McGinnis, Claude Augustus, 2002 January 30

This is a Living History interview with Claude A. McGinnis class of 1951, conducted by Marilyn Somers on January 30, 2002 at his home in Atlanta, Georgia. The subject is Mr. McGinnis’s life and experiences at Georgia Tech. Mr. McGinnis was born and raised in Atlanta. His father was a civil engineering Tech graduate who later became a building contractor in the downtown area. He had two younger sisters, and the entire family lived in Druid Hills until Mr. McGinnis was 10 years old. The family moved to Buckhead, and Mr. McGinnis changed schools from Highland Elementary School to E. Rivers School. He eventually attended North Fulton High School and became involved with high school fraternities and sororities, known as the Pinks and the Gels. Due to his waning academics, his parents decided to move him to McCallie Boarding School in Chattanooga, Tennessee. The environment at McCallie allowed him to excel, especially in Chemistry, and it prepared him for Georgia Tech. Because Mr. McGinnis’s father had been a good friend of Dean Griffin’s, they talked with him about enrolling at Georgia Tech. Mr. McGinnis decided on Chemistry because he had done so well with that at McCallie. Mr. McGinnis lived with his grandfather in downtown Atlanta but also joined the Xi Phi fraternity. He found the fraternities at Tech to be much better than his high school ones because he was with the brothers more often. Mr. McGinnis can remember that three of his professors had also taught his father when he was at Tech. He remembers liking D. M. Smith and professor England. Mr. McGinnis was also on staff with the Yellow Jacket, Tech’s humor magazine. He can remember spending much of his social time at the Piedmont Drive-In Club and the swimming pool. Through the help of Dean Ajax, Mr. McGinnis lined up a job with Tennessee Provident in Chattanooga. Before he could go, he received his orders for Korea. Mr. McGinnis was a Platoon Leader in the Chemical Corp while in Korea. His main task was to help the Korean people with their mortars, and this required him to be on the front lines for nine months. After the Korean Conflict, Mr. McGinnis returned to Chattanooga to resume his job putting together a power plant. After his company was bought out by a larger corporation, Mr. McGinnis began working for Proctor and Gamble. He spent three more years as a bachelor, jumping from one job to another. When had taken a job in Louisville, he got married and was immediately transferred back up to Cincinnati for four and a half years. After leaving Proctor and Gamble, Mr. McGinnis decided to go to Xavier University to get his M.B.A. degree. Soon after this, he returned to his home, Atlanta, where he worked for the Charles L. Burkes Company, a paint chemical distributor. After this job and several other chemistry-related jobs fell through, Mr. McGinnis decided to go into the real estate business. He passed the real estate exam that would give him his license, but only after attending two weeks worth of class and studying on his own. He began working for the Sharp Olston Company despite the fact that he would not be paid for the first year of work with them. After three years of working with them, Mr. McGinnis had already made more money than ever before. Mr. McGinnis has four children: Kim, Billy, and the twins, Rebecca and Carrie. After several of his friends asked him to, Mr. McGinnis wrote a book about wine in 1992 called The Pocket Guide to Good Cheap Wine. In his retired life, Mr. McGinnis also enjoys big game hunting and is a member of the Safari Club International, a worldwide conservation group.