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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:
- Mabel McQueen talks about her career at REO Motor Car Company/Diamond-Reo Trucks, Inc, in Lansing, MI, from 1953 to 1975. She describes her youth on the family farm, working at Motor Wheel through the war, her work as a secretary and bookkeeper, her supervisors, and her feelings about the union. McQueen says that many of her family members also worked at REO and that REO itself felt like one big family. She says that the bankruptcy was a terrible time and that it was heartbreaking watching friends and co-workers being fired and losing their pensions. The interviewers are Shirley Bradley and Lisa Fine. Recorded as part of the REO Memories oral history project.
- Date Issued:
- 1992-06-16T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Michigan State University. Libraries
- Collection:
- G. Robert Vincent Voice Library Collection
- Description:
- Edward Rankin recalls his career as an inventory clerk, manager, and sales representative at REO Motor Car Company/Diamond-Reo Trucks, Inc, in Lansing, MI, between 1947 and 1973. Rankin talks about his youth and being hired at REO, and speaks nostalgically about REO social life, worker sports teams and the beautiful Olds family pipe organ featured at the REO Clubhouse. He also describes sales trips to Iraq and Lebanon on behalf of REO, the intricacies of foreign markets and general market pressures in the truck business. Interviewers are Shirley Bradley and Lisa Fine. Recorded as part of the REO Memories oral history project.
- Date Issued:
- 1992-01-28T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Michigan State University. Libraries
- Collection:
- G. Robert Vincent Voice Library Collection
- Description:
- Noel Johnson recalls his career at REO Motor Car Company/Diamond-Reo Trucks, Inc., in Lansing, MI, from 1958 to 1975. Johnson describes his youth and early jobs and the variety of positions he held at REO and says with pride that Diamond-REO trucks were virtually handmade. He also talks about REO's merger with White Motors, Francis Cappaert’s purchase of the company and the final, painful bankruptcy. He says that he was retained by the company to finish the last military truck orders and was there when the gates were closed for good. The interviewer is Shirley Bradley. Recorded as part of the commemoration of REO Motor Car Company’s 100th Anniversary.
- Date Issued:
- 2004-10-13T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Michigan State University. Libraries
- Collection:
- G. Robert Vincent Voice Library Collection
- Description:
- Willie recounts his youth in Mississippi, his service in the U.S. Army in Korea, and being hired at Fisher in December 1954. He describes the jobs blacks were placed on, discrimination, and being denied an apprenticeship. He comments on millwright work, family, neighborhood, and retirement.
- Date Issued:
- 2006-01-30T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Michigan State University. Libraries
- Collection:
- G. Robert Vincent Voice Library Collection
- Description:
- Louis Garcia discusses his career as an assembly worker, press operator, and manager at REO Motor Car Company/Diamond-Reo Trucks, Inc, in Lansing, Mi, between 1946 and 1975. Garcia talks about his Hispanic heritage and his childhood spent as a migrant farm worker. He says that in his early years at REO he was singled out and "tested" by other workers and management because of his ethnicity, but still excelled in the workplace, becoming a journeyman and later a supervisor. Garcia also talks about Francis Cappaert’s ownership of REO, the company bankruptcy, loss of the worker pension fund, the final days of plant operations, and employee depression and suicide. Interviewers are Shirley Bradley and Lisa Fine. Recorded as part of the REO Memories oral history project.
- Date Issued:
- 1992-01-28T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Michigan State University. Libraries
- Collection:
- G. Robert Vincent Voice Library Collection
- Description:
- Andy talks about being raised in Brooklyn, NY, attending Penn State, having his own business, and being hired in 1976 at a GM bearing plant in New Jersey. Andy talks about coming to Lansing Oldsmobile in 1982 and moving to Fisher in 1991. He describes his experiences as a maintenance supervisor and planner, relations with the UAW, and his thoughts about General Motors.
- Date Issued:
- 2005-12-05T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Michigan State University. Libraries
- Collection:
- G. Robert Vincent Voice Library Collection
- Description:
- Eileen Nortman talks about her brief tenure at the REO Motor Car Company in Lansing, MI. Nortman describes growing up in Williamston, Mi, starting at REO in 1943, at the age of 17 and leaving in 1945 to join the Navy. She talks about shop conditions, her jobs at REO, car-pooling, gas rationing, and women working in the plant, and how she and other women got along with male employees. The interviewers are Shirley Bradley and Lisa Fine. Recorded as part of the REO Memories oral history project.
- Date Issued:
- 1993-01-28T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Michigan State University. Libraries
- Collection:
- G. Robert Vincent Voice Library Collection