Arthur Newell Talbot

Arthur Newell Talbot was "a man of great dignity, a quiet, precise man, a very hard worker, with wide interests and a practical turn of mind," according to Arthur's eldest grandson, Phillips Talbot, who lived with his grandfather from 1932 to 1936. "He actually had three professional careers -- sanitary engineering, concrete research, and railway engineering. There was about him a standard of quality in everything he did. Arthur's wife had died very early in 1919, so he had 23 years on his own. He lived in a big house over on California Avenue with a housekeeper."

"I remember the man being a very dignified kind of person," Barbara Fuller recalls. "Of course it wasn't a very demonstrative family. But he was unfailingly polite, and he paid attention to little girls, which I was not always used to. So I always felt that it was very pleasant to go and see Grandfather. If I came up with some wild ideas or something he would always listen. He would delight in having me come over to the lab and watch the big machines go pounding down."

Arthur's grandson, Arthur II, recalls a similar experience. "I was about thirteen years old and he personally took me to the laboratory and excitedly explained all the equipment and the testing processes to me. This was both exhilarating and impressive. I was proud to be his grandson, without really understanding, at that time, why."