• Eileen & Harold Janetzke

February
P.age 1

26, 1992

IB:

IA:

This is February
Bradley,
Janetzke

Lisa Fine.
on Reo Memories.

26,1992at

the R.E. Olds Museum,

Shirley

We're interviewing

Mr. and Mrs. Harold

Usually we just start by asking, you know, when you worked
Okay.
at the Reo and, you know, the years that you started and what you
did when you were there and how long you were there.
Mr. Janetzke,

if you want to start.

So,

Harold:

I started in December

of 1936.

IA:

Okay.

Harold:

It was three months after they discontinued
passenger

cars.

the production

of the

IA:

Three months after?

Harold:

Three months after.

IA:• Harold:

IA:

Okay, and what did you do when you started there?

I was, started as a mail boy.

Howald

were you when you started?

Harold:

I was 20.

IA:

Twenty years old and were you out of high school at that point?

Harold:

Oh, yes.

IA:

Yes, okay.

Harold:

IA:

Harold:

IA:

Harold:

• IA:

I had one, one term at Michigan

state.

Oh, okay.
didn't stay a mail boy there the whole time you were there.

And you started out as a mail boy and obviously

you

No, after a few months,
timekeeping

they transferred

me to the timing,

Timekeeping

department;'., Okay, and how long were you there· for?

I was there, on and off.
time, from 1936 till 1940 but in that time, I went back to the
mail boy job •

We were laid off quite a bit of the

So, when times were slow, you went down •••

Eileen & Harold Janetzke
February
Page 2

26, 1992

Harold:

The next, the next year for about a month and then back to
timekeeping

again.

IA:

Now, timekeeping,
people punched in.

that means you were in charge of those, where

Harold:

Taking care of the clock cards.

IA:

The clock cards and calculating
hours?

what people were owed for their

Harold:

Right.

IA:

And at that point, were people on hourly wages?

Harold:

They were.

IA:

Already,

yeah, they had switched over?

Harold:

IA:

Yes.
department

I was, I did timekeeping

mostly in the maintenance

and those men were all hourly employees.

So you were mostly in supervisory,
supervisory?

that was kind of a management,

Harold:

No, it was a salaried position.

IA:

A salaried position,
it came through in '37?

okay.

So you weren't

part of the union when

You didn't have anything

to do with that?

Harold:

Yes, in '37, the, I became a member •••

IA:

You did?

Harold:

of the union.

IA:

As a timekeeper,

in the time •••

Harold:

Now, wait a minute, no, I didn't either.

Eileen:

No, not in '37.

IA:

So you, the big strike was in '37.

Harold:

It was much later.

IA:

You joined the union later?

Eileen:

•

•

•

• Eileen & Harold Janetzke

February 26, 1992
Page 3

Harold:

Very much later because •••

IA:

Okay.

Harold:

I was off work the whole year in '39 and in January of '40, they
called me back to be representative
department
the surplus machinery to repay the Reconstruction
Corporation

and the machinery sales group 'cause they were selling

$2.5 million that they borrowed for •••

between the accounting

Finance

IA:

Getting geared up?

Harold:

Getting back in gear, you know.

IA:

Right, for the War, which we were going to be entering

soon.

Harold:

Then a year later, I transferred
I was a detail draftsman.

into the engineering

department.

IA:

• Harold::

IA:

Oh, okay.
you were at MSU?

Did you get the skills that you needed for that when

Did they teach you the drafting?

Well, I had taken it in high school •••

Oh, in high school, too.

Harold:

and Michigan State.
Michigan

state.

I was taking mechanical

engineering

at

IA:

That's hard.

Harold:

IA:

Engineering's

hard stuff.

Harold:

I learned quite a bit in that first term.

IA:

Did you do any of your apprenticeship work over,through

Reo?

Harold:

No, I didn't, no.
Michigan State and got some more •••

Let's see.

In January of '39, I went back to

IA:

Training.

Harold:

studies under my belt.

18:• Harold:

More drafting classes, engineering classes?

Yeah, engineering
me back to work and it was my job to check the prices that they

classes and then as I said, in 1940, they called

Eileen & Harold Janetzke
February
Page 4

26, 1992

were selling at against the assess, or the esttmated
were set down in the book.

prices that

18:

Selling of the cars and the trucks, you're saying?

Harold:

No, no.

This was the machinery.

18:

The machinery.

Harold:

IA:

18:

The machinery
need any more that was used for passenger

'cause they had a lot of machinery

car manufacturing.

that they didn't

Oh, because they had given that up, yeah.

I see.

And they sold those to different
States?

factories

around the United

Harold:

They sold them to machinery

dealers and a lot of it went overseas.

IA:

18:

IA:

Oh, that's interesting. ~

I wonder if any of it went to Japan and Germany.

Yeah, right, got some good stuff.

Harold:

quite a bit of it.

18:

Quite a bit did?

Harold:

Yeah.

18:

IA:

That's interesting,

isn't it?

And they probably used it for their war effort.

Harold:

Yeah, shot it back at us.

18:

IA:

18:

Yes.

We haven't changed much, have we.

Oh, that's interesting.

While you were laid off that year of '39, was, you were laid off
because of things weren't selling, the Reo products
selling?

weren't

Harold:

The plant was mostly down.

18:

Was it?

•

•

•

• Eileen & Harold Janetzke

February
Page 5

26, 1992

Yeah.
December

Harold:

They had just finished,

I believe,

a big order of busses in

of '38, the coaches, for the City of Lansing.

IB:

IA:

IS:

IA:

IS:

Oh, the City of Lansing.

Oh, that's right, they did do the busses.

Bus contract.

Yeah.

Of course, they hadn't made cars since '36 so they were making
busses and trucks, were they?

Harold:

Oh, yes.

IS:

, 37,

, 8 and '9 •

Hat:ald:
-:

Yeah, they went into busses and trucks .•

IB:• Harold:

Eileen:

IA:

IS:

IA:

I wonder if any of those old Reo busses are still on the road?

I wouldn't

know.

We've seen some of the Reo trucks.

Yeah.

Oh, yes.

We've heard that, that there are some of them still around, yeah,
and you said you joined the union a little bit later.
sort of working up to that.

You were

Harold:

I can't remember.

Eileen:

It was after you came back from the War.

Harold:

Well, it was later on.

I was •••

IA:

Oh, it was after, in the '40s, late '40s.

Harold:

IA:

It was later on •••••••••••••.
when the union, when the officer's

engineering

union

department.
••••••••••••••

This was

Yeah, we've heard that from other people, too, that they had an
office worker's
That's pretty rare.

union there which I was very surprised

about •

Harold:

It was UAW.

•

Eileen & Harold Janetzke
February 26, 1992
Page 6

IA:

It was a UAW union.

Harold:

Yeah, it was a, •••••••••• they call. it, the office and technical
workers.

IA:

Workers,

and so you joined that?

Harold:

Um, hum.

18:

I imagine pretty much everybody

did, didn't they?

Harold:

Well, they did, yeah.

18:

Harold:

18:

Harold:

IA:

18:

It was to their benefit?

Things, were things better?

Except, except for the employees
confidential

salary list, the supervisory •••

that were on what they called a

What was that, confidential

salary list?

Well, you didn't, you didn't know, you knew what you were getting
So
in salary but you didn't know what anybody else was getting.
there might be two people there doing the same work, one of 'em
getting $100 a month and the other one getting
month, you know.

$200 and $300 a

Special deal.

Was that because they haci more skills or •••

Harold:

Not necessarily.

18:

Harold:

18:

IA:

I'm thinking
to this and wondering •••

somebody

in times, in future times will be listening

The old, the old saying is, the wheel that squeaks the loudest
gets the grease.

Aw, that's great.

Or maybe if they were friends of the person who made the decision,
too.

Harold:

That's true.

18:

And so those people that were confidential
union.

salary did not join the

Harold:

No,

.••••••••••••

•

•

•

•

Eileen & Harold Janetzke
February 26, 1992
Page 7

IB:

Because it wouldn't be to their advantage.

Harold:

Because they were considered

supervisory.

18:

IA:

IB:

Okay.

I see.

Alright.

Harold:

Supervisory

employees were not part of the union.

18:

IA:

Well, that's interesting.

Um, hum.

Harold:

But the relationship

between the people was still good.

•

IB:

IA:

IB:

IA:

IB:

That's interesting.

Regardless.

Isn't that interesting.

You'd think that •••

Yeah.

Because obviously those of you that weren't confidential
knew the other person was making more but still there was a good
feeling.
interesting.

No one held it against 'em.

I think that's so

salary

IA:

Harold:

IA:

During the '37 strike, you just stayed away or did you go to work?

I was, at that time, I was keeping time in the maintenance
department.

But, of course, the was nobody working that month.
out.

It wason

walk

Harold:

••••••••••••• The next day, I stayed home.

IA:

Harold:

You stayed home.

You had a little holiday.

And I stayed there until the strike was over and then I.went back
to the same job after the strike was over.

IA:

So you just stayed away and let it blow clear.

Harold:

Well ••••

•

Eileen & Harold Janetzke
February 26, 1992
Page 8

IA:

You didn't have much choice.

Harold:

I wasn't allowed there.

IA:

Right, that's right.

Okay.

Harold:

So •••

IA:

Harold:

IA:

Harold:

IA:

So you didn't have any contact with what was going on at the plant
or anything

during that time?

Oh, I knew, I knew what was going on by word of mouth.
in it or anything like that.
participate

I didn't

What kinds of things did you hear about that were going on?

The people actually were living right in the plant.
down.

They had mattresses

in there and just lived there.

It was a sit

Right, and no, they weren't afraid that there would be any troops
called in 'cause, of course, in Flint there was lots of violence
when the workers
afraid of that kind of thing happening at the Reo?

sat in on, at the Suick plant but they weren't

Harold:

No, no.

IS:

How did they receive food?

Did somebody bring in food?

Harold:

People would bring it, bring it to them.

IS:

They were allowed to come in with it.

Harold:

Their family members would bring.

IS:

Oh, family members were allowed to bring in food?

Harold:

Well, they would pass it through the windows •••

IA:

IS:

Pass it through the windows.

Oh, okay.
forgotten,

Okay.
how long a period did that strike •••

How long a period, off the top of my head I've

Harold:

And I can't remember how many months that strike went on.

IS:

IA:

IS:

Oh, it was •••

It was a month.

A month?

•

•

•

• Eileen & Harold Janetzke

February
Page 9

26, 1992

IA:

Yeah, it was one month.

18:

IA:

18:

Okay.

It was the month of March.

That's a long time to stay inside an old factory.

Eileen:

Was your father working

at that time?

Harold:

No, no •••••••••

Dad worked therefrom

1906 till 1930.

IA:

18:

Okay, 1906 till 1930.

What was his name?

Oh, think of the changes.

Harold:

Adolph.

IA:

Adolph.

Harold:• IA:

18:

We called him Shorty.

I don't think they called too many people Adolph after 1940.
wasn't a very popular name after that.

That

1906, he worked there •••

Eileen:

His sister, his sister worked there, too, I think.

IA:

Oh, is that right?

Your sister did, too?

Harold:

Yes, my sister worked there 1921 to I think 1936.

18:

Was she married

at that time?

Harold:

The year that I started.

Eileen:

No.

Harold:

No, she wasn't married

at that time.

18:

Single lady.

Did she •••

Eileen:

When she got married

she quit.

IA:• Harold:

IA:

What was her name?

What was your sister's name?

Matilda.

Matilda.

Eileen & Harold Janetzke
February
Page 10

26, 1992

Harold:

Tilly

•••••••••••

IA:

Tilly, okay.

So did your dad •••

Harold:

My dad was a production

worker.

IA:

He was a production •••

Harold:

Worked on the line.

IA:

Right, almost from the very beginning

'cause it •••

Harold:

Almost.

IA:

Yeah,
the beginning.

'cause it started in 1904 so he was there almost right from

Harold:

Yeah, a couple of years after it was started.

IB:

He must of worked on the Reo Runabouts.

Harold:

Oh, yes.

IA:

Did, was he born here in Lansing,

your dad?

Harold:

No, no.

He was born in a German community

in Poland.

IA:

A German community

in Poland.

Harold:

And he immigrated

in the late '80s.

IA:

Did he come straight here, to Lansing?

Harold:

I'm not sure whether he did or not.

He never knew •••

IA:

He probably

came through the east coast but •••

Harold:

my folks never talked too much about it.

Eileen:

Didn't they live in Northville

for a while?

Harold:

They lived in Northville
him.

'cause my dad's sister lived there before

IA:

Did he come to Lansing to work at the Reo?

Harold:

No, I think his first job, he was in control of the beer wagons •••

18:

That seems kind of in keeping, doesn't
background,

I always think of •••

it, with the German

•

•

•

• Eileen & Harold Janetzke

February 26, 1992
Page 11

Eileen:

••••••• how hemet

your mom, when she worked in a hotel.

Harold:

Yeah, that's why he met my mother.

IA:

IB:

IA:

IB:

Harold:

IA:

IB:

• Harold:

IB:

Oh, we had another story about a German immigrant who opened up a
hotel and a bar in Chicago.
I can't remember who that was now •••
.............

•••••••••••••••••
did that or father did that.

I can't remember now but somebody's

grandfather

And your mother was working in the hotel and your father came in
and sold her on a bill of good, huh?

My mother was doing housekeeping to repay her passage.

Oh, from Germany also?

Oh, they have to repay their passage?

Yeah, Germany, yeah, the old country and my dad met her when she,
she was doing housework to repay her •••

What would passage have cost, I wonder.

Harold:

I have no/idea.

IB:

And then they, they could get a contract or something
repay the loan or, oh, that's interesting.

and then

Harold:

'Cause certain people advanced payment for passage.

IB:

IA:

IB:

Harold:

IA:

They probably made a little bit on that.

Yeah, they sure did.

They sure did.

Oh, isn't that interesting.

But the real details on how they came to •••

To Lansing, you don't know.

Harold:

'cause they never talked about it.

IA:• Harold:

They never talked about it.
any. farming when they came here or he mostly worked labor?

Probably wasn't easy.

Did they do

Well, my dad did some, some work on the farm.

Eileen & Harold Janetzke
February
Page 12

26, 1992

IA:

At first, when he came.

Harold:

My uncle had a f.arm in Northville.

IA:

Oh, in Northville,
obviously
he was making a good enough living there.

And the work at the Reo
was good since he stayed for 24 years, right, or he felt

they had a farm, okay.

Harold:

Well, in 1930 the Depression

hit.

IA:

Oh, that's right.

Harold:

So that let him out.

IA:

That was when he stopped working there.

Harold:

Right.

IA:

'Cause of the Depression.

Harold:

It was layoff 'cause of the Depression.

IB:

What did he do then, go back to farming?

Harold:

No, he just was out of a job and got a few odd jobs.

IS:

Those are tough times.

Eileen:

Had a family of seven.

IA:

IB:

IA:

Oh, my.

A family of seven and he had seven children to worry about.

Did your mom work at a job outside the house?

Harold:

No.

IA:

No, she stayed home and took care of these kids.

Harold:

No, she was always a housewife.

IA:

Which is a job, too.
Reo?
off but •••

I mean, obviously

What did your dad think about working

at the

he wasn't real happy when they laid him

Harold:

No, but, I don't know what you mean by what did he think about
working there.

IA:

Did he think it was a good place to work?

•

•

•

•

Eileen & Harold Janetzke
February
Page 13

26, 1992

Harold:

there were times when he would walk all the way, you know

Well, it was a job, you know.
remember
where Sancroft Park is on Clark street, well, we lived in between
Grand River and Sheridan on Clark Street and if you're real
familiar with that area •••

Maybe he felt he had to do it.

I

IA:

I'm not real familiar.

Harold:

Gauses, there was a Gauses Bakery.

IA:

IS:

Do you know this, Shirley?

I remember Gauses Bakery.

Harold:

And we lived next door to that.

IS:

Harold:

IS:

•

Oh, really?
else.

It later became Roscamps

and, I can't remember what

There were times when my dad would walk from there over to the Reo
to work and he'd work overtime and then walk back home •

My dad, we lived in Holt.
from Holt.
times?

in
Did your father ever see R.E. Olds during the early

My dad did the same thing, walked

Did he ever mention R.E. Olds or Dick Scott or •••

Harold:

I don't know, I have no idea.

IS:

IA:

IS:

IA:

Okay, just curious.

'Cause it wasn't a big plant in those e~rly years.
couple hundred people, that's all.

It was a

In the early years, R.E. Olds was there more often, taking more of
an active part and I just thought

I'd ask.

The plant also, the company also when you were working
had almost from the beginning,
workers.
sports teams and benefits,

You know, they opened the clubhouse

all sorts of programs

societie.s •••

there, too,

for the
in 1917 and they had

Harold:

Oh, yes •••

IA:

Did you or your dad do that kind of •••

Harold:

They had a radio station •

IA:

WREO, that's right.

Harold:

WREOand

they made their own newsreels.

•\

•

•

Eileen & Harold Janetzke
February 26, 1992
Page 14

I8:

IA:

Oh, they did?

That's right and that's what's at the library.

Harold:

They were Reograms.

I8:

IA:

I8:

Reograms.

Reograms.

That's what they have at the library.

What sort of things,

like, like regular newscasts?

Harold:

Yeah, just like ••••••••••••

I8:

Events of the day.

Harold:

IA:

Right, and they showed those at the clubhouse,

right?

Harold:

Yes, they showed them at the clubhouse,

yeah.

I8:

IA:

Harold:

Ah, and.there
archives

at the •••••••••••••••••

are still some of those available to look at in the

So as a family you all took advantage of those kinds of things
that the company provided?

We went to movies at the clubhouse

Oh, yes.
matter of fact, when I started working there, they were still
issuing clubhouse

and so forth.

cards •••

As a

IA:

This was in '36?

Harold:

which entitled

the family to participate

in •••

I8:

That was like a pass.

Harold:

the clubhouse

doi~gs. ,

IA:

The whole family.

Harold:

Yeah.

I8:

And you come into any of the events by using that pass card?

Harold:

Yeah.

IA:

We've heard that also people who didn't, whose family didn't
necessarily

work at the Reo sometimes

snuck in, too, to see films. •

•

Eileen & Harold Janetzke
February 26, 1992
Page 15

Harold:

Oh, yes.

IS:

Eileen:

Especially

kids,

'cause I think Glen Green was telling

us about •••

Well, didn't they,
always come visit during the summer, their daughter
she'd take me as a quest.

'cause a neighbor of my sister's where I'd

would go and

IA:

Oh, is that right?

Eileen:

Yeah, so •••

IA:

You could take a quest.

Eileen:

I think they could take a guest •••

Harold:

On Fridays, Fridays after school hours, they had a matinee
children and they let any kids in.

for the

IS:

Oh, whether their fathers worked at Reo or not.

Harold:

Yeah, that's right.

IA:

Oh, that must have been a lively time, I bet, with all those kids.
Times, you know, I know that in the early years the times weren't,
but your
the times were tough, even when it wasn't in Depression,
dad was able to take care of seven kids pretty well on what he
could make at the Reo?

Harold:

Yeah.

IA:

I mean, you know, you didn't have a lot of frills but •••

Eileen:

Didn't have a car.

IA:

They didn't have a car.

Harold:

He never, never owned a car.

IA:

18:

IA:

Yeah, my grandfather

didn '<teither.

Is that right?

Yeah.

Harold:

Of course at that time, there was streetcars

and later on busses.

IA:

People didn't live out in the suburbs that much then either.

Harold:

No.

•

•

Eileen & Harold Janetzke
February 26, 1992
Page 16

IA:

18:

IA:

So, and there were no malls you had to drive to.

No malls.

That's when downtown

•••••••••••

Yeah, yeah, that's right.

Harold:

corner grocery stores that were really grocery

stores

IA:

7-11.

Harold:

7-11.

IA:

18:

Not chain stores, the locally owned people stores.

Where the grocer knew you and you'd give him your list and he'd
assemble your groceries.

Eileen:

That's right.

18:

Did you, mostly father and mother, did they rent their houses or
did they eventually

buy a house?

Harold:

No, they, my folks bought their house

18:

IA:

18:

In the .north end that you were talking about.
you could arrange loans to buy a home through Reo through
or finance department.
budget department

We've heard that

the

I don't remember.

Where they would help you get a loan.

Harold:

I don't remember

anything like that.

18:

IA:

Harold:

They wouldn't

loan you the money but they would help you get •••••

......................

There was still some owing on the mortgage
time my dad was laid off •••••••• and ••••••••••••
loan corporation •••

of the house at the
home owners

IA:

One of the New Deal programs?

Harold:

Yeah.

The government

had set up and then they •••

IA:

Helped him out.

•

•

•

•

Eileen & Harold Janetzke
February 26, 1992
Page 17

Harold:

Helped him out.

IA:

IB:

Good.

lose their home.

So they didn't
'40, your wife said something
you back to work and then you went into the service during the War
or •••

When you went back to work in
Were

about going in the service.

Harold:

Ah, yes, I was, entered the Army through the Draft.

IB:

You were invited by the Draft.

Harold:

I was invited,

yeah, by Uncle Sam.

Eileen:

IB:

What year did you go into the Army?

Harold:

In '44.

IB:• IA:

Harold:

In '44.

Oh, late, very late.

Yeah, it was late.

IB:

And then you had to stay on with •••

Harold:

Until

'46.

IB:

Till '46.

They sent you to Germany, did they maybe?

Harold:

Pardon?

IB:

Did you go to Germany,

perhaps?

Harold:

No, I was assigned
••••••• General Hospital,

to the medical corp and I spent my time at

just outside of Chicago.

IB:

Oh.

Eileen:

That's as far as he got.

·IA:

IB:

Not too bad.

Oh, that's alright.

Eileen:

That was fine.

He could come home at least once a month.

•

Eileen & Harold Janetzke
February 26, 1992
Page 18

IA:

18:

IA:

18:

Harold:

IA:

Yeah, really.

Oh, that's wonderful.

We have a volunteer

here who went in about the time you

Great.
did from the Reo and was sent to Germany and he was there with the
troops and he was telling us, you know, just, there was
occupation
nothing
left, just rubble and it was so hard for him to cope with,
seeing hungary children
Army fed them as much as they could.
to stay here.

and there just wasn't any food and the

So I think it's nice you got

Here, safer.

Then you came back in '46 and your job was waiting

for you?

Yes, I went back to work at the Reo in product design drafting
room.

After you'd had the additional
And how long did you stay there after'46?

training

Till?

at M5U that helped out.

Harold:

Until Mr. Cappart ran it into the ground.

IA:

18:

IA:

Oh, boy, till '74, '75.

Oh, you were there right till the end.

All the way to the end.

Harold:

Till '75, right to the end.

IA:

My goodness.

Did you stay at the same type of position.

Harold:

I stayed in the •••

IA:

Engineering?

Harold:

engineering.

IA:

Okay, wow.
couple of years in the Army, you've been there since the mid-'30s
basically.

So except for a couple of years off, laid off and a

Harold:

Right.

18:

Harold:

Did you have an indication that Mr., that the place was going to
go bankrupt?

Did you all sort of feel like it was going •••

Ah, the day after it was announced
place from the White Motor Company, the vendor's
representatives
coming in and talking to us said, we'll give you about one year

that Mr. Cappart was buying the

•

•

•

•

Eileen & Harold Janetzke
February 26, 1992
Page 19

because they knew what his track record was for all these other
companies he had gobbled up around the country.

IA:

And they were afraid.

Harold:

IB:

They were mobile home companies that he had purchased
and about a year he'd get ahold of 'em, they'd be bankrupt.

and bought

A wheeler dealer.
his henchman,

a Mildred Johnson.

I've heard a little bit about his secretary or

Harold:

Mildred Johnson.

I never became acquainted with her.

IA:

IB:

IA:

IB:

•

That's probably good for you.

From what ,I've heard, yes.

From what we've heard, yeah.

I've seen some copies of letters, too,

Yeah, she did the firing.
that were, where the workers were promised that thing would stay
would
the same and everyone would keep their jobs and production
go up, up, up and apparently all the while, that was just
We've been told
rhetoric.
how they let people out in the supervisory
so that no one
would then, new people were coming in, wouldn't have any idea what
was going on.

he never really meant that.

Apparently

capacity

IA:

Now you stayed, obviously you stayed •••

Harold:

There are a lot of, I understand a lot of the firing there was
done due to gossip, too.

IB:

Due to gossip?

Harold:

Gossip to Mrs. Johnson.

She absorbed the gossip and bingo.

IA:

IB:

Harold:

IA:

Whoever was badmouthing

her got it?

Or badmouthing

Cappart.

No, no.
her to fire them.

I mean, just gossip about certain people would impress

She'd make a judgement about who was good and, oh, I see, based on
the gossip •

Harold:

Yeah.

•

Eileen & Harold Janetzke
February 26, 1992
Page 20

IB:

Basis on what she heard.
doing a good job or was doing this or that, she'd fire him, just
by, without investigating.

If she heard that Mr. Jones was not

Harold:

But the details were

no idea.

IB:

Somebody told us and I don't know if it was Louie Garcia, someone
told us that she promised Mr. Cappart that she would cut his, his
expenses by thousands of dollars by the end of the first year that
they were there and apparently that's one of the ways she did it,
by cutting out a lot of the people who were making the higher
wages.

Harold:

That could be.

IA:

Since I'm an historian, you know, over at State, I'm very
interested in what the changes were at Reo from the times that
you, around the time that you started there •••

Harold:

The time I started •••

IA:

Yeah.

Harold:

I can say this, I started working for the Reo Motor Car Company
which was the original name and I worked for every company name •••

IA:

The Diamond Reo and Diamond •••

Eileen:

Reo Motors Incorporated.

IA:

And White •••

Harold:

Eileen:

IA:

Harold:

It was Reo Motors Incorporated
................

••••••••••••••

Yeah, Reo Motors Incorporated.

And at one time, various other outfits •••••• to Reo ••••••
••••••• Printing was in there.

IA:

Right, and then White.

Harold:

And White •••

IA:

Motors.

Harold:

White Motors ••••••••• and the name was changed
times while White Motors ••••••

••• ~. a number of

•

•

•

•

Eileen & Harold Janetzke
February
Page 21

26, 1992

IA:

So it went through a lot of changes in terms of the structure'.

Harold:

It was called the Reo Division
after the old Diamond
Division

and it was called the Lansing
•••••• up here.

IA:

Um, hum, from Ohio.

Wasn't it Ohio?

Harold:

•••••••••• Chicago.

IA:

Chicago.

Harold:

Chicago.

IA:

Okay.

Harold:

And that was •••

•

IA:

Harold:

IB:

Harold:

From the way that you're talking about it, you don't sound like
you were real happy about all those changes.
better if it'd just stayed the Reo Motor Car Company.

It would have been

The move of Diamond, Diamond •.••.•••, the was no planning
They just backed a bunch of trucks up to the docks in
with it.
Chicago and loaded the material
it up and dumped
it on our docks and said, you're going to build these trucks on
your line.

on 'em, brought

connected

Oh.

Did that mean a lot of adapting machinery

to do that?

And ah, the parts list which are very important
cars, of course, were going through a change and Diamond
they were at the mid-point
parts lists and •••

of
••••• and
using some old parts lists and some new

in the assembly

IA:

That was a little confusing.

Harold:

••••••••••••

headache.

IB:

Was that because the parts that you needed to put all these things
that were dumped on your dock, the parts you had wouldn't
these things and or?

fit on

Harold:

Well, just, we had to know which parts went on what truck.

IB:

I see.

That must of been kind of a nightmare

time for everybody.

Harold:

It was a nightmare •

IB:

So that was one of the big changes you saw.

•

Eileen & Harold Janetzke
February 26, 1992
Page 22

Harold:

Right.

.IA:

Harold:

IA:

And like I said, you don't sound real happy about it.
good thing.

It wasn't

a

No, I can't, can't say that I was happy.

Okay, and part of it was because it wasn't handled very well but
also it wasn't a local controlled
outside.

thing anymore.

It was from

Harold:

No, that's right.

That's right.

IS:

Were there a lot of supervisor

changes when they came in and •••

Harold:

Oh, yes, yes.

IS:

Harold:

IA:

IS:

A lot of the people you were used to working with were no longer
there?

Well, a lot of the Diamond
Reo people and they were •••

•••• supervisors

got the jobs from the

Oh, they were replaced then, yeah, the Reo people.
been hard, too.

That must of

It must of made it difficult
would have been with the people you were working with befor~.

for the rest of you.

Your loyalties

Harold:

That was a hard time.

IA:

Harold:

IA:

Harold:

How about the plant itself and the kind of people that worked
there.
Did you see any big changes in that respect,
in 1936 it was still, a lot of old kinds of machinery.

too, 'cause

Well, in '36, the trucks were built on the corner of Mt. Hope and
Washington
through years after it quit passenger
the main plant.

That was the truck plant and, of course,

cars, it brought

it over to

Avenue.

Ah, huh, because that became the main thing that they did, yeah.

They still used quite a few of the buildings.
truck plant.

We were at the

IS:

Is that where the motor •••

Harold:

No, the motor, the motor plant was right along Cedar street and
Saker.

•

•

•

•

•

•

Eileen & Harold Janetzke
February
Page 23

26, 1992

IB:

Baker and Cedar.

Harold:

Baker and Cedar.

18:

Okay.

Harold:

•••••••• plant

IA:

Now, in the '30s, of course, things were slowed down because of
so there weren't very many workers
the Depression
'40s, things really picked up a lot.

there but in the

Harold:

In the '40s, yes.

IA:

'Cause of the War.

Harold:

Yeah, because of the War.

IA:

So the plants got real busy and employed
there.

a lot more workers

in

Harold:

Right.

IA:

Were they same kind of workers that were employed
kind of people?

before, the same

Harold:

Oh, yes, yeah, the same people •••

IA:

Yeah, they pulled a lot of 'em back in.

Harold:

Got a lot of new ones, a lot of new people came in and, of course,
we were building military

trucks.

IA:

Right, right.

Harold:

And also one of the other things was Navy bomb fuses.

IA:

IB:

Yeah, somebody just told me about that yesterday,
division.

about the Navy

•••••••••••••••••••••••••••
was that Washington

and Baker?

The Navy division,

was that over on,

Harold:

It was on Washington,

just south of the engineering

building.

18:

And they were employed
they make something

in making bomb fuses for the Navy.

Did

else, too, in that department ..for the Navy?

Harold;

No, ·that's, that was •••

Eileen & Harold Janetzke
February 26, 1992
Page 24

IA:

IB:

That was it?

That was the primary thing.

Harold:

................

18:

Oh, they did?

made various components

for other vehicles,

too.

Harold:

. . . . . . . . . . . .. plant.

IA:

Somebody told me, who worked in there •••

Harold:

Some tank parts •••

IB:

Tank parts.

Harold:

IA:

IB:

and ah, engineering,
shouldn't
forget what it's called now.

they were also working on a, maybe I

even mention this but it was a personnel

carrier.

I

Was it classified?

Is that why you're worried

about it?

Is that the Beaver?

Harold:

Classified

IA:

IB:

Classified

stuff.

Was that the Beaver?

Harold:

No, no.

IA:

That wasn't the Beaver.

Harold:

No, the Eager Beaver was, was a two and a half ton truck.
was developed

during the Korean War.

That

IB:

IA:

IB:

Oh, that's right.

Oh, that's right.

Well, the other one you were just speaking about, that was
developed
of personnel

during the Second World War and it was a different

Was it kind of a secret thing?

carrier?

type

Harold:

No, the one I'm thinking
the Reo.

of never really got into production

at

IA:

Oh.

e

e·

e

•

•

•

Eileen & Harold Janetzke
February 26, 1992
Page 25

Harold:

But ah, some of the sales reps told us that a similar vehicle
being built down i~ Detroit.

was

IB:

Oh, at the Ford Plant maybe.

Harold:

I don't know what plant it was.

IA:

Now, after the War was over, did the plant still stay as vigor,
you know, as lively with as many people or was there some
demobilization

because of the switch to peace time?

Harold:

I really couldn't

say how many •••

IA:

How many there were.

Okay, we know that .••

Harold:

We switched back to peacetime

production.

IA:

Production,
for Korea and Vietnam we've heard, too.

yeah, although there were still government

contracts

Harold:

Well, Korea and Vietnam,

Korea came along in 1950 •

IA:

Right, pretty quickly.

Harold:

50 that was ••••

IB:

Harold:

And did the Reo have, the Reo have military
trucks and •••

contracts

for probably

Ah, yes, they built a lot of the Eager Beavers for the government
for various uses.

IA:

Now, I'm gonna try to get •••

Harold:

·

, too.

IA:

IB:

IA:

I'm gonna try to get Eileen into this a little bit, too.
alright?
bad.

sitting and nodding her head and I feel so

5he'sjust

Is that

Yes, absolutely.

But I think a good way to do that is, you mentioned
it was kind of a family place, you know, that Reo was a family
oriented

Did you just mean the clubhouse

place.

or •••

earlier that

Eileen:

No, no ••••

IA:

were there other things, too?

Eileen & Harold Janetzke
February
Page 26

26, 1992

Eileen:

The people, the workers, there were so many generations,
know •••

you

IA:

Like his father and, yeah.

Eileen:

and families that worked, yeah, yes, well, I guess, Ernie worked
there, too, didn't he?

Harold;

Yeah.

Eileen:

Brother •••

Harold:

My two older brothers worked there.

IA:

Oh, two older, your two older brothers,

too?

Harold:

Um, hum.

Eileen:

Isn't that where Ernie met Peg, too?

Harold:

Yeah.

Eileen:

He met his wife there.

That's how we met.

IB:

I was just going to ask if you two met at the Reo.

Eileen:

Yeah.

IB:

Eileen:

Did you work, what kind of a job were you doing?

Well, I was secretary to Mr. McKim.

He was the secretary

of Reo.

IB:

Oh, and you were his secretary?

Eileen:

And I started there in January,

1940.

IA:

1940.

Eileen:

He would call in and find, I'd have to look up a Dunn-Bradstreet,
a certain company,
when, that first day, then he came in and it's the first time I
met him, 'cause I had been talking to him.
company before and I'd been talking to him on the phone and he
didn't know it because he'd call and ••••••• send •••••••• over.

see what their status was and so forth and

I worked

at a trucking

IB:

What trucking

company did you work for?

Eileen:

Well, Michigan

Indiana Norwalk.

IB:

And they produced trucks, did they or •••

•

•

•

•

Eileen & Harold Janetzke
February ~6, 1992
Page 27

Eileen:

No, no, they ••••

18:

Oh, they shipped things in their trucks.

Eileen:

Yeah, he was shipping the machinery.

IA:

18:

Eileen:

Oh, I see.

And that's how, why he called you later?

Yeah, um, hum, but I didn't know that until several months
but I worked
for Frank and for, until I quit, which wasn't
but it was in August of '43.

later
long

IA:

Oh, so you were just there for a few years?

Eileen:

I stayed until I was pregnant

Yeah.
couldn't
just another month.
think it looked very good.

get to the typewriter

for our first child, until I
wait just another month,
I was right in the front office and I didn't

anymore.

IA:

But they obviously

didn't mind it.

Eileen:

No.

IA:

Which is pretty enlightened

for those days.

Eileen:

'cause he kept saying, if you need to go up stairs to the
person

Yeah,
lounge, just go up any time you want.
to work for.

He was a wonderful

18:

Mr. McKim was?

Eileen:

Yeah.

IA:

That's wonderful.

Eileen:

Yeah, he was, Frank was wonderful.

IA:

Eileen:

I know 'cause my mother was working as a secretary
time, too, and she was, this was in the '50s I guess, when she got
pregnant
was afraid she'd get fired.

with me, she tried to hide it for such a long time.

around that

She

Well, now they didn't, well, I don't know, were there any others
at about the same time.
were, you know, you didn't know but •••

They were, if they

I don't think so.

Harold:

Well, there was a number of ••••••••

•

•

Eileen & Harold Janetzke
February
Page 28

26, 1992

Eileen:

You didn't work, usually •••

Harold:

•••••••• got married the same time we •••

Eileen:

Yeah, but there were about six couple of us got married
the same time.

One Saturday we had weddings •••

at about

IB:

IA:

IB:

IA:

Oh, didn't someone tell us that one Sat, there were like .six
weddings •••

In a row.

Saturday,

Saturday,

Saturday.

And did you get married at the, did you get married
clubhouse?

there at the

Eileen:

No, no.

IA:

Did you have any ••••••••

Eileen:

No, no, we didn't have, we had it right at the church.

IA:

At a church.

Eileen:

We got married at Bethlehem

Lutheran.

IA:

IA:

Eileen:

Oh, okay.

Now, are you f.rom the Lansing

area?

No, you're not?

I graduated,
I went to Eastern
I came from over near Saginaw.

and graduated

from high school but

IA:

Okay.

Eileen:

Saginaw county.

IA:

Okay, but you went to Eastern High School?

Eileen:

Ah, huh.

IB:

What year did you graduate,

'39?

Eileen:

January,

'39.

IB:

That's when we used to have January,

June graduations.

Eileen:

Yeah, um, hum.

•

•

•

• Eileen & Harold Janetzke

February 26, 1992
Page 29

IA:

You did your secretarial

course at the high school?

Eileen:

Yeah.

IA:

Or did you go to business,

business

college •••

Eileen:

No,no,

no.

IA:

You got everything

you needed?

Eileen:

Yeah, um, hum.

IA:

And were your f~ily

from farming backgrounds

or •••

Eileen:

Yes.

IA:

They were?

Eileen:

My folks lived on a farm.

IA:• Eileen:

IA:

Eileen:

Did they come to Lansing

for other types of work or •••

No, no, no, my sister was living here.

Oh, so you went here to go to the high school?

Yeah, um, hum.
farm.

So I just came to Lansing.

They stayed on the

IA:

And then you were a single career woman in Lansing,right·for
year?

a

Eileen:

Yes.

IA:

Until you met him.

Eileen:

Well, for two, three years.

IA:

Two years, three years?

Eileen:

We were married

in '42.

IA:

I8:

Eileen:•

Oh, okay.

How did you happen to go to the Reo f~om the trucking

company?

Well, I, they, my hours at the trucking
me come in in the morning
send the trucks out at night and I, it was over on Pennsylvania
Avenue and I had an apartment

and then go home and come back when,to

over on the corner of, at that time,

they were having

company,

Eileen & Harold Janetzke
February 26, 1992
Page 30

I decided

I'd go to

I'll call you.

I'll, hear of something

He says, well,. as soon

and he would like to have an interview.

Office so I went there and when I went in, they

st. Joe and Grand and that was quite a long, at night, to go home
so while I had the time during the daytime,
the Employment
gave, a man •••••••• they had me talk to.
as I find something,
he called me the next day and he said that the secretary
Reo needed a secretary
I called him and he said, he had just hired somebody.
a Wednesday,
out of the trucking
again.
So the next, the next week, well, that Saturday
Mr. McKim called and he said that the girl he had hired had to
leave and take care of her mother and would I, could I come to his
house and he would interview me and he wanted to know if I knew
where Grand was and I said, yes, and he says, well, I live between
Grand, or between st. Joe and Hillsdale,
and I said, well, I live
on the corner.
he said, can you start to work Monday.

and so
So I went to work Monday.

So I went down and I met his wife, Alice,

company so I thought, well, I'll go back

I guess, and I felt real bad because

So
This was on

I wanted to get

morning,

of the

Well,

IB:

Oh, wasn't that wonderful.

Eileen:

So I said, I guess it was what it was suppose to be.

IA:

IB:

That's right.

What kind of a salary, were you salaried?

Eileen:

Oh, yes, I was salary.

IB:

And did you, what kind of money did you make in 1940?

Eileen:

I think I made $120 a month.

IA:

IB:

IA:

That's not bad.

Not for those days.

No.

Eileen:

No, and I made a •••••••••••••

Harold:

I think I was making about $135.

Eileen:

It was much more than what I was making at the trucking

company.

IB:

And regular hours.

Eileen:

Yeah.

•

•

•

•

•

•

Eileen & Harold Janetzke
February 26, 1992
Page 31

IB:

Now, you must of seen a lot of interesting
of the company?
secretary

of the secretary

things being the

Eileen:

Yeah, it was •••

IB:

Eileen:

IA:

IB:

Eileen:

You probably were in on a lot of things that were going around?

No, not too much.
usually

in on the meetings

No, usually the president's

secretary
and so forth more than I was.

was

I see.

I guess I was thinking
responsible

for and a lot of information

flowing •••

of the correspondence

that you would be

When I first started, he was assistant
was he or just assistant

secretary,

Frank?

secretary

and treasurer,

Harold;

I think he was treasurer

for a while, too.

Eileen:

Yeah, an assistant

and then he •••

Harold:

Eileen:

'Cause he was involved with those, some of those, like the stock.

to do with that except send him the letters that he

'course he had the, 'cause •••••• worked in the office

Yeah,
she'd, same office and she took care of the stock and I didn't
have anything
would want sent but, and then I also did the orders and so forth
for export for Tony •••Rose was there and then I'd have to take,
go through,
there, it was so scary going through that dark plant and you
didn't know where you were stepping because it was .wooden, bricks
were, some would be out •••

go out in the plant and the first time I went out

and

IB:

Oh, the floor •••

Eileen:

and you had to be so careful.

IA:

Yeah, we've heard that that floor was a little old and a fire
trap.

Eileen:

And oily.

IB:

And it was probably

so noisy.

Eileen:

Well, not the, the part where I went through was empty.
was there and then I had those winding stairways to go up.
to go over the Marshall

Graham's office.

Nobody

I had

IB:

And who, Marshall

Graham, what did he do?

Eileen & Harold Janetzke
February
Page 32

26, 1992

Eileen:

What was Marshall's

title, Marshall Graham?

Harold:

He was the traffic manager.

Eileen:

Yeah, and I have to take orders and so forth over there.

IB:

Eileen:

So you'd have to walk through that long, dark, spooky building
up those spiral stairs.

and

When I first went there though I didn't have to because

Yeah.
they had the, oh those things that you put in, what do you call
them?

Harold:

Neumatic

tubes.

IA:

IB:

Eileen:

Oh, the tubes, sure.

Oh, to send your messages that way.

••••••••••••••••
when I first went there, we were on Washington
they changed the offices over on Baker Street.

Well, then when they did away with that, but then

Avenue and then

IB:

Oh, so your office was then on Baker.

Eileen:

IB:

And so then before I left they changed it back on Washington
so we never knew where we were gonna be.

again

Is that right?
with you?

Was there, did you have a large staff that worked

Eileen:

No.

IB:

I mean, were there other secretaries

that you were •••

Eileen:

No, I was just his only secretary.

IB:

You didn't have a sec, someone working under you?

Eileen:

No.

IA:

IB:

IA:

Somebody
that?

else we interviewed

who was a secretary,

now who was

I was just trying to think of that.

Oh, it was Doris Dow.

Eileen:

Oh, Doris, yeah.

•

•

•

• Eileen & Harold Janetzke

February 26, 1992
Page 33

IB:

Oh, sure.

IA:

She said they didn't have •••

Harold:

She worked in engineering.

IA:

Right.
secretaries

worked for bosses.

She said they didn't have typing pools, that individual

Eileen:

No, no.

IA:

And that's the way it was at the Reo.

They didn't have a big •.•

Eileen:

No, no •••

IA:

pool or anything

like they have nowadays

in companies.

Eileen:

No, we, I was just his and •••

IB:

• Eileen:

Harold:

Did either one of you come in contact with Hilda Smith who worked
in personnel?

Oh, you bet.

Ohi

yes.

IB:

What do you remember about Hilda>

Eileen:

Oh, she was just the sweetest person, I think, that I've ever met.

IB:

Is that right?

Eileen:

Up until about the last year, we had birthday
from her.
worked at the Reo that she knew.

She just, she sent birthday

cards to everybody

cards every year
that

IB:

Up until the last year, before the place closed you mean?

Eileen:

No, just about a year ago now.

IB:

IA:

IB:• Eileen:

IB:

Oh, a year ago she was still sending you cards?
privilege

of going out and seeing her •••

Well, we had the

Yeah, we went to see her.

at Tender,

she's at Tender •••

Is her mind still strong?

Yes, I thought

it was.

Eileen & Harold Janetzke
February
Page 34

26, 1992

IA:

18:

It is.
on in there but you can tell she understands.

It is.

She doesn't say as much as, you know, what's going

You can see her struggling

to re, and she'll come up with it.

Eileen:

I know the last time she was at one of the Reo, I think it was
over to the Coral Gables •••

IA:

Oh, in the summer.

Eileen:

IA:

18:

I hadn't seen her and she was in a wheelchair
I says, Hilda, and she said, oh, Eileen.
know, her memory, I thought was, for her age •••

and I went over and

I mean, it's just, you

For all those years and all the people that she knew, that's
amazing.

In her room at Tender Care West there's a big bulletin
where she can see it from her bed and it's just loaded with cards
and •••

board right

Eileen:

I believe it.

18:

and things.

She never had any children,

did she?

Eileen:

I don't think she ever did.

Harold:

No.

18:

IA:

We were just talking about this yesterday
from a large family and helped her mother with all the other
children.

that she comes, came

She worked in personnel,

is that right?

Harold:

Yes.

IA:

So she interviewed

people who were coming in?

Eileen:

Yeah, um, hum.

IA:

So just about everybody
So, in 1943 •••

ran into her at some point along the way.

Eileen:

I quit.

IA:

when you had your baby, that was it?

Eileen:

Yeah.

•

•

•

•

Eileen & Harold Janetzke
February 26, 1992
Page 35

IA:

And then you stayed home?

Eileen:

I said I'd never work for anybody else because nobody would be
like Frank 'cause he was just such a wonderful person.

IA:

Oh, yeah.

Eileen:

Harold:

IB:

And his wife was, too.
She was very sweet.
until he was made secretary and she quit because she didn't feel,
'cause I guess he had charge of hiring and she didn't feel she
should be working for her husband so she quit and I think that's
when Ardith went in, isn't it?
Alice?

Did Ardith go in right after

She was the nurse and

Oh, Alice McKim was the head of the first aid then before Ardith
Pappon?

•

Eileen:

Um, hum.

IB:

IA:

IB:

Oh, that's interesting.

Yeah, we haven't heard that before.

What were your offices like?
latest typewriters and

Did you have the latest equipment,

Eileen:

No, not really.

They weren't any, you know •••

Harold:

Just ordinary typewriters ••••••••

Eileen:

Yeah, just ordinary and it was just a, at first Frank and Laurena
and I were all in one big room when I first went there to work, in
one big office and then when we went over on Baker Street just
Frank and I were in the room and my desk was right next to his.

IA:

Oh, is that right?

Eileen:

IA:

Eileen:

•

Then when we went back again, then ah,well,
office and Laurena had an office for the stocks and then Frank had
an office •••••••••••

then, well,.the time we got married

I had a.separate

it when

You said before we got started officially with the tape that you,
your kids used to go to the clubhouse, too, when they we~e young •

Yeah, when we had, they had Christmas parties and the families
were invited and they always had Christmas gifts for the kids and
up until, what were they, when they were teens then they gave 'em

Eileen & Harold Janetzke
February
Page 36

26, 1992

money instead of a toy or a gift or somethin'
our youngest
and they gave him a camera and he was so pleased but •••

son was tickled pink.

He'd been teasing

and I know one year

for a camera

IA:

How'd they find out?

How did they •••

Eileen:

I don't know.

It's just the gifts that they could give 'em.

IA:

IS:

Eileen:

Wow.

He just couldn't ••••••••••••••••••••••

And they'd have a wonderful
santy Claus and everything.

meal and everything,
It was really •••

you know, and

IA:

This was for the children of all the employees?

Eileen:

All the employees.

IA:

No matter where they worked in the plant.

Eileen:

Yeah, that's right.

Harold:

Right.

Eileen:

And then they had ladies' night for the men's club that they had
and I •••

Harold:

steering Gear •••

IA:

Steering Gear, oh, you were in the Steering Gear, too?

Harold;

Yes.

Eileen:

And I know one year where they had Bud Guest and he was such a
wonderful
in Florida, the lady had plaques
with Sud Guest •••

speaker and I guess what made me think of it is we were

she had made and she had forms

IA:

Now, I don't know who Sud Guest is.

Eileen:

He was a •••

IS:

Poet?

Eileen:

Poet from Detroit.

IS:

Yes, he was on WJR in Detroit and he's, a lot of his books in the
library.

He's a humorous poet.

•

•

•

•

Eileen & Harold Janetzke
February
Page 37

26, 1992

Harold:

Bud, Bud Guest, Bud Guest was Ed Guest's

SOIl.

IB:

Yes, that's right.

Eileen:

Edgar Guest was the one that came and I know he gave us all a book
of poems and autographed
wonderful

the book that night but they had

dinner parties and speakers

and everything

that was •••

IA:

Ah, huh, that's like things for •••

Eileen:

IA:

Yeah, then you got acquainted.
fellowship

of everybody

I mean, it was like, you know, the

that worked there and, of course •••

Did a lot of your friends come from that, those groups of people,
too?

Eileen:

Well, yes, we had some close friends that •••

IA:

From the Reo?

Eileen:

Yeah •

IA:

IB:

People you worked with or met through those functions.

I guess I'd like to ask both of you this question.
of the major problems that you recall and do you recall how they
were solved, some, maybe major problem with production
or maybe,
can you remember any particular
problems would just be the change overs from, as you were taken
over by new companies

I suppose so of the

all the time.

thing?

What were some

Harold:

Yes, and that was a problem.
us, too, much until ••••••••• till they moved
the biggest problem right there.

Well, it didn't,

it didn't affect
•••••••••• that was

IB:

'Cause there'd been no communication
just something,

taken over •••

ahead of time and you were

Harold:

No advance, no advance planning.

IB:

When there was going to be these big changes,
you together
introduce

in the auditorium

the new people and this is what we're.going

at the clubhouse,

they never called
saying, or to

to be doing?

Harold;

No, no.

IA:

It just all of a sudden happened?

Harold:

Just announce

it •••

•

•

Eileen & Harold Janetzke
February 26, 1992
Page 38

Eileen:

I never knew what he was going to say when he came home at night,
was going to be •••

IB:

Is that right?

Eileen:

Yeah, it was really a •••

IB:

I saw, Mr. Rankin and Doris Dow have given us different
memorabilia
think, maybe it was Doris, but there were pictures
with some of the new ,people as you were taken over each time but
that was, must be that it was just for upper level management.

to look at and I don't recall which one of 'em, I
of meetings

Eileen:

Probably.

Harold:

That's right.

They were the only ones that knew about it and got to meet the new
people and •••

IB:

Harold:

IA:

Right.

Harold:

•••••• upper management.

IB:

And then, then all of a sudden, here they were and you all were
kind of in shock for a while till things settled down again.
I was gonna ask, how were plant communications
sound like plant communications
the letter would come down from the top and maybe sometime
see it somewhere

were handled too well.

in some meeting or?

handled.

Doesn't
I suppose

you'd

So,

Harold;

Well, there were letters passed around every once in a while,
major announcements.

IA:

Like memos from the head office?

Harold:

Yeah, the head office.

IB:

IA:

18:

IA:

What do you remember,
thinking

about safety and •••

too, about the working conditions?

I'm

We're very interested

in that.

Equipment
remember

that you worked with, how safe was it?

Did you, do you

any real problems with that?

Or did you hear about accidents

or things?

•

•

•

• Eileen & Harold Janetzke

February 26, 1992
Page 39

Harold:

IA:

You weren't involved in that kind of stuff?

Harold:

I did happen to be on •••••••• one thing that shocked me, I did
happen to be out on the repair floor and one of the workers
working on the truck •••••••••• was trying to solve something on,
he had a heart attack.

That was a shock to me.

IB:

You would be called out sometimes on the floor if there was a
problem with a vehicle?

Harold:

Occasionally
couldn't get the truck put together.

I'd have to go out on the floor and find out why they

IA:

Check it against the plans, the prints to see what was going on?

Harold:

Against the part drawings and stuff.

IA:

• IB:

Harold:

Parts drawing.

Oh, parts drawings, yes.
the factory used were, where were those bought from, local Lansing
area factories do you think or shops?

And I suppose a lot of the parts that

Some of the raw material was forgings, forgings were bought,
different

forging plants here in town.

IB:

Atlas or •••

Harold:

There was a machine at Reo.

IB:

IA:

Oh, I see.

They were, oh, at Reo itself?
from other states or •••

But some things were imported in

Harold:

Yeah.

IA:

Somebody else said, not other countries.

Eileen:

No, I don't think so.

IA:

No, mostly it was USA stuff.

No, it was USA stuff •

Well, those were the good old days.

Harold:

• IB:

Eileen & Harold Janetzke
February 26, 1992
Page 40

IA:

Everything was made right here.

That's right.
couple of more things, still, to ask.
things, it reminds us of other things that we're interested. in.
First thing is about the technical and clerical office staff
union.
member of it, may have been Doris, I can't remember.

Now, I can't remember who we talked to who was also a

Sometimes when you say

Um, I have a

Harold:

Doris •••

IB:

IA:

I think it might have been.
talked to.

She's the only other woman we've

She couldn't remember if there was any problems when contracts had
to be renewed or negotiations about terms of employment.

Harold:

Such as strikes or something?

IA:

Yeah.

Now she said there were no strikes.

Harold:

There were no strikes.

IA:

Right, so what I'm asking is if there was any times when contracts
would expire and there was difficulties between the company and
the union about what the terms of employment would be 'cause
obviously you resolved them before there was a strike.

Harold:

They apparently were negotiated.

IA:

Okay, but everything always went very smoothly.

Harold:

Satisfactorily,

seemed to.

IA:

Okay, alright.

That's also very unusual.

Harold:

I can't remember when I did go into the union because it was,
well, I was in the engineering department.

Eileen:

It was after you came back from the War.

Harold:

Oh, sure •••••••••••••••

IB:

'46 or '47 or something?

Harold:

No, no, no.

IA:

IB:

After that even?

Even after that?

Harold:

Much later than that.

It was in,

•

•

•

•

•

•

Eileen & Harold Janetzke
February 26, 1992
Page 41

Eileen:

Must of been in the '60s.

Harold:

'60s.

The '60s ••••••••••
or you just were a member in it?

Did you ever go to a meeting

about the union

IA:

Harold:

IA:

Were there any meetings?

Harold:

They used to have meetings

•••••••••••••••••

meetings.

IA:

You went to some of those?

Harold:

Yeah.

IA:

It was mostly, mostly a lot of women, right, in those meetings?

Harold:

Quite a few, quite a few.

IA:

Quite a few.

Who was the leadership

in that union?

Harold':

Well, there were several and I can't remember

their names now.

IA:

Eileen:

Harold:

Eileen:

Okay, alright.

I could probably

look it up.

Didn't

••••••• have something

to do with that?

..........................
No, ........' ., Leo ••••••••••

IS:

who was that?

Eileen:

Leo Sardow.

IS:

Leo Sardow?

Eileen:

IA:

Harold:

Yeah, I don't know what made me think of ••••••••••
him.

talking

about

I just find it so interesting
staff, too.

That's very interesting

that the UAWorganized
to me.

the office

There was one thing, in my case, I got a substantial
the union came in •

raise when

IA:

Um, hum, so it was good for you?

Eileen & Harold Janetzke
February
Page 42

26, 1992

Harold:

It was good for me.

IA:

And what about benefits
funds and things like that?

and so forth, like health care and pension

Harold:

Those, those were already in effect.

IA:

They were, through the company?

Harold:

Yes.

IA:

Harold:

18:

IA:

Okay.

Did they transfer over to the union when the union came?

When I was, early employed,
plants in the United States that got into the Blue Cross.

we would, the Reo was one of the first

Oh, it was, one of the first.

Is that in the '50s, that that •••

Harold:

Aw, it'd be earlier than that.

IA:

Even earlier.

Harold:

About the time I started, maybe way back in the '30s.

IA:

18:

IA:

Oh, my, okay.

Oh, I didn't know that.

Yeah, I didn't know that either.

Harold:

We, we contributed

a certain amount to the premium •••

18:

IA:

Out of your paycheck.

For the health care?

Harold:

For the health care.

IA:

IB:

Great.

And then they matched

it or something?

Harold:

And then the company gave •••••••••

IA:

Even during the hard times, they kept up?

Harold:

Yeah.

•

•

•

• Eileen & Harold Janetzke

February 26, 1992
Page 43

IA:

Good,that's
positions, did the company take over that or did, ••••••• the
union •••

Now, when the union came in for your office

good.

Harold:

The company had taken it over long before that •••

IA:

I mis-spoke.
the health plan and the pensions and stuff or did the company
still keep it?

Did the union take over those functions

like with

Harold:

No, the company kept it.

IA:

Kept it still, okay.
your wages?

Harold:

Right.

Alright, so the union mostly helped you with

IA:

IB:

•

Right.

Okay, that's very interesting, too.

I just wanted to ask a quick thing right while I'm thinking ·of it.
I remember being taken to the first aid.
My dad worked at Reo and
I remember being taken to the first aid once when I had sustained
an injury out ice skating.
Was there any charge to the families,
say if one of your children became ill and you took 'em, or cut
themselves
covered under your benefits or?

or whatever and if you'd go to first aid, was that

Eileen:

It never happened.

Harold:

I wouldn't know.
the Reo.

We never had occasion to take our children to

IA:

IB:

To the Reo.

'Cause I knew usually that's just for the workers
he came and, we didn't have a car, so he got a cab and took me
down and they took care of my injury and sent me home and I didn't
think much about, oh, I'm sure I did but I'm thinking back now
with the benefits, if, you know, instead of going to the emergency
room at the hospital, I'm thinking that people do now with their
Blue Cross card, I'm just wondering if maybe, we'll have to ask
Ardith Pap ••••• about it.

in theplartt but

IA:

Yeah, ·we'll have to ask her.

Eileen:

• IB:

Eileen:

I don't remember.

You never had to use the first aid clinic?

No, we never had to go for •••

Eileen & Harold Janetzke
February
Page 44

26, 1992

IB:

It seems like I remember

it was on Baker street.

Eileen:

Yeah.

IA:

IB:

IA:

The other question

I had was about how many children

you had?

You've had three?

Eileen:

Um, hum.

IA:

Eileen:

And did. you live at the address that we have now, Loraine when •••

No, we rented an apartment when we got married
fellas that worked, what was Art Hemstead's,
department.

from one of the
he was in the cost

Harold:

Cost department.

IB:

Who was that?

Eileen:

Art Hemstead.

IB:

Bemstead,

Art Hernstead, okay.

Eileen:

Ah, huh, and he had an apartment

for rent •••

IA:

You took it.

Eileen:

Right, and rented from him.

IB:

Was that near the factory so you could walk to work?

Harold:

No, no.

Eileen:

No, no, and we went to work every, he'd drive one day and Art
would drive the next and Art drove a Reo.

IB:

Drove a Reo?

Eileen:

Be drove a Reo.

IA:

IB:

Isn't that nice.

I wonder what year that was?

Eileen:

Well, probably

about the last one they made.

IB:

'35, '36 or something.

•

•

•

• Eileen & Harold Janetzke

February 26, 1992
Page 45

Eileen:

Because this was in '42, so.

Harold:

I think it was a '36.

I1B:

The rounded style.

H,arold:

'36, yeah.

Ii~:

That was a great car.

Eileen:

Then I went up to the farm and stayed with my folks when he went
into service 'cause Chris was only six weeks old when he went.

I1B:

Oh, I wondered about that.

Eileen:

And then I stayed until Labor Day and then he could come home
He couldn't take the trains up there •••
weekends.

IA:

Oh, so you'd meet here.

Eileen:

• Il\:

Eileen:

He, I moved back to Lansing and rented a house until he came home
from service •

And then you could buy, then did you buy a house?

Well, when, what was it, about a year later, two years later we
bought a house.

Hclrold:

'47

11\:

113:

'47.

The Lorraine street house?

Elleen:

Um, hum.

11\:

113:

Is that the one •••••••• ?

So you've been there ever since?

Elleen:

Yup, been there ever since.

113:

IA:

• Eileen:

IA:

That's great.

And, I think you mentioned before that your kids didn't go to the
Reo to work •

No, no.

They would have been too young, right?

Eileen & Harold Janetzke
February 26, 1992
Page 46

Eileen:

Yeah.

OUr oldest son is a teacher in Colorado.

IB:

Do you have a daughter?

Eileen:

Yes.

IB:

Helen?

•

Eileen:

IB:

IA:

No,I
AAA Travel
Christian,
Iowa.

have a daughter,

she lives in Detroit.

She's supervisor

of

in Detroit
of Youth and Christian Education

and our youngest son is director

of

OUr oldest one is a Lutheran teacher in Brighton,

in Iowa, Cedar Rapids,
Colorado.

Golly, your family is kind of ••.

Went into education,

it sounds like.

Eileen:

Yes •

IA:

IB:

••••••••••

education.

It's interesting
working

for Oldsmobile

or something.

that they didn't want to go back into, say,

IA: .

Yeah.

Eileen:

IA:

IB:

No, they just wanted to be, doing church work and our daughter
well, she sort of fell in with the AAA job.
worked there and he got her a job in travel in the Lansing
and she was transferred
about 12 years.

to Detroit so she's been down there now

OUr neighbor

was a,
office

Great.

When the plant closed in '75•••

•

is,

Harold:

'75.

IB:

We were talking to Doris Dow and she said they had no idea.
went to work that morning
it was such a shock.
did you find •••

How did that happen for you?

and the place was padlocked

and she said

I mean, how

They

Eileen:

You were out on sick leave.

Harold;

Yeah, I happened

to be on sick leave.

IA:

Oh, my.

Eileen:

Had a shoulder operation

and he was out.

•

•

•

•

Eileen & Harold Janetzke
February 26, 1992
Page 47

IA:

So you don't show up for a few days and look what happens.

Eileen:

••••••• didn't go in, you know, like they do •••••

IS:

Did you hear it over the radio and you heard they closed or you
heard it, saw it in the paper or how did you know?

Harold:

No, by word of mouth.

IA:

IS:

Harold:

You heard from your friends.

Oh, someone called you and said, guess what.
surprised?

Were you real

Not really, no.
matter of fact,
and I was sappy
pay that

This thing was brewing from the end of '74.

As a

they told us to turn in our vacation time coming
enough not to so, it was seven days of vacation

IS:

That you didn't get.

Harold:

That I never got •

Eileen:

Plus his pension.

IA:

IS:

I was just gonna say, and the pension probably wasn't what it
should have been.

Yes, I was going to ask you about that.

Eileen:

Cut in half.

Harold:

No, the pension was just about half.

IA:

Harold:

IA:

IS:

IA:

IS:

That's better than a lot of other people we've talked to in some
cases.

I know.
getting $80 a month after 33 years~

I talked to a fella last night.

I think he said he was

Oh, is that right?

Well, what did Mrs. Alspaugh tell us yesterday,
what they drew?

$50 a month was

Yeah, something •••

We talked to Melvin Alspaugh's widow yesterday.
$50 a month •••

She said they got

Eileen & Harold Janetzke
February 26, 1992
Page 48

IA:

IB:

IA:

And he'd been there for about 30, 40 years.

Yes, 36 years, wasn't it?

Thirty-six

years, that's right.

Harold:

And there's no increase for inflation.

IA:

IB:

IA:

IB:

No, it's the same for every year.

That's amazing.

And someone else told us that there were people who were so
despondent
went into deep mental breakdowns.

over this that they committed

suicide and others that

Depressions.

Those that had spent as many years say as you did and to suddenly
have it all gone.

Eileen:

I said we were fortunate though.
We had our house paid for and
that was the last year for Barry in college so I said, we really
were.

IB:

If it had to come, at least it came ata

better time for you.

Eileen:

Yes, he graduated

in '75.

IA:

IB:

Eileen:

IB:

IA:

Oh, my.

Big shock.
it's gone.

I can't get over even now and I drive by there and

When our son came home from Colorado

Oh, I know it.
when he had
his heart attack she says, mom, before I go home I want to drive
by where the Reo used to be and I said, you really want to go by
and he says, oh, I can't believe •••

Yeah, it hurt (end side 1)

Not very many people feel that strongly.
You know, they feel such
a close feeling about it, as the people that we've talked to about
the Reo, almost every person, no matter whether
in the
no matter what it
or secretaries,
factory or they were supervisors
is and one of the things I'm very interested
What was
so special about the Reo that made people feel, and even children
of people,
about it that made it a different

like your children who get sad, you know, what it is

type of place.

they worked

in is why.

Eileen:

I think it was the closeness •••

•

•

•

• Eileen & Harold Janetzke

February 26, 1992
Page 49

IA:

Of the people.

Eileen:

Of the people, yeah, the workers.

Harold:

At various times there was something that went on there, there
from the Reo that went to
seemed to be a migration
Oldsmobile

and •••••••••••

of workers

IA:

Go in waves.

Harold:

Yeah.

Eileen:

Well, at one time, some of those engineers went over to, went to
Detroit,

went to Chrysler,

remember?

Harold:

Well, yeah.

'"

Eileen:

IA:

Harold:• IA:

Eileen:

IA:

IB:

Two or three and they wanted to try and talk you into going.

Why did they leave, for better money?

For more money •

"For more money.

That was before the union came in.

Oh, I see.

What did you do after the plant closed?
did you go on into something else?

Did you then retire or

Harold:

Of course,

I retired

from the Reo.

IA:

IB:

Whether

you wanted to or not.

Yes, ••••••• ~ ••••••••

Eileen:

At the age of 60.

IA:

Oh, Lord.

Harold:

What?

Eileen:

You were 60, weren't you?

Harold:• Eileen:

No, I wasn't.

I was 58 •••

Oh, you got your job •••••••••••••••••••

60.

Eileen & Harold Janetzke
February
Page 50

26, 1992

Harold:

I was out of work for about year and I went over to Motor Wheel in
the drafts ••••••••• there •••••••••••••••••••••••
stayed there for seven years.

'76 and I

18:

IA:

18:

Good, I'm glad you were able to relocate.

Yeah, that's very impressive
you get older to get a job.

at such a, you know, it's harder when

Yes, that speaks a lot for his abilities.

Eileen:

Doing the same thing as he did at the Reo.

•

IA:

18:

Harold:

IA:

Harold:

At the Reo.

And there were still people left if you needed recommendations,
people you'd worked for.
I was thinking,
would still be there if you needed a recommendation,
factory, but I mean, they're still in Lansing.

Some of your bosses,

not the

I don't know whether they ever checked any applications
•••••••••••••••
anything.

I filled out the application

or
Reo.

Well, there were plenty of people they could call probably

around.

The boss in the drafting room at Motor Wheel happened
high school buddy.

to be an old

•

IA:

Oh, well, that helps, I'm sure.

Doesn't hurt.

Harold:

Might of been •••

Eileen:

IA:

We have a joke, his cousin's husband was working when he retired
and so he went and took his place.

Took his job, still keeping it in the family, huh?
that that the fact that it started out as sort of a Lansing owned
company, you know, from the start and that the owner was in the
community
community
known to each other and got together
Steering Gear club and there was also a club for the women •••

for a while and a lot of the people lived in the
made it more comfortable

to work there, that people were

clubs like the

Do you think

at different

Eileen:

The ladies •••

IA:

Yeah, did you do that, too?

Eileen:

No, I wasn't, they didn't have it when I was there.

IA:

Oh, it was later.

•

•

Eileen & Harold Janetzke
February 26, 1992
Page 51

Eileen:

It was later, yeah.

The women's, well the girl's •••

Harold:

Reo Girl's Club.

Eileen:

Girl's club, but I did join, when they started the getting
together

once a year •••

IA:

You started to go to that?

Eileen:

IA:

I was starting to go into that.
October

and we'd go.

When we'd go to the Elks in

It just seemed like there was a lot of social, you know, ways for
the company to get together
difference.
know but I don't know if they d Ld things like that over there.

I, I don't, I am not studying Oldsmobile

socially and that may have made a

so I don't

Eileen:

I think they were bigger.

IA:

So that made a difference?

Eileen:

I think that was a big difference.

18:

Eileen:

IA:

18:

~!l'hey'reso large.
there's the loyalty and the togetherness
was at the Reo.

But I wonder even in, within the departments

if
and, you know, that there

I don't know, and I think, my daughter has always talked
when she worked here in Lansing at AAA, she says there was always
that backbiting
isn't but I can't remember any of that at Reo.
I mean, we all seemed to get along as· far as that goes.
think there was any problems between anybody.

in the office where she said, where she is now, it

We girls all got,

I don't

about

Yeah, we have never heard, in fact, people said, even if two men,
for example, would, you know, a foreman and a worker would have a
difficulty,
the minute they walked out that plant door, they ..were
Reo workers,
would stick together which to me is just amazing.

you know, no matter what the circumstances

were, they

Someone else, I think so, too.
was a real pride you felt you worked at Reo that kind of. made you
feel part of the community
and someone would say where do you work?
oh,I

and you felt good about it, you know,
I work at Reo, ..not, I,

work over at the Reo, kind of thing.

Someone else told us that there

Eileen:

Well, they used to say, too, that you had, it may not pay much but
you had a steady job.

IA:

It was security.

.. ,..

Eileen & Harold Janetzke
February
Page 52

26, 1992

18:

Now, that's interesting.

Harold:

That's one of the reasons why I stayed there.

18:

Is that right?

Harold:

IA:

Because Reo would be operating
were down.

while the other plants

in the city

You mean, in the short term, like they would have down times so
they'd shut the plant down for a while?

Eileen:

The other places, yeah.

IB:

The other places.

Eileen:

But Reo never did.

IA:

But Reo tried to stay open.

Eileen:

Reo was always open.

Harold:

Reo kept open.

IB:

Even if maybe you only have four hours of work a day for a while,
you were still working.

Harold:

I wasn't ever on shorted hours.

IB:

IA:

Oh, you weren't?

Oh, you weren't even on short hours?

Harold:

No.

IA:

So they just kept people going.

Harold:

Um, hum.

IA:

Yeah, that makes a big difference,
keep you too long.

too.

Okay.

We don't want to

Eileen:

No, we got an appointment

at 11:30.

IA:

Oh, my, okay.

Eileen:

No that's alright.

•