Lester Friend



In July 1941, Lester Friend, President of the New England Live Steamers, paid a visit to Southern California, with the intent of getting the local live steamers to form a club. He met with Dick Bagley, Eddie Sargent, Kyle Testerman, Arthur "Bud" Stump, and C.S. "Stan" Chovil and in January 1942, The Southern California Live Steamers was formed with 35 charter members at Richard B. Jackson's backyard machine shop in Beverly Hills, CA. The membership elected Dick Bagley, chair; Dick Johnson, vice chair; Stan Chovil, treasurer; Bud Stump, secretary; and Ward Kimball, corresponding secretary.



History
By John Kurdzoniak, from Friends "Yankee Shop" Models:

The Friend Box Company was founded in 1884 by members of the Friend family, and did business at a factory in Danvers, Massachusetts (about 20 miles north of Boston, in Essex County), making rigid cardboard boxes such as jewelry boxes, cigar boxes, etc.

Lester Danforth Friend (also known as "L.D. Friend" and even just "L.D.F.") was born in 1895, and probably entered "the family business" as a teenager or as a young man. He served in World War I, and met Walt Disney sometime during the War. They were lifelong friends from that point on.

By the 1930s, it appears as if Friend Box Company was wholly-controlled by Lester Friend. Every story I've ever heard, from those who knew him, says that Lester Friend "owned" the box factory (but whether he was its President, or a major stockholder, or its "owner", is no longer known by any living members of the live steam hobby, as those who knew, are all deceased). Regardless of what position he held, Lester was "the boss" at the box company. (The Friend Box Company is still in business today, but is no longer owned by the Friend Family.

Classic Live Steam of Yesteryear

Our History: 1938-1972

The Friend Box Company was founded in 1884 by members of the Friend family, and did business at a factory in Danvers, Massachusetts (about 20 miles north of Boston, in Essex County), making rigid cardboard boxes such as jewelry boxes, cigar boxes, etc.

Lester Danforth Friend (also known as "L.D. Friend" and even just "L.D.F.") was born in 1895, and probably entered "the family business" as a teenager or as a young man. He served in World War I, and met Walt Disney sometime during the War. They were lifelong friends from that point on.

By the 1930s, it appears as if Friend Box Company was wholly-controlled by Lester Friend. Every story I've ever heard, from those who knew him, says that Lester Friend "owned" the box factory (but whether he was its President, or a major stockholder, or its "owner", is no longer known by any living members of the live steam hobby, as those who knew, are all deceased). Regardless of what position he held, Lester was "the boss" at the box company. (The Friend Box Company is still in business today, but is no longer owned by the Friend Family.

In 1938, Lester built the New England Live Steamers track on the property behind his box factory. It was a 2-1/2" and 3-1/2" gauge elevated ("highline") loop of track some 600' in length that went out to the bank of the Porter River, a tidal marsh, and then returned. On its return, it crossed a "high trestle" over part of the tidal marsh. This "High trestle" was about 8 feet off the ground.

Charlie Purinton, the son of Brotherhood of Live Steamers founder Charles A. "Carl" Purinton (1898-1999), has told me (John Kurdzoniak) that he and some local live steamers of the era (and several of Lester Friend's employees of the box company) helped to build the NELS Danvers track, and that it was built in less than a month! Charlie was 16 years old at the time.