Actors to portray Packard episode

Staff report

WARREN

The National Packard Museum will present a dramatization at 6 p.m. Friday of the legal challenges to W.D. Packard’s will that lasted from 1940 to 1955.

“The Battle for Packard’s Estate Part II: Packard Music Hall,” will be presented at the museum, 1899 Mahoning Ave. N.W.

W.D. Packard died in 1923, leaving an estate worth more than $700,000 ($10 million in today’s dollars).

His son, Warren Packard II died in a plane crash in 1929 leaving two young children. W.D. Packard’s widow, Kathryn lived until 1940. Shortly after her death, W.D. Packard’s daughter-in-law, Dorothy Packard Smith, contested the estate, arguing that the provisions in Packard’s will providing for the construction of Packard Music Hall and the establishment of the Packard band were invalid.

Actors will portray W.J. O’Neill, the lawyer who drafted Packard’s will; Kathryn Bruder Packard, the grieving widow; Dorothy Packard Smith; and B.N. MacGregor, Packard Electric’s general manager and the chairman of the Packard Park board of trustees.

Museum doors will open at 5 p.m. Cost is $10.