Series of Guest Blogs by an out-of-state Fish Report reader originally from this area about fond memories of growing up in Midwestern Ohio during the 50’s & 60’s
Job Change
Yesterday was exactly 50 years ago that I joined Ford Motor Company, an eventful day in my career and in our family’s lives. As newly weds, my wife and I were living in Dayton where she worked as a legal assistant at a Dayton law firm and I worked as an engineer at Frigidaire Division of General Motors. About six months after we were married and a year after I graduated from General Motors Institute, our chief engineer called a meeting one Friday afternoon to inform us our engineering department was being transferred to Harrison Division in Lockport, NY near Buffalo. Our jobs would be moved over the next 6-12 months. Needless to say, that was quite a shock. Eventually it became clear that the transfer was in preparation for the subsequent sale of Frigidaire to White Consolidated, now Electrolux Corporation.
Our choices were to make the move to NY, work for White or quit. Even though it meant significant change in our lives, we took it in stride and promised each other we'd make the most of whatever transpired. That same weekend, around 10:00pm Sunday night while reading the newspaper in bed, my wife noticed a want ad for engineering opportunities at Ford. She showed me the ad and I immediately called the number shown. A fellow by the name of Norm Cordon answered, and after explaining our situation, he invited me to breakfast before work the following morning. Norm was a Ford recruiter who was staying in a local Dayton hotel room over the weekend to respond real time to potential employment enquiries from the ad. GM had four divisions in Dayton, so Ford would routinely send recruiter for the weekend. The timing could not have been better for us.
We met for breakfast the next morning, and after hearing my background, as I had no resume to give him, invited us to Dearborn, the location of Ford’s headquarters, for an interview. Dearborn was much more appealing that Lockport, NY, so off we went the following weekend to check out the area and hold the interviews. I met with several Ford managers on a Saturday afternoon, resulting in an attractive on-the-spot offer. Once returning to work that Monday, I notified my boss that I’d be leaving; however, he and his boss talked me into reconsidering telling me more about the Lockport situation and opportunities a move there would provide. So I called Ford and turned down their offer, anticipating a trip to Lockport to check out that area. But within two hours of my call to Ford, a counter offer was presented that was too good to turn down. Meanwhile, my wife had to share the bad news with the law partners who were very disappointed to see her leave. They had been to our wedding and had become good friends as had several of my co-workers at Frigidaire. We lost the deposit at our apartment, but as it turns out, Ford considered that a moving expense they covered.
So off to Dearborn we moved, but not before buying our first Ford vehicle, a beautiful green Mercury Cyclone. Ford would likely frown on the Corvette I drove at the time. We rented a nice apartment, and met some lifelong friends that first memorable summer around the pool and playing for a winning softball team of fellow apartment dwellers. The new job was going great. But like most of our friends, we were spending every dollar we made, living pay check to pay check. We wanted a house, so saving for a down payment was top priority. My wife worked at a local clothing store (she loved the discounts). Plus we developed a budget to manage our expenses and save for a down payment. After two years, we had enough to buy our first place. Ford had a relationship with local Manufacturers Bank (since acquired by Comerica) offering a significant interest rate discount to Ford employees. Inflation was a whopping 13.4% and mortgage interest rates stood at 8.75% but I seem to recall Manufacturer’s fortunately offering Ford employees 5%. Here’s a
past blog about our first home, including the budget we used to save the down payment.
Meanwhile, back at Frigidaire, the transfer to Harrison was underway. The person who took my place was another engineer by the name of Bill Hill, who was a fellow General Motors Institute graduate and a younger fraternity brother of mine. I had recruited him to the fraternity so we were close friends, plus he was about to graduate. Bill and his wife Carol enjoyed their stint in Lockport, as he became the resident expert on an emerging environmental issue at the time; the depletion of the ozone layer over the north and south poles caused by Freon, the air conditioning refrigerant invented by Frigidaire in 1930 that revolutionized refrigeration. Bill contributed immensely to developing and implementing alternate refrigerants that do not deplete the ozone layer. Here’s more on that successful effort.
It would have been challenging to be involved in such a program, but who’s looking back? Just me in every blog I write! Stay tuned, Fish Report readers.
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