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- Description:
- Doris Faustman talks about her three periods of employment at the REO Motor Car Company in Lansing, MI. She says that she first worked as a clerk from 1945 to 1947, left to raise children, came back from 1949 to 1951 and returned to REO again in 1967 when her kids were older. She describes her work in the parts department, her coworkers, bosses, and being a grateful member of the union. Faustman talks about the first attempts to computerize REO administrative offices and how foreign and strange all of the equipment seemed to staff. She also sadly recalls being laid off in 1975 when REO closed in bankruptcy. The interviewers are Shirley Bradley and Lisa Fine. Recorded as part of the REO Memories oral history project.
- Date Issued:
- 1992-06-23T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Michigan State University. Libraries
- Collection:
- G. Robert Vincent Voice Library Collection
- Description:
- Mildred Alspaugh, daughter, sister and wife of REO Motor Car/Diamond-Reo Truck, Inc employees, talks about the company and her life in a REO workers family in Lansing, MI. Alspaugh tells of her father bringing home his "piece count pay slips" so that she could tally his earnings, of going to the REO Clubhouse as a child, listening to the REO Band, and watching the company ball teams. Alspaugh says that her husband died at the plant after forty years on the job and that other workers collected money to give to her and her children. The interviewers are Shirley Bradley and Lisa Fine. Recorded as part of the REO Memories oral history project.
- Date Issued:
- 1992-02-25T00:00:00Z
- 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:
- Vernon Cook recalls working at REO Motor Car Company/Diamond-Reo Trucks, Inc, in Lansing, Mi, between 1944 and 1948. Cook says that much of his family worked at REO, including his future wife and that company culture dominated their lives. He describes factory working conditions, the REO Clubhouse, seeing the "Baby REO" car on display, the 1937 sit-down strike, and listening to WREO, the company radio station. He also talks at length about his job as a stock chaser in the plant and describes how trucks were built, tested and then dismantled for export. Interviewers are Shirley Bradley and Lisa Fine. Recorded as part of the REO Memories oral history project.
- Date Issued:
- 1992-02-05T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Michigan State University. Libraries
- Collection:
- G. Robert Vincent Voice Library Collection
- Description:
- Russell Alberts talks about working at REO Motor Car Company, in Lansing, MI, from 1928 to 1939. Alberts describes conditions in the plant, his jobs, pay, benefits, and hours, before unionization and the great strides made by workers after the big labor strike of 1937 and the Lansing Labor Holiday. He also talks about the REO Clubhouse, the radio station, REO products and making experimental vehicles for the American military. Alberts' wife, Eva Alberts, describes her work in the REO Navy Department during the war and both discuss an accidental death in the plant and the safety issues which plagued the manufacturer for decades. The interviewer is Shirley Bradley. Recorded as part of the REO Memories oral history project.
- Date Issued:
- 1992-04-16T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Michigan State University. Libraries
- Collection:
- G. Robert Vincent Voice Library Collection
- Description:
- Linda Maxon discusses her early years at REO Motor Car Company/Diamond-Reo Trucks, Inc., in Lansing, MI. She says that she started as a temporary stenographer in 1967 and stayed to work as a secretary for several managers until the plant closed in 1975. Maxon shares many experiences about company social events and institutions and describes the loss of the REO Clubhouse and the burning of the factory itself. Maxon says that in the end, she was able to draw money from the REO pension fund before it was drained and describes the terrible depression suffered by other workers who lost all of their retirement money. The interviewer is Shirley Bradley. Recorded as part of the commemoration of REO Motor Car Company’s 100th Anniversary.
- Date Issued:
- 2004-06-25T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Michigan State University. Libraries
- Collection:
- G. Robert Vincent Voice Library Collection
- Description:
- Doug Sleep talks about his career in the export department at REO Motor Car Company/Diamond-Reo Trucks, Inc., in Lansing, MI, from 1961 to 1975. Sleep talks about preparing trucks to be shipped for sale overseas, about becoming a UAW steward and the deterioration of worker/management relations when the company changed ownership. Sleep describes the difficulty in running a shop with the chronic shortage of parts in the company's last days and final owner Francis Cappaert's attempts to break the union. He also laments the loss of the worker pension fund and the creation of federal pension guarantee program. The interviewer is Shirley Bradley. The first minute of the interview was not recorded. Recorded as part of the commemoration of the REO Motor Car Company’s 100th Anniversary.
- Date Issued:
- 2004-06-22T00:00:00Z
- 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:
- John Bowles talks about his career at REO Motor Car Company/Diamond-Reo Trucks, Inc, in Lansing, MI, from 1938 to 1971. Bowles says that he came to Lansing from Indiana in 1931 searching for work and was happy to finally land a good paying job at REO in 1938. He describes the various jobs he held in the plant, struggling to fill military truck orders, the inspection process, the early novelty of women working in the plant, war production, and trying to diversify in the post-war era by manufacturing lawnmowers. He says that working at REO was truly a family affair and that, in fact, most employees had relatives working along side of them in the plant. The interviewers are Shirley Bradley and Lisa Fine.Recorded as part of the REO Memories oral history project.
- Date Issued:
- 1992-06-09T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Michigan State University. Libraries
- Collection:
- G. Robert Vincent Voice Library Collection
- Description:
- Layton Aves, a production worker and UAW organizer at REO Motor Cars/Diamond-Reo Trucks, Inc., claims that in the 1940s only Ku Klux Klan members were allowed to join the union and work at the Lansing, MI plant. Aves says the UAW cooperated with the Klan in order to increase its strength and ability to organize workers and that union-management relations in the plant were often filled with animosity. Aves also talks about his duties at REO, where he worked from 1941 to 1975, life in the plant, his experiences with line speed-ups, piece counts, and time study, and the lives of his grandfather, father and mother, who all worked beside him the the REO factory. The interviewers are Shirley Bradley and Lisa Fine. Recorded as part of the REO Memories oral history project.
- Date Issued:
- 1995-08-08T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Michigan State University. Libraries
- Collection:
- G. Robert Vincent Voice Library Collection