George M. Chute, Jr.: Graduated University of Michigan, B.S.E.E., 1922, applications engineer with General Electric at Schenectady, New York and Detroit until 1952: test course 1922-1923, Industrial Engineering Department 1923-1927, Application Engineering, General Electric in Detroit, Michigan, 1927 - 1947 printing. Lecturer in Industrial Electronics, Detroit, for the University of Michigan beginning in 1943; then he taught at the University of Detroit until his retirement in 1966. In 1952 he received a distinguished alumnus award from the University of Michigan. A registered professional engineer, he was a fellow of the American Institute of Electrical Engineers, and chairman of its Michigan section, 1946-1947. He was author of three textbooks in industrial electronics. Member Tau Beta Pi.

He was appointed Mayor of Plymouth, Michigan in 1949 by Governor G. Mennen Williams during a recall of the city commission.

He was assistant district commissioner of the Boy Scouts of America in the 1940's. Listed in International Who's Who, A.N. Marquis Co., Chicago, 1947.

From Who's Who in American Sports, date unknown:

"Record: 1920-1921, member University of Michigan cross-country teams. 1921, first to win major cross- country "M" in West Conf. competition; won Harpham Cross-Country Trophy. 1921-1922, 2-mile on University of Michigan track teams."

Played a terrific banjo; was fascinated with astronomy and created a series of "viewing cards" that he and his sons could match up against the night sky to find various consellations; loved genealogy and updated the 1894 Chute Genelogies of his great uncle, William Edward Chute; maintained long-lasting correspondence with Chutes from all over the world. His records were passed on to his eldest son, George Maynard Chute, III, who passed them onto his eldest, Jacqueline Irene Chute.

George M. Chute: Interim Plymouth mayor in '49

George M. Chute, retired professor of electrical engineering at the University of Detroit, once became a mayor because he was not a politician.

In 1949, Gov. G. Mennen Williams appointed him mayor of Plymouth after voters had recalled top city officials.

"He was never politically active; that's why he was chosen," said George M. Chute, III, his son. "All the hard feelings swirled around him, but he retained his neutrality."

Professor Chute died Wednesday at West Trail Nursing Home in Plymouth. He was 83.

Besides his son, George, he is survived by his wife, Josephine, another son, Robert D. Chute, five grandchildren and one great-grandchild. A memorial service was held Saturday at the Schrader Funeral Home, Plymouth.

Source: The Detroit News, Sunday, September 25, 1983

Plymouth Observor, Monday, 9 MAY 1988, Author: Sam Hudson

CHUTE: One month was plenty

�I'm an engineer, not a politician. don't know anything about city government," George Chute told the Governor.

"That's just the kind of man want," replied Gov. G. Mennen Williams in 1949, naming Chute one of four temporary commissioners for the city of Plymouth. Later, Chute was elected acting mayor, beginning a tenure that lasted just one month.

It all came about when Plymouth voters went to the polls Sept. 7, 1949, to decide whether to recall the commission. The controversy began in May when Harold Cheek, Plymouth's first professionally trained city manager, fired Chief of Police Lee Sackett.

Sixty-three-year-old Sackett, a veteran of World War I, had been a Plymouth policeman for 17 years, and head of the department for five. He was due to retire in two years.

But, said Cheek and four of the commissioners, the police department was lax in solving a series of breaking-and-entering cases in town. And the number of traffic tickets had dropped from 1,972 in 1947 to only 485 in the current fiscal year.

Sackett refused to leave office. He had many supporters in the city, including local veteran groups and an organization called the Plymouth Citizen's League, one of whose organizers was said to be the fifth commissioner, Ruth Huston Whipple. Whipple was not named in the recall and it was suspected that she led the fight to oust her colleagues on the commission, including Mayor William C. Hartmann.

The mayor and the other three commissioners had support from a group described in their ads as "citizens, manufacturers, businessmen and taxpayers interested in good government in Plymouth." But on election day, the commissioners were recalled by a margin of 3-2.

After the recall, the temporary commission, headed by Chute, accepted the resignation of Harold Cheek and appointed Albert Glassford city manager. Lee Sackett was returned to duty as police chief. Whipple resigned as she had promised to do during the recall controversy.

On taking office as acting mayor, George Chute asked to see the city charter. No one could find a copy.

Finally Ruth Whipple showed him her copy. She said she had been trying to live up to it, but the other commissioners said there was no charter and paid no attention to her. A new city charter was adopted a few years later.

A PERMANENT commission was seated after a special election in October. Perry Richwine was named mayor, succeeding George Chute.

Even one month as mayor was more than enough for Chute, who wanted no more of politics. At the end of that time he returned home and said to his wife, Josephine, "I want no more references to my having been mayor. I'm an engineer."

When asked whether she had any of the documents he may have saved during his term in office, Mrs. Chute, who still lives in Plymouth on Deer Street, responded: "He burned them all."

Chute's local claim to fame is based on more than his brief stint as mayor. He was the author of three textbooks on industrial electronics.

His first book, "Electronic Control of Resistance Welding," published in 1943, was written when he worked for General Electric. He also wrote "Electronics in Industry," a textbook used in the nation's classrooms and specialized libraries in the United States and abroad.

The first edition of, "Electronics in Industry" appeared in 1946, three years before Chute became mayor. A 591-page book, some of the editions have been translated into Spanish, Italian, French, Hungarian and Japanese.

When the book was in its fourth edition, the Chutes' youngest son, Robert, was its co-author. Robert, an electrical engineer, has worked at Burroughs Corp. and GE. He is now professor at the Lawrence Institute of Technology. Since his father died he has published a fifth edition of the book.

Source: Plymouth Observor, Monday, 9 MAY 1988, Author: Sam Hudson

Robert (left) and George Chute take a look at the Spanish version of their book, "Electronics in Industry". Staff photo by Gary Caskey. Newspaper unknown. Dated Monday, June 25, 1979.

Electronics book is family affair

The book reads, "Without electronics there might be no radio, television, sound pictures, fluorescent lighting, public address systems" and so forth.

But without George Chute of Plymouth, there would be no "Electronics in Industry", a technical manual that has withstood five separate revisions taking it into classrooms and specialized libraries in the United States and eight foreign countries.

Last month, the manual's fifth edition was published. In addition to Chute's name, there was the name of co-author Robert Chute, 50, youngest son of the Plymouth resident.

Robert Chute of Southfield is an electrical engineer who has worked at Burroughs Corp., General Electric and presently teaches at Lawrence Institute of Technology. The way he puts it, the book's work has become a family affair. An interest and later career in electronics originated by "osmosis, according to the Chutes".

�I always had stuff to tinker around with and it just led me on to more and better things," Robert Chute says.

A 1950 graduate of Plymouth High, he recalls those early formative years when his father would leave the dinner table and bury himself in his writing.

Beginning at 6 p.m. and not emerging until midnight was a daily practice for George. He now admits the work would not have progressed as smoothly if not for the understanding of his wife, Josephine.

"Her biggest contribution was being patient," George says, "I needed that patience to develop time to write".

His first book was published in 1943 - "Electronic Control of Resistance Welding". It resulted from a group effort commissioned by General Electric Co., where he was employed until 1952. Also in that year he became a professor at the University of Detroit.

About the group effort, George says, "I had so many comments and revisions of my own that McGraw-Hill (publishing company) arranged that I should write about the whole field," he said.

In 1946, the first edition of "Electronics in Industry" appeared with subsequent revisions in 1956, 1965, 1971 and 1979.

The 561-page book has been re-written in Spanish, Italian, French, Hungarian and Japanese.

By the time "Electronics in Industry" was in its fourth edition, Robert's name was listed as co-author. He had graduated from the University of Michigan and become an established engineer in his own right.

About the unusual frequency of revisions, both men say it has been done to keep pace with continual changes in their field.

Since the first [edition] inventions such as micro processors, transistors and integrated circuits have made the scene. More than 50 percent of the original has been rewritten. George says he relies on his son for current information.

Both men agree that the best part of writing a technical manual is "being done".

�The main thing is, you don't just sit down and write a book,� Robert says. "You have to have written other things to pull from."

Robert adds it�s not unusual to spend three to four days gathering information, verifying it and re-checking it, only to contribute one full page to the book.

"It does not flow out easily," he says.

Revisions take several years to compile. George calculates that work on number six is just down the road. However, he does not expect to be in on it. Rather, he says, it's time Robert takes over full-time. And then there's another Chute - Robert�s son, Larry.

"I'd like to continue the book - keep on publishing," Robert says, "Particularly, to keep it up to date on a very fast industry". He estimates the book will be outdated within six years.

According to father and son, the book's royalties have been good to the family. In Robert's words, it's been the source of great family vacations during his youth. Also, subsequent editions have paid for his college career, along with his brother's (George III) education. Most recently, it's supported Robert�s own son and daughter's education. His daughter is seeking a master's degree in urban planning and his son is a construction engineer.

And today, George says his hands are full with working around his Plymouth home. Robert is in Southfield, is active in Northbrook Presbyterian Church as an elder and choir member.

"TheReal Front", by Arthur Hunt Chute, is a book which takes us not only to the geographical line occupied by Allied forces, but also to the psychical boundaries, if one may so designate them, of their outposts. It is not only a record of deeds and the bodies which achieved them - strong bodies molded by Canada against this hour of need - but of the spirit which led them forward, and of the personal reaction of one of them - the author - to the conditions and demands of their task.

Arthur Hunt Chute enlisted in August, 1914, in the First Canadian Contingent, and served later as a captain in the 17th Nova Scotia Highlanders, and as a lieutenant in the Canadian field artillery. He was present during the battles of Ypres-and-the Somme; was wounded in 1916, and discharged as medically unfit a few months later. He had received the training of a war correspondent in the Balkan and Mexican campaigns, so that he was fitted to observe objectively the impressions which were affecting him subjectively. He was keenly conscious of the wonder that surrounded him, the fact that "we need envy no past age, who have helped to make the history of this present." The mud, the rain, the weariness, the joviality of his friends, the wings of the Angel of Death - all these, because he had the kind of ears that hear and the kind of eyes that see fall into their right places as actors and influences in the greatest drama ever played. And the spirit of that First Canadian Contingent he finds, to our reassurance, is the same spirit which is present in our own new armies.

As time goes on we shall discover that, as in all arts and sciences, once the rudiments have been mastered, it is the spirit back of the letter and the facts which counts; we shall be less held by the recital of the deeds of our soldiers than by the impetus which impelled them toward their doing. "The Real Front", because it is the account of a soldier who thinks and feels and who has the power of expression, reveals this force and interprets it.

Captain Chute tells graphically of the making of the First Canadians, of the splendid raw material which the Dominion loyally gave into the hands of the drill sergeants on Salisbury Plain to weld together into an effective weapon. Memories of the old Covenanters and of Jacobite days are awakened by some of the scenes he pictures. "Colonel Clark," a tall, grizzled Highland chieftain, stood forth and said: "Men we are about to take our place as a part of that imperial living wall that stands between the Mother Country and her foes. It is an honor and a privilege for us to bear arms in this cause. My counsel to you for the struggles ahead is expressed in two verses of Scripture: first, 'Quit you like men, be strong,' and second,'Do all to the glory of God."' And that they did "quit themselves like men," history bears witness. Individual soldiers stand out in the narrative, cockneys and Scotchmen, and the author relates many of his own experiences and impressions underfire.

One of the most interesting chapters is "The Faith of a Soldier." According to Captain Chute's belief, "the greatest faith in the world is found in the front-line trenches - the faith of a soldier expresses itself in action, not in talk. Much is gone, but much remains," and he quotes the words of a soldier of Verdun, "Only he who has heaven in his heart can withstand this hell."

Birthplace of George Beebe Chute also named as Groton, Connecticut.

"Newspaper clipping in a scrapbook that belonged to my grandmother (Lillian Dorothea IZATT GALLAGHER). Hand dated 1 Nov 1940. From a St. Paul, MN newspaper: (photos included) "These sisters will be married in a double wedding ceremony at 8pm Friday in Immanuel Congregational Church. They are the Misses Florence, left, and Lillian ANDERSON, daughters of Mr.and Mrs. C.O. ANDERSON, 718 Fustis Street. Florence will be married to Mr. Alfred CHUTE, son of Mr. and Mrs. Alvin CHUTE, 464 State Street, and Lillian to Mr. Maurice OLANDER, son of Mr.and Mrs. Alfred OLANDER of Braham, Minn."

Josephine LaSota was born in Withee Township in Wisconsin on July 29, 1898. She was born on the date of a barn raising on her parent's farm. Her father was French, the son of a a man who played first violin in the French Royal Orchestra, and her mother was Polish. Walter LaSota's father served as Consul in Warsaw, Poland. His mother's maiden name was La Galiante. There are conflicting stories regarding "La Galiante": either she died giving birth to Walter and his twin brother, or later lived in Bordeux with Walter's sister. While Walter's father was serving in Warsaw, Poland, Walter attended Paderewski's musical conservatory, where he met (or, probably) became re-aquainted with, his future wife, Anna. With the outbreak of hostilities in the area, the French government ordered the Council to remain in Warsaw. However, he sent his family home to France, including Walter's fiancee, Anna. The Council was killed in Poland.

Anna's mother was a ballet dancer with a French Royal group, and had been a language teacher, as she spoke both French and Polish. Anna's father was a music teacher (probably piano), and they spent much time in Paris. Anna and her sister were raised by their grandparents, who managed a large Polish government experimental farm, with a large house. They were experimenting with cross-pollination at the time that Mendel, an Austrian monk, was performing his genetic experiments in the mid 1800's. Either Anna or her mother attended a school taught by a Professor Sklodowska, who was the father of Marie Curie, born in 1867 in Warsaw, who became a close family friend. Jo remembers hearing about Marie visiting the large farm in Poland. (She thought the name of the Professor was Modesta or Majesta, but the name might have been the name or location of the school itself.)

Anna's parents knew Walter's father as they all worked in Paris in the field of music and dance. Anna's parents would invite Walter's father and his boys to the farm in Poland for vacations, and that is another version of how Anna and Walter met. They may have become reacquainted at the Conservatory. For years, Walter's father pushed him to work hard at being accepted by the Royal Orchestra as his twin brother had, but he did not make it. The struggle caused a permanent breach between father and son.

Jo remembers hearing about a gala evening when Anna and Walter were dancing under an arbor in Paris, lit by twinkling lights. They were married and Walter wanted to get as far away from the "Old Country" as he could; they took a boat to America. Their first son William was born in 1878 as they crossed the ocean. They traveled to Chicago partly by canal and then settled in LaSalle, Illinois, where a coal mine promised employment. All of their children were born there, except Josie, who was born in Wisconsin. Walter had heard of free land in Wisconsin, so they migrated there to an 80-acre homestead.

From Jo herself: "Dad (Walter) may not have been a good violinist, but he must have been a good carpenter. He built that house alone with some help from Bill and Phil. That house is still standing. But he knew nothing about farming. Mother (Anna) supervised and did what she had observed of her grandfather's farming. And when Dad died (1901), she had to farm by herself, with what help the five kids could give, as Bill and Phil were on their own. It's no wonder she cried whenever she thought of the easier life she gave up. Mother said she was taught French and German, but Dad was so bitter about the treatment by the French Royal Orchestra that he never allowed her to speak French. As time went on, she forgot most of it." As far as we know, Anna always spoke Polish. There was frequent music and dancing in the kitchen. Jo tells the story of Anna kicking up her heels so high that her slipper flew off and landed in a pot of soup! Whenever we visited Jo in Plymouth, Michigan, we always awoke to the sound of Polish music and would find Jo dancing around. George III still speaks a few phrases in Polish he learned from his grandmother, among them: "Would you like to spend the night in the doghouse?", and "How would you like a good spanking?" - phrases he no doubt learned in his more boisterous younger years.

Apparently, the fields that made up the 80 acres were marked off by planting berry bushes of different kinds that would grow into a thick hedge. Being so much younger than her sisters, Josie would stand guard while they picked berries, to warn of bears approaching to eat the berries. There were other disadvantages to being much younger and yet larger-boned, especially in her feet. She would be given hand-me-down shoes that had fit Estelle or Helen in second grade, which were supposed to be able to fit her, in second grade. She had to walk several miles to school and her mother finally had to take her to the doctor for foot pain. He said her shoes were too small. So Anna bought shoes for Josie that were several sizes too large. She would wear them until out of sight of the house and then go barefoot until she got home again.

Anna could make sound business decisions. One year she heard that good money would be paid for soybeans, so that's what she planted, despite the ridicule of other farmers. She made a killing, and then went back to regular crops the next year while the other farmers lost money the following year with soybeans. Jo was always real proud of her mother for that decision. We think she would have been as good a homesteader as her mother was! With 80 acre farms, houses were far apart. A log cabin that Jo used to visit aways down the road had also been built by Polish immigrants. In a trunk up in the loft of the cabin, she was shown unimaginable treasures: a tiara and jewels and beautiful ball gowns brought from the Old Country.

Eventually, her mother sold the farm, and the family moved to Thorpe, Wisconsin, where Jo attended secondary school. After graduating, she went to live with her older sister Estelle and her husband, Lee Jensen, living in Chicago. There she worked as a sales clerk in a department store, as a telephone operator, and also as a dance instructor, teaching ballroom dancing. In 1920 or so, she went to visit her sister Frances in Florida, where at a dance, she met George Maynard Chute, Jr., a student at the University of Michigan, visiting his parents in Lakeland, Florida, where they lived. They were married in Chicago and lived in Ann Arbor for a year, while George finished his senior year of college. He graduated in 1922. He went to work for General Electric, in their test engineering department, and was sent to Schenectady, New York. They lived in Scotia, where their eldest son, George III, was born. In 1927-28 he was transfered back to Detroit, where Robert was born. They built their home on Garfield, in Plymouth, Michigan; later, the street name was changed to South Evergreen.

Mary Ellen ("Nellie") Chute Peckham has also been identified as "Mother of Parden" (source unknown), suggesting that the family had another son, named after his paternal grandfather (Pardon Lawrence Peckham), who died young, although that has not been confirmed.

James Andrew Chute, Sr. is employed as Construction Superintendant, U.S. Operations, Toromont (Simco). Spends most of his time on job sites, throughout the country, supervising the building or tearing down of skating rinks. Spent his earlier years as a carpenter, and is strangely proud of the fact that he once fell off the roof of a house, was unconscious for a brief period of time, but then awakened, picked himself up and went back to work.

Jim is also known for his lucky streak. He has had two rental cars completely flattened by industrial machinery (in both incidents he was not in the vehicle), he's been hit broadside by a drunken driver while parked and was unharmed, while the car was destroyed. Cheerful, amiable and with a dry sense of humor, we've always believed he has a little leprechaun sitting on his shoulder, because there's no other explanation for his good fortune.

In the summer of 2003, Jim called to (1) spread the exciting news that he was about to become a grandfather in October of 2003, and (2) express his firm conviction that he was way too young to become a grandfather. Among his "pre-natal" adventures was the time he was sent off to a Baby Depot to buy a highchair. You woulda thunk they'd sent him back to the Middle Ages (assuming they'd had cell phones in the Middle Ages, that he could call from, every two minutes):

"What is all this stuff? What is all this padding? What's this with all these 'safety features'? Why do they have to have 4,000 models of highchairs?? What are all these doohickies? Why does the kid need a highchair with a playschool attached to it?? When I was a baby, they stuck me in a simple rickety wooden highchair and if I fell out on my head, too bad!"

And thus we demonstrate Jim's propensity for turning simple errands into Academy Award-winning dramatic performances that have his audiences rolling in the aisles.

[Note: His parents would like to quickly point out here that he did not have a rickety wooden highchair. He had a nice 1950's metal and vinyl seated model that, from all accounts, was perfectly level, and, contrary to popular belief, he never fell out of it onto his head.]