Clayton H. Belshaw

RETIRES WITH COMMENDED RECORD

Today (Thursday) closed an important book for Clayton Belshaw -- the enviable record of 21 years at a service desk in the entrance to the Whiting plant of Carbide and Carbon Chemicals Company. Retired at his request, effective July 1, Clayton was guest of honor at a dinner given by department heads and foremen at Phil Smidt's Wednesday noon, and much of today was spent saying goodbye to fellow workers. Work that entailed not only the greeting of visitors but the handling of time cards and changing of addresses and telephone numbers for the plant's 700 employees has given him an unusually wide acquaintance.

Born January 4, 1890, in the settlement north of Lowell that bears his family name, Clayton came with his family, the Charles Belshaws, to Crown Point in 1918, after eight years of employment in the Hoevet department store. He enlisted soon afterward in the Marine Corps and served during World War I with the 6th regiment, 2nd division in France, Belgium, Luxemburg and Germany.

After receiving honorable discharge August 3, 1919, at Quantico, Virginia, he returned to Crown Point and worked with his father, superintendent of the Lake County home under Republican administration, for 12 years. In 1934 he undertook the position offered him through the kind offices of Walter R. Mybeck at Whiting Carbide and Carbon and began the association that for more than 20 years has brought him such genuine satisfaction.

Since Clayton's marriage to Miss Amelia Greiner October 6, 1942, they have made their home at 303 North Hoffman, where they share a common interest and expertness in gardening, an avocation that will surely claim an added measure of his new found leisure. Baseball is another mutual enthusiasm that they will satisfy with "more games than ever" this summer.