My Book……………….….LILAGCS (33)

May 19, 2011

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My Last LILAGCS was March 28th

I was about to tell you about my job at the LeFebure Corporation when our internet connection was interrupted off and on for over a month for one reason or another.

For me I am able to remember so much of the past (in detail) but at times I find it hard to remember the short term stuff. To quote my 5 year locker high school locker buddy,Kelley….. I sometimes can’t even remember what I had for breakfast!

Well I will attempt to go into the past, some 35 years ago, and tell you a little about my job a the LeFebure Corporation.

I read that I left off my Blog writing at the point where I had worked for FELCO (Farmer’s Elevator Company) for almost 8 years’ I could see that I was about as far up the corporate ladder as I could go at that point in time.

I opened my thoughts to finding another job in the field  of advertising.  It was during a visit to my first wife’s parents that I ran across an ad in the Cedar Rapids Gazette for an “advertising coordinator” which happened to be my title at Felco.

After finding the advertisement in the Cedar Rapids Sunday paper I sat down and drafted my resume. I sent my resume to the personnel directors office as instructed in the job ad.

In less than a week I was sitting at my desk at Felco when the phone rang and the man on the other end ask if I was able to talk. There was no one around me at the time so I said yes. He introduced himself as the personnel manager of the LeFebure Corporation in Cedar Rapids. He ask me if I would be able to come to Cedar Rapids for an interview. I told him yes and we set up an interview for the next week.

At that time, we had moved from our house in Fort Dodge to a small acreage north of Fort Dodge. I went to the interview and I felt very positive when it was finished.

In less than two weeks I received a call from the personnel manager inviting me to come work in the advertising department and be the Advertising manager for the LeFebure Corporation. The man that interviewed me was Warren S (I will call him) He was very proper and spoke with an Eastern accent even though he was from Chicago, he said.

It wasn’t too long after I started working at LeFebure that I came to the realization that the job was way bigger than I was lead to believe. I was responsible for the development of the national print media advertising with all the national Banking trade magazines  and the total production of those ads. I was to work with a large advertising agency CMF and Z to accomplish this.

In addition I was responsible for the development of a 40 by 60 foot banking equipment display and scheduling of all the national and state Banking Trade Shows , I was responsible for guiding the construction of the company’s display that would be taken and set up at each trade show in the major cities of the United States. I would work with a display company in Chicago to accomplish this task.

This meant many trips to Chicago and working with the representatives of the Osgood Display Company to develop the company’s Trade show display of the major banking and security systems. The display itself had to be transported in 2 large semi-trailer trucks.  It was my job to coordinate this shipment to the location og the Banking Shows.

In addition to these responsibilities I was also in charge with the companies printing supply department that stored and shipped the hundreds of pieces of Banking equipment and Security systems sales literature. This department also maintained the total mailing lists of all the companies, personnel and salesmen related to the company. At that time it was all done with the addressograph machines. These all had to be kept up-to-date and maintained. There were 4 employees that working in the supply department that I supervised. I also was responsible for the company News Letter Publication that was published monthly. I had an editor that was responsible for the production of the News Letter and never on time for work she was a real pain. It was usually an 8 to 14 page tabloid publication with many photographs of new facilities and renovations.

I was also in charge of the Company Photographer and his functions. I had a production artist that produced the camera-ready art that was used in the printing production of all the sales literature stored in the supply department.

You can see from my above brief explanation that my Advertising job was very large and the worst part of all was that the previous advertising manager was promoted to Marketing manage and he was constantly looking over my shoulder at my work. He expected me to operate as he did and it became very difficult circumstances to function under.

I did the best that I could and really didn’t do too bad considering everything. I will share with you some of my thoughts and feeling as I worked.

One thing that stands out in my memories of LeFebure is the total lack of respect for the people that worked there. I was told I was not to associate with the manufacturing area of the company because they were “Labor” and I was a part of “Management”. That went totally against every principle I had ever been taught. It also explained the labor problem that was always evident.

The biggest problem is that I was dependent on the factory was needed to produce the prototype equipment I was to display at the trade shows. I ignored the fact that I was avoid associating with the employees in the factory.

I remember my first experience with working with the Osgood Display company in Chicago.

Up to them, my only experience flying was I small one engine airplanes and I was basically afraid of flying.

The first Banking Tradeshow  trip to Chicago I flew on a DC-9. And it totally surprised me ..it was so smooth compared to the small planes I was use to in the past. After we landed, a man that was sitting beside me said that the flight we just experienced was probable one of the roughest rides I would experience. Well, compared to the small one engine airplanes I had flown in in the past it was not rough to me at all.

This first Trade show was in Chicago at one of the larger hotels in downtown , like the Conrad Hilton Hotel. Our semi-trucks that carried our display to the show had arrived and there were special union men called “Dredge Men” to unload the display crates.

I had to make all arrangements for the men needed to assemble our display All of the men that worked at the Show that assembled our display were Union workers and I was flatly told I was not to lift a finger to help them do anything in assembling the display. I was only suppose to supervise the assembly from the assembly plans drawn on a sheet of paper that I had brought with me. The cost of everything was outrageous, for example, a roll of silver duck-tape cost $30 and was added to the costs we were charged to assemble the display.

I will stop here and finish next Blog.

My Book ………………….LILAGCS (32)

March 28,2011

Our Internet connection was down again for a while and it just came back tonight.

I was messing around with my email account and ran across this Statler Brother Burma Shave clip that was sent to me, I think it was Carmen who sent it to me and I may have forwarded it to you guys, but it is worth resending I feel because it really covers our “growing up in the 50s era”

Here it is and I hope you all enjoy it as much as I did and still do…..http://oldfortyfives.com/DYRT.htm>

I will try to get back to my Blog about my past jobs in the next few days.

My Book………………….LILAGCS (31)

March,15,2011

Back to Writing

It has been almost 3 months since I have written anything in this Blog. I apologize, but after we lost our internet connection in late December it has been very difficult getting back in the swing.

That is not a very good reason but it is the only one I have. I think I left off with my job at Felco and I will try to pick it up from there. That was about 1966 to 1974.

It may take me a little while to get back in the swing of writing but things have stabilized out a bit and I will do my best.

I

My Book………………..LILAGCS (30)

December 21, 2010

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Events I remember while I was working at Felco

I remember that Sharon and I moved into our new apartment that we had furnished with things we had purchased at a store in Lakeview, Iowa. I believe the name of the store was Parkinson’s.

We had purchased most of the basic things we would need to set up house keeping. The only “luxury” item was a console stereo radio and record player. Sharon had a few things like a TV and I had really nothing to add.

I remember coming home from work the first day after we had moved in and there were boxes and stuff scattered all over the place. Sharon was not there and I panicked because I thought she had left to go back to Dysart. Just a few minutes later she walked in the door and I really told her that when she went somewhere to leave me a message. We were both 26 years old and had been on our own for quite a few years, especially her.

We lived there in the 7 room apartment for a couple of years until a close friend from Felco, where we worked together invited me to meet a friend of his that had built his house and was a contractor.

I was able to negotiate a deal with him to buy a house in Northeast Fort Dodge. He had just started building the house and with my construction experience I was able to get the house at a lower price because I was going to do all the house finishing , painting, floor covering and the yard work.

We worked at getting all that done and when we had enough finished to be livable , we moved into the house at 21st Avenue North in Fort Dodge.

    

1st House in Ft. Dodge               21st Ave. North           1st House in Ft. Dodge

We had made many friends while we lived in Fort Dodge. I had transferred my Army Reserve location from Cherokee, Iowa to Fort Dodge. We made friends with a couple with 3 children that were also friend of Denny and his wife Arty, the friend that I worked with at Felco. Jim and Sharon Nevins became good friend there in Fort Dodge. Jim was a paper salesman from a paper company that we purchased most of our printing paper.

                  

Jim and I attended Army Reserve meeting together and I will devote a section of this book to the Army Reserve  experience sometime.

Jim and Denny, their wives and Sharon and I started going to a dance club that was held at the

      

Knights of Columbus hall in downtown Fort Dodge. We added a few more couples to our group and had a very good time. During the course of our Dance Club days, we ended up taking our turns at being President, Vice President and Treasurer of the dance club.

The Vice-Presidents job was to find and get bands to play at the dances. I remember the names of a couple of the bands were “The Jane Russell Trio”  and a band called “Four Jack and a Jill”.

We usually danced until midnight or sometimes later, but after we finished dancing, we always went out for early morning breakfast to a restaurant out in the Fort Dodge Mal area.

                 

I remember so many things about our times together with Denny, Arty Wessels and Jim and Sharon Nevins that I would take a lot of space reminiscing al of them. Here is where I might get to rambling.

I recall our summer vacation family fishing trips to Legion Lake close to Bemidji, Minnesota, many summers. We would not only fish, but we would get together in each other’s cabins in the evening and play a traditional game called “Pig” It was a simple kids game, but we made it into a fun time for adults.

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Rules for the Game of “Pig” also called “Spoons”

To play the Spoons version, you also need one spoon for each player except one. EXAMPLE: With 8 players, you need 7 spoons. For Pig and Tongue, no extra equipment is needed.

Goal

To be the first to collect four cards of the same rank. If an opponent beats you to that goal, to not be the last to realize it.

Setup

For each player in the game, you need four cards of the same rank from the deck. For example, with 5 players you could use the Aces, 2s, 3s, 4s and 5s.

Shuffle the cards and deal them to the players. Each player will have four cards.

If you're playing Spoons, put the spoons in the middle of the table so that every player can reach them.

Gameplay

Players simultaneously choose one card from their hands, pass that card to the opponent on their left, and pick up the card they've received from the opponent on their right. Each player can never have more than four cards in his hand, so it's illegal for a player to pick up a new card before passing one to the left.

When a player collects four of a kind, he does one of the following actions, depending on which version of the game is being played:

• Spoons: As subtly as possible, take a spoon and place it in front of yourself.  (We used plastic spoons and they got broken!)
• Pig: Quietly place a finger on the tip of your nose.
• Tongue: Quietly, but visibly, stick out your tongue.
When one player does this, every other player must do likewise as quickly as possible. The last player to grab a spoon, touch his nose, or stick out his tongue is the loser.

OPTIONAL: While playing Spoons or Tongue, players who either take a spoon or stick out their tongue can continue to pick up and pass cards, making it more difficult for other players to realize what has happened. (The player who actually collected four cards of the same rank must always pass the card they just picked up, because passing any other card would break up their four-of-a-kind.) This option is not available when playing Pig, since one of your hands will be occupied with touching your nose.

Scoring

The last player to grab a spoon, touch his nose, or stick out his tongue is the loser and is eliminated from the game. Remove a set of four cards from the deck and play another round.

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From time to time Jim and Denny and I would drive into Bemidji and tell the girls we need to get some fishing lures. This would give us an opportunity to visit one of our favorite spots … the local Maid-Rite Café. One time we went in to Bemidji after tell the girls our usual excuse and I remember Denny had 3 maid-rites and Jim an I both had 2 maid-rites plus we all had French fries and Pepsi drinks.

                                  

What we were not aware of was that the girls got suspicious and discovered from somewhere what we were doing.

When we got home late that afternoon we were dumfounded to find that they did fixed a complete dinner of Rubin sandwiches

                                        

with all the trimmings. Well, to say the least, we didn’t want to reveal what we had done so we sat down and ate another meal that left all three of us so sick of eating that we never snuck off again.

There were many other events during my time at Felco from 1966 through 1974 that I remember and they were definitely a part of my life. I will just list some of them below:
 
A. Planting a hedge at Denny and Ardy’s place    when we first met
B. Going out for breakfast at a place downtown in Fort Dodge for Ham & Eggs and     Hash browns. The name of the spot started with an “E” like Edith’s.
C. Going to “Mike’s (downtown Fort Dodge) for Mike’s famous Coney Island hot dogs with French fries.

                                    

This was a real small “Hole-in-the-wall” place with only a few booths and the round bar stools at the counter. The dishwasher would come
            out and mop the floor while we were eating.

My Book………………LILAGCS (29)

December 17, 2010

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5 years ago today We got Married

Yes, I will take a couple of days break from writing this Blog to celebrate our 5th Wedding Anniversary.

We don’t have any big plans and will probably celebrate it on Saturday, this next  weekend. Our youngest boy’s (Jairus) birthday was the 16th (yesterday) and we usually celebrate his birthday and our Anniversary on the same day when it works out. (We will do that on Saturday the 19th.)

My Book…………………LILAGCS (28)

December 16, 2010

 

My Job at Felco Regional Cooperative

When I was out building the family business one of my stops in Fort Dodge was a regional cooperative called Felco. I wasn’t sure what sort of lettering they might need, but I thought I would check and inquire.

I was directed to visit with a man in their advertising department. His name was Larry Nelson and told me that most of their lettering needs were met by the company where they purchased their uniforms. They also had large quantities of their “Felco” emblems produced. It was interesting because I explained my background and formal training in graphic arts. He then asked me if I was interested in a job. I told him that I was building a family business and I wasn’t interested. I then continued to call on other possible customers.

The reason I told you the story above is because when I decided to go out and find another job after working at the bank for a couple of years and the fact that my “wife to be” was earning more money teaching than I was at the bank.

I remembered the job offer that Larry Nelson at Felco had made. I went to Felco as the first place I decided to try to get a job.

I asked for Larry Nelson in the advertising department but instead I was directed to a man named Bill Turner. Bill was the head of the Communications Division and he sent me directly to the personnel department to be interviewed by a man by the name of Don Renquist ( the Director of Personnel).

After I had my interview with Mr. Renquist I was taken back to Mr. Turner’s office. I was asked a few more questions and then came the question that I know gave me the job. Bill asked me why I wanted to work for Felco.

I told Mr. Turner that I had no previous experience but I had a large desire to work for this company. I am convinced that my honesty and asking for the job allowed me to get hired. I found out later from Bill that it was, indeed those things are what convinced Bill to give me the opportunity to prove myself.

I remember thinking “what in the world  would a feed company they need a graphic artist” ….”designing feed bags or something!” Well surprisingly enough my first job was to redesign a new rabbit pellet feed bag.

I worked designing feed bags but also I was involved with helping design brochures and animal feeding guides used by the salesmen in selling the different feed, chemical and petroleum products offered by Felco.

After about two years Larry Nelson was promoted to a position as marketing services manager.

I had been drafting a projected new job that I saw a great need. A liaison person between the product managers and the advertising function.

I presented my written ideas to Larry Nelson and he smiled, and took a paper out of his desk and he had also been drafting a similar position. He asked me if I would like to be the new advertising coordinator. I said yes and I was the new advertising coordinator.

Our Advertising Agency

We worked very closely with a one-man advertising agency in Des Moines, Iowa. The Rex Weitzell Agency was the name of the advertising agency that I coordinated all of the print, radio and television advertising programs for Felco.

About two years into my job as advertising coordinator Felco merged with another Regional cooperative from Nebraska, Statex (Farmers Union State Exchange). We combined the Felco logo and the Statex logo to form a new temporary Felco/Statex logo that was a monster to use. It was long and narrow. It worked great on a petroleum transport truck but was not made for a feed bags.

My experience working with Rex Weitzell was a great experience and I learned a lot about agricultural advertising. Rex was a true expert when it came to communicating with farmers. He forgot more about agricultural advertising than most agency people ever knew about agricultural advertising.

Probably one of the most interesting and educational jobs I worked with was the creating of television commercials for the yearly state girls basketball tournament. I was directly involved with the preparation of over 25 television commercials and worked with the television directors and producers first hand. Northwest Teleproductions was the name of the Minneapolis television production company we worked with to produce the  television commercials for Felco.

During the basketball game, Felco also sponsored a hospitality room where the elevator managers and their wives from the small towns where the participating girls basketball teams came from could go and relax and enjoy free snacks and refreshments compliments of Felco.

I spent a lot of time helping out in the hospitality room. I also went between the television cameramen and the directors located in a portable control room in a large semi truck out side the auditorium.

Working with the television production and all of the other areas in the advertising area gave me a great deal of experience. After about 2 more years I began wanting more responsibility but Larry, my supervisor, was blocking me from going any further there at Felco. He was very good at what he did and gave me a good education of how to work with agricultural advertising and looked like he was going to be there for a long time ( he and I were the same age).

Editor’s Note: Larry Nelson ended up getting killed in a tractor accident about two years after I left Felco

In my frustration of wanting to progress I started keeping my eyes open to other job possibilities.

It was during my time of searching for a job that I discovered an ad in the classified section of a Sunday newspaper for an advertising coordinator for a large banking and equipment company in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.

My Book………………..LILAGCS (27)

December 13, 2010

Editors Comment: I have been having a difficult time trying to figure out how I will remember things about my first marriage. I have decided to insert into the regular Blogs items about my first marriage and just tell you at what point in time the events happened.

First Marriage

I will now pick up where I left off in Blog (26) where I called my first wife-to-be from a friend’s house.

Two or three days passed by and then I decided to call the girl (Sharon) that I had called from my friend John’s house and introduced myself as the Sac City Welcoming Committee Representative and tell her the truth. I called Sharon and apologized for my first call and explained to her why I had called her as well as I could.

One of my classmates happened to be home there in Sac City and I told Sharon that maybe I could introduce her to my classmate (Carmen) so she would have someone to visit with sometime. I don’t know if she ever called Carmen.

I then went on with the conversation and eventually ask if she would like to go out for a cup of coffee. She accepted my invitation and we had our first meeting together like a date.

The only problem was that when I picked her up at her apartment it was after 10 PM and there was nothing open in Sac City at that time of the day where we could get a cup of coffee. I then suggested that she come with me over to my house where I told her my parents always have the coffee pot on.

So our first date (if you want to call it that) was a trip to meet my parents at my house. It was a somewhat strange beginning but, nevertheless, that is where it started.

After that first meeting we were together all the time almost every day. We seemed to be attracted to each other. We dated for almost a year before we decided to get married. We got married on June 5, 1966 in her hometown of Dysart, Iowa.

In March of 1966 I had decided to leave the bank and got a job at a regional cooperative in Fort Dodge, Iowa called Felco. I started working a little over 3 months before we got married and I lived in a hotel (the Warren Hotel) in downtown Fort Dodge.

Just a few weeks before our wedding I was able to find a large third floor apartment close to the downtown area that I rented so we would have a place to live.

Sharon got a job teaching in a small town close to Fort Dodge and I went to work at Felco. I will stop here and go to my job at Felco next. Then I will come back to my first marriage and recall when we adopted our two boys after 5 years of marriage.

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