Dedicated: Dawes Staff

Kay Cox

Forrest Melick

Jim Sanford

Click names to view oral history quotes!

Randy Wise

Art Patznick

Randy Wise, grandson of Carmen Wise

See the quote below to read how Randy describes his grandfather's story of the Arboretum rabbit hunt!

"They planted a bunch of new saplings, and the rabbits were destroying them. So, they opened up rabbit season at The Arboretum for four hours, is what I was told. These are the only guys [staff only]. They shot from, I think he told me, 8 am till noon. Four hours of shooting, of hunting. Once everything was done, he told me that they cleaned them and took them to the children’s home. So they weren’t wasted."

Clothing on loan from the Western Reserve Historical Society

The Pure Oil Company was founded by Arboretum co-founder Beman Dawes. Money from the company paid for the growth and endowment at The Dawes Arboretum. Gas stations were all over Ohio, this 1950 gas pump and sign would have been recognizable by customers.

Art Patznick

See the quote below to read how Art shares why he wanted to work at the Arboretum!

"Number one, it was a job! The thing about it is, you know, you had a few more benefits, and I guess you never had to worry about looking for a job once you were hired. That kind of sparked our interest. All the little benefits that you got, you know, like the pig and the potatoes and the milk and whatever. The eggs, yeah. I guess we were looking at it from an economical standpoint."

Clothing on loan from the Western Reserve Historical Society

Kay Cox, granddaughter of Harry Jones

See the quote below to read how Kay describes her grandfather, Harry!

"What do I remember about him? Just being a very big, quiet, gentle person who never seemed to get upset, never seemed to be aggravated at us, anyway. And always, just, he had allergies, but he gave himself injections so he could still farm and do all the stuff. So, anyway, but he was always helpful and very nice and always answered your questions. Was just a very neat kind of guy."

Jim Sanford, son of Everett Sanford

See the quote below to read how Jim explains how Everett secured the Arboretum every night!

"We would have big groups they had to be policed in a sense. We- there was just a lot of control necessary to make sure and ensure that the grounds were preserved and not damaged in any way. So I helped in that effort, I would make the rounds, shoo people off at dusk and close the gates when dad was busy or often times we did it together. Probably eighty percent of the time we did it together. Every night we’d go down to the [Dawes] Lake sit and wait for the sun to go down and then make our rounds and shut the gate. That’s what I remember so much is being with my father."

Clothing on loan from the Western Reserve Historical Society

Clothing on loan from the Western Reserve Historical Society

Forrest Melick, son of Willard Melick

See the quote below to read how Forrest describes how often and how much his father was paid!

"So when he come here, it was the first time he ever had a constant paycheck cause they paid by the month here and every two weeks they’d pay. I think he started out like the very first year we moved here at $180 a month, which in 1950 would have been a decent wage. And the factory guys was making $400-$500 a month but it was still good for the type of work he did and everything. And a nice place to live."

Clothing on loan from the Western Reserve Historical Society

Clothing on loan from the Western Reserve Historical Society