Facetime: A Lifetime of Perspective
As the School’s senior alumnus, Francis H. McAdoo, Jr. ’34 reflects on life, happiness, and reaching the age of 103
McAdoo as a young man. For an extended look at his life today, visit: bit.ly/FrancisMcAdoo.
At the age of 103, Francis McAdoo ’34 has seen it all. He served in the U.S. Navy during World War II, where he learned to navigate using only the stars; ran a successful family business; became an expert seaman, able to navigate the fog off the coast of Maine; and enjoyed a 78-year marriage to his beloved Cynthia. He also has been blessed with good health, save for a bout with prostate cancer and two broken hips. Until recently, he was a daily reader of the New York Times. In more recent years, Mr. McAdoo has become a faithful correspondent to the children of old Navy buddies and the daughter of a St. Paul’s classmate. He spoke with Alumni Horae editor Jana Brown about his life experiences.
What lasting impact did the strong start academically have on your life beyond SPS?
A solid education at SPS enabled me to continue at Princeton and Columbia Business School, where I learned most of what I needed for my jobs at Emerson Drug Company and Warner-Lambert Pharmaceuticals. Chemistry at St. Paul’s gave me a good start. Trigonometry and astronomy at St. Paul’s prepared me for navigation courses at Naval Officers’ Training.
How important has your military service been in your life?
I’m most proud of my five years in the Navy during World War II, for which I was awarded a Silver Star. I was promoted to Lieutenant Commander in charge of 10 torpedo boats and 120 men in New Guinea, Borneo, and The Philippines. With our shallow draft boats capable of 50 miles per hour, we were able to interfere with the Japanese nocturnal resupply efforts. We worked well with the Australians; in fact, my Australian friend, an Army Colonel, and I went over to Borneo to witness the Japanese signing their surrender of Indonesia, and we then took the Japanese general back to his base to await his evacuation.
You retired at age 58 and have had a full life after retirement. How have you most enjoyed spending that time?
In reflecting on my life, I always come back to the importance of my good marriage, which made every other good thing fall into place. I had a wife, Cynthia, whom I adored, and I feel like that’s the secret everyone should know about. We were married for 78 years and loved to travel together. We cruised on a sailboat in Maine for a couple of months every summer and went skiing in Europe and Colorado. We had 60 acres of woods, which needed a lot of care. Some sort of consuming interest or responsibility is essential to avoid falling into a torpor of drinking and boring your friends.
Tell me about your professional career.
I had a wonderful business career, starting with a family company and merging with a giant pharmaceutical company. I was president of Emerson Drug Company, which made Bromo-Seltzer – a competitor to Alka-Seltzer. It was a Great Depression-era boom product in Baltimore, and my step-grandfather had started the business. Fortunately, I was lucky enough to merge at the right time with Warner-Lambert. In Maryland, while working for Emerson when the children were young, we bought a 100-acre farm, where we raised sheep. It was a wonderful dream.
Having witnessed the last century, how does the current political climate in the U.S. and around the world compare with any other era in your lifetime?
Except for climate change, today’s upheaval is nothing new when compared to World War II, the Cold War, fear of Communism and nuclear holocaust, political assassinations, and the rioting and burning of inner cities. And for culture change, we’ve had civil rights, feminism, gay rights. Mostly, I take exception to the current pervasive use of expletives.
To what, if anything, do you attribute your longevity?
I have a sister who is in equally good shape. She is 102, one year younger than I am. (Editor’s note: Anne McAdoo Deford died on September 5, 2019.) Another sister died in her 90s. My wife lived longer than her other relatives. She had a health food regimen that she made me stick to. I never smoked and was only a very moderate drinker.
Has your longevity helped you gain any perspective that you’d like to share with others?
We joke about how people think I’m wise, that I must know something other people don’t. But I really don’t, beyond, of course, staying closely involved in your circle of relatives and close friends.