Doris Dow discusses her career as a secretary at REO Motor Car Company and Diamond REO Trucks, Inc

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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

Place:

Michigan, Lansing, Michigan, Lansing, Michigan, Lansing, Michigan, Lansing, Michigan, and Lansing

Subject Topic:

Career in automobile industry and trade, Family, Influence, Employees, Charities, History, Automobile industry workers, Quality of work life, Industrial recreation, Plant shutdowns, Pension trusts, Termination, and Sale of business enterprises

Subject Name:

Dow, Doris, Dow, Doris, Dow, Doris, Cappaert, Francis, Reo Motor Car Company, Diamond REO Trucks, Inc, Reo Motor Car Company, Reo Motor Car Company, and Reo Motor Car Company

Subject Genre:

Interviews, Interviews, Interviews, and Interviews

Language:

English

Rights:

In Copyright

URL:

https://n2t.net/ark:/85335/m54x54h2q