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- Description:
- Glen Green discusses his career as a machine repairman, tooling division worker and manager at the REO Motor Car Company, between 1937 and 1974. Green talks about his youth in the depression, hiring in at REO, his various jobs with the company, REO's eventual bankruptcy and the fate of worker pensions. He says that a family atmosphere was prevalent at REO and that much of a worker's social life was connected to the plant and its many social events and institutions, such as the company sponsored REO Clubhouse. Green also says, however that there were union-management conflicts and describes the famous Lansing Labor Holiday demonstration of 1937. Interviewers are Shirley Bradley and Lisa Fine. Recording ends abruptly. Recorded as part of the REO Memories oral history project.
- Date Issued:
- 1992-01-23T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Michigan State University. Libraries
- Collection:
- G. Robert Vincent Voice Library Collection
- Description:
- Sam describes being hired in September 1968, commuting from Lakeview, MI, and spending ten years on the assembly line. He talks about friction between production workers and trades, performing "government jobs," women in trades, minorities, friendships, conveyor breaks and a car pile-up, labor management relations, and the closing of the plant.
- Date Issued:
- 2006-02-02T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Michigan State University. Libraries
- Collection:
- G. Robert Vincent Voice Library Collection
- 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:
- Harold Janetzke recalls his career as a timekeeper and engineer at REO Motor Car Company/Diamond-Reo Trucks, Inc. in Lansing, MI, from 1936 to 1975. He describes the 1937 strike that brought the UAW into REO, his move to engineering and attending Michigan State College. He says that the Great Depression devastated the Lansing community, but that World War II brought work back to the plant as REO converted from car to truck production. Janetzke's wife Eileen describes her job as a secretary at REO, meeting and marrying Harold, and working until late into her first pregnancy in 1943. They describe the heart break of the plant's closing in 1975, the loss of the pension and Harold going back to work for a few more years at Motor Wheel. The interviewers are Shirley Bradley and Lisa Fine. Recorded as part of the REO Memories oral history project.
- Date Issued:
- 1992-02-26T00:00:00Z
- 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:
- 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:
- 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
- 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:
- 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:
- James Cataline talks about working for the REO Motor Car Company, in Lansing, MI, as a timekeeper during World War Two and later becoming Parts Department General Manager in 1967 when REO became Diamond-Reo Trucks, Inc. Cataline reminisces fondly about the social life at REO and the terrible emotional damage its closing had on workers and the Greater Lansing community. He also describes the demolition of the REO Clubhouse and the later fire that destroyed the plant, events which, to him, drove home the end of an era. Cataline is interviewed by Shirley Bradley. Recorded as part of the commemoration of REO Motor Car Company’s 100th Anniversary.
- Date Issued:
- 2004-05-06T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Michigan State University. Libraries
- Collection:
- G. Robert Vincent Voice Library Collection