Event – The National Packard Museum
]]>Packard events continue inside the Museum with the " Colonel Jesse Vincent: Packard's Master Motor Builder" educational seminar beginning at 11:30 a.m. Seminar attendance is free with paid museum admission. While inside, check out the gift shop and t-shirt quilt raffle (winner announced Sept. 3rd).
Please join National Packard Museum and Mahoning Valley Corvettes for a fun-filled day of gorgeous cars and great music in support of National Packard Museum's mission to preserve the Packard Legacy. Follow us on social media for the most up to date information. We can't wait to see you here!
National Packard Museum (@nationalpackardmuseum) | Instagram
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National Packard Museum is partnering with Project Repat to give one lucky individual a gift card redeemable for a large throw quilt. This quilt measures 6'x6' with 36 t-shirt squares of your choosing on the front with cozy fleece on the back.
Every t-shirt purchased between now and Sunday, September 3, 2023 equals one entry into the raffle. Online purchases qualify as well as purchases made in the Museum.
More general information about Project Repat T-shirt Quilts can be found by clicking the link below:
T-Shirt Blanket Company | Custom T-Shirt Quilt Maker | Project Repat
Good Luck!!!
]]>Learn about his fascinating life and his vital contributions to automotive, aeronautical and marine history. The lecture is open to the public and is free with paid admission to the museum. It begins promptly at 11:30 am.
]]>“This guy has more than 400 patents, which signifies to me that he wasn’t a guy sitting at a desk,” said Mary Ann Porinchak, executive director of the museum. “By most historical accounts, he never sat at his desk. If you wanted to talk to him you had to get him out from under an engine.”
What makes his accomplishments all the more impressive is that he primarily was self-taught. His only formal education in engineering came from a correspondence school course.
According to Porinchak, “As any car guy will tell you, body style and design are important, but it’s what’s under the hood that really matters. Without Jesse Vincent, the Packard Motor Car Company would not have achieved such stature in the automobile world. It was Jesse Vincent’s engines that really caught the attention of the buyers, the investors and the rest of the world.”
The two largest pieces in “Jesse Vincent: Packard’s Master Motor Builder” came after the exhibition already was underway.
On display for the first time at the museum is a replica of a race car Vincent built initially to test his speedster engine in 1929, and he used the vehicle to test other engines during his career.
The replica was designed and built by Jerry Miscevich, who grew up in Warren and Bazetta and now lives in Temecula, Calif. Miscevich sold the speedster to Gordon Logan in Georgetown, Texas, and the vehicle is on loan through Logan’s Sport Clips Collection LLC.
“Jesse liked to go fast; he was a speed demon,” Porinchak said. “I’m sure his first thought when he was building it was to get it on that track and run the daylights out of it. Then it became a promotions piece at the proving grounds track to impress investors and dignitaries.
“After he’d tweaked something, he’d go out himself and test it. It was his own personal test vehicle, but at the end of the day, I think he liked getting out there and pedal-to-metal racing it.”
Both Logan and Miscevich have been supporters of the museum, Porinchak said. When Logan acquired the car, she told him, “After you’re done playing with it, we’d like to display it.”
Logan called late last year after work already had started on the Vincent exhibition, and the museum delayed its arrival until after the annual motorcycle exhibition to be a part of the display.
The other large piece is a World War II era Packard Merlin airplane engine on loan from America’s Packard Museum in Dayton.
During World War I, Vincent worked on the Liberty V-12 engine with Elbert Hall and Howard Marmon, and more than 13,000 Liberty engines were produced during the war, according to the Automotive Hall of Fame, which inducted Vincent in 1971
During World War II, the U.S. government contracted with Packard to manufacture Rolls Royce’s Merlin engine for its aircraft. Vincent adapted the hand-built engine so it could be mass-produced in the quantities needed for the war effort.
“His Merlin engine was so precise, they could mass produce them and interchange parts,” Porinchak said. “He made it so precise they could fix and it didn’t take that long if something happened. It didn’t lose much power at 30,000 feet, so they barrel-roll. The other planes could not do that. The engine now at Packard was on display last month at the Youngstown-Warren Regional Airport as part of the Air Force Rise Above exhibit. It will be at the Packard museum until next spring, when renovations at the Dayton museum are scheduled to be completed.
“It was definitely an eye catcher for the people (at the airport), especially the guys who were in the military,” Porinchak said. “They all knew what it was. It got a lot of attention, especially the cutaway. People enjoyed seeing the inner makings of the engine. It’s pretty amazing.”
The Miscevich-built speedster also will be at the museum for at least a year, and there’s a chance it could be extended.
“I can’t stress enough the generosity of Gordon Logan, the current owner and custodian of the Packard,” Miscevich said. “Before we clinched the deal, I told him I’d like to see it go to the museum in Warren, my hometown. He just kind of smiled and said, ‘If I buy it, I’m going to loan it out to them.’ Wow, that’s really something … He is truly a gentleman and a man of his word.”
Even after those pieces leave, other parts of the Vincent exhibition will be part of the museum’s permanent display.
“Jesse Vincent was probably the most important figure during that time in engineering in the world just because of how many engines he worked on the precision he applied to his craft,” Porinchak said.
If you go …
WHAT: “Jesse Vincent: Packard’s Master Motor Builder”
WHEN: Open today with some elements on display for the next year or so and the rest becoming a permanent display. Hours are noon to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday and 1 to 5 p.m. Sunday
WHERE: National Packard Museum, 1899 Mahoning Ave. NW, Warren
HOW MUCH: $10 for adults and $8 for senior citizens, $5 for children ages 7 to 12 and free for children 6 and younger. For more information, go to packardmuseum.org or call 330-394-1899.
Jerry Miscevich learned to swim at the old Packard pool. Now, a vehicle that Miscevich built is about to make a big splash at the museum on the former site of that pool.
Miscevich, a 1971 John F. Kennedy High School graduate who grew up in Warren and Bazetta, created the replica of the 1929 Packard Vincent Speedster that will be part of the “Jesse Vincent: Packard’s Master Motor Builder” exhibition opening today at the National Packard Museum.
The creation of the car was the culmination of a lifelong interest in the legacy of the Packard Motor Company.
“My passion lies with being born in Warren and knowing all about what went on there,” said Miscevich, who now lives in Temecula, Calif. “As a student of history, I was amazed at this company that was built on the Packards values, their work ethic and their ability to achieve a high-quality product that was revered, not just domestically, but internationally. The car was in the garages of kings and queens all over Europe, and it all stemmed from their start in Warren, Ohio. It’s just crazy that little old Warren was the birthplace of the greatest luxury car that the United States ever produced.”
“He was so affable and welcoming, Miscevich said. “He had J.W. Packard’s diary and his camera and some other things and it was like, oh my gosh, I just had a bird’s-eye view of everything. He was telling me about all the people he’d interviewed who worked at the company in 1900. Just a fascinating guy. I have to give him a lot of inspiration and credit for getting me down the Packard line. He was just a great guy.”
In the late 1970s as a gift, Miscevich got a copy of the book “Packard, A History of the Motor Car and the Company.” That was the first time he saw the boattail speedster that Packard engineer Jesse Vincent designed as a test vehicle for new engines and engine modifications. He knew he wanted to recreate that car, but work and a growing family delayed that dream for about 20 years.
In the late ’90s, he was working as a visual effects model maker for the movies (his credits include “Independence Day,” “Batman & Robin,” “Godzilla” and “G.I. Joe”), and that job put him in contact with metal fabricators and others who he could hire to do some of the work he couldn’t do himself to make his speedster a reality.
He found a yacht builder to do the frame and a coach builder / metal man to do the body (both had worked on the film “Titanic”). Work commitments still intruded, but Miscevich continued to work on it when he could.
The work finally was finished in 2016. Miscevich described his first experience behind the wheel as surreal.
“To actually drive it was just like, am I really doing this? It was like a dream. Any restorer will tell you the same thing. You envision this. You just have to envision mentally envision every step before you do it. Every step I envisioned a dozen times before I did it, so that when I actually did it, it was second nature almost.”
One of his friends who tracked his progress on the car is Bob Schmitt, who works with “Tonight Show” host Jay Leno. Schmitt encouraged Miscevich to let his boss take a look at his creation.
When the car was finished, Schmitt asked him to bring the car to the multiple-air-hangar complex where Leno keeps his massive collection. It’s also where the comedian and car enthusiast did his web and CNBC series “Jay Leno’s Garage.”
He showed Leno the car, gave him a ride and let him get behind the wheel, and Leno asked if he wanted to appear on “Jay Leno’s Garage.” Miscevich initially said no. He was fine working behind the scenes on movies seen by 10 of millions of people. He was less interested in being on camera.
Jay told him, “Look, the people who watch my show don’t want to see what a bunch of millionaires have thrown together or paid to have done. They want to see what a hands-on restorer can do,” Miscevich said. “I told him I didn’t do everything. I didn’t build the wood or do the sheet metal, but I did everything else. He goes, ‘That’s good enough for me.’ Bob’s looking at me like, ‘Are you crazy?,’ and I didn’t want to insult Bob or Jay, so I reluctantly said OK.
“He was just so gracious. I’ve been around a lot of stars, or so-called stars, and some of their egos are what you would expect. With Jay Leno, what you see on camera is how he is off-camera, and that’s just a regular Joe.”
Schmitt also is the one who first showed the car — or footage from the episode — to its current owner Gordon Logan, who got to take a tour of Leno’s collection after making a charitable donation. When Logan mentioned his Packard collection on the tour, Schmitt pulled it up on his phone.
“Bob said Gordon almost didn’t want to go on the tour he was so interested in the speedster,” Miscevich said. “If I never did the show, he wouldn’t have been able to know about it.”
Miscevich has another restoration project in the works. It won’t attract as much attention as the speedster, but it has more sentimental value.
“It’s a 1969 Dodge Coronet RT. It was sold new in Warren in March 1969. I bought it March 10, 1973. My wife and I went on our first date in it. We went to the Kenley Players at Packard Music Hall in June of ’73.”
Miscevich has sold and reacquired the vehicle a couple of times over the years. It was offered back to him while the speedster recreation was in progress, and he initially turned the owner down.
“I told my wife, Karen, and she went, ‘Are you crazy? We went on our first date in that car. You’re never going to get it back.’ So it’s sentimental. I just got it back on the road last month … On the 50th anniversary of our first date, we’re going to go somewhere special and take the RT.”
Vincent and others, including Charles Lindberg, drove the car at the Packard Proving Grounds and in exhibitions to impress visitors and dignitaries. This faithful re-creation of the famous 1929 Packard Vincent Speedster was built by Trumbull County native Jerry Miscevich, now residing in Temecula, California, and is on loan from owner Gordon Logan’s Sport Clips Collection, LLC of Georgetown, Texas.
The exhibit will also feature an original Packard Merlin airplane engine on loan from America’s Packard Museum in Dayton, Ohio. In June 1940, after Henry Ford refused their request, the US government awarded Packard with a contract to build the Rolls-Royce Merlin engine for the British Royal Air Force. Packard tasked Vincent with the responsibility for mass-producing the highly complicated, hand-built engine. Vincent assembled a team of more than 200 expert engineers and draftsmen to redraw Rolls-Royce’s original blueprints with far greater precision. Vincent then re-designed the engine for simplicity of production while generating additional horsepower. Packard delivered its first Merlin engine in August 1941. Vincent continued to finesse the Merlin Engine throughout World War II. He and his team designed 23 upgrades, each more powerful than the last. Packard’s Merlin engine was so muscular, it replaced GM’s Allison V-1710 in the North American P-51 Mustang.
After the war, automobile production resumed, and Vincent was elected to Packard’s Board of Directors in 1946. His final patent was for Packard’s “Ultramatic” four-speed automatic introduced in 1949. He retired as Packard’s Vice President in 1952 and retired from its Board in 1954. After his retirement, he taught an occasional engineering class at the University of Michigan before his death in 1962. The exhibit will also feature several personal items that belonged to Col. Jesse Vincent that were donated to the museum by the late Packard historian, Robert Neal of Kent, Washington.
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The Sterling-Knight was a luxury automobile designed by James “Pete” Sterling and assembled here in Warren, Ohio from 1923 until 1926. The company produced about 700 cars at its factory on Dietz Road, but only three are known to survive. The Warren Tribune trumpeted news of the establishment of the Sterling-Knight Company in 1923 as “the re-establishment of the automobile industry in Warren,” noting that “this city was one of the pioneers in the automotive industry when the Packard was developed and manufactured here.”
Sterling-Knight autos were powered by an innovative 6-cyinder internal combustion Knight engine that used sleeve valves instead of the more common poppet valve construction.
In 1920, Pete Sterling resigned from the F.B. Stearns Co. with intent to start his own car company. The Sterling Knight Motor Co. of Cleveland was incorporated in April 1921 with a capitalization of $1,000,000. The company purchased a plant on Cleveland’s east side, but a post war recession delayed production, forcing Sterling to seek additional financial backing.
After several Warren-area sources, including Newton A. Wolcott, then the president and co- owner of the Packard Electric Company, provided an additional $1,500,000 in capital stock, the Sterling Knight Co. of Warren, Ohio was incorporated on May 5, 1923.
Except for the engines which were manufactured in-house, Sterling-Knight automobiles were assembled from parts purchased from outside suppliers. Many of those parts came from local sources, including the Philips Custom Body Co. that crafted Sterling-Knight bodies at its factory located in the former General Electric Trumbull Lamp plant on West Market Street.
Museum Summer Events Announced! – The National Packard Museum
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National Packard Museum is joining museums nationwide in the Blue Star Museums initiative, a program that provides free admission to currently-serving U.S. military personnel and their families this summer. The 2023 program will begin on Armed Forces Day, Saturday, May 20, 2023, and end on Labor Day, Monday, September 4, 2023. Find the list of participating museums at arts.gov/bluestarmuseums.
Blue Star Museums is a partnership between the National Endowment for the Arts and Blue Star Families, in collaboration with the Department of Defense and participating museums across America.
“We thank the 2023 Blue Star Museums who invite military personnel and their families to experience the many wonders they have to offer, whether it’s a glimpse into the past, an encounter with awe-inspiring art, or a moment of discovery,” said Maria Rosario Jackson, PhD, chair of the National Endowment for the Arts. “National Packard Museum is helping to enrich the lives of military families and build meaningful connections between our nation’s military and their local community.”
Blue Star Museums include children’s museums, art, science, and history museums, zoos, gardens, lighthouses, and more, and hail from all 50 states, District of Columbia, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. The current list of participating museums will continue to develop over the summer as organizations are welcome to register to be a Blue Star Museum throughout the summer.
The free admission program is available for those currently serving in the United States Military—Air Force, Army, Coast Guard, Marine Corps, Navy, and Space Force, members of the Reserves, National Guard, U.S. Public Health Commissioned Corps, NOAA Commissioned Corps, and up to five family members. Qualified members must show a Geneva Convention common access card (CAC), DD Form 1173 ID card (dependent ID), DD Form 1173-1 ID card or the Next Generation Uniformed Services (Real) ID card for entrance into a participating Blue Star Museum.
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Want to make your event more memorable? Contact our Guest Services department and book your date today!
Host an Event – The National Packard Museum
More details: National Packard Museum | Reception Venues - The Knot
https://www.wkbn.com/news/local-news/local-seminar-offers-continuing-education-for-lawyers
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Street Scene: Packard Motorcycle Exhibit 2023 - YouTube
Check out more blog posts and videos featuring this year's exhibit:
WFMJ Youngstown features 23rd Annual Motorcycle Exhibit – The National Packard Museum,
Business Journal features 23rd Annual Motorcycle Exhibit, Previews Win – The National Packard Museum
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Kathryn, better known as “Kitty,” was the oldest daughter of John and Hannah Donegan Bruder, Catholic immigrants from County Limerick, Ireland. (The Bruder surname is the anglicized version of O’Bruadair.)
John and Hannah Bruder arrived in America around 1860, and first settled in Iowa, where their oldest son John was born. The family briefly relocated to Ravenna, where Kitty was born in 1873. John then moved the family to Niles, where he worked as a puddler in an iron mill. Kitty’s sisters Nora, Margaret, Mary and Nellie, and brother William were born and raised in Niles.
We do not know much about her youth, but Kitty was an intelligent, confident and self-sufficient young woman. After completing her basic education, and with few other opportunities available to her, Kitty took a job as a waitress.
By 1900, Kitty lived in Warren, and worked as the head waitress of the Park Hotel, supervising the other staff. W.D. “Will” Packard and his 8-year-old son Warren were regulars in the hotel dining room, and that is likely where Kitty first met the 36-year-old widowed industrialist.
The following year, Will’s brother Ward constructed a modern, three-story apartment building on North Park Avenue, known as the “Packard Flats.” Will was anxious to move there and offered Kitty a job as his housekeeper.
Will and his son moved into their luxurious apartment in 1902. Will wrote in his journal: “Kitty Bruder the housekeeper and her sister here. First meal in the new apartment this noon. What a pleasure to have a home of your own. Warren is happy and contented in the change.”
Will paid Kitty $25 per month ($780 today), plus room and board. She received a $5 per month raise the following year.
While Kitty officially was Will’s housekeeper, she assumed the far more important responsibility of caring for his young son. Will traveled frequently for his thriving lamp and automobile businesses, and Kitty often cared for the boy while his father was away. Warren adored Kitty, and she treated him as if he were her own son.
In 1904, Will purchased riverfront property on Mahoning Avenue with plans to build a rambling craftsman-style house he named “Riverscourt.” Kitty’s reluctance to take on housekeeping duties in the new residence became a major stumbling block to Will’s plans for suburban bliss. Will solved this dilemma by marrying Kitty. Kitty was now lady of the house and stepmother to her beloved Warren.
Despite the differences in their social status and religious backgrounds, Will and Kitty’s marriage seemed happy. Will retired from most of his business endeavors shortly after remarrying in 1906 and devoted his final 17 years to philanthropy. Kitty was content to live quietly and privately as wife and stepmother. Interestingly, Kitty’s sister, Nora Bruder, replaced her as housekeeper of the Packard residence.
In 1917, Will built an estate on Lake Chautauqua, New York, where he and Kitty spent their summers. In 1920, they moved from Riverscourt to a new mansion near Packard Park named “Packard Place.” That same year, with his health declining, Will Packard drew up a new will.
Will told his attorney that he wanted Kitty to be treated fairly after he was gone, and he certainly accomplished that goal. Will died in 1923 leaving an estate worth more than $1.3 million (roughly $22.5 million today). For the rest of Kitty’s life, Will’s estate paid all her living expenses and provided her with a generous allowance to spend however she pleased.
Kitty remained devoted to her stepson Warren and his wife Dorothy and doted on grandchildren Warren III and Rosalie, even after the family moved to Detroit. In August 1929, just weeks after he and his family traveled home to visit with Kitty, Warren was killed in a plane crash in Michigan. Kitty was devastated by her stepson’s tragic death. Warren’s remains were returned to Ohio, and his funeral was held at her home.
Kitty quietly supported many local charities after her husband and stepson’s deaths, and her kindness and generosity earned her the respect of the community. She was described as “discrete in her philanthropy, not wanting to draw attention to herself.” Kitty made one exception, and it was in her stepson’s memory, when she publicly donated $1,000 ($20,000 today) to the American Legion Clarence Hyde Post to purchase new band uniforms.
Kitty died at her home on Feb. 10, 1940, after a short six-week illness. Monsignor Edward Fasnacht officiated at Kitty’s funeral Mass at St. Mary’s Church, and she was buried between her husband and stepson in the Packard family plot in Oakwood Cemetery.
Through shrewd investments, Kitty amassed a small fortune of her own, leaving an estate worth $670,000 ($14 million today), which she divided among her surviving siblings and two nieces.
Charles Ohlin is the director of Education for the National Packard Museum.
Packard Museum Motorcycle Show #1 - WFMJ.com
]]>National Packard Museum is honored and privileged to have access to the diaries of several Packard family members including James Ward Packard and Elizabeth Gillmer Packard, referred to in this piece as Ward and Bess.
Ward & Bess Packard spent the summer and fall of 1922 at their palatial Chautauqua Lake estate in Jamestown, NY before returning to their more modest home on North Park Ave. in Warren, Ohio on December 6, 1922. (The Packard residence is now home to the Buckeye Club.)
The Packards return to their North Park Ave. residence began, as might be expected, with ordinary tasks. After unpacking and hanging curtains, Bess went to the market. The couple then made the rounds visiting family and friends they had not seen since spring.
Despite the cold winter weather, the couple resumed their customary long walks around town and lengthy drives through the countryside including a drive around Cortland and then rural Howland Township with Ward's older brother Will and his wife, Kitty.
Ward and Bess also met with their architects to review more refined plans for the new mansion they planned to build on a lot they purchased on Oak Knoll Drive earlier in the year.
Most likely, the highlight of Ward's December was his trip to Cleveland to take delivery of a new, custom-ordered Packard sports car and the 50-mile drive home in the speedy roadster.
Unlike Ward's well-publicized, trouble-plagued trip from Cleveland to Warren in his Winton horseless carriage nearly 25 years earlier, his drive back to Warren in his new Packard sports car was uneventful. (Bess remarked that she liked the new car very much.)
Ward and Bess spent much of the first half of December 1922 preparing for Christmas.
The Packards made several trips to Cleveland shopping for the perfect Christmas gifts. Shopping trips to Cleveland that December usually included lunch at the exclusive Union Club on Euclid Avenue, of which the Packards were members.
On another trip, Bess and her father, T.I. Gillmer, a retired Trumbull County Common Pleas Judge and former County Prosecutor, took in a matinee performance at the newly opened Palace Theater in Cleveland's Playhouse Square. Bess described the Palace as "very beautiful, too beautiful for vaudeville."
Back home in Warren, Bess decorated their residence with Christmas wreaths and window boxes she purchased at Adgate and Kunkel Florists. She also wrote and mailed out 96 Christmas cards that year.
On Christmas morning, Ward and Bess took wreaths to the Packard and Gillmer family plots in Oakwood Cemetery. Later that afternoon, they entertained Bess's niece Katie Summers and her family. That evening, they called on neighbors Sam and Molly Russell at their home on Scott Street.
On the day after Christmas, Ward and Bess took a long walk. Bess then went for a ride by herself in her car, saying she was "about crazy with street noises."
On December 30, Ward and Bess hosted a luncheon for Ward's cousin from Cleveland, Attorney Kingdon Siddal and his nameless friend, whom Bess simply described as "some Frenchman".
Ward and Bess Packard's year ended quietly with New Year's Eve dinner at brother Will and Kitty's tudor-style mansion on Mahoning Ave. (now Community Skilled Assisted Living facility). Will and Ward's youngest sister, Olive, her husband Guy Gardner, her son Henry Packard White, and Guy's mother Harriet, all of Cleveland, were the other guests.
Bess described the party as "a very pleasant time," even though they spent most of the afternoon listening to church service on the radio.
Bess, known for her dry sense of humor, wrote in her diary that (listening to church services) was an "awful thing to inflict on a party, but perhaps not as hard as trying to keep up conversations."
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