General Statement-Wake-up Call

General Statement-Wake-up Call

1949

I had spent twenty seven years of my life doing everything the easy way with no thought of our future. Helen was fairly well satisfied with our life up to this point but I was slowly beginning to realize that I didn’t want to spend the remainder of my life as a laborer. I enjoyed what I was doing but the work was hard and would I be able to continue this life-style as I grew older? I had constantly been helped by other people and I figured it was now time for me to take complete control of my own life. I had applied for several better paying jobs through Courtney Noe but nothing had come of my efforts. I can’t say that I didn’t get some outside help now but this time I did all of the checking and inquiring needed to begin my new approach. There was no one at Tube Turns who was aware of my plans even though I informed the Personnel Dept. when I was ready to proceed with them.

When World War II ended, the government set up many self-help programs within the GI Bill for the returning servicemen. One of the finest programs was one of training, either through schooling or actual on the job training. Most, or all, of the costs would be paid by the government based on how long a person had spent in the service. This program had been available since early 1946 but I was too dumb or lazy to take advantage of it. This was a scary time for me because I was going to get into something I was not sure I could handle. I had decided, with Helen’s help, to apply for the degree program at the University of Louisville. I would soon become twenty eight years old. Once we had made the decision and were going forward with it, everything good seemed to fall into place for us. All of my credit hours would be earned at night school while I continued to work during the day. Everything I did from this point forward I would do in order to better myself by asking for and assuming more responsible jobs.(8-15-2001)

On Jan. 6, 1949, a meeting was called in the basement at 224 E Broadway St., the site of our main office, to discuss, approve and sign before the Director of the Division of Banking and a Notary Public our acknowledgement of the By-laws and establishment of our new Credit Union. I signed, along with twenty four fellow employees as Charter Members. Final approval was given on Jan. 10, 1949 and our dream of a stable source for loans and savings was realized. I must state right here that I secured the second loan issued after business was begun and it was for “purchase of coal and other, current expenses”. From the first, when I learned the history of credit unions and worked to install one at Tube Turns, I have been an advocate for credit unions and Helen and I belong to two of them even today.

I applied for benefits under the GI Bill of Rights soon after this. The Veterans Administration Office was then located in a big old building on Broadway next to the Railroad tracks near fifteenth St. I was lucky that I could handle all of this paper work after I got off from work and the VA office was on my way home. After about three or four visits, the VA portion of the paperwork was approved. Now, I had to apply to the University of Louisville for admittance. This was not as cut and dried as you would think. There were so many veterans applying and there was a limit to how many students they would accept. What helped me get in was the fact that a couple years had elapsed since the veterans had begun applying and the number was diminishing. I now discovered that I had to take an entrance examination. This is where the excellent teachers at St. Vincent de Paul and St. X and Ahrens High Schools came into play. If you have ever taken an unexpected test quite out of the blue, then you know just how nervous I was. The person giving the test on the U. of L. campus spent considerable time explaining the different parts of the test and trying to calm down everyone. It seemed like it lasted all night but it must have been over within a couple hours. About two weeks later I received the results and found that I had been accepted. I could have begun classes in Summer School but I had too many other things to do that summer so I held off my entry until September. I immediately notified Courtney Noe and Mr. Kannapel of my decision but I still had to prove that I would go through with these great plans.

It just occurred to me that another of the great things in life seem to have passed us by and is heard no more-singing in the shower. Maybe you weren’t hooked on this pleasant past-time, but I was. There was so much good music in my day that just needed to be sung and the bathroom seemed a good place to do it-the acoustics were great. The melodies were sweet and the good feeling you received from the warm shower or bath made the combination very soothing. I even sang while I was wet shaving. I don’t remember when I quit singing in the bathroom but it had to have been when the “new” music became popular. And, when was the last time you whistled a tune. Do you still remember how to “wet your whistle”? When we had our home on the river, we would always know when our neighbor, Armon (Stoney)Stone was working on his boat docks for he constantly “whistled while he worked”. I can no longer whistle a tune because I have lost my whistle(ability). Besides, how could anyone whistle a hip-hop tune?(8-16-2001)

We were getting ready to have another First Communion Party. In fact, two of them. Rosie was about to celebrate hers and Mary Catherine’s boy, Jim Wantland had also reached that point in his life. As I said, we were party people and we were lucky that these two fell on different Sundays. It always amazed me how sweet and innocent looking these kids appeared. It made me wonder just what was going through there minds as they stood before the Reverend Father.(Monk’s[Harold]adopted daughter, Brenda Joyce Buchter [Trail], born, Feb. 22, 1949)

It was now time to paint our house. I haven’t said much about vacation time at Tube Turns up till now because we could not afford to go anywhere and, besides, we had no automobile. I was eligible for two weeks each year and this year I would use them in painting the house. I had never taken the responsibility for painting an entire house before. I had helped Bernie paint our house on Ellison but he did almost all of the planning and work. So, I had to learn a great deal in a short time. You are also going to realize, from this story, just why it is that you, today, own a home with no painted surfaces on the exterior, only brick, aluminum or vinyl covering.

Before you do anything else, you must prepare the entire outer surface of the wood covered house for repainting. The siding on my house was called-clapboard. Each board was narrow, about six inches wide, and thicker at one edge than the other and they came in random lengths which were sawed to fit. They were nailed on the side of the house with the thickest part of the board at the lower side. The next board was nailed to the lower one with the thicker edge overlapping the thinner edge. You continue this way, fitting around windows, etc. until you reach the roof edge. When this type siding is new and feshly painted, its’ looks are beautiful. As the years pass, the paint begins to peel, the wood may warp, nails pop out and seams develop. Now you will understand why other siding is presently used because a wood surface is so labor intensive. You must scrape away all loose paint, nail down any loose boards and caulk all open seams. All of this labor could possibly take as much time as the actual painting of the siding.

I had no idea how many gallons of white it would take to apply two coats of paint on the house so I bought it one gallon at a time. One of our renters had left behind a four inch paint brush in good shape, a wide scrapper and, a miracle, a fourteen foot ladder in pretty good shape. This man said he would be back for these and other items but he never did, so I took them over. I bought nails, some turpentine for paint thinning and cleanup duties and was able to secure some rags from old clothes.

I have to admit now that I did not complete the painting within the two weeks of my vacation. I became so sick and tired of scrapping paint, nailing and caulking that I had to take a day off from this work before I began painting. I had already used up over a week. I began painting the easy parts first. I forgot to mention that I had bought a tarpaulin from an Army Surplus Store that I spread under the area I was presently painting to catch any paint drips. I must now admit that I did not kick over one can of paint but I did have to clean up many paint spots from the sidewalks anyway. I had made me a large “S” hook from heavy wire to hold the paint can to the ladder and which I used when painting the upper areas while on the ladder. The painting soon became easy as I became more experienced. Don’t get the wrong impression. I never did learn to enjoy painting. That’s why I always talked Helen into painting the interiors.

I had saved the hardest part to paint until the last. This was the narrow passageway between our house and Mrs Schoor’s house at 1836 Stevens. I don’t remember exactly the space between but it couldn’t have been as much as two feet wide. It was a struggle to put the ladder in place and more of a struggle to squeeze up the ladder with a bucket of paint and my other equipment. I had to warn Mrs Schoor when I was going to paint between the houses because I could hear everything going on in their house if the window was open. Since I was now painting after work in the evenings I was limited in my work time because there was little light penetrating between the houses.(8-17-2001)

This most difficult job was finally completed and I could rest on my laurels. I had wallpapered the entire inside of the house, repainted the roof and the siding and I was very happy to sit back and admire my work. Helen was real proud of the way our “home” now looked and I was more than ready to relax away from all of these extra tasks. Some of the neighbors jokingly asked if I was for hire for the house did look very presentable now.

During this year of 1949, Carl and Robert had opened a variety and furniture store on Preston Street near where the City Bus made its’ loop by St. Joseph’s Infirmary. Robert and Pauline now lived at 1239 Wolfe Ave with their children and Carl and Nellie rented an apartment from Mom at 1027 Ellison. Bernie was back to work as a clerk at the American-Standard Co. and lived at home. Stanley was not working during this year. Bill Wantland was still building houses and he and Mary Catherine, and the children, lived at 1144 St. Michael’s St. in a house he and Louie Bentz had built. Frank was Head Machinist in the Linotype Dept. of the Courier-Journal and he and Emily were living in their home at 1005 Rosemary Drive.(Jiggs and Inez son, Louis Allen Buchter, born, Aug. 19, 1949)

I had mentioned before the severe nervousness of Whitey after his return from Okinawa Island in the Pacific and his subsequent discharge from the Navy CBs. His condition worsened as time passed and he finally had to quit work at Durkees Famous Foods. He checked himself into Nichols General Hospital, the precursor of the present Veterans Administration Hospital, for help or treatment several times. The doctors at Nichols did give him several experimental treatments and various medicines but to no avail. He could not hold down a job so Grandma and Grampa took over his care because the VA said his disability was not service connected. This decision would change, later.

September had arrived, I had selected my beginning, Freshman and Sophomore, subjects and I was ready to start the great experiment of furthering my education at the University of Louisville. My study program would ultimately give me a Bachelor of Science Degree in Business. I never wavered from this goal even though I would have switched to a degree in Industrial Engineering if that had been offered. Today, Industrial Engineering is regularly offered in the BS Degree program. Each degree program consisted of a definite Program of Study from which you could not deviate. The subjects were spelled out in the curricula and might include half of the required credit hours needed for your degree. In order for each student to acquire a well rounded education, you were allowed to select Elective Subjects. I always used the electives to take subjects that I was most interested in such as in History and in the Humanities(reading). I also made a point of always selecting those subjects in the 300 and 400 numbers which represented Junior and Senior areas which could more broaden my knowledge.

That fall, my decision to improve myself through more schooling began to pay off my efforts. The personnel man, Courtney Noe, notified me that a job was opening up in the maintenance department and I was to report to the maintenance superintendent, Claude White, for an interview. My boss, Mr. Kannapel, gave his approval. Mr. White was of a different character from Mr. Kannapel, very direct and serious. I knew him quite well because of my many deliveries of maintenance materials to his department. The job he offered was called a Job Control Clerk. Basically, most of the skills needed to do the job, I already had. I knew every department and department head in the plant and what was manufactured in each department. What I was required to learn was the nature of breakdowns of equipment and machines and what skilled man was needed to make repairs. There was no written test, just the personal interview. Evidently, I made all the correct answers for I was hired for the job. I had to learn everything from scratch because there was no similarity between the new job and my previous one. I received a nickel an hour raise, with the chance of over time pay, and I was now making a dollar and forty cents an hour. Whee!!!!!(8-19-2001)

The maintenance department had several foremen with expertise in electricity, machine repair, hydraulics, carpentry, welding, blacksmithing, air conditioning, heating and etc. My responsibility as a Job Control Clerk was to receive all work requests for repairs all through the shop and be sure the correct foreman received the requests. He would assign one of his men to make the repairs. Emergency breakdowns were usually called in on the telephone and if the foreman was not available, I would scout him down or give the job to the next available man. I handled all of the time cards of every hourly person in the shop. Each job was punched in and out so that the cost of repairs could be accurately accumulated. The most hectic time of day was the beginning of the shift. Each foreman would check through his work requests, assign men or a crew to each one and then hand me the list so I could punch in each person’s card and give him a copy of the work request. Every job had to have a work request and a time card which matched the job. On phone-in jobs, the person requesting the repairs had to back up his request with a written work request. Work Requests were numbered and that number was a control which had to be recorded on the time cards. There was no Job Control Clerk on the second and third shifts. I set up the cards and jobs for the second shift before I left work. The foreman on the next two shifts then were responsible for the paper work on their shifts. After I had assigned everyone to jobs at the beginning of my shift, I then was responsible for checking over the work for the previous shifts and making any corrections that were needed.

I really had a long break-in period on this job because there was so much to learn such as maintenance and machine parts terminology. Some of the foremen were very good teachers and very patient. Others expected me to be a genius and learn everything in one day. Claude White understood the problem and gave me a lot of leeway. This job was very interesting. It was a continuing learning experience. Not just in my job but I was learning a little bit about every type of repair that was performed in the plant. Pretty soon I could talk “shop talk” with the best of them. Every repair job I needed to do at home became easier because I could “pick the brains” of all the experts in maintenance.

Nancy had now started to school in this year. She was lucky that she had an older sister, Rosie, to lead her along the way. But the one who had the most responsibility was Nibby. When I think back, I almost feel guilty for the work load we put on him. He was so dependable. He did everything he was asked to do and he made Helen’s job a whole lot easier while she was raising four children almost on her own. I don’t believe that a stay-at-home housewife and the first-born child are ever given enough credit for the great job they do in keeping the home operating while the wage earner is at work doing his job.(8-20-2001)

With Christmas fast approaching, there was the usual speculation as to what size Christmas Bonus the Tube Turns Board of Directors would vote this year. We were in for a real surprise. Our parent Corporation at that time was the Girdler Corporation. A pension plan was not included as part of our “fringe” benefits with them. Really, the only “fringe” we had at that time was the vacation package. This year, the Board sent to each employee a letter informing us that the usual money allotted each year for Christmas Bonuses would henceforth be set aside for use in building up a pension plan for our future security and retirement. To the older employees, this was needed and welcome news. To we younger workers, the loss of our Christmas Bonus was a keen disappointment. We had become accustomed to the yearly bonus and few of us had extra money saved for Christmas. The new Credit Union had a good loan business that year.

In my new job, I was back to working a lot of overtime again even though I had to split all overtime worked with a Jim Lorson whose regular job was the purchasing of maintenance materials. I didn’t appreciate his working half of my overtime but I had no choice in the matter. Jim Lorson was a friendly sort of person but he would bore you to death talking about his hometown of Akron, Ohio. There was hardly a day would go by without him bringing up a repeat of an old story. The maintenance people were more direct in stating that if Jim loved Akron so much he should move back home. Ha! I had never worked on a Christmas Day before even during the war. I did this year because several important machines had broken down just before the holidays and they were needed to get out a rush order for a customer. Not only did Jim and I split the work on Christmas day but we split a Saturday and Sunday also. This helped solve my need for Christmas money. We always opened presents on Christmas Morning but that year the kids waited until I got home from work before we began our celebration.

I know that school semesters and examination periods are set up differently today. When I attended the University of Louisville, the semester ending final exams were always held in the week following the New Year holidays. This meant that all of the studying you needed to do was done during this holiday period. You can imagine that with all the festivities going on over Christmas and New Years, it was very difficult to concentrate on the studies. I’m quite sure that all the students at U of L might possibly have acquired a higher grade if this had been handled differently.(8-21-2001)