After graduation it was, “Now what are you going to do?” I had no plan and was influenced by a couple of friends to try Auto Mechanics at Northwest Area Vocational Technical School in Thief River Falls. Kenny Hunter and I started a week later than the normal class. The instructor gave us a catch-up project. He had us dissemble a Mercury 312 horsepower V8 and using a micrometer document all measurements and put it back together. We started on a Monday and by Thursday it was done. The instructor came checked our findings and then hit the start button. It started on the first turn! About 7 months into the 9-month first year course, I was called to the directors office as I had been missing many classes. My grades were good but I was working at Shetler’s Turkey Hatchery and cutting class. He gave me an ultimatum of quitting work or dropping out of school. On to work I went as my plans did not fit with auto mechanics as a vocation and I needed to work. That summer I worked for a local farmer, P.W. Pearson with my brother Jimmy.

In September I got married and departed for the “Cities” to seek employment. North Star Concrete here I come. My one and only experience working in a Union job. They cut back in late winter and just before Christmas I got laid off. When I went to Union headquarters I was told it would be several weeks or months for me to be placed in another job, I then started looking for employment and applied at the Minneapolis Police Dept., AT&T (Western Electric) Phone Company but a friend got me a job with a company from Wichita KS as an apprentice Silk Screen Printer. L&N Company was a startup manufacturer of letters and numbers for house and mailbox identification. They held a patent for this and were growing fast. I was approached by the owner about moving to Wichita and accepted. After 7 years it was apparent that he was working to pass the business on to family members and there was no chance for growth.

After another screen-printing firm started and closed it was time to try manufacturing. A gentleman, Lou Sweeny, was in the process of starting to manufacture mower sections for combines, swathers etc. Team Industries was my next stop as General Manager. My first “Sales Job” came when Lou was in Atlanta, GA for a meeting nad thought he was experiencing a heart attack. He called me and asked me to fly to Chicago and meet with the Product Manager for the Farm Bureau to set up a program where several states could sign up and we (Team) would sell to and directly ship to member farmers. Having only been on an airplane once and never to Chicago, I called Braniff (that’s dating the time) and off I went. The meeting was set for lunch and upon arriving I asked where his favorite lunch spot was. He said a local hamburger/malt shop. After explaining the program Team was proposing, we went back to his office where he promptly set up a program including all 50 states. When Lou returned from Atlanta, after being diagnosed with heartburn he was quite pleased. Alas the tooling would not stand up to the process and it was too costly to keep manufacturing. Team Ind. was closed.

After several months of working with Lou consulting with some manufacturing companies it felt like time to move back to MN and closer to family.

More ramblings later!