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GRUNT: Getting
started . . . When I was a Grunt, I had a few jobs while in high school . . . ughh  , high school! Played with a couple bands in the area, picked up a few bucks on the weekends. Played nearly every
Friday and Saturday night, and sometimes Sunday afternoons and evenings. Worked at The Sputnic Shop on Henderson Street
in the evenings, cleaning up the place. Worked on our cousins' farm for a few summers, Doebler's Pennsylvania Hybryds, detassling seed corn. Worked at Mangan's Bakery, 5am to 8am, then after school 3pm to 5pm and Saturday mornings.
Loved making doughnuts in the morning (and eating them ). Pies, cookies, sticky's etc. Yum.  Worked at my Great Uncle Bill Stoddart's Town Tavern, in the kitchen, cleaning up, filling the coolers, etc.
NAVY:
After high school,
went into the Navy for a few years and saw the world, a pretty good chunk of it at least. Learned a lot about people
of the world  . Very good time. Was stationed in San Diego, Washington DC, Norfolk and Mayport. Made several cruises
on aircraft carriers, USS Kitty Hawk, USS Forrestal, USS Roosevelt and USS Shangri La - a little ride on the USS
Kenneth D. Bailey.
| U.S. Navy |
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| 1960 |
PIPER AIRCRAFT
After
Navy I worked at Piper Aircraft Corporation in Lock Haven. Knew quite a few people there. Some of my friends
worked there also. Dad was a foreman at the Castanea Paper Mill and wanted me to work there, but Piper seemed more interesting
to me. They let you take flying lessons with no charge for the plane, just the gas, they had Jimmy Chilcot's Restaurant
in their parking lot, which I liked - Jimmy was a good egg, and a friend of my Uncle Bill Stoddart who owned the Town Tavern.
It was a pretty relaxed atmospherre at Piper compared to the Paper Mill. Piper had a little riviting noise and pneumatic
tool noise, but not the constant loud roar of paper machines like at the mill. I worked on the PA30 line,
the 23 line, and upstairs building instrument panels. Got laid off once for a couple days - that was enough for me.
So much for job security - started looking around.
| Piper Aircraft |
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| 1964 |
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BELL TELEPHONE-VERIZON While
at Piper, I was still submitting job applications.  Occasionally Piper had a layoff, and I knew I wanted to get with a more secure company, like a large corp like AT&T,
or the government. I had apps in at Lycoming Motors, PP&L, Bell Telephone, Rockview Pennitentiary and the PA State
Police. All of a sudden I started getting calls. Within a one week period I got offers from Rockview,
then State Police and lastly Bell Tel. I had a date to report to Hershey for the PSP Academy, I had already tested and
had the physicial, when the call came from Bell Tel and I tested and interviewed there. Bell was the one I was most
interested in. I thought it offered the most security, opportunity to advance, and to move around the Country.
Bell also had a college program, so when I went to college I got my expenses paid by both the G.I. Bill and Bell Telephone.
Bell turned out to be a good choice. Spent 28 years there and had a few good locations and jobs. I worked in Lock
Haven for Bell for a few years while I was going to college, didn't like climbing poles in the wintertime much, then
went into management and enjoyed living in Altoona for a few years, Arlington Virginia for a few years, then had a few good
positions in the Philadelphia area. I spent a few years in HR, a few in Internal Auditing, and quite a few in the
legal and financial departments handling claims and insurance, and risk management. Got a lot of experience developing
computer systems, both mainframe and PC. Then the downsizing offers got pretty attractive. 
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| Bell Telephone |
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| 1965 - 1993 |
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