Links Arkell Foundation For many years Ed served as president of this Canajoharie, New York based foundation originally chartered by the will of Ms. Bertelle Arkell Barbour in 1940 to look after elderly women of need in the community. As the size of the foundation’s portfolio has grown, its charter has expended as well. Today the foundation contributes to dozens of worthy causes across the Mohawk Valley area. A recent project was the expansion of the Arkell Museum and Art Gallery into a world class attraction. Beech-Nut Packing Company This Canajoharie landmark was originally founded as the Imperial Packing Co. in 1891 by the Lipe and Ziely brothers, with the financial help of local entrepreneur, Bartlett Arkell. Today best known for chewing gum and baby food, the firm introduced many breakthroughs, including vacuum-sealed glass packaging and the first commercially available peanut butter. Some four Shineman generations have been employed by Beech-Nut including Ed’s granddad, his mother, his father, his Aunt Allie, Ed himself and sons Tom and Alan. See Ed’s account of this family tradition here. Bristol-Myers Squibb Ed spent more than 40 years with Bristol-Myers predecessor companies, E. R. Squibb & Co., Beech-Nut Life Savers and Beech-Nut Packing Company as corporate treasurer, controller and in other financial executive roles. Canajoharie, N.Y. Cooperstown Ed attended Camp Chenango on Cooperstown’s scenic Otsego Lake during the balmy summers during his childhood. His relatives Paul (“Big Poison”) and Lloyd (“Little Poison”) Waner are ensconced in the Baseball Hall of Fame here. Sons Tom and Alan also attended Camp Chenango. Cornell University Ed has bled Big Red since his graduation in 1937. Here he met his beloved wife Doris, played in the Big Red Band, studied accounting and rolled a 615 series to lead his fraternity to an important intramural victory. Ed is a former Cornell Council member, and has served as president of the Cornell Class of ’37 for more than 25 years. He has never missed a class reunion, and in 2008 received the Bill Vanneman Award for outstanding class leadership. Long active in helping to raise funds for the University, Ed and his wife Doris were named Cornell Lifetime Benefactors in 1997. Fenimore Asset Management (FAM) FAM was one of the first asset managers to specialize in small cap firms with strong underlying values, and has grown exponentially along with the worth of its portfolio. Located in the rural upstate New York State community of Cobleskill, FAM is buffered from the fads and excesses of the Wall Street scene. Ed was an active director of FAM for many years and remains his interest in an emeritus role. Fort Rensselaer Club For many years, Ed was members of the Canajoharie Fort Rensselaer Club. The club met at the old Van Alstyne residence, constructed circa 1749 and was conveniently located next door to their home at 46 Moyer Street. Inside the fort were many American Indian relics of revolutionary war times and a Gilbert Stuart portrait of George Washington commemorating his visit to Canajoharie during the war. For many years a revolutionary cannon stood outside the fort and was frequently “kidnapped” by local youths on Halloween. FUSION General Electric Ed was hired into GE’s famous management training company for his first job out of college. Here he cut his teeth as a line auditor and hung out with Reggie Jones who went on to become GE president and CEO. Ed left GE to work for his dad at Beech-Nut packing company in 1945. Holton Cornets Leblanc acquired the Frank Holton Company, maker of Ed’s prized gold-plated, engraved Bb cornet in 1964, and continues to offer the Holton instrument line. This website is devoted to the history of the original Holton instruments. Ed played his Holton in the Big Red Marching Band and served as president of the University Orchestra and Music Club. After graduating, Ed played concerts every summer in the Fort Plain and Canajoharie band shells and was part of a small ensemble at the Canajoharie Dutch Reformed Church. Ed’s last ensemble performance on cornet was in 1988 when he joined other Big Red alumni in performing with the Cornell Band in Carnegie Hall. International Tennis Hall of Fame Ed was a talented and determined tennis player well into seventies, at which point he suffered a broken hip when he fell backpedaling to return a lob struck by his son, Alan. His specialty was outlasting younger opponents in five-set endurance contests. A current fantasy is retuning to competitive tennis and entering the national 90-and-over tournament. Interlochen Ed attended this internationally renowned Michigan-based music camp when he was a teenager, and had the privilege of performing under the baton of John Phillip Sousa, who was visiting as a guest conductor. Lambda Chi Alpha Ed has been an enthusiastic Lambda Chi member throughout his undergraduate years and beyond. As part of his initiation requirement, he was asked to paint and re-roof the fraternity’s “summer house” a tiny gazebo-like structure cantilevered over the 200-feet-deep Cascadilla gorge. Ed’s fraternity experience inspired brother Richard, brother-in-law Ralph, and sons Tom and Alan to also join Lambda Chi. NBT Bank NBT bank is an independent community bank, headquartered in Norwich, N.Y., with branches over much of upstate New York. For many years Ed was a director of Central National Bank of Canajoharie, which was acquired by NBT in 1999. His tenure was enlivened by a number of shareholder battles for control of the bank accomplished via 11th hour proportional voting for maverick slates of directors. Ed’s dad preceded him as a director of Central National Bank, and his Uncle George was the president and CEO. Cecelia Shubert When Ed’s dad, E.W. Shineman proposed to his wife Bertelle, she consented to marry him, but was insistent that they live with her parents Cecelia and Frank Shubert. War hero Frank passed away when Ed was just 5 years old. But Cecelia was very much a part of his childhood, surviving into her 84th year in 1936, at which point Ed was a junior at Cornell University. Cecelia was born in 1852, the daughter of MaryAnn Maslin and James Lettice. In addition to Bertelle, she and Frank had three other children: Frank, James, and Walter (a beloved educator in Baldwin, NY – a school there is named in his honor). Cecelia was active in the Eastern Stars, the women’s auxiliary of the Masons, and taught Sunday School for many years at the Canajoharie Dutch Reformed Church. Always of strong character and virtue, Cecelia passed along her "Sixteen Rules for Success in Life" to future generations. Sticht & Shubert For many years, Canajoharie’s foremost shoemakers and sellers. Originally founded in 1854 by John M. Sticht, the firm was acquired by John’s brother Christopher in 1961. Frank Shubert, Ed’s grandfather purchased a half interest upon his decommissioning from the Civil War in 1965. The firm earned a reputation throughout the Mohawk Valley for first class work and fair dealings. Canajoharie's First Business Men Taconic Farms Inc. Ed remains a director emeritus for this fast growing family-owned breeder of genetically pure laboratory animals. He has been a friend of the Phelen family for more than 60 years. Taconic animals have accompanied human astronauts on a number of important space missions. Thompson Family Genealogy Ed’s wife Doris was the daughter of Ray Clayton Thompson and Irene Bradley. Born on December 15, 1915, Doris grew up in Hastings on Hudson, NY together with her older sisters Ruth and Jeanne, and younger brother, Ralph. Doris’s dad was a Cornell graduate in mechanical engineering, and spent most of his career with the Boyce Thompson Institute for Plant Research in Yonder, N.Y. Big believers in education, Ray and Irene went to considerable sacrifice to send all four of their children to Cornell during the depth of the depression. The Thompson family and Marshall, Williams, and Allen branches have strong roots in Pennsylvania and Illinois, as well as New York State, and a firm commitment to Presbyterianism.
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