People often ask how the word CHEERS came to be a motto of sorts for Corrigan
Dispatch Company. Here is the story, friends. Cheers to you! E.H.C.
Before and during World War II, an influential gathering place in Monterrey Mexico was the now long-gone Foreign Club. A vigorous and flourishing British Colony was the impetus of its formation. Not nearly as large but aggressive concept were members of the American Colony. To be on the roster of the Club was coveted and deemed desirable.
The club rooms were in - by the standards of today - a shabby, ill-lit group of rooms on the second floor of a building in the area of the Cathedral downtown. Many deals were negotiated there in its comfortable, unpretentious quarters. S. Dutton Pegram of Torreon, an explosive Englishman with a bottomless capacity for Scotch, was a frequent visitor, as were the Purcells of Saltillo with numerous family branches. No informed traveler would come to Monterrey without visiting "the Club."
At that time, Mining and Minerals were a significant part of Northern Mexico. Phillip Messenger typified the Englishman that came to Mexico and achieved a comfortable lifestyle and considerable success. As is often the case, he was more "British" in Mexico than he would have been had he remained in England. At any rate, my father and he were close friends. They always had a great deal to say to, and exchange with, one another, in our offices at Laredo or at the Foreign Club.
Mr. Messenger had been visiting our office at Laredo one morning. Because my father was out of town, he chatted with Bat, my late brother, and me. At his departure, having forgotten to do so, he called from across the room, at the top of the stairs, "Cheers to Pop!"
This epitomized to Bat and me everything that was the warm, hearty
rapport between the two men, the type of relationship that we admired
and envied. Almost from then on - this was about 1949 - "Cheers!" came out
between
the two of us and my father on more and more occasions, at different and
varied events.
Over a period of time, any greeting, in any other form, seemed
colorless and inadequate.
Just about any situation invites "Cheers!"
(pictured above in 1986, from left to right: Luis Cisneros,
F.C. Averill Jr., Mary Alice Corrigan, E.H. Corrigan)