•

•

•

Ed Rankin
1/30/92
Page 1

Rankin: Yeah, they had ... as sponsors. Here is another one of the

newsletters, but we used to have Reo items. When I first went to
Reo, Cy Rath was quite active
lot of memorabilia.
was, he was in the parts cost department downstairs with Art
Hempsted. And, of course, there I'm getting Eager Beaver there.

He was personnel director .... he wasn't when I

Alright, now he had an awful

IA:

What was the Eager Beaver Award?

Rankin: Well, it is a sort of a little silver, it is made of pewter but it

was silver plated and it was an Eager Beaver,
course, I didn't get
what they call a golden
keeping their places clean. But you got to look at all these and
.... Ralph Lott, he was down in t~co;;t accounting and a few others.
You are going to be able to have ~

I just showed you what, and then they had
award for the ..... out in the shop

show em. Of

-~,

IA:

Oh wonderful.

Rankin:

Down here ....

IA:

These will be nice artifacts. And who lived here?

This

Rankin: ~

Hansen. ~

IA:

Okay.

Rankin: And here is Cappaert

.

IA:

IB:

Oh Cappaert, we've heard a lot about him.

Yes, we sure did.

Rankin: Well I don't think you heard too many good things about him in

general, but ah,

IA:

F. L. Cappaert, was his first name Frank?

Rankin:

No, I don't remember.

IA:

It says F and I just wondered.

Rankin: .It might have been Francis, but I don't know. You can have this. Of

course, I know you get all kinds of .... Now...
into anything else, I,~~~t~st
that you talked to Te~.~~~

now before we get

..go down through here is one

IA:

Oh yeah, well we are going to be talking to him later.

Rankin:

Now that was in the paper after I think our meeting down here.

•

Ed Rankin
1/30/92
Page 2

IA:

Yeah.

Rankin:

r ~~'t~.
p7
~

Just if you want somebody just to look through

Now he might have.
this stuff and if there is any letters,in here, a lot of it is
different meetings and stuff and here was a brief history of.Reo.
And, of course, I was looking for ah, we had a tour guide, and it was
(.caB' t hear) -=&heatpapers-and I was one of the.tour guides quite a few
times down there.
busy so to speak, but you can look through this and just s~ewhat
these things are.
what you want.

Of course, it was on the days when I wasn't that

Some of these are some of the letters and take

all

IA:

Okay.

We'll have to take some time though to go through this.

Rankin:

Well that's alright.
these are field service representatives.
by now.

I'll leave it with you and then now those

A big part of them are dead

IA:

Yeah, that's a great peIISi8ft~

Rankin:

Yeah see

IA:

Oh they are on the back .... on the back.

Oh I see, okay.

Rankin:

But I knew most of them because I dealt with them in my parts
distribution.

IA:

IB:

(can't hear)

Oh yes.

Rankin:

Frank was with the labor unit

(can't hear)

IA:

Okay.

Rankin:

But I knew most of these ..... on there right now, I'd have to ... my
memory.

~

IA:

Mr. Rankin, before we begin I am affiliated with the university.

Rankin:

Right, ah huh.

IA:

Rankin:

I need to have you sign some things.
~4~~(

IA:

This is really to protect you.

Rankin:

Well that's alright.

Both my kids graduated out there.

•

•

e Ed Rankin

1/30/92
Page 3

IA:

IB:

IA:

Oh really.

Okay.

They make me do!this, you know, if I talk to anybody a lot, I got to
do this.
options for doing oral history which is what we will be doing here.

This is just um, to let you know about the variety of

Rankin:

Ah huh.

IA:

And that you can refuse to answer any question.
to turn the tape o~.

That you can tell us

Rankin:

... in 1947.

IA:

1947.

~~<~a/~?

~

.

Rankin:

IA:e IB:

Rankin:

And I left there on March 31st in 1973. And if you go down th.~OUgh
the letters there is my letter of resignation and ~eaIl' t Bear). .
r:fF~-4~
From that and in~on

r

#' A24 .•.•

Yeah I put it all right here.

Jy/~~
You can make copies ~o~e)
take one.

if there are two copies there you can

IA:

Okay.

Rankin:

It don't make any difference.

IA:

And what did you start at, what was your first job?

Rankin:

Well my first job was inventory control chief clerk.

IA:

Okay.

Rankin:

But, of course, that was a step down from where I had just come from,
See I had
but that doesn't matter too much.
worked for this just previous at the Reo.
just, this you can use if you want to. Ah, I came up to Lansing to
work for Nash Kelvinator in the!!.J>Eopellerplants.
That .was in .."
1941. And ah ,

(ca.n't hear have volume turned

I came up to Lansing, I

I came back to Lansing.

I£.~.';Cne'Kt1e

,so ~

IA:

a1~~~~~M6~

:::?e:hsure.

~~

_

~~

/

e·

Rankin:

That's good, we build propellers

IA:

Ah huh for the war.

• Ed Rankin

1/30/92
Page 4

Rankin: And~J~~~h~

~~~~.'
Bean was there

and I '~~~

IA:

And ~6t-was your job there?

Rankin:

Production scheduling.

IA:

Okay.

Rankin:

{Pur/'!'
f~'

fCJI-..Ic1~
~~umber

I did all the scheduling in the parts
mike) and then.when they the war was over, than}.,gosh , (laughter) and
which was ~,;?t?
ah, I was there for finishing up and I had a~
~and

ah , they were situated in a building where Capitol City
was.~And

Company office was ... building that's wher~~

(not very close to

I

had worked there possibly three months at;l.dworked there for a month
the company and they also~.~~A'A.
Massachusetts.
v.iee)
Massachusetts.
...... at that t~
certain thin~~~

my job then to get it all boxed up and shipped to

Well that disrupted everything for a while

I was doing a great deal of purchasing for

And I was production material control manager and ah,

So they wanted to consolid~t~~(~g

in Springfield,

~

~7""

got ~em--aJ.llsetup and

and then I ah, it just

happened that they wanted to consolid.atecl.Q~~justabout a ye.ar.andI
had told Mr.

I'd get a job (-k~d. baBe and caLi' t ftear<7'~~
.... to somebody e Lse when I'm already in charge of something.

~. •

IA:

Yeah.

f~

Rankin:

IA:

Rankin:

IA:

Rankin:

•

So I took my separation pay and I went to Lansing. Well that was
just about the end of '46 ..... and I took a couple weeks of looking
around finding a place J:<:.> .l.i.ve~..~.
start looking for a jotr.-"~~oo
(GaR' E hear)
~~¥~
Let's go back to Lansing, did you grow up here originally?

and I decided then that ~o ..
far, I went to Reo.·

~~)

.

"r-

.~~~.

o

_

'

~

No, I was born and raised in Duluth, Minnesota.
1910, I'm not a spring chick -=o/~~~ly
fellows you possibly will be talking to, as far as that's concerned.
oj?course; was all directed
But ah, my ah, my high scho~~~ucation,
towards manual arts and ah~.~~~
you we,,~.·'~t.
~~~,
No.

(laughter) My parents were though.

Oh yeah, b~ck in
one of the older

.... I m sure. Ah, but

~1'tfbQA~~-i

/ _. /-c; /

o/~~~

I was already accepted at Stout Institute in Wisconsin to go to
manual arts school, but boy I tell you things were rough
all I've ever had is an informal high school education and a lot of
,hard work of that. But things weren't too robust.
Pittsburgh Coal Company on the dock~~~
sight.

just dropped right out of
farm labor and stuff like

So then I stayed around an~~~k;d

I did work for

So,

• Ed Rankin

1/30/92
Page 5

that and then ,finally d~cided to ..
industry an~~~_and
go to Detroit.

/-~~~,

.

j~~

... based on lumber
So I decided to

IA:

Rankin:

Oh so you went to:::J~~

I went in 1935.
welfare.

And alo., ~

IA:

Did you pick Detroit because

~

t6P~~

•. '7 there

I never got on

Rankin: Well because~~to

industry ..... I figured well there woul~S~~~,.~~

lot of workf'butoddly enough I didn't really get any~
the Great Lakes for a :oupl~ o! ¥pars.
of R~~~~ ~nd .... I saILed ~.
~~~~~

. .. dock and~.

..~ea~
I-sailed,the Great ~kes

... cook1ng~:

.'~
Yeah.

~

out

IA:

•

Rankin: ~~~

~lOUd buzz) and then I finally got, I finally got a job

south of Port Huron

I worked in there ps a core maker and~~

at Atlas Foundry
lot since then.
... setters for castings. And I .~/1. recognize some of the names
that came in for experimental engines out of Lansing, Michigan, I
think some were d.efinititElo~~..:...,~1:.,~hatis back in 1936,
• 36 and
'37.

But you know~

'?i:.~~to

keep away from gettingt#-:'~~

It has..cchhaa~ -~~/

_We never had to~

.. I k pt working, I always did save.

If you

want to work, you can find a job.
don't want to be too proud.

I mean some kind of job. You
If you are too proud you may never work.

IB:

How does family

.

Rankin: Well it is getting, it is getting rough right now. When you are on
retired pensions which aren't too good and if you didn't save for a
rainy day, it would be a lot tougher. --1_l~:!Ehi~t ~
~ct{9'ey~ter~st
record, I think that anybody~.
and CDs
going to have to start chang Ing your way.
money.
is a good manager and

on savings
percentages gone down so low, I'll tell you you are

....
and we've been married for 57 years.

Unles.syou got a lot of

Well, my wife

..~~.b~

as just a

~~

IA:

IB:

That's wonderful.

Dh wow.

Rankin: With a good manager and both she and I see eye to eye on issues, you

can manage if you set your mind to.

Your pension from Reo wasn't what it would have been?

• IB:

'f'"

.

Ed Rankin
1/30/92
Page 6

Rankin:

IA:

IB:

Oh no, my pension from Reo, I took out a small pension on my own
personal pension, at that time. But right .no,,~~
them just to pay my ",~

..a~/~~

taking both of

Yeah, we've heard this from other, with the health care""8ftd

Yeah.

Rankin:

But it is unfortunate that it has to be this way.

IB:

Yeah.

Rankin:

Except that Blue Cross,~~tAiPk has just went too high and I don't ~
think switching over t~ecause
you got to~~t

it and say well, ah, we got to eat, so we better

I've heard. r. say that .... and 74_4

~

~.4Q,
~

~

~4f'Z>/

.. ~.~

.. Now I don't have nothing wrong with

Blue Cross, it's coverage don't get me wrong.
you $300 a month.

The premium will cost

IB:

A month, I know.

Rankin:

That's terrible.

I think that is, somebOd~bOdY,

IA:

It certainly bears looking in to, if anybody would.

Rankin:

Now getting back to Reo.

IA:

Well what I want to know is how you got from Detroit to Lansing.

Rankin:

Oh well, now there is a kind of a good story and I always did say it
isn't what you know, it is who you know.

IA:

Ah huh.

(laughter)

Rankin:

... a story which I think is quite interesting now. When I went to
work for Nash Kelvinator I had been at the foundry and I made an
acquaintance of a few people, we lived on Hubbard Avenue in an
apartment and iA3.thatapartment4(.~.summers
ano thez; .... Mr. ~nd
head of personnel ..... (can't
hear) and ah, I ah, I went to work for Nash Kelvinator and then ...
went on strike and thennIwas out and, of course, then between ther~~
I went over tcP~~~~8s~~:rkl
j
the line. And, of course, on Kelvinator I was strictly working on
the line with nuts and bolts together and Kelvinator's and·
refrigerators and ah,

and ah, then I made

and I was~w"t

...~

fOi

•••

•• t!a 1'?',,~

~~

IA:

And they went out on strike and you lost your job because of the
strike.

•

•

•

•

Ed Rankin
1/30/92
Page 7

Rankin:

Well, just like you say temporarily, until they get the strike
settled so to speak.

IA:

Rankin:

IB:

Yeah.

I went to work for [):.5f5.7.l>. /i!(ilitr.Sfor
Was that here /.4;. ~A1I..$1."'tf.r

awhile.

Rankin:

No that was on Mark Twain Avenue in Detroit.
Road.

It is off Plymouth

IB:

Oh I see.

Rankin:

Towards Lansing.

And I and then went on strike.

IA:

Was this '37? When everybody was going out?

I

And ah , and

Motor Sales.

, h
~
'" eart . tear

Now they built

I'was working with

So, between there and my good friends that

Yeah, '37. And ah, I shuffled between the two and then I went to
work, I got a job with~~r~~tere~
Skyview taxicabs, most of them were he..J!9.edJ"~fNew York.
the man in there, Mr. Fox, and he was~~ana
receiving and we were getting to quite a story and so now between the
two things as it come up to a land lease, in 1938 right around
that. ... and then ah , the ah , J. F. Waters had a director ... he
couldn't:e.econtinue with Skyview cabs and they were building Skyview
cabs on DeSota chassis.
were working as personnel directors in a couple of companies, lah,
found a job over in Wayne, Michigan with the Bendix Air~N~~d
in charge of tools and buying tools .... for the production
worked there for possibly oh, maybe close to a year and
'40's and ah, and made me keep my noise to the grindstone
keeping my face c}:~n.rand.talking with ....~.
I-~'A<
~..
Kelvinator got the directive to go ... in Lansing and I knew Mr .//AW4'~,f...
he was with Bendix Aircraft and so that was my lead to get into
Bendix Aircraft.
know.
And ah, they knew I had experience in certain amount of
scheduling and parts, so they got together and I had a call at this
Mr. Pollen's office
ah, go up to Lansing.
I'm not unhappy
with the tool room here, and I hope I'm doing a good enough job that
And ah, he
you just don't want to get rid of me.
says well I know Mr. Summers quite well up there and he says he is
not up there yet, he doesn't have it opened.~u~
receptive we will start working.
they decided that I would ~ .... so it came around pretty close to
that 41
if it is
(can't heat) called me again and said
all right with you is defense industry, so you are 4A rating won't be
affected we are in defense industry right now and ah, Mr. Summers

All I can say it isn't what you know, it is who you

•• "0 I came here ~

.. personnel dl.Ore.ctors
h

and he said how would you like to

I says, well it all depends.

And ah, so~~.~~nd

I get the word.

~~ hO~ are

I was
And I

in the
and

nd a , w en

...0

/)

7:'

h

~~.A"')

Rankin:

•

•

•

Ed Rankin
1/30/92
Page 8

all the product~on~b.4ZI.d"(I.~fOtr.JrEjY(A;,f/lfeI

asked me to fit in. So I left there on Friday night and next Monday 't4e tv/l/?
morning I was at Kelvinator in ~.sing.
deB't,
office I had was ups catr s
an the old John Bean~
an engraving place up there on the floor there~
~_Ir
Yeah, we've talked about that before. Yeah.

~ow ~h~t brings llKJ. .tlf?1'Iand I
.
vLs
t£ttUfJ()

h~d the first
..... tihe r e

~

J

IA:

Rankin:

come right in to that

.

-IA:

That on the spot engraving

Rankin:

Yeah, he used to be at Reo.

IA:

Oh he did.

Rankin:

Oh yeah, oh yeah, he used to work at~
that.

In case you didn't know

IA:

No I didn't.

Rankin: And Reed I think w~~;eed

and his wife .....I had an office
in there and my ah, my immediate supervisor was Mr. Baldwin which 1
think today I don't know if he is living or not, but he was7P.-o.cJ.i'YIlJdI//lJe.

.

.~

cl.fE~/a4~Corporation ....and he was, he was chief at that time. Then he left

an~~can't
main entrance at that time.

hear) on Mt. Hope,

right over the

IA:

Ah huh.

Rankin:

And so I worked there all through the war.

IA:

What did this company make during the war?

Rankin:

Propellers.

IA:

Propellers.

Rankin:

That's right.

Yeah.
to ..~.
Massachusetts, which was moving the family and everything.

lawn mower and then going down to Springfield,

So, that's whet( .-.. history Defore the ~4<-and

,

~~

IA:

Yeah, so you'd just as soon stay in the Lansing area.

Rankin:

And then come back to Lansing.

IA:

Right.

•

•

•

•

•

•

Ed Rankin
1/30/92
Page 9

Rankin: Because I liked Lansing when I was here and I thought well I won't go

back to Detroit, so I worked in Lansing. I knew Detroit pretty well
by that time.

IA:

Yeah. Were you happy about working at Reo

.

Rankin: The thing and I'll say this tq~~t

is just, you know,
you get into a company that is what you call and ~ think is family
oriented and ah , a~d you r~alize that .sfter you g?t in. Everybody'
seemed to be so f'rLendLy
didn't seem to have a prejudice in their mind.
Reo,myprevious history was quite aV ....

I think because ..

(can't hear)

and ... r

/.u.i.lL>tJ7U;.~

now.. .... They

Lght;

IA:

J

Oh.

~~~

Rankin: And they train people and~~and

talk to people my age and

~

older if they are still living, if they have had some ... (~~
~~~~~
done good jobs for other~,

They produce people that have gone our and

IB:

Oh I see, yeah.t:htIJ~r~

~~,

Rankin:

~.and

moved up and they were, I think, very much of

the mind to promote from within.

IA:

Ah huh.

Rankin: And that is good for them. And you can work there and all of a

sudden go out and hire somebody that can do the job from outside, I
think it could cause a little hard feelings. What ~
I working for
here.
just not knowing.

So, I had quite a history of advancements.~.~~~~~

~~~

IA:

Right.

Rankin:

I didn'tP..~.

IA:

And so you started out as inventory, inventory control chief clerk.

Rankin: Right. That is right directly under the parts manager.

IA:

Okay. And then you worked your way up.

Rankin:

I worked my way up as things opened up, I was asked if I would care
to try it. So I was on that job for possibly I'd say, it seemed to
me it was six months, six or seven months and keeping inventory
control and I don't know if anybody mentioned Mr. Post, ~

IS:

~

.

• Ed Rankin

1/30/92
Page 10

Rankin: Alex Post had the pricing operation, all the parts pricing.

And he

I says well I'll try anything once and if that

decide~I.e.k.V£ (can't hear) and he asked me if I'd like to take over
the pricing room.
guys says well you got a pretty good record in the past from wherever
you've been, so do.A.JE.1!I€."$0.9and
swing, so I was moved over to pricing7lli=.t'/.That entailed setting
all the service parts pricing where it is based on manufacturing
70sts apd ah, and getting the price list from th~ J"rious suppliers,

ah, I said yeah, I'll give it a

ti¥..

I:i. J)?jJ/~.Y:«~

and whoeve2we bo~ htf.;:~I?f.f'g~talog.And you had to.

~/L;~~~t

• IA:

Rankin:

get all those lists and~
~ased
but you u~ally
foll~e6,
the outsideJJlJ;/~~.(J{fouusually follow their retail price, but you J:'J1/J-d E you.t
price ..i&. based on your cost to get the product to your dealerships
and your ah, distributorships and to your branches.77f.ENC.~~~~~
ge~~

~pout 300 prices. And it lists a dealer and a distributor and~~
I d.Ldrr't; know too much what the override was, #

iq they had a retail price list to the to

on your cost from them,

an override.

.

after they bought parts ah, the

so whatever it wasi3/'II~~
accounting department usually gave them what override was or a
discou~t~~~
~.
a very efficient young lady, Bertha Painter was her name when we
started and she had worked for .... so she knew pretty well the
po~
procedures, so

I wouldn't know that because I wasn't in the
but I worked at that job for 10 years.

Now I had

Now she assisted or secretary or

She was secretary and typist and everything else~~~~
jobs, so ... and ah, I will say this much, you could never get a
secretary so versed in doing things and not afraid of a job.
~
Lansing.

And she lives over on Climax Street here in

she was AI.

the

She was

IA:

Dh sure.

I

Rankin:

Just off of~e

is now Bertha Muniz.

IB:

Muniz.

Rankin: Muniz.

IA:

What is it now?

Rankin:

Her name is Muniz, M u n i z.

IA:

Dh and her maiden name was Heiner, H e i CfJA..,;V~

~

•

Rankin:

It was Heiner, she was born I think in Fowler, Michigan.
that was between there, Fowler on Highway 21, west of St. Johns.

And I know

IA:

Ah huh.

• Ed Rankin

1/30/92
Page 11

Rankin:

ah, and

I still send Christmas cards to

But then, of course, she married Pete Muniz
otherwise I know them very well.
them. We worked together for about 10 years and ah, we kind of
changed the pricing department .... We farmed out most of the price
lists compilation with Franklin Delo.ine. Now Franklin DecliBe was, C1e-J:,//nJ,E
it was that building right next to the main fire station, Just to the
south. That used to be Franklin DeAtines. And they done most of the
typewritten =z» our pric,es and the listings and the way we wanted
binder work and everything else for a long time. We submitted the
them, 1!fte Haute- ~~~y'

IA:

I see.

Rankin: While I was on it, we changed over and we~~complete.

assembly4Y~~
and we had a good print department and so we used Tom Shoulders/was
the manager of the printing department at that time and that was in
the basement of the clubhouse.

IA:

IB:

Oh.

And then kind of printed up the Spirit and all the journals and

•

Rankin:

That's where everything got printed.

IA:

I didn't know that.

Rankin:

And I think Bob Myers was the, ~
basement.

retiA.}

IA:

Ah huh.

on the cafeteria over in that

Rankin: Which was quite a

great guy too.

IA:

IB:

Ah huh.

I did know there was a cafeteria down there.
a print shop though.

I didn't know there was

Rankin: You should get most of this ... also from a lot of the other folks.

IA:

Yes.

Rankin:

•

So we changed it,allover and we got that ~J1.e
printing and we done all our own art work.~~.o/.~
somebodY~~~.
experiment with things
to try to get the job done better. And like I always, my philos~p~~'
has always been if you got a benefactor and
just work a little harder and put that extra~.

don't ever~~~
so it makes you

.... (can't fiea.r)I alway~like

and do some extra work

done all our own

just

to

J

•

•

Ed Rankin
1/30/92
Page 12

support his confidence in you.
that.

That's been my philosophy all through

IB:

It is a wonderful philosophy.

Rankin:

Never, never, never let~-4ewn
judgment.

~~

..... Make him l~ok good in his

Ah huh, yeah.
At least with Reo what we've been hearing from other
people you could pretty much count on getting good response to that

IA:

Rankin:

~r~

Well I think it is, I think everybody has forgotten
.................. you know, like I said
But if you work and develop a ..... you can you can make yourself ...
and I like to think that ah, I have created that much confidence
... that I can do and what I was willing to try.
And I would at
least make it go. And ah, you might have read in the paper just the
other day where Pete Hamelink died in Holland, Michigan.
general service manager when I ~
Holland and he was in his late 90s.

~
And he was a swell fellow.

He was
he just died over at

it is who you know.

IA:

Was it Hemley?

Rankin:

Hamelink.

IA:

Hamel ink

Rankin:

Ham

eli

n k.

A very fine gentleman.

IB:

And you mentioned Tom Shoulers

Rankin:

Tom Shoulers is not Shoulders, leave the d out.
was in charge of the printing department at Reo at that time.
think at that time, I don't know, oh let's see now, the manager was
~
see, Charles, well anyway he worked for the state capitol in
records and things, something like that
Reo.

And he was Q.;.~

Yeah, he
And I

~-~dilo~

Shoulers.

after he left

IA:

Oh.

Rankin:

IA:

IB:

IA:

•

........ Well somebodyelse will
ah.,..Red O'Brien WJ1.J1, kknnoo~1t.he vname, it will come to me.
~~%~,
Oh-~~ i ~on't think so.

tell you....

talk to ah.;

~jaJ
.-~.

v~

I don't think so.

The ball team, that sounds interesting.

•

Ed Rankin
1/30/92
Page 13

Rankin:

Well Reo had a pretty good ball team at one time.
more before I got there.

That was possibly

IA:

I see.

Rankin:

They practically ran everything at one time.

Yeah.
had a bowling alley down in the basement in the early days, but they
weren't there when I got there.

In fact, they

IA:

Oh they weren't there by then.

Rankin:

No, that's where the printing department was.

IA:

Gh I see it took over.

Rankin:

yeah

.

IB:

Sports teams still by the '40's.

Rankin:

•

In fact, I still a&l~/. we play bridge with Glenn Sine

Well the bowling team was pretty well known all through the league
and all that.
who's dad was one of the earlier bowlers with Reo ..... but Glenn Sine
was a, he .. we play bridge with him at times .... He was with Shevern
Shoes for years.
Ab,

His dad worked for Reo before I ever got there.

IA:

Whatabout~~as

that disbanded?

Rankin:

No Reo's band ah, Reo's band I don't know, it was more than likely
just as ,things got more modern I suppose it just faded out, it wasn't
there when I was there, but they still had the nice ah, ..... in the
clubhouse.

IB:

Clubhouse, sure.

Rankin:

And there was a real good organ.
somebody someplace.
it went.

Somebody bought it

I hope it is still working for

I don't know where

IA:

Is that the big or~an that had been in the R. E. Olds home at one
time?

Rankin:

•

I don't .. that part I don't know where it come form, but I knew
several people that played it.
do have a little ah small organ at home, it is not a, it is one of
these Yamaha's but I'm just monkeying around with it, I don't .really
But anyway, getting back to the pricing department, and the
play it.
progression that~.~.I,.
pr-
and that's a name

it was about 10 years and then Tom Bates

I never played an organ, but .... I

Ed Rankin
1/30/92
Page 14

IA:

I know that name, yeah.

Rankin: He had the export department, export parts and service and ah,~~~

had a heart attack

IA:

I was going to say he was around before the war.

Rankin: Yeah, and

a very fine gentleman.

IA:

Right.

Rankin: Very friendly and all that.

I never had any experience in export~Q£~

He says I don't, I don't envy you

until he died and Pete Hamelink called me into the office in the
morning and said well we lost a good man over there, I suppose you
heard, I said yeah I heard.
changing jobs because you are doing a good job at what you are doing.
One thing, then he said frankly, he says, ah, no matter what you
You know, and if
think, I think you can handle the job<v.~~.
you look at it and say well, for pric{ng going into export and parts
and service for export, and you got to know a lot of export
regulations. He says well as of right now, if you want it, if you
export parts service manager.
will take it, ~

yoo'le 15

IA:

Wow.

Rankin:

He said I'll give you a couple days to~er~

secretary

~~.~~or

less handle the main stuff, I want you to go over there

and get all those export books out and start looking at them. And
..... see what it looks like. And in a couple of days if you've
decided that's too much for you, just tell em. We'll get somebody
else.

IA:

Ah huh.

Rankin: Well I went up to Herb and I says well, it doesn't look that bad,

with the good ... training like I went when I left your pressing
department, I got an awful lot of guidance. And so between the two,
I went and talked to the young lady and ah, she said well, I know
pretty well what the documents are dated and ah, just so we get the
right stuff and all that. He said you know parts and ah,
interpretations, if I had to do all my own interpretation, with the
orders that come in the place for it. If they come in like wording
in Spanish, we set out the letters that we have them transcribed into
English, I changed that by the way.
that for a while until we got going and then you talked to Louis
Garcia. He may not have told you,

But after a while then we done

IA:

He did the Spanish for you.

•

•

•

•

•

•

Ed Rankin
1/30/92
Page 15

Rankin:

Yes, .... from something I needed to know right now.
the pressroom and I said Louie, I say Louie what does this say.

He went down to

IA:

IB:

Rankin:

So he was valuable in ways that he didn't tell us.

never .... and give you the wrong explanation.

No he, he would tell me a lot of times that in the Spanish

No, no.
there are sometimes mUltiple versions of ... In other words,(it all
So he would
depends on which context you were, you were talking in.
explain it to me that he might mention this particular phrase and it
wouldn't apply in general conversation, but in parts and servicing
here and this is what it more than likely means.
and I'd come back up and I'd be able to get the order.
while, I would send some of those out anyway and get them
interpreted, just from the interpreter we used to send them down to
Detroit.
four days.
something out pretty quick by air and so you'd do it. ('My eyes are
watering like the dickens, it isn't because I'm crying or anything,
my tear ducts, possibly the drainage

And sometimes the essence was that you had to get

And, of course, by the time you got it back it was three q/r

So he would tell me

Now', for a

)

IA:

Spillover,

huh?

Rankin:

•.. l,-/) .. ~
Yeah. ~~~.to?::.i'\.
and we worked at it for a long time and
along pretty good.
was floating between fires.

~~

But anyway, things went on like that
(Gene t iu::!n) we got

Came up to the time, see the company at the time

IA:

Oh it was.

Rankin:

See it Bohn Aluminum and Brass had us and then it went on for a while
and then White Motors

IA:

We heard about that.

Rankin:

So, getting things altogether and

/J:ljJ.d. service and I
whatever the

That's when White Motors, I was in Etp.e>ie.T.I'7fl't7:?
was running the job alright and then White Motors
date was I can't tell you exactly, but when they bought us, they
wanted to consolidate the export.
everything and getting our export dovetailed in with the export in
Cleveland, I had to go down to Cleveland.
I took most of the workers with me.
weeks.
service manager down there.
him.
I was mostly in Joe Strauss' office anyway, but I had an office to
work in and correlate things.
But ah, we got along fine and ah, then
I came back to Lansing and I had to go down oh, I didn't go back down
for a week, but then I was going down every morning for a couple of

The first time I went down
Ah, and I was down there for two
And ah, working with Joe Strauss, he was the export parts and

And ah, went down there and worked with
I had an office .and

They were very nice, everything was nice.

•

Ed Rankin
1/30/92
Page 16

I would go out to the airport and I'd get down to Hopkins

weeks.
Airport on one Eastern Airlines and I'd come on down there and by the
time I'd get to the office it would be lunch hour and we'd sit and
talk about things that they had and the stuff that I had brought down
before that they didn't quite understand.

IA:

Ah huh.

Rankin:

•

And ah, then I'd have to

I seen you and I want to talk

Now that was a bad routine, I was kind of glad when it
Because, you know, it didn't last too long with White after

We'd go in and we'd talk maybe a couple hours and dovetail them and
get them lined up for either I thought or Joe Strauss thought because
their system was a little bit different.
head back for Hopkins Airport to get a plane to come back into
Lansing.
stopped.
that. And ah, we ah, got it worked in, I was it just happened to me
that I was back, I was down in Cleveland one day and I got a call
from ah, Mr. Collins, he was general sales manager for Reo in Lansing
and he said I want you to come back.
to you.
Well I knew there must be something up and I didn't know
what, but ah, naturally being flexible, I had to catch that same
plane I normally caught and I went right to the office.
wasn't in, he left for the afternoon, so the next morning I had a
note on my desk ..... says, I'll see you as soon as you get in.
..... Mr. Collins, he says I don't want you to feel that you are at
loose ends now that you don't have a job.
I said, well
what do you got in mind.
and that was in between a lot of things and in the meantime, between
that, and being part of White,
that was in there
and Harold
show you
lived in Fostoria, Ohio.
Johnson here and this is Harry Finn, I know those three.
He took
over as general service manager after Pete Hamelink at one time .
...... that is Bob Johnson, he is now, he is dead also.
Finn is dead, I know that.

one of the servicemen on that big pict~re that I'll
which one is Harold Link.

(laughter)
He says ah, we need a warranty manager ....

See ... that's Harold Link and this is Bob

He is dead now.

And Harry

But he

So,

He

IA:

-s/::t'; Harry Finn, Fin

n.

Rankin:

Yeah, Fin
the office because he had been there for a long time.

And he was a good help with a lot of things around

n.

IA:

Now the exporting, they just decided to keep up the Cleveland end and
phase out the Lansing end.

Rankin:

Right.

That's right.

IA:

Okay.

Rankin:

So, alright, I might think a couple of these others
anyway, between them and um, I'm talking about warranties.

But

•

Ed Rankin
1/30/92
Page 17

IA:

Right, so you went on

Rankin:

Side 2

Rankin:

We are talking about these are field service and they go out on the
problems, if you got a problem at a dealership or distributorship and
you are thinking that they are trying to ship you off or something
like that, they know

as I get a warranty claim in and then not knowing all of the features
of the truck and all the things that can happen, ah, I would, Harry
Finn had a desk almost right across from me and ah,
he'd be,
if he was in I'd ask him or Tony Rose who had been with the company a
long time, he was working ..... and he worked also with me on
warranty.
them what they were asking for or
if you possibly owed them something, but maybe not, not the whole
truck.

And ah, between them and we'd decide whether we couJd give
No not always, but yet

IA:

I see.

Rankin:

So you worked it out. And I worked at that for quite a while and
then when Cappaert bought the ..... point, now at that time when
Cappaert bought it, they were at lose ends for pricing ..... So, ah,
and all that, now look I got along good with Cappaert.
that some people didn't, ah, I, of course, made .... the wrong
attitude.
all the
Mrs. -J9'R:es+~

I don't know, I don't believe that ah, everybody is bad

and ah, but ah, some people couldn't get along with

Ah, I realize

,

IA:

Oh we heard about her ....

Rankin:

So, they knew my qualifications for this anyway and if they bought
the company, they must have looked at the record.
And I, they wanted
to get somebody to handle the pricing and so I talked to Mildred and
she was quite receptive, she says well you've done it before and you
should know, so .... pricing again, and ah, of course, I had moved my
office.

No there was one just in between there

.

IA:

No, no, okay.

Rankin:

Alright.

In between that

IA:

Between the warranty and the pricing?

Rankin:

Yeah.

They needed a, they needed a systems export salesman .

IA:

Oh, so back to exporting now.

Rankin:

So I went back to exporting, but in a sales capacity.

•

•

•

Ed Rankin
1/30/92
Page 18

IA:

I see.

Rankin:

IA:

Rankin:

IA:

IB:

Rankin:

;

I worked under Mr. Chuck Dunford, Charles Dunford.
Sunset in East Lansing.

We get together quite often now.

He lives out on

D. b.llJ. «.0 'Ed ~

y~

Dunford, Jr., his dad was ah, ah, professor at

(can't hear)

But ..... somebody else too. And Bernie

Well,
Because you know, you are in a
Anything

the college in finance.
.... too, he passed away too. But ah, then Chuck and I we~~~
together as a lot of people did
Chuck, did keep himself apart
sort of a business ah, export is peculiar to a business.
that comes in from a foreign country has got to be handled maybe in a
little different m~nner and I think a lot of, a lot of people from an
exportCi.\O~yand "Wa1.'t them a little bit differently, have a whole
different idea of etiquette ...
treat them different and you got to
respect ..... so, you try to conform ..... Well, as assistant export
sales manager/which was a different field entirely, it has always
been parts and service, I also then when White .... I got back in
contact with a lot of people I hadn't been in contact to the exports
parts and service, because you were corresponding also on cars versus
buying trucks.
that I had got away from for quite a while and they were kind of
happy to hear from me again, but in a new capacity.
of them in South America.
I did make a trip over to Iraq and Iran and ....

So, then I got reacquainted with some of the peopl~

And as an assistant export sales manager,

Especially a few

Oh I bet that was interesting.

When would that have been?

That was in 1966, I think, Heinige was the general manager of the
company at the time and he thought that I would fit in to go over to
Iraq because there was a joint venture between ah, American Motors
and its jeeps and so forth, and ah, they sent Walt Jenson and myself
from Reo with a representative from American Motors.
And ah, we went
over to Iraq, well I went for a dual purpose, I went over to see our
neighbors in Lebanon, because they were really good neighbors and so
along with that, then we went over to Baghdad and set in, they were a
dictatorship at that time ..... But nothing ever worked out .... There
was a question of content.
in and you had to do all the assembling and ah, whatever the reform
was from Mo Jenson and our general area of service manager that was
over there, also we had to look into it.
all that
letter like that in my folders.

They had to make so much equipment to put

service manager for it. But ah, I don't

I mean ... parts setups and

a

IA:

In your folder?

•

•

•

•

•

Ed Rankin
1/30/92
Page 19

Rankin:

IB:

IA:

Rankin:

IB:

Rankin:

In the folder, I don't know, they may not be in there and maybe in
the general file. Now this
at Reo, but ah, I wrote a final
lengthy report and ah, had a good trip .... I got an ear infection,
otherwise I would have gone on to Pakistan and a few other neighbors
before I came back.
The doctor over there says you better get back.
What they called Asiatic ear.,

Oh my.

Like a fungus of the ears.

It hasn't affected it too much, but I came back and went to the
company doctor and he took quite a few cultures here .....
medicine ..... But finally got it cleared up, otherwise everything
was alright.

H()w were you all

rec:eived and treated whenr~~

~~

Oh we had a very good dealer in Lebanon and ah, ah, Mr. Brovern, he
was .... he had, in fact, I was invited to his house for dinner and
he had servants coming out of his ears but and ah, and ah, he told me
to go down and see his DR..;
it, it is quite early isn't it, he says but I'd advise you not to
stay around here any l~n~~ t~n your business demands. You go back
to your doctor andb.~.~~4'li.-You

SO \J-:- went down and he says you've got

could loose the hearing.

IB:

Oh my.

Rankin:

So, I took his advice and instead of going on to Lebanon and maybe I
might have even hit Japan before I came.bac~~ut
abbreviated the trip. Of course~~~
money to

saved the company

that kind of

IB:

This was, the reason for this trip was to start Reos being sold in
this country, they weren't before?

Rankin:

See that was ones to possibly set up.

In Iraq.
They wanted to get
possibly Reo trucks or Diamond T trucks too at the time and ah, and
but they wanted their country demanded so much labor and so much
material in the truck of their own source.
See and those are the
things that hurt you know, you could build, we would have to build
like say build the truck up here and then tear it down and ship it
over there piecemeal, except for the parts that they are going to
make and put on.

IB:

Oh, so it wouldn't even be a totally Reo truck you it?

Rankin: No, but it would be a Reo, they couldn't make the engines and they

couldn't make the power train, but they could possibly make sheet

• Ed .Rank i.n

1/30/92
Page 20

metal and stuff to put on it. I don't know what kind of glass they'd
put in it, but glass was one of the things that European area ....

IB:

IA:

Rankin:

Yeah.

I wonder why they didn't want to just import the truck as it was
made.

So and that's the thing you have in export in a lot of

No, the laws over there dictate that anything imported has to be
assembled in their country and have certain much of that countries
content.
cases, countries want to put a lot of their stuff in it to protect
their own industries. That goes through a lot. We didn't have that
problem with Australia. We shipped an awful lot of trucks to
Australia and South Africa.

IB:

Oh really just as is.

Rankin:

• IB:

Rankin:

Oh yeah, as is, yeah. We even sent them built up or very few times
built up, but you'd built them up and make sure they would run and
test them and ah, then tear them down and box them.

Ohand

they would have reassembled them.

Then reassemble them.

~~~UlL;;

IB:

How many countries ...It.: shipping trucks to during the '60's?

~~well

Rankin:

.

~

IB:

Rankin:

The biggest share of the truck, the biggest I would say, 90 percent
of the trucks at the time that I was assistant export sales manager
went to Australia and South Africa.
well closed off, although still a lot of trucks -found ther

Now, South AmeriCa~w~apr.ett
..
not too many of them. And Puerto Rico, we sent a lot of tru

s

to. In fact, I went to Puerto Rico to~.~

~
,

How was South America closed off?

7'7fZ. ~&--~

~

~

... dictate and their own content and all that and some are

Well ~
a little harder to sell ..... Of course, a lot of time that became
part of my job to determine those things too, but Chuck Dunford was
the general sales, ex~~_~a;es
well.
.. and try to change

manager so he usually knew pretty

every once and while, we'd get a

He kept up wit~but

IB:

Oh the regimes were changing very fast in South America at that time.

Yeah, that's true.

IA:•

Rankin: We had a few deals going with ah, both Pakistan and we never did ship

too much there, parts we did, but not trucks. And I think they had
a~~tfJ~

•

Ed Rankin
1/30/92
pag,e, 21
,

J

tt;/~-b/4/.~':.hG

/,)/J

ut?

.o ~O~

so we ah , (can't hear) but parts and trucks. We tried

to get trucks in there, but we couldn't.

IA:

What about Japan in those days, you mentioned

Rankin: Japan, we had a dealership there, but we never done too much with em.

They came in, they were very nice people to talk to when .. come in
to a factory.

IA:

They did ship some, but not a lot

Rankin: We shipped parts to trucks that had already possibly got there

through some roundabout way I don't know.

IA:

Yeah,

they were klliol M-~.~.41:?~,

'17.7

'

.

~f

~'to

Rankin:

Oh yes, I'm sure of that. And I think .tae:: .. 8 know a lot about
them too.

'\"

IA:

So then you went from .....

Rankin:

IA:

Then back to ....

Rankin: Then I went back to pr1c1ng after that and I also you may have heard

somebody mention Harry Olsen.

IB:

No, not that name.

Rankin: Well Harry Olsen ever was my golf partner most of the time. He had

and ah, I also

government and parts sales
inherited that after that along with my
so I worked at that until I retired, pricing. And I trained trained,
I can't remember what the name was, one fellow to handle the export,
because exports were~in
nothing.b..(.4>dl~~f1:oo
government agencies like mostly/J/l}.Urand the Ai~rcw-,~
biggest problem with them was trying to convincec~~--:-:-
~~~~t'L-~~
Oh r~altY?

in the neck. The government parts was

I talked to different

d my ~~;a/~
.~-

pricing

and ah,

much.

/7 -

~

,

IB:

Rankin: Well now it is contrary to a lot of things. But I don't like to say
I

it, but I think a lot of times they are a little bit bull-headed.
think you get fed up in their importance. They wanted to 11~
tonight by air and I would say well, and I~l9R'tj7P.At~I
say we
ship so many, if it was coming ou~~~~LA I'd say we've shipped so
many of that part to Fort
and the number of the order. Can't bother to go to the depot to get
it, got to have it over

tonight. I said you know that kind of

·l?!:]'~andI'd give him the date and

•

•

Ed Rankin
1/30/92
Page 22

burns you when you've sold them at a oh I could say, I don't care
what
or not, you can delete it if you want to, but I think
that's what we are talking about toilet seats for $50 and that thing.

IB:

IA:

Yes.

Yes.

Rankin:

... sent them a couple of very, very critical screws or bolts for a
certain area of the engine and by the time you had to package that
for non rust and make sure that it was going to be ready for the day
they needed it, they could have gone over there and got it for a lot
less than we might have charged them $5 for one bolt.

By the time

Rankin:

it is the special handling that you try to avoid, by the time you
.. put it in a box and put it on an
went and got one ~.I/.~
aircraft they pay fiv~times what you even done for packaging but you
are sending it to them.

IB:

Right .

Rankin:

But they didn't want~.~d

Harry told me the same thing.

Harry Olsen before I took over, when he retired.
want it right on the plane and they don't want to take time to go and
The inefficiency of of all I can say in
look for it, the government.
government in general.
any condition.

Governments should not be in business under

He said, they'll

IB:

Well I just saw

Rankin:

Governments should only be in the business of governing. ~says
back in the '80's ah, I can't remember who quoted this, to the extent
is that we government is too, we are too busy doing everything to do
the job that they were elected to do as a government.

IB:

Well Thomas Jefferson said, government that governs wastes government
~~

Rankin:

~

~

I

that goes back a little bit farther

another senator or somebody said it later on in the '80'.s_a~d 7£)_,,-.__

than
I think back in the '80's somebody said in there,
~~~tt;.S

been discovered.

(eaR't~

(laughter)

Rankin:

How untrue that ever

•

•

• Ed Rankin

1/30/92
Page 23

IB:

At least I hope that is not true.
discoveries.

I mean you know a lot more

Rankin:

Do you know what Al Jolsen said,

(can't hear)

IA:

Right.

Rankin:

I can't imagine what there is to discover.
analyze the technical aspects of electronics .....

I don't have a mind to

IA:

I know, I think about my, I have a little baby girl at home and she
is going to be 20, 30 years down the line, what is going to be common
for her is Just going to be amazing.

Rankin:

IA:

possibly.

just second nature, it is born into you

Well I remember when I stayed up as a teenager to watch the moon
shot, you know, and my grandfather was staying with us and I was
thinking when he was born there wasn't even electric lights.

•

Rankin:

Yeah, that's right. That's right.

IB:

It is just amazing.

Rankin:

Whereas you see now we get
.
once and a while, ... shoot I'll go out to see if the satellite is
going over
says yeah, but I marvelat'how

they can keep that thing up there.

clear and just to see it ....

seen them before, I

difference

IB:

The kids just take it for granted.

Rankin:

And I said .... when ~~_a
Rogers, that was the .~
back, how many of those things as a kid you'd say oh they are just
imaginative, we are never going to have them.

kid I liked scientific articles, Buck
.. and if I think back and if you think

IB:

That's right.

Rankin:

Everything I've imagined is happening.

IA:

And you know, I'm pretty young comparatively, when I was in college,
nobody had computers.

Rankin:

• IA:

Well that's right.

Everyone
papers on computers.

of my students now at the university level does their

•

•

•

Ed Rankin
1/30/92
Page 24

Rankin:

Ah, ... just made comment on computers I would ban them from high
schools.

Until they learn the basics.

IB:

Right.

Rankin:

When you learn the basics and you can do it on pencil and paper,
forget the computer.

IA:

Yeah.

Rankin:

That's time, and you may have learned it, but don't use it here.

IA:

Until you learn it, yeah.

The calculator

Rankin:

The basic
computers were just nicely getting started.
between the stockroom and my desk.
in stock or not.

Now don't get me wrong, I left the company in '73,
Sure, we had computers

I could tell whether I had a part

IA:

Right, that helps a lot.

Rankin:

I didn't even have to get on the telephone, I'd just punch

Sure.
that and if they kept the inventory control properly in the
stockroom, and wouldn't let it go.

IA:

Yeah.

Rankin:

It would say on the computer how many there was in ... I suppose
somebody on the telephone and look I got it in. You want it, I'll
put it on the order desk right now.

IA:

IB:

Rankin:

Ah huh.

When you left in '72, could you (coughing) coming or the ... I said
when you left in '73, could you see that it was going to be going
into bankruptcy,

Ah, I didn't leave from

Ah, I thought I thought myself, I thought there

No not necessarily.
was one a kind of an unsteady footing.
there.
I had ah, and I possibly could have stayed, but my letter of
resignation I'll tell you primarily why .... and I'll tell you ....
And when you get up there and of course I was only 62, just about 63,
I would going to be 63 in April and I left at the end of March in
'73. So, I was going to be 63 and all the time between the time I
worked for Reo and we traveled every summer we went some place.
We
liked to
and when you get restricted down to two weeks to go
someplace and it maybe be
out now while I'm still able, still physically able to do other
things and we'll travel without any having to hurry back.

places, I decided well, I'll get

\

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Ed Rankin
1/30/92
Page 25

IB:

Ah huh.

Rankin:

That almost told you that you better re-mariage
I was

In fact, the last few years at Reo my boss almost told me.
if we could get rid of you for five weeks without needing you, we
wouldn't need you.
your vacations and take it, and take your vacations a split.
allowed five weeks of vacation, but I could only take two weeks at 'a
time,
So, part of it was to not
have to break it up.
even, it was so busy and hectic that I didn't even get any vacation
time.
In fact, I asked for that as paid time when I got my
retirement.
for that vacation which I had to forgo.

And the union seen the letter and I expected to get paid

In fact, the last year I was there I didn't

to run the store so to speak.

He says

IA:

Right.

Rankin:

And they agreed to it, so I've heard them say this now, I've heard
them s'aythat in several places that vacations are fine and lengthy
ones are great, but if a company can get rid of you for that length
of time, you are not on the job, why do they need you in the first
place.

IA:

Yeah.

Rankin:

You can see the philosophy.

IA:

I can see the logic in it.

Rankin:

But I also felt that my department was well run by my secretary when
I wasn't there.
fortunate to have very good secretaries

Because she knew what she was doing.

And I was

.

IB:

Well sometimes of the year it is not as busy as other times of the
year.

Rankin:

Well that's true, but in the parts business there isn't any, there
isn't any slow time. A truck breaks down

IB:

It could be anytime.

Yeah, that's right.

Rankin:

I wouldn't say I was .... to a lot of males, but

Any day, any time.
ah, I try to avoid ... if I could, see what I mean.
anticipated that I am living on government time now, but
unfortunately a lot of people died before
my, my vision of certain things during the time I was there.
a retirement, you could retire at 65, but you had to retire at 67.

just a comment on

Anticipate and I

Reo had

IB:

Dh mandatory.

•

•

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•

Ed Rankin
1/30/92
Page 26

Rankin:

I still say mandatory retirements are the thing that

and I'm not talking about discrimination though, age
I think, in fact, I'm almost sure of it, that as you

Mandatory.
should be
discrimination.
grow older, our efficiency drops to an, I mean your physical ability
to perform and if a company things that 67 like they did, thought
that that was the time that to leave the job for somebody else and
get out.
the people and new them personally, they were dead within a year.
Their routine had been disrupted.

I've seen people forced to retire at 67 down there, liked

IB:

Yeah.

Yeah.

Rankin:

IA:

Rankin:

They had wore a path to that truck door over the years and without
that and th~y hadn't provided for retirement.
retirement as being loose of those responsibilities.
based on them doing this every day and if you'd have left them on the
same job all the time

They hadn't thought of

Their life was

.

Your line rules and the fact that they were at a loss, those things.
I had too many
Mine never was that way.
things to do and I felt that whoever was there and worked for me, it
was in good hands.

I was ready for retirement.

;rB:

Ah huh.

Rankin:

That they were doing the same thing. And it would be up to the
company to change it. But it only lasted another two years and a
half after I left.
reasons for retirement or reasons for collapse, and say the company
should have been operating yet
Charles Chamberlin, Representative Chamberlin in Congress.

you more than likely knew

I did comment on

I was really

IB:

Yes, I remember him.

Rankin:

And Charles Chamberlin was my idea of a champion for Reo.
up for us in a lot of things. We were in government business and we
were in ah, in certain
course with the Army and ah, if he would have still been in office,
when Reo was in that .... I think they owed the government I think
somewhere $5 million.

government contracts of

He stood

IB:

IA:

Oh my.

Oh.

•

Rankin:

Well $5 million if you look at it today

IA:

Is not that much.

•

Ed Rankin
1/30/92
Page 27

Rankin:

It is just pitiful/o

IA:

It is hard to imagine that, but I guess you are right.

Rankin:

I think he would have went to .... and said look, they are in

Yeah.
reorganization and I think they can make a go, I think they might
have had a stay and i think Reo could have reorganized and then
operating.

IA:

Yeah, and it would have been better for the community.

Rankin:

It would have been much better.

IA:

The community needed the jobs.

Rankin:

Right.
Because at that time Clare Loudenslager was down there, he
was in charge of all the material handling in the plant and he, I
think Clare was a very efficient man in material, he was in there for
years and he should know, he had a much
feel a question about
factory possibly had
with a lot newer equipment that they gave to Louis Garcia by the
close of that.

was antiquated, it could have been updated

(can't hear)

floor plan.

And the

I don't

IA:

Oh that .... machine.

Rankin:

So if they don't keep up with

IB:

And Reo was not the only one guilty of that in those days either.

Rankin:

Reo was getting down pretty low on some of their machinery, it

No.
was pretty well wore and needed replacement.
money.

But I'm sure that costs

IA:

Right.

Rankin:

IA:

IB:

And ah, but I do think if Charles Chamberlin would have still be in
Congress at that time, I think he would have seen the handwriting on
the wall and would have argued for the holding. off of the debt until
reorganization was
every day on the government for foolishness.
foolish.

That wouldn't have been

we lose money

That's right.

Um, I .... on why Reo owed the government $5 million, was it because
they couldn't fulfill Army contracts?

Rankin:

Ah it might have been Army contracts and things like that, but of
course, I didn't get into the finance.

If I was doing that, I

•

•

Ed Rankin
1/30/92
Page 28

And um, Bob Darror when he was and people like

I didn't sit there and chair and finance on that end of it

possibly sit in Glen Wisemers job when he was secretary or treasurer
for the company.
them.
wasn't my problem.
course, I had to think of financing of Congress but they came through
on a letter of credit. Until I could see a letter of credit, I
couldn't firmly put the order in. And foreign countries unless they
could get the letter of credit

The only thing is when I was in export, of

IB:

They had to get it up front.

Rankin:

to get it up front, you didn't dare start work on it, until you knew
whether ..... unless it was a standard model coming off the line
every day. A lot of forms

.

IB:

Oh right.

Rankin:

Which I don't think is a bad idea.

I suspected Japan.

IA:

Yeah.

Rankin:

If we could have built right-hand drives for America, we could build
them for several of the Japanese .....

IA:

Sure.

Rankin:

But you are in business to conform to their market.

IA:

Well that's what they do with us.

Rankin:

Rather than their market conform to your product.

IB:

IA:

That's right.

Yeah.

Rankin:

Let's put the responsibility where responsibility belongs.

IA:

Yeah, yeah.
questions about this?

Can I switch the topic, did you have anything more

I just want to switch it a little bit.

Rankin:

Go ahead and ask me anything.

IA:

Okay.
little bit too, you know, that you,

Um, you know, I'm also interested more in the personal part a

Rankin:

Right .

IA:

I'm interested in you lived in Lansing the whole time that you were
working in Reo?

•

•

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Ed Rankin
1/30/92
Page 29

Rankin:

Oh yeah, yeah.

IA:

Yeah, you were part of the Lansing community.

Rankin:

Now, when I went to work for Reo,
until we got married, we got a home.
Street, 1708 Alta Street, that's just north of Mount Hope between
there and almost down to Baker Street. But there is that where they
had the skating rink.

I lived in, well
We rented a house on Alta

.

IB:

Oh sure, I know that.

Rankin: We just lived south of that.

IA:

Oh yeah.

Rankin:

On Alta Street, the first street east of Pennsylvania, Lindbergh Park
area.

IB:

Sure, I know definitely where that is.

Rankin: We lived at 1708 Alta Street. We lived there quite a long time. And

walk to work ..... which I think
and I'd go in through the engineering

ah, I used to walk to work
...... have a path worn
building and walk through the plant and
who was it
while, we was scouting around and we went out to Ravenswood, that is
just north of Willow, east of Waverly and Ravenswood subdivision is
in that corner, in the northeast corner between and I lived on
Ravenswood, we had a house that was being built

Ah, then I and the wife, after a

I done that a lot,

.

IB:

Great.

Rankin: We lived at 1512 Ravenswood for oh about 26, 27 years and I sold it

and moved to Texas.

IB:

Oh, when you

Rankin:

I sold the house in '87 and then moved to San Antonio, Texas.
don't get me wrong, we moved back to Lansing

Now

IA:

I guess so, otherwise you wouldn't be sitting in front of us.

Rankin:

But ah, that be~omes a good story too. But we moved to Texas because
we'd travel ....~.. and my wife's brother runs a chain of liquor
stores in Texas, the biggest chain in Texas, Don's and Ben's Liquors
are ~.. San Antonio.

IA:

What's the name of it?

•

•

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Ed Rankin
1/30/92
Page 30

Rankin:

Don's and Ben's.

IB :

Don's and Ben's.

Rankin:

Don is living yet and Ben died.
Ben's Liquor Barns ... stores and they have 23 of them.

But it is still running.

Don's and

IA:

Wow.

Rankin:

IA:

Rankin:

And all in San Antonio or in the ... surrounding.
there and we lived there for two years.
is a beautiful city, lots to see.
go and tour and see the sites.
something on the river to see. And ah, lots of other things too.
But when it gets hot after Fiesta time comes just about in April,
that is

It is a beautiful ..... and there is

The only thing about it, it

In fact, I would advise anybody to

So we went down

and that was

but ah ,

.

(laughter)

There's another little story.
(laughter) But we moved down there,
we liked it, we had a beautiful apartment, about the same as we have
here and ah, but it gets hot about the first of May, it is going to
get hot.
until at least the middle of October.

And it is going to stay hot and it is going to stay hot

IB:

Oh lord.

Rankin:

And if you done any walking, and my wife and I love to walk, and we
walk a lot of times we walked from our place or to walk to the mall
and back, maybe two times a week.
but once a week, we'd do it Sunday. And ah , we'd go
... an~ by the counties
decided to ~ove back to
loves to play bridge down there.
don't know, I've played golf a few times with my brother-in-law down
there in the mid-summer, boy I tell you I was glad to get back to the
clubhouse.

Nobody
I don't know they play golf and I

just for recreation.
(can't hear) in San Antonio.

In the wintertime, maybe not quite

And so, we

by the

IA:

Where it is cool.

Rankin:

And ah, well we moved backed because of the extreme

Yeah.
temperatures.
Arkansas or south Kentucky or Tennessee and split the difference or
go to the North Carolina.

We might have done better if we had decided to move to

IA:

Carolinas.

Rankin:

Or ..... Yeah, she is in Rockingham, North Carolina.
back.
it.

The house was sold. We go by it once and a while and look at

Ab, so we moved

\

•

•

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Ed Rankin
1/30/92
Page 31

IA:

Oh sure.

Rankin:

But then

IA:

You were pretty close to paying it off too.

Rankin:

And somebody said not too long ago in the paper it says well when you
get to your '70's, you might still be able to do all that yard work,
but you might be better thinking about an apartment too.
Get rid of
all this trouble.

IA:

All that maintenance.

Rankin:

But, it has only been this last year that I
All that maintenance.
have been thinking with this arthritis which has kind of slowed me
down.
do little things.
make cedar chests from
grandson.

In fact, ah, in fact that's what my hobby is, I
grandfather and a nice big

It takes away all my craft.

See I like to work in a shop and

for my

IB:

Now you said your kids

you were telling me that

Rankin:

My daughter graduated from high school with high honors and also

No.
out at Michigan State with high honors.
thing, only he didn't go to Eastern, he went to, went to Sexton, went
to Waverly the final part, but he started in at Sexton, but then
Waverly School out there
State.
of petered out about the time he graduated.

He took ah, boxing or packaging, but you know packaging kind

with honors and also at Michigan

And my son done the same

IA:

Oh it is still going.

Rankin:

Packaging, I know, packaging is quite a thing, but it was got an
awfu l,

.

IA:

Oh I see.

Rankin:

My daughter graduated in teaching.
teacher and she's taught
older people in Rockingham, Texas.

She taught down in Niles ...

and now she is teaching just

IA:

Oh.

Rankin:

She hard time, because people that haven't really got up on their
reading, older people that possibly and a lot of them are colored,
possibly to say they were neglected but I think primarily they
neglected themselves in ... years .

IA:

Sure yeah.

•

•

Ed Rankin
1/30/92
Page 32

Rankin:

I don't say a lot of them haven't wanted to get ahead.
their capacity, but still
well.

But they are both doing very

Maybe beyond

IA:

And Reo was an employer that let you take care of your family
properly.

Rankin:

Oh yeah, as far as I think if I look at it
that Reo had two
....... In 1954 I ah, had the pricing operation and I urn, I had ....
In fact
hang on the edge of the desk, before I get straightened out.
I don't get up too gingerly even now and I had the first back
operation and
then I went back and I was only gone for 10 days because we go back
down there and I sat at a desk and did some work and then w~'d go
down and, I didn't get any treatment on the back and feel pretty
I had the disc removed.
good.

she's a great lady too. And ah,

It was in '61 I had another one.

IB:

Oh dear.

Rankin:

And they took care of me very well.

IA:

Yeah.

You had good benefits then .

.Rankin:

Except
Oh yeah, my Blue Cross and Blue Shield at that time
for the excess of the specialist, one
I had a bill of that I
paid for quite awhile and there was a specialist out of Birmingham,
Michigan, Dr. Morda.
but apparently he didn't charge so much the second time.

He was good, he done the second operation too,

IA:

I see, it wasn't that serious.

Rankin:

IA:

Well it was every bit as serious, but you know, when you get to the
point where I was going around, I had a chair back brace on most of
the time. And ah, ..... carry a chair back .... steel and leather
'54 and '61, '62 you
and keeping you up towards the end
talk about six years and seven years and part of that my back was
deteriorating again and so I wore the brace and finally got to the
point where I couldn't even pull up my own socks or pull up my long
underwear

(can't hear)

.

I have just a few more I'd like to try here
mentioned that your ah, you were from Duluth, your family was from
Duluth.

Were they farmers up there?

Um, you

Or

Rankin:

Well I was the first child born after we moved off of the homestead.
They had a .. in Minnesota.

And that's 40 miles out of Duluth.

IA:

Right.

•

•

•

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Ed Rankin
1/30/92
Page 33

Rankin:

It is on the main highway 35 going down to Minneapolis

To the west.
and my brother, my older brother was
was born in ... and I was born in ... two years apart.
So and I was
born actually in the railroad, almost in the railroad yard and they
showed me the old shed that was still there when I got old enough to
know it was used as a toolshed for the Northern Pacific Railroad.
was the house I was born in down by the railroad tracks.
those days, of course, Duluth was almost based on lumber.
the iron ore comes .... range.
as a kid I sold papers and

It
But back in
Lumber and
And so it was oh let's just say .....

now but ah, he

IA:

Did your dad work wi th the lumber industry?

Rankin:

Well he, at one time he was a timber cruiser.

IA:

Oh.

•

Rankin:

IA:

Rankin:

for cutting in certain tracks, because he
But that went
knew which ones should be cut.
But then he went to work for ....
Lumber Company which was in Duluth, which was sawmill right down,
well I think possibly half a mile from where I was born.
a while left
techniques in farming as far as that's concerned.
(can't year)

But I learned a lot of the

closer to

I can

.

Thenafter

right.

It was about 10 miles out of town.

But I worked for a dairy farm for a while ..... gave me something to
do.
you
never heard of 100
And then
I'd go to milk in the daytime after the first milking, get back in
time to start cleaning udders and get ready to milk for the evening.

They knew how to work.

I milked 21 cows

IA:

Now a lot of the people that we talked to, not necessarily gone

Wow.
through extensive interviews, but still just talked to ..... Reo came
from farming backgrounds.

Rankin:

Oh yes.

I remember

IA:

Still even lived on the farm.

Rankin:

Alright I say

Yeah.
since then and even since I came here in '41 it has grown.
I can remember coming up here about the only place you could get an
apartment was Hills ah,
there were in this town.

because this town has grown quite a bit

that was about the only apartments

In fact,

IB:

That's where my husband lived.

Rankin:

In fact, Bill Summer,

he lived in Hillcrest.

•

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Ed Rankin
1/30/92
Page 34

IB:

Hillcrest?

Nice place.

Rankin:

So, oh it is a small town, small world too when you stop to think of
all the experiences and things.
else.

I don't know if there is anything

IA:

I just have one more thing. Um, ah, I wanted to know if you were
part of that steering gear?

Rankin:

Oh yeah, oh yeah, right now, there
that's where all the supervisors were

we were all,

was strictly supervising.

IA:

Right.

Rankin:

Then they got down to ah, like ah, some forms of ..... and .....

IA:

Ah huh.

Rankin:

And I let you know I worked with the March of Dimes for years.

IA:

Right .

Rankin:

In fact, Harry Helson got me into that, that's why I mentioned that.
And
Dimes and shortly after the epidemic.
until '41, but he had been here before that.
'30's

government sales and he got me into the March of

See I didn't come.up here

But he .... '30's late

IA:

Oh yeah.

Rankin:

on the
when polio
streets and in the theaters and .... I was chairman of the board for
a couple years

In fact, I handled all the

and

IA:

That was just steering gear people were involved in that?

Rankin:

The steering gear people were involved in that, ... March of Dimes,
but

and we all

.

•

•