About the Bigraphical Sketch

“Extraordinary” was to be the first word of this biographical sketch; about an ordinary man who made something extra of his life, and took that extra effort to have a positive influence on the lives of others. But where was I to begin? That inability to come up with that first sentence! Those crumpled papers in the trash and of course, the nagging effect of avoiding the task at hand entirely.

For myself, as author, this project began with a casual comment by a friend; that Woody Baldwin, only a casual acquaintance of mine at the time, was having his 89th birthday. The comment prompted a birthday card from me and not much else. Where the idea arose to make a 90th birthday biographical birthday tribute I haven’t the faintest clue; except that I had recently retired and needed a project. This event afforded the opportunity to do something to acknowledge Woody Baldwin’s extraordinary life. Heck, anybody who can make it through the first 90 years deserves the attention.

I wasn’t sure the project would ever get off the ground. How many people want a stranger poking about in their professional and personal life and pestering them with seemingly irrelevant questions? Would Mr. Baldwin give permission to do this? Of course I couldn’t make this a surprise. What was a surprise was his acquiescence to the project and his subsequent very active participation in the process of gathering information amid months of nearly daily Email correspondence. Woody remained throughout the entire process, humble, flattered, grateful and amazed that anybody would think of his life as extraordinary. He states that he still sees himself as “an ordinary, everyday, run-of-the-mill, average, generic guy like the millions of others roaming this great world of ours.”

In 2008 Woody was cleaning out some old files with a lot of pictures, clippings, letters, programs, etc. and he saved those into a collection called "Woody's ego." He also took a picture album, “inserted some of the stuff” and added personal family background material and called it the "Who the Hell is Woody Baldwin?" album. These earlier efforts made it easier for him to find archival materials to send me in 2009. Baldwin indicated the bigger problem was finding the energy; a product he purports to have a minimum of at age 89. What Woody amassed in the scrapbooks was a great start. Research assistants at Simmons College kept me supplied with further information, as well as research help from UCLA. Some of Professor Baldwin’s long-time friends made early contributions to the project.

Woody remarked early in the process, “It has been fun actually to talk about myself; which I am not comfortable doing in other instances. You [the author of this sketch] now probably know more about me than my friends of 50 years.” Woody insisted his remarks be translated from the first to third person — did not want the sketch to be written in the first person. “That would make it all sound very pretentious,” he said, “and it is difficult enough for me to talk about myself.” Woody could not imagine anyone else thinking his biography interesting enough to merit the work involved and kept thinking, "Who is going to read it?" He commented, “Maybe the title should be ‘More Than You Ever Wanted to Know about Woody Baldwin.’” Well, certainly not the title, but it might make for a fun subtitle!

My personal friend and life-long partner, Gene Gates, insisted I make a trip to Austin to interview Woody, as Woody and I had met only for a few minutes at a dinner party in our house in Reno in 2007; two years prior to the start of this project. A great deal had been accomplished in the two months of daily Emails between Woody and I, but there was still missing the personal interaction. Woody had also showed understandable reluctance to send the scrapbooks and the only way to get access to the photos for scanning was to make the trip to Austin.

I arrived in Austin on Saturday July, 11, 2009, to extremely hot, record-breaking, temperatures and in the midst of a 30 year drought. Woody did not seem intimidated about my arrival, or he at least disguised it well, yet I was very nervous. I had no idea how to proceed. My lists of specific questions, leftovers from our two months of constant Email correspondence, were all I had for starters. In hindsight I would have had less trouble in the post-interview writing and sorting through my notes had I been better prepared with a structure for keeping my notes.

One of the reasons for the loose approach was to avoid making Woody nervous about the "examination." I felt a conversational and simple friendly meeting format, without too much overt note-taking, would be best. I had considered running a tape recorder but did not for that same reason. And last but not least, I needed a break from the project before the interviews. I had been working full time on the sketch and the Web site for two months and the only break possible was to ignore any pre-interview preparation for a couple of days.

On Saturday, the day of my arrival, we spent most of the day on scanning old photos, certificates, awards, publications, and so forth, with a laptop and a portable scanner. Much of this material prompted additional storied segments for the sketch. There was much that was new information. As an example: I had been totally unaware that Woody had published a dining guide in Boston for six years.

The second day of interviews, after an evening at the hotel organizing the previous days notes, was taken up with more scanning and with the clarification of details on the new material. By the middle of the afternoon we had finished all the scanning and retired to his sitting room for more conversation. We would stall occasionally in the process of discovering his life, but found that by changing to a different segment we could find renewed conversation. He continued to question why anybody would be so interested in his simple life, but also commented that by working with me on this project he learned a lot about himself. He found connections from his past which had determined his future course and that he had not noticed them before.

By Monday, the third day, we were both now fairly well acquainted and any nervousness about the process was gone. Over the course of the past days I had interjected stories from my own life as a way of drawing out similar ones from his, and also as a “quid pro quo.” Still, I was acutely aware that I didn’t know Woody Baldwin. Persistence in asking more deeply personal questions (boxers or briefs?) added a few facts but didn’t provide the awareness of a person that a long friendship would. Permission to interview his longest known friend in Boston gave me some hope for insight, and an interview with a long time colleague from Simmons gave me more avenues for knowing Professor Baldwin. I realized that, although I might know more about him now than anybody else, only time spent with somebody reveals who they are. A discouraging thought for this biographer’s attempt to share the story of Woody Baldwin.

Tuesday, July 14th, was the last chance on this visit to expand on the interview. Only a half day in Austin as the flight out was early afternoon. Our conversation covered various segments somewhat sporadically and it was evident we were both tired of the game. I felt a sadness at the impending completion of our project, the loss of a daily communication and a developing friendship. A sense of accomplishment comes to me as I write these last words but I will miss the regular interaction with Woody. I made sure he understood that he had final say on the content of the sketch — nothing would be published without his permission.

At the airport’s departure curb, Woody and I had a departure hug. He said, “I think I have found another friend.” His words took a while to sink in. Woody is known by a lot of people and has a lot of acquaintances, but he numbers his friends as few. Only later did I understand the blessing I was being granted— to be called Dr. Woodrow Wilson Baldwin’s friend. Dr. Woodrow Wilson Baldwin — Une vie extraordinaire.

Lawrence Peterson
Reno, Nevada

The life I have tried to relate to the reader was anything but boring. I’ve no experience in this kind of writing. The blame is mine if there are times the narrative fails to be of interest.

1st Draft — May/June 2009, Aquila Avenue, Reno, Nevada
2nd Draft — July/August, Cruising in the North Atlantic and Iceland.
Final manuscript — August, 2009, Greenland Sea.
Fisrt printing — September, 2009, Reno, Nevada .

End Notes

The following notes present some interesting research and comments which were included in the original draft but cut for the sake of readability. It is included here as additional material but the author of this sketch did not see a need to confuse the narrative by referencing it via footnoted annotations in the text.

Population maps from the time show immigrants with the name Baldwin began to show up in Texas in the early 1900s — there being virtually none in 1845 when Texas joined the United States as the 28th state. In the 1880s there were fewer than 500 Baldwins registered and in 1920, when Woodrow Wilson Baldwin was born, there were still fewer than 700 registered with the US Census Bureau. The majority of the Baldwins who came to the United States came from northern England. The name Baldwin is of English origin, from the Old English Bealdwine, or the Old German equivalent Baldavin, meaning "bold friend". It was frequently used in medieval Britain as a surname, and was extremely popular among the Normans and in Flanders in the early Middle Ages. Baldwin is also common in Scotland so there is a possibility of Scottish ancestry in the name. But, most immigration “Port of departures” lists show a departure from London and Liverpool, making it difficult to determine exact origin without extensive genealogical research.

The Motto (Translated) on the Baldwin Family crest is “I will never forget.” Perhaps, as Woody says in a recent Email, "I will never forget" might have applied to me at one time, but it surely doesn't now. ‘I forgot’ is now the most used phrase in my vocabulary.”

President Woodrow Wilson, who promoted labor union growth, supervised agriculture and food production through the Lever Act, took over control of the railroads, and suppressed anti-war movements and it was under his presidency that national women's suffrage was achieved. Largely for efforts in 1919 to create the League of Nations and shape the Treaty of Versailles, President Wilson was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1919.

Born in 1920: Last but not least the era witnessed the opening, in Emeryville, California, of the first dog racing track to employ a mechanical rabbit!

“Liberty” was a general-interest weekly magazine, originally priced at five cents and subtitled, "A Weekly for Everybody." At one time it was said to be "the second greatest magazine in America," ranking behind “The Saturday Evening Post” in circulation. The magazine “Physical Culture,” about health, fitness, and physical development, started in March of 1899. It was a true pioneer, and probably the most successful. It provided serious information, fads, fiction, attractive models in scanty sporting costumes, and pages of advertising aimed at the active and those who wished they were. “Physical Culture” gained both newsstand sales and public condemnations for its slightly "racy" covers with dancers and swimmers and other attractive male and female models. In 1909 its obscenity conviction was appealed to the Supreme Court, which found in the magazine' favor. Had to help sales, eh? “True Story” easily matched the sales of traditional big-sellers such as Ladies Home Journal and the Saturday Evening Post. “True Story” (along with siblings “True Romance” and “True Experience”) would maintain a large and devoted readership right into the 1990s.

The “Dust Bowl” or the “Dirty Thirties” occurred during a period from 1930 to 1936 (and in some areas until 1940). These immense dust storms — given names such as "Black Blizzards" and "Black Rollers" — often reduced visibility to a few feet. The Dust Bowl affected over 100,000,000 acres and was centered on the panhandle of Texas and Oklahoma. More than 500,000 Americans were left homeless. The Dust Bowl exodus was the largest migration in American history within a short period of time. By 1940, 2.5 million people had moved out of the Plains states. Why the Baldwins did not leave remains a mystery of the past.

Farmers suffered terribly where many crops were devastated by the droughts. The skies darkened and turned day into night. In 1932 there were 14 dust storms; in 1933, thirty-eight; in 1934, twenty-two; in 1935, forty; in 1936, sixty-eight; in 1937, seventy-two; in 1938, sixty-one; in 1939, thirty; in 1940, seventeen; in 1941, seventeen. It was reported that in 1935 these terrible storms lasted more than 908 hours! Seven times during that year, the visibility was virtually zero. One notable blackout lasted no less than eleven hours straight, and in another instance a single storm lasted for 3 and 1/2 days! In '35 these "Black Blizzards" appeared with dust reaching as high as 8,000 feet. This was very damaging to the soil and caused immense economic loss.

Many families suffered terribly during these times, some to the point of near starvation. Many who came down sick during these horrific storms developed later illnesses, some suffering permanent eye and lung damage, while others suffered sickness brought on by damage to their lungs and other respiratory diseases due to the severity of storms during the Dust Bowl. Many elderly, as well as small children and babies, died as a result of dust sicknesses.

In 1999, sixty-one years after graduation, Woodrow Wilson Baldwin is still Class President for the Class year of 1938 at their Amarillo High School reunions.

In preparation for the invasion of Africa, Patton trained his troops in exercises begun in late 1941, and continued them well into the summer of 1942. Patton chose a 10,000-acre expanse of unforgiving desert known for its blistering temperatures, sandy arroyos and absolute desolation — a close match for the terrain Patton and his men would encounter during the campaigns in North Africa — an area about 50 miles southeast of Palm Springs, as well as an area in Virginia known by Woody’s regiment as AP hell. [check it]

During that time [WW II] the United States Government took over a number of floors of the Hudson Hotel building. On several floors Army troops were quartered, waiting for transport to Europe. On other floors civilian employees from out of town, slated to go to England for the Office of War Information, were temporarily housed while being trained for overseas duty.

Although he never saw the Musselman’s again, they kept in touch by mail (mostly Christmas cards) until Professor Musselman died, many years ago.

We have not found, as of this writing, a copy of anything published by Professor Woodrow Baldwin while at UCLA. During a period of “downsizing” to move into retirement (he had a box labeled "Woody's Ego") he threw away almost all the plaques, gavels, awards, letters of commendation, etc. — never anticipating having a use for them. He said he very seldom went through them anyhow, so they went into the trash with a lot of the "unnecessary" stuff he didn't have room for in his much smaller apartment. While the author was investigating finding copies through UCLA archives Woody wrote, “I didn't know then I would ever meet anybody who would have an interest in all that stuff.”

In researching files at UCLA this author did not find anything significant in the student report files. All the student reports about Professors are anonymous and intended solely to give suggestions about how to improve the courses. To his knowledge, Professor Baldwin never had a negative one. The reports were never made public; they were strictly between professor and students. The department did not require them. Microfilm from the student newspapers didn’t show any significant mentions of Professor Baldwin, although the reviewing was cursory as the publication is weekly, covers ten years of time to research, and the contents are not indexed in any way.

Woody did have three buddies at UCLA he was closest to. Professor Baldwin stood as best man at the wedding of his friend Henry, who was on faculty as a teaching assistant and who later became a high school teacher and principal. Of the other two, Larry was Baldwin’s office mate and the third, Bud, worked for a textbook company.

Professor Baldwin took sabbatical leaves first half of 1963-1964 and the second half of 1970-1971 and the second semester 1977-1978 Both of the early sabbaticals were spent touring Europe. During the second of those Baldwin visited American businesses in each country to learn the differences of doing business in that specific country. After returning home he gave a few speeches to service clubs and business groups on the subject although he never published his findings.

The evolution of campus unrest, from expressing skepticism to the more violent burning of buildings and throwing rocks (or bombs) at law enforcement officials can be seen in students’ protests in the 1960s’ Berkeley (1964-66), Columbia (1968), Kent State (1970) and Jackson State (1970). By 1970 more than three quarters of American college students thought that basic changes in the system were necessary and that confrontations ranging from non-violent demonstrations to violent acts were necessary to achieve those changes. The largest student strike in American history took place in May and June 1970, in response to the Kent State shootings and the American invasion of Cambodia. The era witnessed the assassinations of President John Kennedy and of the activist/preacher Martin Luther King. The Viet Nam Protests, (in which this author participated in Boston at that time) were more often than not supported by the more socially aware Universities in New England.

Boston apartments: His first one had been the ballroom in one of the mansions. It was a huge, beautiful room with Ionic columns every eight feet (as best he remembers) and it had French doors that opened out onto a fire escape. The room had a beautiful view of the Charles River that separates Boston and Cambridge. There was a kitchen in one corner and a bathroom in the opposite corner.

The warehouse apartment story: So he wandered over to the old stone warehouse, met a couple who obviously lived there and asked if there were any apartments available. They told him there was a waiting list of over 200 people waiting but they gave him the name of the man he had to see to get on the list. The next day Professor Baldwin went to see him and he verified the fact that there were over 200 names but he took the Baldwin name and phone number. Soon after that Woody went to Europe for the summer and when he came back called out of curiosity to see if his name had advanced any, Woody wanted one of those apartments so badly. The man told him he had tried to call during the time he was away as there had been a vacancy, but he told Woody he could have the next one. He said he had no idea when that might be. Sure enough, it was only 2 or 3 months until he got an apartment on Commercial Wharf. It was one room, 53 feet by 20 feet. They had built in a kitchen about 8 x 8, and an 8 x 8 bathroom that had been the freight elevator when it was a warehouse.

Sean moves to Boston: "One of my partnered friends told me that I should have to get an apartment with a pouting room, thus a private bedroom. So we took a one bedroom apartment, only a short walk from the beach, until I bought my house."

The Prime Timers Worldwide Bi-annual Convention was held in Reno, Nevada, in October of 2007. This was in celebration of the twentieth year since the founding of the organization in 1987. In 2007, Gene Gates was Secretary of the High Sierra Prime Timers and we were a very small group by most chapter's standards. There was some doubt within our own chapter about our ability to manage a successful convention, but we did it! More than 400 attended and the Reno chapter received many "Bravos".



Woody was called upon to say a few words at the Saturday night banquet. He needed no prodding and made a brief extemporaneous speech thanking everyone for being there. He also thanked the Reno chapter for putting together an excellent convention. There were tears in his eyes as he expressed his gratitude to all of us for having accepted his idea of a social organization for elderly gay and bi-sexual men and their admirers.

The Board of Directors met at the Gates/Peterson house on the Monday following the close of the convention because the hotel did not have a suitable room available. It will forever remain a thrill to Lawrence [the author of this sketch] and Gene that Woody Baldwin was in their house! It was this first meeting with Woody that led to the work on this project.

Comments From Woody

A great job and well handled. It has been fun to actually talk about myself; which I am not comfortable doing in other instances. The reader of this sketch will now probably know more about me than my friends of many years, and the writing makes for interesting reading, even for me. A beautiful description of my boyhood. Nice going! I’m enjoying and appreciating your work more with each segment’s reading. The connections from my past, which determined my life’s future course, and which I had not noticed before, makes for intriguing reading. I am so lucky (again) to have as my biographer a true wordsmith.

I can’t thank the author and editors enough for the time and effort put into this project; I am so grateful. The presentation of my life’s tale certainly has taken out some of the sting associated with the rolling over of that first digit in our age, and has me almost looking forward to being 90. Even if I “don my wings and halo” before March 28, 2010, at least I will know that my 90th will be honored. A couple of members of the Dallas chapter have hounded me for years to write my autobiography. Not only was I too lazy to undertake such a project, especially at this stage of my life, but I’ve never felt my life merited such an effort.

The author and editors certainly deserve a trophy for dedication, hard work, and most important (to me) the ability to make an old man feel good. I can’t imagine a birthday present more meaningful than what they’ve created. When the author uses the phrase “our hero” I have an initial feeling that he is off the subject and is talking about someone I don’t know. I hope for the author and editors that something will happen in their lives that will be as pleasurable and flattering as what they have done for me.

I want thank you again for all the work you have done on my behalf.  I don't know whether it is my bias or if it really is a beautiful piece of literature.  It reads so smoothly — no sense of a sudden jump to something different. And again, my "luck" rises once more in having the author and editors as my biographer.

Forever grateful,

Woody Baldwin
Austin, Texas