Frank N. (Francis Nelson) Pilling was born in Baltimore, October
17, 1908. He was educated at the Boys Latin School and graduated
from The Johns Hopkins University in 1930. Pilling was part of a
generation greatly influenced by two catastrophic events in
American history - the Depression of the 1930s and World War II.
During the 1930s, Pilling worked briefly as a high school English
teacher and later as a social worker with the Baltimore Emergency
Relief Commission. Between 1937 and 1941, he concentrated on what
he described as a "self-financed study and writing in human
organization and human relations." When the war began, Pilling
worked for a time at the Glenn L. Martin Co. in Baltimore before
enlisting in the U.S. Navy in 1942. In 1943, Pilling was ordered
to England, and during the Atlantic crossing, his ship was
torpedoed and sunk. Pilling was rescued at sea and was so affected
by the event, he formed a life-long friendship with Albert Hocken,
captain of the British rescue ship.
Eventually Pilling was posted in London and assigned to public
relations work, mainly to establish a collegial relationship
between British and American service people. He organized dinner-
discussion groups in London with prominent British speakers and was
a member of the organizing committee for the British and American
Forces Dining Club. Leaving London, he was posted to Washington
where he did publicity work for the Bureau of Ships public
relations section.
Pilling returned to civilian life and resumed his personal
writings. Government, history, politics, and social issues were
favorite subjects. For a time, he concentrated on the construction
of a house in Maine where he summered with his wife, Muriel L.
Pilling. Mrs. Pilling compiled and privately printed her husband's
essays and observations after his death. |