Chuck Pettus Archives

IBM Archives

From discussion about Chuck in early 2025, I decided to reach out to the folks at the IBM Archives who have always been helpful in past research and see if they could find anything interesting. And they did not disappoint. A big thank you to the team at the IBM Archives.

There was, as expected, his name appearing several times as part of the IBM Band (What you didn't know IBM had a band?!). Chuck played the clarinet as was good. He was listed as having several solos over the years, including a solo entitled "Dizzy Fingers". I also smiled as in various listings with the band they listed his first name as Charles, Chuck, or even Charlie.

IBM Endicott Band

IBM Endicott Band performing at the IBM Endicott Country Club Field House in 1977. (Courtesy of IBM Archives)

The Engineer and Professional

Some of the documents were scanned many years ago prior to newer technology, so I apologize for some of the quality. I did my best with it. The archives included a few promotion listings. And then a couple other items I found rather interesting.

The snippet to the right is from a publication for the Division of IBM in which Chuck worked. This was a series of short news blurbs and though provoking questions. And see what Chuck had to say. Now, mind you, this is 1970, less than a year after a man walked on the moon for the first time. The Personal Computer wasn't around yet. And here is Chuck foreshadowing how integral computers would become in the future.

Courtesy IBM Archives

The next selection is from over a decade later. Chuck speaks about involvement in professional societies and organizations and how, when we get involved, it's our responsibility to make the most of it.

Courtesy IBM Archives

The Runner

Nothing in the archives made me happier than to find this article from 1978 about Chuck running the perimeter of the Glendale Lab. He and Dave would still be running at lunch when I joined IBM in 1985. While I didn't know Chuck personally, I did know that he was one of the two 'runners'.

Courtesy IBM Archives

Newspaper Archives

I also explored various archives of newspapers. I would find much of the same as before: running, music, and the outdoors. But I found at least one surprise and some great additional information

Photography

This was the unknown (at least to me) surprise interest and skill of Chuck's. I found a number of articles from the 1960s about camera clubs in the Southern Tier area and contests. There were town clubs such as Owego Camera Club; and corporation clubs. Ansco and IBM were two that appeared in the contests the most. While there were various categories, a major these was portraits; and in particular portraits of women. I found multiple articles from what was the BInghamton Press at the time (early 1960s) listing the winning "IBM Photo Queeen" and "Princess". So it seemed the model and the photographer were honored. Chuck placed several times.

To the right is one example. Louise Tibsherany's Photo submitted by Chuck won what I assume is second place as Miss Tibsherany was name the IBM Photo Princess. She was a secretary at IBM Owego.

The "Through the Lens" appeared to be a running section in the paper in the 1960s.

From Sunday Press February 5, 1961.

Music

While there were a number of references to Chuck performing with the IBM Band. I also found this photo blurb about him singing in community wide choir that performed at the IBM Field House. This is one of the youngest pictures of Chuck that I've seen. It lists 200 singers and an expected crowd of over 1100.

Pettus Hill

Perhaps the greatest thrill has been finding articles on the Preserve itself. This first one is from a 1965 artice titled "Stairway to the Stars" and gives a lot of great background on both Chuck and the property. Some of it might seem unusual, but keep in mind it was 1965. The picture from the right is from that article which you can access here.

I'd also find the real estate transaction. It was reported on November 29, 1962 that the land was purchased from Alvie Bullock and his wife. Originally the hill was known as Fairview Point. In the article, Chuck tells how he has added 35-feet to the height in the three years.

I also learned that he wants this high point to improve the view by being able to see over the trees that he doesn't wish to cut down. He was connected to the County Astronomical Society. This would be before Kopernik Observatory was built (1974).

One of the most amazing things in the article is he invites anyone to visit him on a weekend (because he works weekdays) and he lists his phone number RA 4-5789.

Picture from September 19, 1965 artice in the Sunday Press. Click for full article.

Binghamton Press November 7, 1969

On the left, you see a photo published November 7, 1969. The Press newspaper featured this photo and short blurb in conjuction with a longer story about the storm in the area. It noted, as I would find out decades later, that rain by the Susquehanna could easily be snow on Pettus Hill. Note the old school snow shoes. Difficult to know for sure where on the Preserve this photo was taken, by it does list the Press photographer who braved the trip out there.

Right is another article, this time from October 9, 1973 about Chuck's life as a vegetarian again making use of the land of the Preserve. Amazingly, in it, he predicts that some day food would be recalled regularly. While there had been recalls earlier in the United States. It was a recall of 75 million cans of mushrooms in 1973 that marked the scale of the problem. While I couldn't find comparable details on recalls across all years, the studies I did find, showed a significant increase as the processing of food has increased. Click here for the full article.

The article also references Cornell University professors and students "conducting an herb experiment" on his land.

Outdoors & Physical Activity

A few other curious items. Chuck apparently ogranized some hikes, including this one for the Finger Lakes Chapter of the Adirondack Mountain Club. He also belonged to the Triple Cities Hiking Club (VP in 1965) and the Adirondack Trail Club.

The hike departed from the Sandman Motel, no longer in business.

If you might recall from the IBM article on jogging, Chuck didn't "enjoy" running, but he did it. The article to the Right highlights his, and other runners, dedication. It references the Vestal XX race which is a 20-kilometer race that started in 1971. The 1981 article looks back at four runners who had run the race every year: Chuck Pettus, Alan Jones1, Rob Boehm, and Ron Slocum. Chuck didn't finish in 1977, but only because he was running on crutches (as referenced in the IBM article also) from the broken leg from roller skating (he did make 10km). According to the Triple Cities Runners Club, Chuck complete the Vestal XX sixteen times, with a best time of 2:10:10.

1 A connection to another Waterman Preserve is Alan Jones in the IBM Glen "Jones Trail" is named for Alan and his wife. Alan had also founded the Triple Cities Runners Club.

Engineer

Several articles also referenced his involvement as a physcist and engineer at IBM. The article to the right, highlights his election as President of the Broome Chapter of Professional Engineers Society. According to the article, he was the first black person to be elected as a Society President worldwide.

The article does reference that at IBM, he had reached his first level invention award. I haven't researched all the patents he has, but I'll mention US Patent 3,160,863 which may have been his first patent. It was filed in 1961 and granted December 8, 1964. It is in reference to a Magnetorestitive Storage Device, filed with two co-workers.

Patents:

It almost seemed like Chuck was in the contacts list of some of the newspaper reporters when it came to technology. There was an April 26, 1981 article in the Press & Sun-Bulletin on how automation was impacting society. The article was a survey of things that were changing in manufacturing automation, the police using computer databases, ATMs, and other automation. They include Chuck for insight about the future. He shares two observations: a huge imagination for the future and also a concern for the emotional addiction of technology. From a future perspective, some of his predictions were very accurate in terms of robot or computer companions, advanced video games. He did miss the mark in predicting rides to space by 2000, but that's part of imagination. His concern about the impact stemmed from how he felt television, in cases, had a negative effect where people didn't know who they were as a result. A similar article would appear in September 5, 1983.

The article below, from the February 7, 1984 Evening Press is worth reading. My favorite line it is, "Living is my hobby. I enjoy life. I enjoy sharing things and helping other people. I think the future is bright."

And then there is Chuck's legendary 1975 Chevrolet Suburan whish was celebrated for going past 300,000 miles. The article to the right describes a celebration in November of 1990 for Chuck and the truck at Botnick Chevrolet.

Chuck did make some modifications to his Chevy. The article talks of improvements for better mileage. I also recall hearing a story about a modification he made for better torque for climbing his hill that GM expressed interest in hearing what he did. Perhaps a myth, but I wouldn't put it past him.