Paul Mohney was born to Ralph Mohney and Marjorie Fay Mohney. His two sisters, Fay Geneve and Celia Eloise (who went by Eloise all her life), were born before him. On January 12, 1933, he was born in Philadelphia Hospital. That year, with the depression worsening, salaries were reduced. Ralph and family moved in with family friends - Greenwalt (wife named Hannah). Marjorie, Fay, C. Eloise and Paul stayed living in Philadelphia, and Ralph went to Japan. This was a dangerous time for Singer employees in Japan, as there was a great deal of unrest about Singer business practices that did not treat the Japanese well.
In June 1934 – Marjorie, Fay, C. Eloise and Paul went to Japan to join Ralph. Ralph was sick with scarlet fever while he was there alone. The trip to Japan was on the President Hoover or President Coolidge, Dollar Steam Ship Company. Ships were the same model they went on one (probably Coolidge) and returned on the other (probably Hoover). They took a train from Philadelphia to Chicago, then a train from Chicago to San Francisco. They were supposed to take ship from there, but longshore men were on strike. A San Francisco Singer man drove them to San Diego where they caught the ship. They traveled from San Diego to Hawaii – where they stopped for a day or two, then toured Dole Pineapple factory. They had a pineapple fountain like drinking fountain. They went back to sea and landed in Yokohama Japan, where Ralph met them and rode the rest of the way to Kobe.
Fall 1934 – Lived in Shukugawa Japan, between Kobe and Osaka. Ralph worked at Singer office in Osaka and Fay and Elo went to Canadian Academy in Kobe. The family rented a western style house on a street referred to as "Gasoline Alley." It was built by GM – the street extended out like a peninsula into the rice field. At the top of the street was a Japanese hotel with restaurant. The family would eat there once in a while.
When they first arrived, Ralph had made arrangements for a live in Chinese cook and Japanese Amah (housekeeper/maid), they lived in the back of the house in 2, "2-mat rooms" (About 6' X 7') with a small bathroom facility. The mat was a tatami and about the size of a person.
The first Chinese cook had relatives come share his room and board – did not work out – too many mouths to feed. The second Chinese cook, also, did not work out. Marjorie decided to train Fusaya – san (the Japanese Amah) to become a cook and it solved the problem. She stayed with them the whole time they were in Japan. Another Amah was hired for household duties. A third Amah was hired to care for Paul, when he got older. She was about 15 years old. Ralph and Marjorie thought he might learn a bit of Japanese from her, but that thought was dashed when they heard Paul, on the porch, teaching the Amah nursery rhymes in English. They lived all 3 years in this house.
The second and third summers that Ralph, Marjorie and the children were in Japan, they rented a cottage in the mountains for the summer in Nojori, Japan), which had a beautiful lake. Ralph would go on some weekends. Fay learned how to swim there, holding onto the docks and kicking. One time she took Paul N. to the lake and he fell off the end of the dock. Paul had a convulsion (seizure) on the train on the way to the lake and Marjorie sent Celia Eloise to get Fusayasan from the other coach.
June/July 1937 – Whole Family returned to states. Paul relates one of the reasons for this was that some of the western men were being inappropriate with his teenage sisters. The Golden Gate bridge was beautiful and in its full glory. Ralph bought a used Cadillac and they drove across the country from San Francisco, going out of his way to tour Hoover Dam. Ralph made air conditioning for Marjorie by buying an ice block for under her feet.
Ralph spent a couple weeks in Pennsylvania and returned to Japan. Fay and Celia Eloise went to live with Frank and Geneve Mohney in Ridgway and go to school. Marjorie and Paul were staying in Hammondsport with her parents Albert and Bertha Coray Fay until Christmas and then returning to Japan. Plans changed and Marjorie rented a little house in Ridgeway (with coal range) and stayed in Ridgway until the end of the school year.
June/July 1938 - Marjorie and Paul returned to Japan after school was out. Fay and Celia Eloise went to the summer home of Paul and Marguerite Mohney on Long Beach Island, New Jersey. (They summered there every year, until Marguerites death.) At the end of the summer, they returned to Paul and Marguerite's home, 923 Turner Ave, Drexel Hill for school year. Fay was in her senior year, C. Eloise was a Freshman. Paul and Margarite's son, Franklin was about a year behind, C. Eloise, they became great friends and shared many adventures.
Fall of 1938 – On Marjorie and Paul's return to Japan, Ralph had found them a house in Kobe, because Paul was starting school at the Canadian Academy and could not go by himself from Shugkugawa.
In June 1939 on Fay's Graduation day Ralph, Marjorie and Paul permanently returned from Japan. Ralph left Japan when the Japanese decided that foreigners were no longer allowed to take money out of the country. On returning from Japan, Ralph worked at the Singer office in New York and they lived in an apartment in Cranford NJ.
1940 - The next summer, Ralph was sent to Cincinnati, Ohio to be agent for the Ohio, Indiana and Kentucky area for Singer. They rented a house on Losantiville Ave, Pleasant Ridge. Paul attended grade school.
Summer 1941 – Ralph wanted to look at "tax lands" in Canada and arranged a big camping trip. – Ralph, Fay, C. Eloise , Snuffy (Anna Jean Davis), and Paul and Marguerite Mohney and the McCreadys. They were loaded up on food and camping supplies for a nice two week stay. Arrival went well, it was a decent piece of land with a few trees and a nice stream. They set up camp and Ralph fixed dinner. After dinner the mosquitoes attacked, so they went to bed early. Even in the sleeping bags, they could not breathe without getting bitten by the mosquitoes. It got so bad they had to abandon site and went to the closest town Peterbourgh Ontario. They found a hotel by the locks, too expensive but Ralph explained the situation and hotel owner rented them a house for 2 weeks.
Sometime around this time, the family lived temporarily on McAlpin St – then bought house on Sheffield Road in Mt. Lookout.
October 1947 – Ralph, Marjorie and Paul Mohney along with Fay, Gloria and Linda Ward move to Miaminon in Loveland Ohio.
1953 - Paul N. was attending classes at Miami University of Ohio at this time. He was drafted into the Army while in school. Paul served in the military in April 1953 in Camp Rucker (renamed to Fort Rucker in 1955), Alabama. He began basic training for 24 weeks. He reported to Lt. Snow, reg. personnel. Reported to Msgt Hancock and Capt. Barth on transport to HQ Dept CTC. On about 12 Oct 1953, he moved to Fort Benning, Alabama after he graduated from basic training. He got to ride in a truck as a 'guard' while the rest of the soldiers marched from Rucker to Benning. He was in the 30th Reg., Finance Section. He reported to HQ det CTC. He reported to Master Sergeant Hancock, and Captain Luckie. He moved upstairs to replace Corporal Byrd under Sergeant Garner - apprentice. Garner had served in Europe during WWII and had been under a junior officer who retreated from an attack he was ordered to make. The commanding officer gave Garner command and sent him back to the attack, which he sucessfully carried out. Paul describes him as a classic gravel-voiced master sergeant. Around this time he was promoted to Private First Class. He transferred headquarters to new building on the main post of Fort Benning. On June 12, 1954, he was promoted to Corporal.
Paul tells a story about how one time an airborne company was at the camp and was running the confidence course (what is often called an obstacle course). The camp commander wanted a competition between his men and the airborne men, and the order trickled down to Paul to select a number of men to run this course. He spent some time observing the other men running the course, and determined that there were a number of approaches to some of the obstacles that were easier than others. He used this information while running the course, to the point where at the end of the first of two days of competition, he came in overall second in the time to run the course. Apparently the airborne commander went to Paul's commander, unhappy that this soldier was making his elite men look bad, and Paul was removed from the competition.
While he was serving at Fort Benning, he decided to see if he could learn to fly an airplane. He went to the nearby town of Columbus, Georgia, and found that he could get flying lessons for $12 each. He took his first lesson, and really enjoyed it. When he took his second lesson, the instructor had him fly a large circle around a location. When he finished, the instruction had him climb up several hundred feet, and then told him he was going to demonstrate what happens if you don't correctly allow for the difference in wind direction while changing direction while flying – and proceeded to put the plane into a spin! Paul, to put it mildly, didn't like this at all, admitting there may have been bad words and yelling. He never went back.
His regiment was never activated to serve in the Korean War. In April 1955, he left the military.
Paul married Carolynn Ann Bradley on December 24, 1954. In April 1955, he joined the IBM Company in the Cincinnati Branch Office as a Systems Engineering Trainee, and worked there through 1960. Paul then joined the District 9 Education Center Staff and again did an outstanding job in presenting course material to our large 1400 series and 7000 series customers. He worked there through 1962. From 1962 to 1964, his first management job in the company was as a Systems Engineering Manager in the Louisville Branch Office. At the time Paul joined the Louisville Branch Office, he was the first and only first line manager in the branch. In 1965 he was promoted to Regional Manager of Systems Assurance in Chicago. In 1967 he left the Midwestern Region to join Dick Tarrant's District as DSEM, and the family moved to in New Orleans, Louisiana. From 1969 to 1972 In the Field Systems Center Paul acted as a third line manager with a total of 89 people in his organization. The family moved to Huntsville, Alabama, in 1971. He joined the Huntsville Branch office as a Marketing Manager in 1972 with primary responsibility for the Federal marketplace. The family moved to Birmingham, Alabama, in 1976. They lived there until Paul retired and the children moved away as their careers and marriages took them to other states. In 2003, Paul and Carol moved to Leeds, Alabama, where they lived until 2016. They moved to Chattanooga, Tennessee in 2016.
Obituary
Paul Norman Mohney, 91, of Chattanooga, Tennessee passed away Sunday March 3, 2024. Born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, he graduated from Loveland High School in Loveland, Ohio, and graduated from the University of Cincinnati with a Bachelor's degree in Management. Paul was a veteran of the U.S. Army where he served during the Korean War and retired from IBM as a Systems Engineering Manager after 38 years of service.
He is preceded in death by his wife, Carolynn Ann Bradley Mohney; parents, Ralph Davis Mohney and Marjorie Emeline Fay Mohney; and two sisters, Fay Ward and Eloise Stroppel. He is survived by two daughters, Sharon Elizabeth (Missy White) Mohney of Fincastle, VA., and Janet Mohney (John) Woods of Chattanooga, TN.; two sons, Peter Davis (Sue Ellen Newell) Mohney of Birmingham, AL., and Christopher Lee (Lisa Brill) Mohney of Scarsdale, N.Y.; seven grandchildren, Emily (Dan) Schultz, Sydney (Will) Bridenstine, Nicholas (Tina) Mohney, Katrina Mohney, Tara Mohney, Nathaniel Mohney, and Quinn Mohney; nine great grandchildren, John Schultz, Lea Schultz, Oliver Bridenstine, Finley Bridenstine, Ashton Bridenstine, John Butters, Colt Butters, Keegan Mohney and Kynnedy Mohney; several nieces and nephews.
Paul Mohney was born to Ralph Mohney and Marjorie Fay Mohney. His two sisters, Fay Geneve and Celia Eloise (who went by Eloise all her life), were born before him. On January 12, 1933, he was born in Philadelphia Hospital. That year, with the depression worsening, salaries were reduced. Ralph and family moved in with family friends - Greenwalt (wife named Hannah). Marjorie, Fay, C. Eloise and Paul stayed living in Philadelphia, and Ralph went to Japan. This was a dangerous time for Singer employees in Japan, as there was a great deal of unrest about Singer business practices that did not treat the Japanese well.
In June 1934 – Marjorie, Fay, C. Eloise and Paul went to Japan to join Ralph. Ralph was sick with scarlet fever while he was there alone. The trip to Japan was on the President Hoover or President Coolidge, Dollar Steam Ship Company. Ships were the same model they went on one (probably Coolidge) and returned on the other (probably Hoover). They took a train from Philadelphia to Chicago, then a train from Chicago to San Francisco. They were supposed to take ship from there, but longshore men were on strike. A San Francisco Singer man drove them to San Diego where they caught the ship. They traveled from San Diego to Hawaii – where they stopped for a day or two, then toured Dole Pineapple factory. They had a pineapple fountain like drinking fountain. They went back to sea and landed in Yokohama Japan, where Ralph met them and rode the rest of the way to Kobe.
Fall 1934 – Lived in Shukugawa Japan, between Kobe and Osaka. Ralph worked at Singer office in Osaka and Fay and Elo went to Canadian Academy in Kobe. The family rented a western style house on a street referred to as "Gasoline Alley." It was built by GM – the street extended out like a peninsula into the rice field. At the top of the street was a Japanese hotel with restaurant. The family would eat there once in a while.
When they first arrived, Ralph had made arrangements for a live in Chinese cook and Japanese Amah (housekeeper/maid), they lived in the back of the house in 2, "2-mat rooms" (About 6' X 7') with a small bathroom facility. The mat was a tatami and about the size of a person.
The first Chinese cook had relatives come share his room and board – did not work out – too many mouths to feed. The second Chinese cook, also, did not work out. Marjorie decided to train Fusaya – san (the Japanese Amah) to become a cook and it solved the problem. She stayed with them the whole time they were in Japan. Another Amah was hired for household duties. A third Amah was hired to care for Paul, when he got older. She was about 15 years old. Ralph and Marjorie thought he might learn a bit of Japanese from her, but that thought was dashed when they heard Paul, on the porch, teaching the Amah nursery rhymes in English. They lived all 3 years in this house.
The second and third summers that Ralph, Marjorie and the children were in Japan, they rented a cottage in the mountains for the summer in Nojori, Japan), which had a beautiful lake. Ralph would go on some weekends. Fay learned how to swim there, holding onto the docks and kicking. One time she took Paul N. to the lake and he fell off the end of the dock. Paul had a convulsion (seizure) on the train on the way to the lake and Marjorie sent Celia Eloise to get Fusayasan from the other coach.
June/July 1937 – Whole Family returned to states. Paul relates one of the reasons for this was that some of the western men were being inappropriate with his teenage sisters. The Golden Gate bridge was beautiful and in its full glory. Ralph bought a used Cadillac and they drove across the country from San Francisco, going out of his way to tour Hoover Dam. Ralph made air conditioning for Marjorie by buying an ice block for under her feet.
Ralph spent a couple weeks in Pennsylvania and returned to Japan. Fay and Celia Eloise went to live with Frank and Geneve Mohney in Ridgway and go to school. Marjorie and Paul were staying in Hammondsport with her parents Albert and Bertha Coray Fay until Christmas and then returning to Japan. Plans changed and Marjorie rented a little house in Ridgeway (with coal range) and stayed in Ridgway until the end of the school year.
June/July 1938 - Marjorie and Paul returned to Japan after school was out. Fay and Celia Eloise went to the summer home of Paul and Marguerite Mohney on Long Beach Island, New Jersey. (They summered there every year, until Marguerites death.) At the end of the summer, they returned to Paul and Marguerite's home, 923 Turner Ave, Drexel Hill for school year. Fay was in her senior year, C. Eloise was a Freshman. Paul and Margarite's son, Franklin was about a year behind, C. Eloise, they became great friends and shared many adventures.
Fall of 1938 – On Marjorie and Paul's return to Japan, Ralph had found them a house in Kobe, because Paul was starting school at the Canadian Academy and could not go by himself from Shugkugawa.
In June 1939 on Fay's Graduation day Ralph, Marjorie and Paul permanently returned from Japan. Ralph left Japan when the Japanese decided that foreigners were no longer allowed to take money out of the country. On returning from Japan, Ralph worked at the Singer office in New York and they lived in an apartment in Cranford NJ.
1940 - The next summer, Ralph was sent to Cincinnati, Ohio to be agent for the Ohio, Indiana and Kentucky area for Singer. They rented a house on Losantiville Ave, Pleasant Ridge. Paul attended grade school.
Summer 1941 – Ralph wanted to look at "tax lands" in Canada and arranged a big camping trip. – Ralph, Fay, C. Eloise , Snuffy (Anna Jean Davis), and Paul and Marguerite Mohney and the McCreadys. They were loaded up on food and camping supplies for a nice two week stay. Arrival went well, it was a decent piece of land with a few trees and a nice stream. They set up camp and Ralph fixed dinner. After dinner the mosquitoes attacked, so they went to bed early. Even in the sleeping bags, they could not breathe without getting bitten by the mosquitoes. It got so bad they had to abandon site and went to the closest town Peterbourgh Ontario. They found a hotel by the locks, too expensive but Ralph explained the situation and hotel owner rented them a house for 2 weeks.
Sometime around this time, the family lived temporarily on McAlpin St – then bought house on Sheffield Road in Mt. Lookout.
October 1947 – Ralph, Marjorie and Paul Mohney along with Fay, Gloria and Linda Ward move to Miaminon in Loveland Ohio.
1953 - Paul N. was attending classes at Miami University of Ohio at this time. He was drafted into the Army while in school. Paul served in the military in April 1953 in Camp Rucker (renamed to Fort Rucker in 1955), Alabama. He began basic training for 24 weeks. He reported to Lt. Snow, reg. personnel. Reported to Msgt Hancock and Capt. Barth on transport to HQ Dept CTC. On about 12 Oct 1953, he moved to Fort Benning, Alabama after he graduated from basic training. He got to ride in a truck as a 'guard' while the rest of the soldiers marched from Rucker to Benning. He was in the 30th Reg., Finance Section. He reported to HQ det CTC. He reported to Master Sergeant Hancock, and Captain Luckie. He moved upstairs to replace Corporal Byrd under Sergeant Garner - apprentice. Garner had served in Europe during WWII and had been under a junior officer who retreated from an attack he was ordered to make. The commanding officer gave Garner command and sent him back to the attack, which he sucessfully carried out. Paul describes him as a classic gravel-voiced master sergeant. Around this time he was promoted to Private First Class. He transferred headquarters to new building on the main post of Fort Benning. On June 12, 1954, he was promoted to Corporal.
Paul tells a story about how one time an airborne company was at the camp and was running the confidence course (what is often called an obstacle course). The camp commander wanted a competition between his men and the airborne men, and the order trickled down to Paul to select a number of men to run this course. He spent some time observing the other men running the course, and determined that there were a number of approaches to some of the obstacles that were easier than others. He used this information while running the course, to the point where at the end of the first of two days of competition, he came in overall second in the time to run the course. Apparently the airborne commander went to Paul's commander, unhappy that this soldier was making his elite men look bad, and Paul was removed from the competition.
While he was serving at Fort Benning, he decided to see if he could learn to fly an airplane. He went to the nearby town of Columbus, Georgia, and found that he could get flying lessons for $12 each. He took his first lesson, and really enjoyed it. When he took his second lesson, the instructor had him fly a large circle around a location. When he finished, the instruction had him climb up several hundred feet, and then told him he was going to demonstrate what happens if you don't correctly allow for the difference in wind direction while changing direction while flying – and proceeded to put the plane into a spin! Paul, to put it mildly, didn't like this at all, admitting there may have been bad words and yelling. He never went back.
His regiment was never activated to serve in the Korean War. In April 1955, he left the military.
Paul married Carolynn Ann Bradley on December 24, 1954. In April 1955, he joined the IBM Company in the Cincinnati Branch Office as a Systems Engineering Trainee, and worked there through 1960. Paul then joined the District 9 Education Center Staff and again did an outstanding job in presenting course material to our large 1400 series and 7000 series customers. He worked there through 1962. From 1962 to 1964, his first management job in the company was as a Systems Engineering Manager in the Louisville Branch Office. At the time Paul joined the Louisville Branch Office, he was the first and only first line manager in the branch. In 1965 he was promoted to Regional Manager of Systems Assurance in Chicago. In 1967 he left the Midwestern Region to join Dick Tarrant's District as DSEM, and the family moved to in New Orleans, Louisiana. From 1969 to 1972 In the Field Systems Center Paul acted as a third line manager with a total of 89 people in his organization. The family moved to Huntsville, Alabama, in 1971. He joined the Huntsville Branch office as a Marketing Manager in 1972 with primary responsibility for the Federal marketplace. The family moved to Birmingham, Alabama, in 1976. They lived there until Paul retired and the children moved away as their careers and marriages took them to other states. In 2003, Paul and Carol moved to Leeds, Alabama, where they lived until 2016. They moved to Chattanooga, Tennessee in 2016.
Obituary
Paul Norman Mohney, 91, of Chattanooga, Tennessee passed away Sunday March 3, 2024. Born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, he graduated from Loveland High School in Loveland, Ohio, and graduated from the University of Cincinnati with a Bachelor's degree in Management. Paul was a veteran of the U.S. Army where he served during the Korean War and retired from IBM as a Systems Engineering Manager after 38 years of service.
He is preceded in death by his wife, Carolynn Ann Bradley Mohney; parents, Ralph Davis Mohney and Marjorie Emeline Fay Mohney; and two sisters, Fay Ward and Eloise Stroppel. He is survived by two daughters, Sharon Elizabeth (Missy White) Mohney of Fincastle, VA., and Janet Mohney (John) Woods of Chattanooga, TN.; two sons, Peter Davis (Sue Ellen Newell) Mohney of Birmingham, AL., and Christopher Lee (Lisa Brill) Mohney of Scarsdale, N.Y.; seven grandchildren, Emily (Dan) Schultz, Sydney (Will) Bridenstine, Nicholas (Tina) Mohney, Katrina Mohney, Tara Mohney, Nathaniel Mohney, and Quinn Mohney; nine great grandchildren, John Schultz, Lea Schultz, Oliver Bridenstine, Finley Bridenstine, Ashton Bridenstine, John Butters, Colt Butters, Keegan Mohney and Kynnedy Mohney; several nieces and nephews.
