Letter: Lawrence McNeil to Jack and Helen Bentley, August 27, 1968

LAWRENCE G. McNEIL 519 SOUTH BURLINGAME LOS ANGELES 49, CALIFORNIA

August 27, 1968

Dear Jack and Helen:

It was wonderful to have had such a nice telephone conversation with both of you the other day and while not all of the news we exchanged was to our liking, nevertheless, it was exhilarating to hear your voices and know that you are still in the land of the living.

I gather Jack, that you are having a pretty rough time, and there is not much I can say to comfort you, but if misery loves company, I might say that I have been going over a rocky stretch of the road for the past several years. Two major stomach operations, coronary heart attack, a severe case of the gout, and a few other infirmaties, leaves me hobbling around on a cane a good bit of the time.

Helen has been having a few difficulties but on the whole, I would say her health is excellet for a woman of her advanced age. So much for all the blather about how we feel. We must realize that we are getting along in years and just must take what the good Lord sends us.

It was a shocker to learn of Frank Creedon's death and Helen dear, I am waiting for you to send on what information you have, with Myrtle's address so that I may at least drop her a note to tell her how shocked and grieved I was to learn of Frank's passing.

Again in this department (as I told you Helen), our Daughter, Janet, died a year ago the 18th of July, in Las Vegas, Nevada, of a Stroke. She lost her husband a few years back and was working for a real estate company in Las Vegas where she was doing very well. It was a terrible jolt to us. It meant the second one of our family of four that we have lost by sudden death. My oldest brother, Father Donald McNeil, died during the past year as well, and he also died of a Stroke. He was a few months short of 80 years of age. If I keep on with this sort of a line I will qualify for the Mourner's Parade, and I can assure you that I have no ambition to do that.

Helen and I live in a very cheerful and happy life (that's a Damn lie, but she is sitting right here in the same room with me as I dictate this to my Secretary, and what else can I say?). We have moved from our old

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home in Beverly Hills to the present address which Helen sent on to you sometime ago. Our house here in Brentwood is a delightful and beautiful little home, and not so little at that. We have no need for air conditioning as we live a mere one-half mile from the cool Pacific. In fact we are only two blocks away from the Santa Monica boundary line. A nearby freeway will take us to any part of Southern California in mere minutes. Speaking of freeways reminds me that I applied for, and was granted my new Driver's License on my 75th birthday which was last July. This might indicate to you that I am not the poor old poop that I described in the first part of this letter, because I passed the written exam with 100%, and the rather lengthy and precise driving test with a grade of 99%, so I do drive the freeways and enjoy the 70 or 80 mile pace that you must go along with, or be RUN OVER!

I am, of course, no longer in the construction business, nor have I been for many years. Bruce runs that department and I really know very little about it. His business seems good and he is traveling a great deal... places such as Honolulu, New York, etc..

In Las Vegas, I do see, and enjoy being with Vic and Marge Kunkle. In fact, I was out fishing on Lake Mead with both of them for a few days outing about two weeks to a month ago. We had a great time and everyone caught fish EXCEPT ME, much to my disgust!

Things have been very bad in Las Vegas real estate-wise, for the last four years, and it has been a tremendous financial struggle to pay all the taxes, bills, etc., with absolutely nothing coming in. Things are brighter now, however, and we do have, for the first time in four years, a substantial start of new sales which is, of course, very comforting. I will drop a note to Vic and give him your address and you may hear from him, although I would not consider Vic as one of the World's outstanding correspondents in letter writing; however, he may break down and write you a note. His health is extremely good, and so is Marge's. Vic is 79 years young this year which is anybody's lingo, means "getting along".

I am not sure that you have met some of my good friends, although you may have met a group which even in years gone by, we called the "Saturday Morning Club." We still get together on Saturday for excursions and have had some wonderful times together. One of us will select a spot to visit whether it be a picnic, an outing of some sort, a fishing trip, a boating trip, or what have you, and off we go. Last Saturday, I chose to visit the Helms Hall Athletic Foundation (their brochure is enclosed). When we walked into the place I was introduced to the Managing Director, Mr. W. R. "Bill" Schroeder. I inquired as to whether or not they had a Baseball section and, of course, found out they had a tremendous exhibit devoted to this sport. Here, there were many pictures on the walls. I was so much in doubt as to just what team you had played on that I could not find what I was looking for, and that was you, in uniform.

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I went back to Mr. Schroeder and asked him if he knew a guy by the name of Jack Bentley. His answer was almost explosive. He said, "Hell yes, I knew him personally," and he recited your history as though he was reading it from a book. He was extremely interested to know that I knew you personally, and I told him that I would contact you to let you know about this episode. Schroeder said, "Wait a minute, let's go upstairs to the PRIVATE SECTION (where very few people are allowed) and I'll get out Jack's picture and history, that's where we keep keep the most valuable treasures." So, for thirty minutes he was digging up all the information and when he opened up one book of pictures and attempted to read the names at the bottom of the page to identify you, I interrupted him and said, "There, that's Jack in the upper right hand corner." Schroeder interrupted again to say, "You sure do know Jack, because that's his pitcure all right." You were about 23 to 25 years of age. I hate to admit it, but you were a rather handsome looking guy, and I am only glad to say that I have known such an outstanding athlete. Schroeder told me a lot about you that I didn't know before, and the one thing that stands our (as I told you over the phone) is that he said, "You were one of the finest hitting pitchers of BOTH Leagues during your career." It seems to me you were pretty modest about your accomplishments!

This just about winds up this rather breezy letter, but I cannot close without congratulating you on selecting our next Vice President from the State of Maryland. I am very much impressed with what I have seen of this guy on TV, and I think if elected with Nixon, would make a good team for these very troublous times. I could put in a couple thousand words at this point about how I think you would handle some of the Negroes fighting up and down our American streets, but I think I better lay off this subject. I'll never forget, however, one night when you, Del Webb and myself, went out to a night ballgame in Washington and while we were temporarily away from our Box Seats, four Negroes moved in and took over. I returned toy the seat slightly ahead of you and was wondering what would happen. You merely walked up and crooked your finger at these bums and I don't think you said a word to them, but they went out of the Box like they were KICKED OUT. Now that I think back, I believe you did say one word, and it was "GIT", so I think you would be a good man to tell the boys how to handle this present situation.

We still enjoy that beautiful table you sent us a few years back, and Helen wanted me to be sure and let you know that it is to this day, one of our most prized possessions.

Now Helen, you take good care of this guy Jack, and that goes both ways for you too, Jack. I am glad to know that you are both around and I only hope that the day may come when we may get together again.

LGM: kw Encl. -

Mr. & Mrs. Jack Bentley 18010 Bentley Road Sandy Springs, Maryland

Sincerely, Lawy