In the previous issue of Crossroads, we listed 29 alumni whom we believe served in mental health institutions under the Civilian Public Service program in World War II. We asked readers to correct errors and to fill in omissions and are grateful for these responses:
“Please add my dad, William J. Rhodes (HS class of ’45), to the list of men who served in a mental health institution [Greystone Park State Hospital (N.J.)] under the Civilian Public Service program.” // From Gene C. Rhodes ’80
Mary Yake Metzler ’44 served at the Rhode Island State Hospital for Mental Diseases in the summer of 1945. She ended up being a psychotherapist in Goshen, Ind. // From Mary Jane Hershey, a Mennonite history buff in Harleysville, Pa., who is the wife and business partner of Hiram Hershey, class of ’50. (Mary Jane herself worked in a mental health unit in Skillman, N.J., in the summer of ’49.)
Richard S. Weaver ’36 (HS), ’53, was an attendant for nine months with patients who were prone to violence in the Harrisburg (Pa.) State Hospital. (In the previous Crossroads Weaver was incorrectly listed as serving in the Philadelphia State Hospital.) He then seized the chance to be a flight instructor with a team of COs working as parachute-jumping firefighters in Montana. In 1946, he married Virginia Grove Weaver ’41, a nurse who worked alongside Richard in his final CO assignments in Indiana and Montana. // From their son, Robert E. Weaver ’08, with additional details from his parents
Earl M. Maust ’39 (HS) ‘41 served as a conscientious objector at the Rhode Island State Hospital for Mental Diseases in the city of Howard.
From family members
“The Paul M. Landis (Class of ‘48) pictured on page 12 did not serve in CPS. I knew that Paul; he was born in 1924 and is not listed in the 1951 book, The Franconia Mennonites and War. In the [online] Directory of Civilian Public Service, there is a Paul M. Landis from Bareville, born in 1914, who did serve at the Rhode Island State Hospital.” // From Dan Reinford ’51
