Winery Closet and White Glove Inspection

Dr. David Frederick ’48 writes about a covert winery and his experience making white glove room inspections. He didn’t say if he made white glove inspections as a nuclear physicist. Here is his story:

In the Company B barracks, my next-door neighbor and friend was Sheldon Weinstein ’48. (“Weinstein” translates to “Wine Stone”, but “Wine Jug” would have been more appropriate.) Why? He would go into town and by a gallon jug of grape juice and a cake of yeast. He would insert the yeast in the jug and put it in the back of his closet so it could ferment into wine. He was never caught.

In my senior year, I was allowed the privilege of donning white gloves and doing bedroom inspections. The challenge was to find something wrong and issue demerits. I had fun!! I would pull drawers out and check for dust on the runners AND reach behind radios and check for dust on the radio tubes (remember what they are?). I don’t think that ever failed.

My most favorite teacher was Mr. McGill, who taught chemistry and physics. As I recall, he knew chemistry very well but so little physics that we students had to coach him on it in many physics class sessions. He inspired me to choose to major in chemical engineering when I enrolled in Yale University in September 1948. Unfortunately, my studying of freshman chemistry led to frequently involve lying on my bunk bed with my chemistry book on my chest as I napped. It took considerable effort for my instructor, a senior professor of chemistry who was very protective of the Yale Chemical Engineering program to dissuade me from proceeding in that program. Because he could not talk me out of majoring in his chemical engineering program, he arbitrarily dropped my grade for the entire year at the end of the year to get my attention. He succeeded. In August while on vacation, I contacted Yale to change my major to physics. In retrospect, I am very appreciative of this, and now have a PhD in nuclear physics.

David Frederick 1948