The Compleat Home Engineer
Featured in a recent news bulletin of The Moles, prestigious society of the engineering and heavy construction world, is Rear Admiral Paul J.Halloran '19 (USN ret.), who retired from the Navy in 1948 and then ten years later had another retirement as vice president and project executive of Foley Brothers, Pleasantville, N. Y.
The article is devoted primarily to what Admiral Halloran has done with the 120-year-old house in Yorktown, N. Y., into which he moved upon retirement. After some basic improvements in the house itself, he built a 60-foot, free-form swimming pool without any help, and then devised a television set-up at poolside.
His self-installed sound system at home has 23 speakers, including one in the barbecue pit, and has a revolving door antenna and a second one on the barn for special conditions. Without moving from his chair the Admiral can flip a dozen switches for various combinations of AM and FM music, television, and tape recording. His house has its own electric generator, a 450-gallon water tank for emergencies, and a heating system controlled by intricate timing devices.
With a home toolroom equipped with almost everything, and with his own skills as master carpenter, electrician, plumber, machinist, heating expert, mason, landscape gardener, and electronics buff, Admiral Halloran never has to wait for the repairman to come. He also has an industrial jeep with attachments for plowing, raking, cutting grass, grading driveways, digging holes, and moving buildings. In the planning stage, and possibly working by now, is a contrivance to let him know when mail is put in his mailbox at the end of his 500-foot driveway.
Admiral Halloran, who served in the Navy for 27 years, has written Fale Tusi OSamoa, the history of the construction of the Samoan culture center, and a great many technical articles. He helped prepare Samoan material for the Polynesian exhibition at the New York World's Fair, and has also provided artifacts for the Sea Bea Museum at Fort Hueneme, Calif.
