It Was Great!
I cant believe it's nearly over. Forty-six years, four months and two weeks on the job! It was August 16, 1960 when I hired into the Buick Motor Division as an apprentice welder. It just seems like it was yesterday instead of nearly a half century ago. Someone said all good things have to come to an end,. As of 12 A M tomorrow morning I will become an official retiree from General Motors. Now its on to other things. I will be pressing on.
I cant believe I stayed on the job that long. With the exception of a two year span when I went back to college and the nine months I spent on sick leave when I lost the hearing in my right ear I was in there all the time. But how fortunate I was. I loved my job and actually looked forward to going in to the shop each morning. I guess thats one reason I stayed so long. Many people are not that lucky. They hate the job they have and actually look forward to and count the days till they can hang up their spikes, That was not the case with me.
The work place actually fascinated me. I loved the aura of the industrial process. The procedure of building a car is very interesting and that was especially true back in the sixties and early seventies. The Buick complex I worked at strung out for over three miles. the motors, transmissions, and rear ends were all built on site. The motor blocks were poured in a foundary on site. The place was dingy and poorly lit that gave it a mysticism it that is hard to explain. The molten metal was melted in cupolas (a large furnace used to melt cast iorn) and overhead rail cars carried the red hot metal to the various pouring stations in different parts of the plant. Black core sand was piled every where and you couldnt work in that place for more than a few minutes without getting it all over you. It was four below zero the day we ran a four inch water line to the top of cupola number 3. It was also the day Alan Shepherd became the first man to leave the earths atmosphere in a space craft.
The induatrial complex even had its own railroad The trains carried parts from one end of the place to the other in order to keep the place running and producing automobiles on a timely basis.
At one time over 27,000 people worked for the Buick Motor Division. Getting out of the place would be a nightmare at shift change. I can remember cars lining up for over two miles bumper to bumper on the two lane road called Industrial Avenue that ran north and south on the west side of the facility. The same was true on the east side where a street called St John was located.
The area surrounding the complex was a sociologists paradise. All kinds of bars and restaurants ringed the complex. There were also blind pigs where you could get a drink at all times of the day or night. We cashed our checks each Friday at a place called the Industrial Club.
Today the place is just a shadow of what it was in its heyday. Better than half of the three mile long area is nothing but a bare concrete slab. Only four plants remain open and the motor plant is scheduled to be closed come July. Rumor has it that the entire place will be history by the year 2009 if not before. I have heard that the intricate pinion gear made in the plant where I work is scheduled to be made in China and then shipped to the Warren Transmission Facility where it will be assembled in the transmission.
The reasons for the demise of the Buick Motor Division here in Flint, Michigan are varied but will have to be left for discussion at another time.
As for me after retirement its on to other things such as spending more time working with this web site. The new edition will be ready for publication in just a short time and I am excited about that. Hopefully it will be of help as all of us brace beaglers try to keep the sport that we love together. Ralph and I have dogs that need developing. We are always looking ahead to the future generations of our family of dogs and striving to do what is needed to keep our 18 generation strain going. As all of you know that can be nearly a full time job. I am now an active elder in the Evangelical Presbyterian Church I belong to and that will take a considerable amount of time. I also have four grand children all under the age of 5 that always need attending to from time to time.
But all in all it will just be good to rise early in the morning and do my reading for the day, take a walk around the block and not have to hurry to get to work by 6 A M. The Bible tells us there is a time for everything and tonight at 12 A M I will be officially out of a job. Ill miss it but I promise to do like Bob Dylan says in his song called Pressing On. It is a song from the his album called Saved--Ill just keep pressing on to another calling.
