JB worked tirelessly during this period, supervising plant and mine operations, as well as labor relations and union contract negotiations. With so many men in the armed services, quality supervisors were in short supply during the war years and the demands on JB’s time were enormous. In 1943, he married Mary Landman and the quality of his life improved substantially. They lived in the Whitacre mansion and did a fine job of restoring the house, which had been neglected since JJ’s death. Mary Whitacre was an avid and able golfer and renewed JB’s interest in the sport. After the war, they started spending winters in Dunedin, FL. JB continued his interest in beagle hounds.
DD returned from service as a naval officer and went to work for WG. He managed all sales, steel plant refractories and face brick. DD developed a distribution system for the face brick business, which was a new business for WG. In the U.S., five companies, including WG, produced hot tops. DD organized them into a research group, which at different times sponsored projects to improve the product at Ohio State, Penn State and Case Tech. DD championed converting part of the garage at the main office into a testing laboratory for raw materials and finished products. He was the primary mentor and decision maker for day-to-day matters after the war. The Waynesburg Fox Hunt was not reactive after World War II.
Art Estep continued as secretary-treasurer. He was willing to give advice and able to relate many events from the past as examples of successful or unsuccessful decisions. He was a good influence on all of us, including his brothers-in-law, when we took ourselves too seriously. Since the 1938 common stock agreement, Art usually sided with my father in important decisions. This was a severe frustration to DD, Dan and me. When we championed new products or new ways of doing the current work better, we were consistently turned down if spending money was involved.
