The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1928-01-17
Church, Chat With Cronies,
a Little Golf Mark Hours
in Florida.
BY CHARLES NJ. MCCAIN
United Press STAFF Correspondent
lCopYright, 1920. by United Pressl

h4 NAIhnA60 W. Vv1COAINN
United Press STAFF Correspondent
Copyright, 1926, by United Press
ORMOND BEACH, Fla, Jan.
~ 17.--John D. Rockefeller,
father Of Big Business, has found
the secret of happiness.
Whatever he once was in the
use and accumulation, Of his
wealth. he now is benign. gentle,
courteous, approachable by any
one, the worlds first and greatest
captain of industry seems to have
no thought but to make the world
a happier place to live in.
Here, in idyllically beautiful
surroundings, John D." spends
roughly one-fourth Of his life. He
is here now, for the winter
months.
His life is one of complete SIM
plicity and peace-a sort of sunny
late afternoon to his eventful ca
reer rather than the twilight
usually associated with years so
advanced as his, for ne is ap-
preaching SO.
OK holes of golf a day, al! his
~ doctor will allow him; a visit
on Sunday mornings to the little
Union Church across the broad
Halifax River that his home faces;
an armchair at the Sunday eve
ming concert at the hotel; chat
with one Of the cronies~ who visit
him from various parts of the coun-
try; little reading; little tinker
ing with his radio.
That is a bald and perhaps not
too incomplete outline of his pro-
gram. 1t might be that of any
man Of his years who retained, or
who had found, the JOY of life.
But it is in the way that
Rockefeller leads his life that its
own apparent idyllic beauty is
revealed.
AS much as any man can, he
seems to love and to be loved by
people here. Twenty years ago he
was the octopus; the business
juggernaut, the ruthless lnonop-
olist who crushed those who did
not move aside for him. Car
toonists made their livings by
portrayillg him in unfavorable
aspect.
Politicians sought office by de-
nouncing him and his Standard
Oil, his one-man company that
almost ended one-man companies
as a factor in industry.
n
ID OCKEFELLER may have enc
N mics in the world today, i'm
placable foes of old days, whom
he has not outlived. But not here.
In Ormond, John D." is loved
Those who look at him as he
passes, those who serve him, those
who meet him on equal plane,
those who come giggling to see
curiosity, have nothing but good
to say of this once much-hated
and easily hateable man.
He really is just an old, old
man. But there is nothing Of
Grabbed aged about him. Where
others have laughed through life
to pessimistic senility, Rookie
Teller seems only to have reached
the full bloom Of life since his re-
tirement from business.
He has been coming here for
twelve years and people who have
known him all that time say he
has not aged a day. This year,
they insist, he is looking younger.
Rockefeller'S shoulders are
stopped now. His long, prehensile
arms drop forward. His hair is
dead white. His face is scanned
with countless tiny wrinkles.
But his skin is tanned and
clear. His hand is steady. His
voice is firm. His hearing seems
acute. His sight seems keen. And
he seems as happy as man could
be-just in liking people and being
liked.
y
IN selecting Orlnond Beach as
l. one of his yearly ports of call,
John D." seems to have shown