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- Description:
- Otto Aves talks about his career at REO Motor Car Company/Diamond-Reo Trucks, Inc., in Lansing, MI, from 1944 to 1972. Aves describes growing up on a Delta Township farm and following both of his parents into the plant. He also talks about building military vehicles without heaters and defrosters, trying to run the family farm while working double shifts, a wildcat strike over piece rate pay, conditions on the shop floor, building custom trucks for celebrities, and the tremendous influence of the UAW. He says that REO was much like a family and reminisces about REO picnics, outings at Lake Lansing, the REO Clubhouse, movies, bowling, and the ball teams. As in any family, he says, there were problems and he describes filing a shop grievance against his real-life father-in-law who also worked at REO. The interviewers are Shirley Bradley and Lisa Fine. Recorded as part of the REO Memories oral history project.
- Date Issued:
- 1993-01-04T00:00:00Z
- 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:
- 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:
- Edna Ramont talks about her career at REO Motor Car Company/Diamond-Reo Trucks, Inc., in Lansing, MI, from 1942 to 1974. Ramont describes her early years at REO and the everyday details of her employment, such as her pay, break time, layoffs, building lawnmowers and operating lathes and drill presses in the Truck Motor Department. Ramont also fondly recalls the REO Clubhouse, the pipe organ, the many worker social gatherings and the family-like atmosphere at REO. She also, however, stresses her staunch unionism and discusses a strike at the plant during the very difficult war years. The interviewer is Shirley Bradley. Recorded as part of the commemoration of REO Motor Car Company’s 100th Anniversary.
- Date Issued:
- 2004-10-06T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Michigan State University. Libraries
- Collection:
- G. Robert Vincent Voice Library Collection
- Description:
- Doris Dow recalls her career as a secretary at REO Motor Car Company/Diamond-Reo Trucks, Inc, in Lansing, Mi, between 1950 and 1975. Dow talks about joining her mother and other relatives at the plant and describes her first job running a blueprint copier, becoming a secretary and later working for Oldsmobile. She says that at REO, the company was more a part of the social fabric of a worker's life than at Oldsmobile and goes on to describe the "fun" she had at the REO Girls Club, and performing charity work with other employees. Dow also discusses the decline of REO, the day that the doors were locked, the aftermath of the closing, the demolition of the REO Clubhouse and the loss of the REO pension fund. She explains the complexity of selling the company as a unit because of the way owner Francis Cappaert had divided the operations from the property. The interviewers are Shirley Bradley and Lisa Fine. Recorded as part of the REO Memories oral history project.
- Date Issued:
- 1992-02-19T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Michigan State University. Libraries
- Collection:
- G. Robert Vincent Voice Library Collection
- Description:
- Herbert Heinz talks about his career as an electrician at REO Motor Car Company/Diamond-Reo Trucks, Inc., in Lansing, MI, from 1951 to 1974. He discusses REO products, plant safety issues, exporting trucks around the world, and the union and various labor actions. Heinz also recounts management abuses and irregularities, alleging that managers used REO workers to build their cottages in Northern Michigan and that as the plant died at the time of the 1975 bankruptcy, managers began stripping parts and equipment from the plant. The interviewers are Shirley Bradley and Lisa Fine. Recorded as part of the REO Memories oral history project.
- Date Issued:
- 1993-03-16T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Michigan State University. Libraries
- Collection:
- G. Robert Vincent Voice Library Collection
- Description:
- Marilyn Chamberlain talks about working at REO Motor Car Company/Diamond-Reo Trucks, Inc., in Lansing, MI, from 1965 to 1975. She talks about her many bosses and the unique family atmosphere in the plant, which she says she never found in any other workplace. Her husband, Calvin Chamerlain, talks about coming to REO from Motor Wheel in Lansing and working his way up from machine operator to time study analyst on the truck and lawnmower lines. He says that workers often felt threatened by time studies and reacted to them with hostility. The Chamerlains recount the decline and end of the company, the loss of the REO Clubhouse, hard feelings and tension throughout the factory and leaving the plant for the last time. The interviewers are Shirley Bradley and Lisa Fine. Recorded as part of the REO Memories oral history project.
- Date Issued:
- 1992-06-11T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Michigan State University. Libraries
- Collection:
- G. Robert Vincent Voice Library Collection
- Description:
- Marjorie Koehler talks about her career at REO Motor Car Company/Diamond-Reo Trucks, Inc., in Lansing, MI, from 1947 to 1975. She says that her grandfather and father were working at REO when she came on board, after working for the State of Michigan, the Civilian Conservation Corp (CCC) and the Works Projects Administration (WPA). She describes working in the payroll and catalog departments at REO, shares stories of the REO Clubhouse, employee picnics and the annual employee fair and says that working at REO was much better than Oldsmobile, where her husband was worked. The interviewers are Shirley Bradley and Lisa Fine. Recorded as part of 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:
- Larry Otis talks about his career at REO Motor Car Company/Diamond-Reo Trucks, Inc., in Lansing, MI, from 1959 to 1975. Otis describes his youth and early jobs before coming to REO as a truck mechanic. He talks about REO facilities and products, explains the closing of the plant, the disposal of parts and equipment and the start of the Nuts & Bolts Store by former REO workers selling salvaged REO parts. Otis says that he considered REO a good place to work and recalls employee activities in the plant and the REO Clubhouse and the sense of belonging that came with REO employment. 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:
- 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