Hendersonville FitzSimons clippings — Ellen retires from NYPL, Frank Jr. transferred to Polk County, Mary Ann Allston obituary, Frank Sr. honored

The mounted photographs are captioned in pencil:

[413? F.S.'s S/I — partly illegible date or relationship line] GEORGE HOWARD WATERFA[LL] Gaillard’s Fitz Simons & daughter Katherine taken on her wedding day —

Frank L. Fitz Simons Jr. + Frank L. Fitz Simons III “HANK”

Mather Fitz Simons

Margarita Consuelo Fitz S.

Clipping (upper center) — THE VILLAGER, GREENWICH, Conn., 1 Feb 1962, p. 7:

Plans To Enjoy View From Porch

[Photo, Pach Bros.: Miss Ellen FitzSimons.]

Miss Ellen FitzSimons, who has had the “privilege of working for the past thirty years with books and people — the two things that I love best” — concluded the final chapter on her New York Public Library career yesterday, Wednesday, Jan. 31.

Miss FitzSimons will retire from the Fifth Avenue Library’s Central Circulation Branch whose head librarian she has been for almost twenty years. “More than that,” she adds, “it’s the only branch in the entire system in which I’ve worked. I hit there as a summer substitute in 1932 and never left.”

Prior to coming to the Library, Miss FitzSimons lived and worked in Spartanburg, South Carolina. She is an alumna of Spartanburg High School, and for awhile, she worked in that city’s Kennedy Free Library. She came to New York City and to the Library in 1932. She earned her Bachelor of Arts degree at New York University and studied librarianship at Columbia University Library School.

"Room 8055 has been thought of, over the years, by many New Yorkers as ‘my library’ in spite of the fact that the branch is located in the Fifth Avenue building and not in a residential community as most of the neighborhood branches are.

"Part of the fun of working in the Central Circulation Branch, Miss FitzSimons says, is that ‘our public is dynamic, ever-changing publishers, advertising people, actors, playwrights, authors, and businessmen and women who live elsewhere but work in the vicinity. The challenge is to keep enough books on the shelves to satisfy their diverse and extensive reading tastes.’

One area of the branch book collection — which numbers over 90,000 — about which Miss FitzSimons is particularly knowledgeable is psychology. Her library thesis for promotion to head librarian dealt with, ‘The Importance of the Psychology Collection in the Library Today.’ …

she says, ‘comfortable bird watching’ either from her ‘large front porch’ or her ‘large back porch.’ She will not, however, give up another of her interests — baseball. ‘I’ll follow my teams in the newspapers on radio and television.’

Clipping (upper right) — THE TIMES-NEWS, Hendersonville, Feb. 19, 1959:

FITZSIMONS IN REVIEW OF TUCKER OPUS

Wednesday evening, the review by Frank FitzSimons of Glenn Tucker’s book, “High Tide at Gettysburg,” was given to an audience overflowing the Synagogue. The author was present, answering questions asked by those listening to a most absorbing review.

“One outstanding feature of the book is its attention to episodes in the personal experiences of so many of its characters,” said FitzSimons. “And those characters were not always of high-ranking officers nor of leading …”

Clipping (middle) — “Man of the Year Pinned,” dated March 20, 1961:

MAN OF THE YEAR PINNED — Kermit Edney, right, does the honors for the Hedrick-Rhodes Post in presenting Frank FitzSimons the VFW’s “Man of the Year” pin. The brief ceremony took place at a meeting of the membership last week. FitzSimons was cited for qualities of leadership in all sections of city and county life. Photo by Ed Hunnicutt.

Clipping (middle right) — “FitzSimons To Spin Tales At Program Tonight” (1959):

Frank FitzSimons will hold forth tonight at the story-telling program at the Skyland Hotel.

Sponsored by the Chamber of Commerce, the program begins at 8 p.m. in the hotel’s ballroom.

FitzSimons, storyteller, banker and farmer, is famous for his tales of Western North Carolina life.

Tonight’s program is one of several being sponsored this summer for local and summer residents.

Clipping (lower left) — “FRANK FITZSIMONS IS TRANSFERRED TO POLK COUNTY POST”:

Frank L. FitzSimons, Jr., has been transferred from the Henderson County office of the Soil Conservation Service in Hendersonville to the Polk County office at Columbus, N. C.

Mr. FitzSimons received a promotion from soil conservationist to work unit conservationist and will be in charge of the soil and water conservation work in Polk County.

Mr. FitzSimons entered the Soil Conservation Service in October, 1956, and received his training in this county. His responsibility for the past several years has been in developing soil conservation farm plans for farmers in the Mud Creek Watershed area.

Clipping (lower center) — Mary Ann Allston obituary:

Mary Ann Allston

HENDERSONVILLE — Mary Ann Allston, five-year-old daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Donald McKay Allston Jr., of Charleston, S. C., and granddaughter of Mr. and Mrs. Frank L. FitzSimons of Hendersonville, died Monday morning in a Charleston hospital after a long illness.

In addition to the parents and grandparents, she is survived by one brother, Donald McKay Allston III; one sister, Margarita Allston; and the maternal grandparents, Mr. and Mrs. Donald McKay Allston of Charleston.

Private funeral services were conducted Tuesday afternoon in the church[yard] of St. John’s Protestant Episcopal Church, John’s Island, S. C.

Clipping (lower center, adjacent) — Elvis Presley / Sandburg / Beaumont:

ELVIS PRESLEY may be considering the purchase of a pre-Civil War estate in the North Carolina Mountains not far from the famed home of the late CARL SANDBURG, according to The Associated Press.

The 205-acre antebellum estate, “Beaumont,” located near Flat Rock, was built by a wealthy South Carolina rice grower, Andrew Johnston, 136 years ago. It is about three miles from the home of the Sandburg mansion, “Connemara,” which is now a National Historic Site.

The property, surrounded by towering Blue Ridge Mountain peaks in the distance, is steeped with history. During the Civil War, renegades and deserters from both the Union and Confederate armies, claiming to be soldiers, stopped by Beaumont and demanded food, according to local historian FRANK FITZSIMMONS SR.

“Johnston fed them, and while they were eating, they became rowdy, at which point Johnston ordered the men to leave,” Fitzsimmons recalled.

The “bushwackers” turned on Johnston and killed him, leaving a bloodstain on the dining room floor that supposedly can still be seen despite efforts to bleach it out, Fitzsimmons said.

Clipping (lower right) — “VFW Honors FitzSimons”:

[Portrait: FRANK L. FITZSIMONS.]

Clipping (lower right) — “FitzSimons Heads Advanced Gifts Of United Funds” (1959):

[Portrait: FRANK L. FITZSIMONS, SR.]

THESE BUSINESS MEN HAVE BEEN CITED AS THE THREE who have contributed most in recent years to the cause of Henderson County agriculture. They were lauded and certified by the Unit Test Demonstration Farmers Association in their recent annual meeting. Numerous farmers were selected and honored with certificates and words of high praise for their work. The honoring of the business men was a new feature of recognition for the farm group. Left to right are William (Bill) Francis, president of Francis & Wright, feed, seed, fertilizer and farm equipment dealer; Frank L. FitzSimons, Sr., farmer from out Dana way, vice president of The Northwestern Bank, and widely ‘active’ civic worker and popular after-dinner speaker; and Noah Hollowell, editor and owner of The Western Carolina Tribune, active in civic work and with farm groups.

Clipping (lower far left, beneath VFW photo) — July 4, 1960 American Legion award:

(Continued from page one) Foreign Wars presented to Frank L. FitzSimons Sr., a plaque awarded to him as the most outstanding citizen of the year.

WINS AWARD — Frank L. FitzSimons Sr. (center), World War I veteran and well known civic leader, received award for outstanding service in peace and war. The award was presented at yesterday’s 4th of July celebration by Commander Grady Carland of the American Legion (left) and Commander J. B. Creech of the [VFW]. Times-News photo.