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- Description:
- Jack Down, an R. E. Olds Transporation Museum volunteer and former REO Motor Car Company/Diamond-Reo Trucks, Inc. employee, recalls his experiences with the company and his life in the Greater Lansing, MI area. Down talks about his youth in East Lansing, attending Michigan State College, his jobs prior to working for REO, the factory buildings and land around the plant, the REO Clubhouse, and the beginnings of the REO Motor Car Company and the Oldsmobile and Fisher Body operations in Lansing. He also discusses the tragedy of owner Francis Cappaert raiding the REO worker's pension fund and the turmoil of the Lansing Labor Holiday and the labor confrontation known as the Battle of the Red Cedar. The interviewers are Shirley Bradley and Lisa Fine. Recorded as part of the REO Memories oral history project.
- Date Issued:
- 1992-02-18T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Michigan State University. Libraries
- Collection:
- G. Robert Vincent Voice Library Collection
- Description:
- Thomas Morefield talks about his career at REO Motor Car Company/Diamond-Reo Trucks, Inc., in Lansing, MI, from 1960 to 1975. Morefield describes his childhood, joining REO to work with other family members, the various jobs he held, and building military vehicles. Morefield says that moving from the union ranks into management strained many of his relationships in the plant, and that losing his union seniority as a manager was an unnerving experience. The interviewer is Shirley Bradley. Recorded as part of the commemoration of the REO Motor Car Company’s 100th Anniversary.
- Date Issued:
- 2004-05-11T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Michigan State University. Libraries
- Collection:
- G. Robert Vincent Voice Library Collection
- Description:
- John reflects on growing up in Lansing and describes how he came to be hired in September 1977. He describes his first day and the work environment. John talks about his move to supervision and various jobs he had including QWL and Labor Relations, the closing of Fisher and his move to the Delta Plant.
- Date Issued:
- 2006-05-31T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Michigan State University. Libraries
- Collection:
- G. Robert Vincent Voice Library Collection
- Description:
- Roberta talks about moving from Tennessee, meeting her husband Harvey in high school and hiring into Fisher Body in 1978. Roberta talks about her first day in the Trim Shop, childcare duties and working night shift. She tells about her jobs in inspection, relations with bosses, contract supervisors, racism and sexism, her UAW activity on the Civil Rights Committee, Women's Committee, and NAACP. She tells of community service, cooking at the union hall, retiree dinners, and proudly declares her kids are all college educated.
- Date Issued:
- 2006-01-19T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Michigan State University. Libraries
- Collection:
- G. Robert Vincent Voice Library Collection
- Description:
- Marilyn Shadduck talks about her career at REO Motor Car Company/Diamond-Reo Trucks, Inc., in Lansing, MI, from 1942 to 1975. Shadduck describes her youth, going to weekly free movies at the REO Clubhouse, working at REO through the war years, being selected as "Miss REO", raising a family, and being part of the "REO family" until the plant closed. She talks about the dissolution of the company, the loss of the pension fund, and the start of Spartan Motors by former REO workers. She says that REO "was a great place to work". The interviewer is Shirley Bradley. Recorded as part of the commemoration of REO Motor Car Company’s 100th Anniversary.
- Date Issued:
- 2004-06-08T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Michigan State University. Libraries
- Collection:
- G. Robert Vincent Voice Library Collection
- Description:
- Calvin tells of growing up in Arkansas, working at a unionized shoe factory in St. Louis, moving to Michigan and being hired in November 1949 and being placed on one of the worst jobs. He describes his frustration with racism, sexism and unfairness. Calvin provides several examples of conflict and his eventual move to skilled trades as the first black in Jig & Fixture repair. He discusses being a strike captain during the 1970 strike.
- Date Issued:
- 2006-01-13T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Michigan State University. Libraries
- Collection:
- G. Robert Vincent Voice Library Collection
- Description:
- Frances Barnhart talks about her brief career at the REO Motor Car Company, in Lansing, MI, from 1942 to 1953. Barnhart describes growing up in Lansing and going to the REO Clubhouse as a child, working at Kresge's in downtown Lansing, and finally being hired into the REO Navy Department to make make bomb fuses during the war. Barnhart describes the many family connections that brought her to the plant, earning 65 cents an hour, piece rate, safety issues, and being one of the older women to work at REO. She says that she moved to the lawn mower line after the war, met her husband, was soon laid off and declined a callback in 1959 to raise her family. The interviewers are Shirley Bradley and Lisa Fine. Recorded as part of the REO Memories oral history project.
- Date Issued:
- 1993-03-09T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Michigan State University. Libraries
- Collection:
- G. Robert Vincent Voice Library Collection
- Description:
- Arthur Frahm recalls his career as a bookkeeper and purchasing agent at REO Motor Car Company/Diamond-Reo Trucks, Inc, in Lansing, Mi, between 1947 and 1972. Frahm describes his job buying almost everything used in the factory, the constant turmoil as REO changed hands over the years, the decline of the company, his own discharge, and his unsuccessful class action law suit filed against REO. Frahm also talks about his education, childhood in Lansing, the Lansing Labor Holiday and the 1937 strikes, REO’s involvement in the community, the destruction of the worker's pension fund, the start of Spartan Motors, and his career after REO. The interviewers are Shirley Bradley and Lisa Fine. Recorded as part of the REO Memories oral history project.
- Date Issued:
- 1992-02-10T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Michigan State University. Libraries
- Collection:
- G. Robert Vincent Voice Library Collection
- Description:
- Alex talks about growing up in the neighborhood, playing around the plant and his father's experience as a Fisher worker. Alex talks about being hired in March 1981 before he turned 18, making money, life in the factory, and his union involvement. He relates a story about men being allowed to work shirtless until a woman removed her shirt.
- Date Issued:
- 2006-03-08T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Michigan State University. Libraries
- Collection:
- G. Robert Vincent Voice Library Collection
- Description:
- Marvin Grinstern talks about his employment at REO Motor Car Company/Diamond-Reo Trucks, Inc, in Lansing, MI, from 1965 and 1975. Grinstern describes growing up in Lansing, farming, visiting his father at the plant, as a boy, during the 1937 strike and finally joining his father and other relatives at REO. Grinstern also talks about a fatal accident on the shop floor, managers abusing their position, the REO bankruptcy, the plant closing, and the resulting shock, depression and suicides among workers. Grinstern laments the loss of manufacturing companies and jobs in Lansing and remarks on the great changes that came to factories in the wake of unionization and women in the workplace. The interviewers are Shirley Bradley and Lisa Fine. Recorded as part of the REO Memories oral history project.
- Date Issued:
- 1992-12-03T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Michigan State University. Libraries
- Collection:
- G. Robert Vincent Voice Library Collection