Person:James Driver (5)

High School Year Book - Anchora, 1913

"Laugh and 'Daud' laughs with you" "Daud" is one of the most jovial members of the Senior class. He is always read to joke and never angry when he receives one. When a fellow classmate is "stuck" on a question or a problem, he is ever ready to lend a helping hand. But he never forgets that he has a Trig. or Physics lesson to be prepared and recited every day, even when he has been out till 10 o'clock the night before. The best wishes of the class accompany him.

News article - Midland Daily News Feb. 27, 1974

James W. Driver, 78, retired director of personnel for Dow Chemical Company and former mayor, died Tuesday at his home at 2408 Pinehurst Court.

He had been in ill health for several weeks.

Mr. Driver had been associated with Dow for 37 years when he retired Jan. 19, 1956. Joining Dow on August 18, 1918, he saw the company expand from a small firm to a giant in the chemical industry. Dow had 1,400 employees when he assumed initial duties and upon his retirement the work force numbered 11, 171.

Upon joining Dow, Mr. Driver was assigned to the old phenol plant and later transferred to the company's former lead arsenic plant to become its superintendent.

In 1926 he was assigned to the aniline plant, where he took over production. When Dow built a new plant in 1929, Mr. Driver was named superintendent of the unit.

In May, 1933 Mr. Driver was appointed to head Dow's personnel department - a post he held for 22 years until his retirement. This department included these various divisions: plant protection, education and training, labor relations, medical, factory employment, women's personnel, recreation and safety.

Mr. Driver was born Oct. 21, 1895 at Holt. He was graduated from the University of Michigan in 1918 with a degree in chemical engineering. While attending U-M, he met the former Miss Pauline E. Warren of Three Oaks, also a U-M student. They were married in Ann Arbor Feb. 16, 1916. She died Dec. 25, 1969.

Besides his Dow responsibilities, Mr. Driver served as mayor of Midland from 1931 until he resigned the post on Sept. 1, 1936. In reporting his resignation, the newspaper cited his record of city expansion while at the same time being able to cut the city tax rate.

While serving as mayor, he helped start the present City Forest which resulted from a Midland Kiwanis Club project. At that time a 580 acre tract of what some observers termed "worthless land" was taken over and planted to trees.

Mr. Driver, as mayor, served on the then Midland County Board of Supervisors. For 50 years he was a member of the Midland Centre Lodge, No. 273, F&AM and the Kiwanis Club, where he served once as president and lieutenant governor. He was a past president of the East Michigan Tourist Association and Saginaw Valley Water Authority.

He married the former Margaret Burts on Dec. 19, 1972, who survives him. Other survivors include one daughter, Mrs. William (Betty Jo) Heckrodt of Menasha, Wis, two sons, R. Kirk Driver of Klamath Falls, Ore., and James R. W. Driver of Midland; and seven grandchildren.

Funeral services will be conducted 2 pm Thursday from the Miner-Bradley Funeral Chapel. The Rev. Lloyd Miller, pastor of the Mennonite Church, will officiate. Burial will be in Midland Cemetery.

Friends may call at the funeral chapel from 7 to 9 pm today when members of the family will be present.

The Invention of the Ball Point Pen, late 1800's

The first suitable ballpoint pen was patented by Lazlo Biro, a Hungarian living in Argentina. His ballpoint pen, commonly called the "biro," became popular in Great Britain during the late 1930s, and by the mid-1940s pens of this type were widely used throughout much of the world.

The writing tip of a ballpoint pen consists of a metal ball, in a socket, that rotates freely and rolls quick-drying ink onto the writing surface. The ball is constantly bathed in ink (at the end of the reservoir that holds the ink) simply by gravity. When the pen is not in use, (the ball is not moving), it seals the end of the reservoir and prevents the ink from drying out.