Yarnall Genealogy

Wedding
On June 28, 1958 at 2:00 P.M. Thomas V. Yarnall, Jr. and Pauline Anne Cheverelli were married at St. Paul's Lutheran Church in Glenside, PA. He married the best girl in the world for him. Many pictures were taken on that wonderful day. They are in our wedding mementos binder. Three pictures that are not in our mementos binder provide additional insight to what a great day it was. One of Tom's best high school buddies, Ralph von Glahn, flew his jet from Norfolk, VA to Willow Grove, PA to get to our wedding. Other pictures of our wedding are in Polly's section of this genealogy project.
Wonder woman
Tom once seriously considered enlisting in the Naval Air Cadet program. He and Ralph applied together in 1956. In 1960 when Tom was on a business trip in Cleveland, OH he found out Ralph died when his jet malfunctioned and crashed in Currituck Sound, NC. Jim Cliff, another member of the "young ushers" group at St. Steven's Church, also became a Naval Air Cadet. His jet plunged into the Pacific as he was taking off from a carrier in a practice flight near San Diego, CA. Polly was not enthused about Tom's Naval Air Cadet ideas. Tom went into the Army draft instead. Polly continued to apply her good instincts about many things during their married life.
Hollidaysburg apartment (household will not be listed in any census)
In 1958 the newlyweds moved into a small one-bedroom second floor apartment in the home of a widow named Mrs. Griffith in Hollidaysburg, PA at 718 Clark Street. Polly got a job doing display designs for the storefront windows of the Gables Department Store in Altoona, PA. We entertained Polly's parents at Thanksgiving.
Altoona homeowners (household will be in the 1960 census)
Polly and Tom bought their first home in Altoona, PA in 1960. It was a three-bedroom "fixer- upper" at 313 31st Street. It cost $12,600. This was the first home of their first two children, Louise Grace and Steven Vincent. Polly and Tom worked very hard to improve the interior. The plaster walls were very porous. Ed Smith came up to visit with Polly's parents. He was about 6' 4" and had very large hands. He pushed his finger through the ceiling plaster to prove we had to put up dry wall or special ceiling tiles. There are many slides in storage that show what we did and how we worked to improve the house. This house was a lot different from the millhouse rentals that Tom's great grandfather and grandfather had for their houses after they got married. In the 1800's it was much more difficult to be able to become a homeowner because no fair mortgage system was in place for people without wealth. In 1960 Polly and Tom could get a mortgage.
Altoona life
New drywall was put up on the kitchen ceiling. A pad on Polly's head eased the pain as she held sheets of drywall against the ceiling when I nailed them. I removed a double window in the living room and put up drywall. On the other side was an enclosed porch (our office) and I made a built-in bookcase on the porch side of the opening. Polly then patched the seams with spackling prior to painting the wall. The greatest events were our new arrivals - Louise and Steve. Sales were going well and we were making some fine friends. House, cars, and job were OK.
A bump in the road on our journey
Even though Tom was doing well in his job with Mead Johnson, George Thomas fired him. Sales performance ratings were shown on monthly sheets for George Thomas' eight sale reps. Tom was usually in the top three and often "number one" each month during his two years. Tom was told he was too vocal about improvements he wanted for the products. George said Tom was not suited for the job. Even though Tom was active in the Jaycees and was the only sales rep that participated in Sabine Oral Sunday with the leading pediatrician in Altoona, Marvel Kagey, it was of no significance to George Thomas.
All is well that ends well
Tom was fortunate there was an opening in the same area for a detail man for J. B. Roerig (a division of Pfizer). Some of the doctors in Tom's sales territory wrote letters to Mead Johnson in protest of Tom's release. They were helpful in getting Roerig to consider Tom. His new Roerig territory was 8 counties in the mountainous Pennsylvania terrain instead of the 11 counties that he covered with Mead Johnson. The snowy winters were adventures on the roads. Bill Baldridge was a much nicer man to have as a manager. He lived near Pittsburgh, PA just like George Thomas. Tom decided to stop making suggestions about product improvements at his new company. They had people who were assigned that job just as Mead Johnson did. They did not want anyone else helping them with their work apparently.
Homecoming trip pays big dividends
At a Muhlenberg College homecoming football game in 1961, Tom talked with former classmate Dan Hosage. Dan was making over $30,000 in sales with IBM and Tom was making $6,682 with Roerig after Polly stopped working at Gables to care for our new baby daughter Louise. Dan encouraged Tom to apply for a job with IBM. Tom used Dan's name as a reference when he applied. In 1962 IBM's Steve Davis hired Tom. It was a switch into an industry that was in its infancy - computers. Tom joined that industry after electronic circuits with vacuum tubes were replaced by circuits with transistors. He was in it through the development of integrated circuits and microchip processors. Tom began as a systems analyst. After a year he was assigned the general sales territory of just 3 counties (Blair, Somerset, and Huntingdon) working out of the IBM branch office in Johnstown, PA (Cambria County). Tom made a significant sale to the Altoona Central Bank and Trust Company - a leading bank in Blair County.
Amazing similar experience for Tom Jr and William H
On November 22, 1963 Tom stopped for lunch on the way back to Altoona after a two-day meeting in Pittsburgh. Tom rarely played the radio when he drove his car. When Tom entered the restaurant he noticed it was very silent. President Kennedy had been shot and no one knew his condition. People were all watching TV and meals were not really being prepared. Tom skipped lunch that day. I wonder, as I write this, what great grandfather William H was doing on the evening of April 14, 1865 when President Lincoln was shot. We know he did not find out about it on a TV set.
Altoona VIPs
Tom was elected President of the Young Republicans of Blair County. He escorted Barry Goldwater during his campaign visit to Altoona, PA. Polly, as the wife of the Young Republicans' President, presented a small gift to Richard Nixon at the Altoona train station when he made a whistle stop there. It was a nametag for his dog, Checkers.
Altoona not a good investment
We had some good times in Altoona, but Polly was glad to get away from such a depressed area. We sure did not participate in any real estate boom. We were lucky to get $17,500 for a house that had been greatly improved. We lost money as others around the nation were making money on real estate.
Rockville (household will not be listed in any census)
In 1964 IBM transferred Tom to a banking specialty territory in the Washington DC area. Tom, Polly, and their two children lived in an apartment in Falls Church, VA for a few months until they found a house they could afford. It was a new 3-bedroom house at 14013 Congress Drive in Rockville, MD. Polly's parents came to see us more often then because it was a shorter trip to this house than the Altoona house. The new house had a plumbing leak in a pipe to the bathtub. The leak filled the space above the kitchen ceiling with water and caused the ceiling to bulge. Tom went to the plumber's house one Saturday morning because he ignored multiple phone requests to fix the leak. The plumber's children let Tom in when they answered the door. A very angry plumber came in from the bedroom and punched Tom and ripped his shirt. Tom reported the assault to the local police. They gave him forms to file a complaint. A counter suit of trespass was filed against Tom. After almost $3000 in legal fees the case was a draw. Tom decided our system of justice had some serious flaws. Polly decided Tom had some serious flaws.
Richmond (household will not be listed in any census)
After two successful years of selling with the financial team in the Washington DC area, Tom was promoted to head up a financial sales team in Richmond, VA in 1966. Polly and Tom had a 4-bedroom house built at 1109 Swissvale Place when they moved to Richmond, VA. Steve and Louise would visit the construction to see how it was progressing. Tom started to play more golf. He met his brothers to play the Dunes in Myrtle Beach. Tom was able to join the Richmond Country Club. His handicap dropped to 17.3 in April 1969 and he even won some prizes in club tournaments. In 1968 Tom stopped the national trend of Federal Reserve Banks going with Burroughs when he won the computer system bid at the Richmond Federal Reserve Bank. It resulted in a very nice commission.
Cherry Hill (household will be in the census for 1970, 1980, 1990, 2000, and 2010)
In 1969 Tom left IBM to become the President of a data processing subsidiary being formed by the Huggins actuarial firm in Philadelphia, PA. After six months the decision to form the new subsidiary was scrapped. Tom was no longer needed to head up the new venture. Tom and Polly had a new 4-bedroom house at 148 Weston Drive in Cherry Hill, NJ and a brand new Chrysler. Tom was able to find a job one mile from their new home. It was as a sales trainer with the Computer Division of RCA.

Tom became a member at the Little Mill golf course. He got his handicap down to a 17 at Little Mill. With scores from other courses, Tom got his handicap down to 14.9 in July 1971. He played another course in the RCA golf league and had a handicap of 16 in the league. The sales training team won the championship in 1971. Tom had his lowest score ever on a full length course (not an executive sized course). It was accomplished in the golf league championship tournament on May 8, 1971 at Indian Spring. Tom's score was 79.

Polly was pregnant. Life could not be better. Life was good!

In September 1971 the roof caved in on the best of times. The computer division of RCA folded. In November Tom and Polly had their third healthy and alert child - Bradley Thomas. He was born in Camden, NJ. Tom got a job as Comptroller at a very small firm named The Johnson Companies in Newtown, PA. These two events signaled the beginning of a recovery cycle in their journey together. In the summer of 1972 we took a vacation trip to a mountain retreat in North Carolina called the Fontana Village Resort. We got to see Fontana Dam. Steve and Louise road horses and fished. We all square danced. We had a super time. Brad was watched by a baby sitter. We had a small cabin. We saw some Indians at their small reservation. We watched them do craftwork. Here are some pictures from that trip.

Brad is probably in the car.

Brad has joined us.

Enjoying his 57th birthday in 1989 when Louise and Jim came to visit. Louise is singing "Happy Birthday" with gusto.	On a visit to the beach, Jim and I helped Matt and Sam jump the waves.

For many years Tom carried the picture on the right in his wallet. It was an easy way to brag about his family. Top is Steve and Tom. Middle is Polly and Louise. Bottom is Brad. My guess is the picture was taken in 1978 after Louise graduated from high school. From 1975 until 1992 Tom was a merit badge counselor for the Boy Scouts. He would have scouts come to him for a review to pass the requirements for various merit badges. There were 11 for computers, 6 for home repairs, 3 for public speaking, and 1 for salesmanship. It was very rewarding to see these young men develop their skills and knowledge. Tom started as a merit badge counselor when Steve joined the Boy Scouts. He stopped being a merit badge counselor when there was a requirement to have parents attend the reviews because there was a problem with some counselors molesting the young men who would come to them for their review. This accusation was repulsive. To be suspected of such behavior ended any desire to continue as a merit badge counselor. By 2020 the boy scout program was ruined because there were idiots who wanted it to include girls and gays and who knows what. A fabulous program that developed morals and good character traits as well as many skills was on life support. It had to file for bankruptcy.