This photograph of the Board of Directors appeared in the 1 967 Annual Report. Seated left to right are William R. Kimball Jr., Alf E. Brandin, Paul L. Wattis, and Sheppard Mitchell; standing left to right are, Albert L. Reeves, Edmund W. Littlefield, Ernest C. Arbuckle, Lawrence T. Dee, Val A. Browning, George S. Eccles, and Marriner S. Eccles. Eccles and Littlefield wanted more than solvency for the company: they nurtured relationships with large brokerage firms and successful investment banks; they appointed directors from other firms to UC&M's Board of Directors and accepted directorships on other corporate boards; and they discussed strategies to position the company in order to issue public stock. Perhaps their most difficult disagreement came over a profit-sharing and benefit plan for company employees. Eccles felt it favored the employees over the shareholders, but when he realized the Board was leaning toward Littlefield's position, he made the vote unanimous. Meanwhile Sallie Eccles decided to enhance her husband's image. During his years in public service, his fierce honesty became legend. Even his authorized biographer described him as "a man more feared than loved." Sallie hoped to soften his demeanor. She explained (as reported in the biography), "When Marriner sees someone he dislikes or distrusts, a furious expression comes over his face. So I decided to talk to him about it." She told Marriner of a technique used by Oliver Wendell Holmes on occasions when a derelict would appear before him during his judgeship in Massachusetts. Closing his eyes momentarily, Holmes mentally said, "Hail, son of God." "'Marriner,' said I, T think that's wonderful, and 1 don't see why it wouldn't be a good thing for you to try.' "'Well,' Marriner said, T could try, but it wouldn't work for me. If I saw so-and-so walk into this room, and I started off in my mind with a 'Hail, son of...' you can bet your life it wouldn't be God I'd be thinking of.'"