Tom,
Let me explain a few things so that you understand better.
First of all, every time I have written about Tilly's financial situation it has been consistent and always with the same conclusion. There have been times where, depending on the reason for the piece that some of the many facts involved have been included or not. In no case have the facts or how they have been presented ever changed.
Let's consider your understanding of what I wrote, "Phil... In the book you wrote that for many years Tilly had been having a difficult time financially. {Difficult, yes; bankrupt no. I have pointed out NUMEROUS times that if they were near destitute as some have alleged then how was he able to build a house, pay for it, give it to his daughter & her family and let them keep the money from the sale when they moved to Toledo during the years 1930-34? The "difficulty" that he was having financially was caused by a combination of things including cash flow and lack of work. He had many resources upon which to fall back on when liquid cash was needed and quickly.}
"You said that by the time of the Bethpage project (circa 1934) his daughters had moved to Minnesota and Ohio, he had almost no work and he was desperately fighting off the pack of ravenous 'wolves howling at the door' (by the way where does that quote come from?)..." {Tilly himself used that phrase a number of times in writings through the years going all the way back to the teens. He always used it in connection with cash flow problems rather than lack of funds.}
"I will add he lost his job as editor of Golf Illustrated in 1935 when the magazine went under...} This is incorrect. Tilly did not lose his job, he RESIGNED and QUIT his job as editor and THEN the magazine went under. Would it have gone under anyway if he stayed? Most assuredly so. Was he FIRED from his job? NO.
"In the book you wrote they only learned they owed back taxes in the spring of 1936, when it was already on the verge of being too late. I read that as almost too late, but not too late. Whatever the case Tilly did not pay the back taxes and he lost his home. Based on all the circumstances one can assume he did not have the money..."
{Boy did you ever miss a few details! Yes, it was already on the verge of "being too late" but that was CLEARLY said in the context of their LOSING EVERYTHING; they DID NOT! I guess that you still haven't read what I wrote about Tilly and Money in the In My Opinion piece. It contains the following which is what is also contained in my book:
"Tilly never saw that the family he bought the house from might have their own financial difficulties during the Depression. They began not paying Tilly’s taxes on the property. When he and Lillian left on the PGA Tour they had no inkling that this was occurring. They were on the opposite side of the country when they were informed that their property, house and furnishings were being seized by the government for non-payment of taxes. They hurried home and arrived in the middle of the tax sale and were able to save some of their furnishings including some extremely valuable antiques... Unfortunately they were unable to save their beloved dream house"
The reason that it was not TOO LATE was because they were able to save their furnishings! How did they do this? They actually purchased them at the sale in CASH! How did they manage that neat little trick if they were destitute as you would have us believe? they couldn't save the house because that had already been sold.}
"As far as Tillinghast Rubber being a source of income, I have my doubts. Tilly's grandson wrote, "So after B.C. died in 1918, the company began to wither and as I recall mother closed out the dismal remnant of it in the 1950’s." If the company began withering in 1918 it is very doubtful it was doing well in the heart of the Depression."
{Sorry, but Dr. Brown was wrong about that. First of all you must realize that Dr. Brown only saw his grandfather on either infrequent visits from Minnesota or when Tilly would stop out there. he was in no position to be aware of the status of the Rubber Goods store business and neither was his mother from whom he received that information. My information on that comes from many sources within the family. I interviewed all four living grandchildren, each of whom knew Tilly personally. I also interviewed many of the great-grandchildren including one who lives in germany and several of the Great-great-grandchildren as well. NO ONE EVER DID THAT! Among these included several members of his other daughter's family, the Wordens. They lived in the same area as Tilly did from the time they were married until they moved into the house that Tilly built for them on the property behind his home in Harrington Park. By the way, some of the monies used to pay for that house was from proceeds from the Rubber goods store. In addition, the Browns were not involved in the running of the chain at all at any time from when Tilly's father died in 1918. First Tilly's mother did, then when she was no longer able to, both Tilly & Lillian did. It was Lillian who closed the last store in 1947.
Since you are quoting Dr. Brown, how about if I quote him? He sent me a letter in response to my sending him the finished Tillinghast biography manuscript prior to its publishing:
"Dear Mr. Young, I read your bio of AWT and thought it quite good. Your recitation of his life events and attitudes seemed to be as close to accurate as one can get, from the distance of many decades..."
Other members of the family expressed similar thoughts by letter, email and on the telephone. In fact several thanked me for helping to correct a number of misunderstandings and misinformation that they had about Tilly. They agreed that for many years each hadn't really spoken of what they knew to each other and simply supposed the others were in agreement when the reality was that each had only pieces of the whole and often weren't fully informed of details that others knew. Simply put, a typical family.
"One gets the impression you are trying to paint a rosier financial picture for Tilly in order to help support your position on the Bethpage and PGA projects." I hate to quote Tom Paul, but that is the dumbest thing I've ever seen you post on GCA. It deserves no response...