Franklyn Fuller Buell was born in Torrington, CT on June 3, 1919, the youngest of four sons. His father was a mathematics school teacher in Connecticut and a graduate of Wesleyan University. His mother was an old-fashioned stay-at-home mom. Her dad lived to be 100.

Franklyn was a graduate of a secretarial school where he excelled at 120 words a minute typewriting and 140 words a minute shorthand, both to become very practical in his future.

Some of his dad’s teaching career was in the Martha Berry Schools in rural Georgia. He had a Dodge car and Henry Ford who visited the school came there by train and had to ride around the campus in the Dodge. Franklyn played the trumpet.

In 1940 he enlisted in the US Army and was there when President Roosevelt declared war on the Japanese. He was stationed in Fort Devins and later Governors Island. In the adjutant general’s office Franklyn was the darling of all the generals because he could take shorthand and typewrite. He was a Master Sergeant whose duty was to stay on the heels of the First Army troops, keeping a record of those who would not come back and of those who would be sent in to replace them. From the English Channel to Omaha Beach and Paris, he was in Belgium during the Nazi’s last major offensive, the Battle of the Bulge. Upon being sent home, some of the generals wanted to send these men to the Pacific, but other generals said no, these men have seen enough.

Franklyn was happy to be a civilian again and knew the value of the GI Bill of Rights. He dared to let himself go in ambition to be a newspaper reporter. And so enrolled himself in Boston University, the first class of the School of Communications, Department of Journalism under President Marsh. One of his classmates was Martin Luthor King, Jr. He took advantage of the accelerated course, four years in three. Franklyn also took advantage of his proximity to Fenway Park. By the way, he was an avid baseball fan. In 1934, he saw Lou Gehrig and Babe Ruth play in the same game.

Come his senior year, he started sending out letters inquiring about a newspaper reporter job. He received two bids. The Springfield MA Union and the Richmond VA News Leader. It worked out to be The Springfield Union. He was hired as a general assignment reporter and forthwith we bring you his superb reporting ability because of his shorthand. Add to this his sensitivity and humanitarianism, now sprinkle in his sense of humor, and top it with his English writing ability.

On Christmas Day, 1954, Franklyn married Glendora Vesta Folsom whom he met in 1949 June. They were married in The First Congregational Church in Wealthy Hills, MA by the Reverend Dr. John Elmo Wallace. Dr. Wallace arranged for his friend who owned the Concord Inn, Concord MA, to host a gratis wedding luncheon. This is the Concord of Concord and Lexington of Paul Revere’s ride. Was it a large wedding? Yes, There were four people. Franklyn’s mother and Dad, Mr. and Mrs. Earnest Hall Buell and Mr. and Mrs. Ralph Arnold Folsom, Sr.

Franklyn’s work as a reporter was appreciated by the newspaper management who awarded him a promotion to the city desk. Franklyn was appreciative but being an editor was not his life goal. He wanted to be a feature writer about big things little people did. Glendora sensed this dichotomy and told him the only way he could get a promotion as a reporter was to go to work for a larger newspaper and continue being a reporter. And so began letter writing.

The Buffalo Evening News became very interested in him and asked him to come to Springfield to visit. His likable personality was appreciated by them, and he was hired to be a general assignment reporter. They agreed he could start work January 1, 1958. He wrote many stories with his byline Franklyn Buell and became very well known and liked. He always dressed up in a shirt and tie, trousers with a crease, and polished shoes. He was always gentlemanly, honest, kind,clean, sympathetic, honorable and never a threat to anybody. He had a jolly sense of humor and was on the quiet side. He was also good-natured and obliging. His byline made him famous and his reporting brought him enthusiastic esteem.

Every night when he would come home Franklyn would cut out the article he had written for the newspaper that day. He would paste them with the dateline in a 9×12 3-ring notebook. A 3-ring notebook would hold the articles for one-half of a year. So we have notebooks from January-June 1949, another notebook July-December 1949, a third notebook January-June 1950, all the way up to January-June 1983. Every day Glendora or one of her associates reads aloud half of a month. We are currently on October 16-31, 1959.

Before you we now lay his triumphs in reporting. Then we will present to you excerpts from his book Something Of Love.