MR. BLAISDELL: World War II vet George T. Howard provides more
memories of Zippo founder George G. Blaisdell:
“In 1944, I was stationed in England on a 10-man B-24 crew. When
my fellow crew members saw that I had a chromium plated Zippo they
wanted to know if I could get them one of these pre-war lighters
(during the war, all Zippos had a black case).
“I wrote to Mr. Blaisdell and within three weeks I received 9
shiny chromium lighters. As you can imagine my crew members were
very, very appreciative.”
Mr. Howard also tells us he caddied for Mr. Blaisdell and his
wife Miriam and daughter Harriett during the late ’30s. “Mr.
Blaisdell usually played with Earl and Larry Dana and sometimes
Krum Roberts,” he writes.
We also hear from Reid Haug on the subject of GGB: “My father
belonged to the Bradford Rotary Club as did George Blaisdell.
Sometime in the mid-1950s at a November Rotary Club luncheon,
George came over to my father and asked him for his autograph. Dad
asked him why he wanted his autograph and George said that he was
collecting autographs of club members.”
“Dad signed his autograph book and at dinner that night told us
how funny it was that George wanted his autograph.
“At the December meeting George gave dad a new Zippo lighter
with dad’s autograph on it. Dad thought it was really funny that he
had a new Zippo lighter with his personal autograph and he was not
a smoker.
“Dad never used the lighter and in later years gave it to me. I
consider it special so I never used it and my plan is to give it to
my son so he can have something personal from his grandfather. Dad
was general manager, sales, at Butter Krust Baking Co., makers of
‘Bunny Bread’ in Bradford. We lived on Oxford Street in East
Bradford.”
LOST LIGHTER: Harold Pier writes, “Back around 1944 my Dad found
a Zippo lighter buried in a snowdrift. It had the name, Marjory
Otti, engraved on it. He sent the lighter in to the company and
they repaired it at no cost and sent it back. He carried that
lighter for the rest of his life. I often wonder who Marjory was,
and if she missed her lighter.”
Any of our readers out there know Marjory?
