EMMIE BOESE
Hutch Post
HUTCHINSON, Kan. — On the anniversary of Pearl Harbor in 2001, a coffee group made up of men from the Hutchinson community signed an agreement at the restaurant in First National Bank. Each member who signed the document served in the military one way or another.
The agreement said that the last surviving member of the group would receive two bottles of champagne. That group member is Dick Hamilton who resides at the Collier Assisted Living Facility of Wesley Towers in Hutchinson. Hamilton is 99 years old.
"Well I'm kind of surprised that I'm the last one and sorry the rest of those guys aren't around, but that's life," Hamilton said.
Bill Small, whose father in-law Clarence Mollett signed the document as well, helped Wesley Towers staff plan a celebration for Hamilton at Collier on Friday afternoon. Residents and staff members were present to drink champagne and eat a spread of light snacks.
"We are not a coffee group, we are the table of knowledge," Small said to those in attendance while quoting his father-in law. "Whenever there would be a problem in the community, 15 people would come up with a solution to the problem and they all knew their solution was the right one so the table of knowledge continued for years into a group of friends."
Small said he had a discussion several years ago with Nation Meyer, Chairman of the board for First National Bank, that he would keep track of who was still alive on the list. Meyer was also present for the signing 22 years ago.
Small told Meyer that the significance of military veterans making a life-long pact to one another on a sacred day in U.S. History meant a lot to him as well. Both of Small's parents survived Pearl Harbor so he said he considers it lucky that he's alive today.
"Every person who signed this list, whether they were in full action in the South Pacific or in Germany, everyone who signed was a hero," Small said.
Hamilton said he remembers his group of friends quite often. Occupations from the group of 10 a.m. coffee drinkers consisted of businessmen, a doctor and community leaders.
Hamilton was a retired businessman from Consolidated Manufacturing at the time of the signing. He worked there for 40 years and was CEO and President of the company for the last 14 years of his career.
"So we all signed it and I'd really forgotten about it, but Bill Small came in and told me about it and I kind of remembered doing that and I looked at the names of all those guys and they were guys I used to drink coffee with," Hamilton said. "There were more. Those were just the guys that were there that day."
Originally from Newton, Hamilton moved to Hutchinson in 1938 when he was 14 years old. He decided to enter into the service after high school and joined the Navy Air Corps. He served for about 2.5 years during WWII.
Hamilton said while he was stationed in the San Francisco Bay Area, they loaded Hellcat jets on the carrier and were a given a weeks worth of leave. While Hamilton was on leave, the United States dropped atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan, which ended the war.
"So, when I got back from leave we took the planes back off the carrier and then we stayed there until we got discharged," Hamilton said. After being discharged from the military, Hamilton attended the University of Kansas and graduated with a degree in Business Industrial Management. A year before he graduated from KU, Hamilton got married.
During the celebration Friday, Hamilton was presented the signed agreement of he and all his friends and a three frame set of photos of the coffee group over the years.
"We gotta find somewhere to put them," Hamilton said with a smile.
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