The Hands Who Shaped the Home, Part 2

From its earliest days, through its massive growth and eventual decline, some of the key players in keeping the Union Printers Home running were the superintendents and matrons who served as the liaisons to the Board of Trustees, the supervisors of the Home staff, and the administrators, social workers, and activities directors all in one. We began in our last newsletter with Part One, featuring John D. Vaughan, the Schumans, the Clarks, and the Daleys. Here, in Part Two, we will introduce the final four sets of Superintendents and Matrons, who spanned nearly 50 years between them. 

The McCoys
(1928 – 1938, 1938 – 1940)

James (1883 – 1959) and Blanche A. Hogg (1885 – 1954) McCoy were the superintendent and matron during some of the largest years of expansion that the Home property ever saw. During their tenure, the three “back buildings” – the boiler building, the North dormitory, and the South sanatorium/hospital – were all built, and the interior of the Castle building was completely renovated and updated, giving us much of how the building looks today. Mr. McCoy was born in Philadelphia in 1883 and became a member of the Philadelphia Typographical Union in 1908 at the age of 25. He then moved to Baltimore, where he met and married Blanche Abercrombie Hogg in 1912. The McCoys had two sons together: James Jr. (born 1913) and William (born 1920). 

The McCoys served at the Home from 1928 – 1940, with the exception of a few months in 1938 when Mr. McCoy was unexpectedly removed from his post by the President of the ITU and Board of Trustees of the Home. He appealed this decision and was reinstated, and remained in the position for another two years before he was once again removed by the Board, and this time, his appeal was not successful. The reasons behind his removal are convoluted but seem to include accusations of McCoy expressing dissatisfaction with the Board of Trustees to numerous other members of the ITU, as well as poor treatment of Home staff. There also seemed to be personal contention between McCoy and Claude M. Baker, the ITU president who came into office in the Summer of 1938.

The McCoys’ lives after the Home are not well-documented, and all we know is that Blanche McCoy died in Washington State in 1954, and James McCoy died in a Philadelphia hospital in 1959. They were both buried in Pennsylvania.

The Hamiltons
(1940 – 1944)

Milton Austin (1885 – 1956) and Hazel Maxine Harkins (1893 – 1981) Hamilton were the Superintendent and Matron of the Home from 1940 – 1944. Mr. Hamilton was born in Wyoming in 1885, and raised all over the western US, including Utah, Washington, Oregon, California, and, of course, Colorado. Hazel M. Harkins was born in 1893 in Boise, ID, and spent her career as a nurse, including as a civilian nurse during WWI. The pair were married in Washington State in 1917, and went on to have two surviving children together (the eldest died in infancy): Betty, born 1919, and Robert, born 1924. 

The Hamiltons were at the Home during a particularly difficult time, dealing with the consequences of the War and how rationing, in particular, impacted the Home. They were responsible for establishing a 40-acre Victory Garden on the property. They voluntarily left the Home in 1944 when a new ITU President was elected, stating that because Mr. Hamilton had been appointed by the previous president who was no longer in office, he should step down to allow the new president to appoint someone new. This decision came in light of the issues surrounding his predecessor, James McCoy, and the previous President’s decision to oust McCoy and appoint his own choice for superintendent.   

The Hamiltons were by all accounts very well-liked at the Home; by contrast to James McCoy’s apparently poor treatment of staff, the Hamiltons were very kind, remaining friends with some of their staff members long after their tenure as superintendent and matron. After the Hamiltons left the Home, they stayed in Colorado for a brief time before moving in with Betty’s family in California. Mr. Hamilton died there in 1956, and Mrs. Hamilton continued working as a nurse until her death following an illness in 1981.

The Pattersons
(1938, 1944 – 1968)

Dowell (1899 – 1968) and Elva Reese (1900 – 1994) Patterson were the longest-serving superintendent and matron in Union Printers Home history. Mr. Patterson, or “Pat,” was born in Charleston, SC, in 1899, where he was raised until graduating high school, and went on to attend the University of Indianapolis. He then returned to Charleston, and was initiated into the local Typographical Union there in 1919. Elva Reese was born in Kershaw, SC, in 1900. The pair married in 1920, and had one child, Phyllis. Beyond his work in the typographical industry, Mr. Patterson was involved in numerous other civic activities, including four years in the South Carolina State Legislature. 

The Pattersons were briefly appointed to the superintendent and matron roles during the time following James McCoy’s ousting in 1938, before he appealed and was reinstated. After the Hamiltons left in 1944, the Pattersons were brought back. As superintendent, Mr. Patterson saw the Home through significant changes and challenges. To name only a few, he worked through the financial difficulties of the later war years, brought the Home out of its former financial difficulty despite the fact that the per capita dues from ITU members that funded the Home were not raised at any time after 1944, oversaw the Home’s 1965 hospital wing renovations, helped move the ITU headquarters to Colorado Springs from Indianapolis and oversaw the creation of the ITU Training Center on the Home grounds in order to keep the printing trade up with the rapidly changing technologies of the 1960s, coordinated bringing new businesses such as K-Mart and Cinema 150 to the property to generate income for the Home during a time that finances were becoming increasingly difficult, and founded the Union Printers Home Association to fundraise and support the Union Printers Home. In 1957, he received a merit award from the ITU for his work in improving the Home’s financial situation so much. And, perhaps most importantly, he was extremely well-liked and respected by the residents of the Home. 

While in Colorado Springs, “Pat” also served two terms as president of the El Paso County Hospital Council, and in 1958 he was offered and accepted a charter membership in the American Academy of Medical Administrators, for which he was the regional vice president. He served on the advisory council of Pike National Forest and was passionate about land conservation. He also served as vice president of the Memorial Park Association and was integral in fighting for the service memorial to be established there – and in keeping that land from being developed. Mr. Patterson died suddenly after a cerebral hemorrhage in 1968. 

Mrs. Patterson revolutionized and transformed the role of Matron during her time at the Home. She created and ran the brand-new Social Services Department, which helped to provide advice for social and financial challenges to the residents of the Home. She established this department around 1948 and oversaw it throughout the rest of her tenure at the Home. She received all necessary credentials for social work through the State of Colorado to do this this work. 

Mrs. Patterson was also described as providing “the ‘motherly touch’ that is imperative and consoling in an institution that is filled with men who for the most part have lost their life-partners.” After her husband’s death in 1968, when it was announced that she would remain in her role, she received a standing ovation from the residents of the Home. She continued in the position alongside the next superintendent for six more years before her retirement. She lived with their daughter until her death in 1994. Both the Pattersons are buried in Evergreen Cemetery here in Colorado Springs.

Vincent Hansen
(1968 – 1982)

Vincent Hansen (1921 – 2000) was the final superintendent of the Home. Born in 1921 in St. Joseph, MO, he apprenticed at the St. Joseph News Press and was initiated into the local union there in 1945. During his apprenticeship, he took a break to serve in the Marines during World War II, and he also lived in the Union Printers Home as a patient due to an illness for 18 months around that time – making him the only superintendent we are aware of who had actually been a patient at the Home previously. He worked as a printer in Colorado Springs for a time before he returned to St. Joseph, where he met and married Marian Clark in 1947. The pair had three children.

Described as a staunch, aggressive unionist, Hansen served in a variety of union leadership positions throughout his career before becoming the Superintendent of the Printers Home in 1969. Mr. Hansen’s time as Superintendent spanned 13 years during which the International Typographical Union – and therefore the Printers Home – were in decline due to technological advances that made many typographical trade positions obsolete. Hansen’s tenure saw the sale of large portions of the Home property, the closing of the South building as it was no longer up to code as a hospital, and significant changes to Union funding and to the city around the Home. By 1982, he decided to retire to spend more time with his family, but remained in Colorado Springs until his death in September 2000 at the age of 79. Upon his death, his family asked for donations to the Union Printers Home in lieu of flowers, showing that Hansen’s love for the union and for the Home remained strong through the rest of his life.

Following Mr. Hansen’s retirement, the Home transitioned to a more classic hospital administration model – staffed by professional hospital administrators and activities directors for the rest of the time the Home was open as a care facility. But The Union Printers Home would not have become the place that it was and is without the dedication of the eight superintendents and six matrons who guided it through most of its history, from 1892 – 1982. Their memories are etched in the shape of the Home and their love for the union echo through its halls. We are so grateful for each and every one of them:

John D. Vaughan, Walter and Eva Schuman, Charles and Agnes Clark, Charles and Margaret Deacon, John and Marie Daley, James and Blanche McCoy, Milton and Hazel Hamilton, Dowell and Elva Patterson, and Vincent Hansen

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