•

Vivern
2/4/93
Page 1

IA:

Haight:

(Verne) Hal.ght

This is February
the morning and we're going to interview Vivern
his Reo memories.

4th, Lisa Fine, Shirley Bradley.

It's 10 o'clock

in

(Vern) Haight about

Well, back in Lansing
of South Washington
Old's home.

in '26, we used to always walk on the west side

Avenue and that way we could stop and see R.E.

IA:

Oh, this was when you were a kid?

Haight:

Ye.ah, and we'd stand there and look through the iron gates they had
there all the way around the fence and we'd see the fella, the old
man working
towards the clubhouse
to take hold of my brother's
car or streetcar
would play the organ while we were setting in there and •••

and we'd be on the west side.
hand so that I wouldn't

have
Well,I'd
get hit with a
But, then they

and we'd go in and see the movies.

rakin' and all that.

in the shrubbery,

Then we'd go down

IA:

Did your parents work at the Reo, too?

•

Haight:

My dad worked at the Reo over on East Michigan
Reo Flying Cloud, see, when they made the Reo Flying Cloud car.

where they sold the

IB:

They made it on, in a factory on East Michigan?

Haight:

No, no, they made it right down there where they made trucks and
cars.

IB:

But the dealership

was on East Michigan?

Haight:

•

organ and that

There was two
chain broke

So, in 1945, I started working

So they'd always play that organ, beautiful
Yes.
organ came from R.E. Old's home and he got it in 1914:
of 'em brought from New York and one of 'em dropped,the
in the harbor in New York and one of 'em went down in the water.
Well, the one, they saved and so I listened to that organ a good many
years after I started working there.
at the Reo and shall I go on and tell you, shall I go on and tell
you, I was out of work and they called and wanted to know if I would
come in for a day and help 'em on the clubhouse
they said they had called 23 people for the job.
drawing unemployment
so they said they didn't want to come in for a day.
t.o work for a day and they'd give me $10.
was pretty good money
their farm filling silos up here where Meijers
field, you know, and Mr. Dale Sheppard was a farmer ~here and I
worked for him that day.
come in Saturday
that day and I worked awhile and we set up parties
cleaned and done different

and they didn't want to ruin their unemployment

So I went in and they said, would you work,

things that they wanted me to do and they

and I went in and
They were all

and help us and I said, yes, I will.

'cause I was working out, helping

Well, at that time, that

is and that was all

So they asked me

and swept and

So I went in

fellas on

•

•

•

(Ver·n) Haight

Vivern
2/4/93
Page 2

.aid, well, will you come back on a Monday.
bucKs, that sounds like a lot of money to me so I went back and when
I got ready to go home that night and they said, do you like this
job.
back as long, till we don't want you anymore.
walked into that job and I stayed there for 30 years.

They said, well, why don't you keep coming
So, I

I said, ye., I do.

I said, okay.

I thought,

boy, 20

IA:

From 1945 •••

Haight:

To, yes, till '75.

IA:

Till '75.

Haight:

And so, about the clubhouse,

when I went in there, years ag.o,

Yes.
there was a bowling alley in back and they had a library and they
used to show movies and so when I went in, the library was there for
a few, few months and they took that away but ah, there used to be,
So when I was in there, we had
ah, the bowling alley went out too.
the telephone
there, Ruth Hurlbut and Helen Spencer.

There was two women that worked up

office up above.

IA:

They did the switchboard?

Haight:

Yes, and so then when you went down, then we had the main lobby and
•••••••••• pictures,
basement,
That's where they used to play shuffleboard.
brought

main lobby and then when you went down in the

they, at that time, they moved in a printing

and then there was a •••

They quit that and

in the printing

department.

department

IA:

Wasn't there a cafeteria?

Haight:

down there.

company called the Reo Benefit

It was run by Bob Meyers and both

There was a cafeteria
their boys worked for him, Eddy and Bob and Elsie was the mother.
too, and
Then we had a, the girl's club was down in the basement,
and you could
there was an insurance
always tell fellas that worked there.
at the time and fellas had 50 years seniority
tell fella ••that worked there for years
down the line, they would get up and crank the trucks and it'd
backfire
when they put it back, they would, in those days, they never set the
elbow.

and break their arm and throw it over their shoulder

There was nothing to go there

and you could always

'cause when these trucks come

So •••

and

IA:

So you mean, it pulled out of its, like socket.

Haight:

Yeah, so they're always going around with a stiff arm.
time, Reo was the first broadcasting
used to sit and listen to it on crystal sets.

station in Michigan,

So, at one

WREO and we

IB:

At your home?

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Vivern (Vern) Haight
2/4193
Page 3

Haight:

Yes and when •••

IA:

In the '20s, starting when it started to broadcast in the '20s?

Haight: Well, we used to listen to Amos and Andy and then out in back, they

were tearing out the foundation for the antenna that used to be clear
up there.
men.

So that's, and so we had the Steering Gear Club for the

IA:

It was up in the, in the upstairs?

Haight:

Yes and then we had the Reo Girl's Club and we were the first to
start the Red Stocking Club here in Lansing.
Stocking? They used to, you probably didn't know that, that's years
ago and amateur boxing was there and •••

Remember the Red

IA:

So they did a lot of community things for the Lansing area?

Haight:

Oh, yes, we let, yeah, we let and in 1945, we had 800 kids there for
the movies, Laurel and Hardy was the last movie we showed but there
was so many and they were so loud, you know, climbing, just full of
life and they said, no more •

IA:

They stopped the movies then?

Haight:

Yeah, they stopped the movies in 1945. It was Laurel and Hardy •••

IA:

That was about when you started, around the time you started.

Haight:

So then we let out the clubhouse for, oh, Oldsmobile,

Yes, yes.
Motor Wheel, different organizations in Lansing. Anybody wanted to
rent, they could.

IA:

That was your job to schedule things?

Haight: Well, I worked with a fella by the name of Charlie Griffin, when I

went there.

IB:

Griffin?

Haight:

Yes, and Jerry Burn was personnel director. Did anybody ever tell
you about him?

•

•\

IA:

Charlie Burn?

Haight:

Jerry Burn •

IA:

IB:

Jerry Burn, I'm sorry.

Jerry Burn, B U R N S

•

•

(Vern.) Haight

Vivern
, 2/4/93
Page 4

Haight:

Byers, something

like that.

IA:

IS:

Na, we haven't,

I haven't heard that name, have you Shirley?

Na, this is a new one to me.

Haight:

Jerry Surn, but ah •••

IS:

Did you say there was, did you ask us if we'd ever heard of Jerry
Burn?

Haight:

Yeah.

IB:

No, we haven't.

Haight:

director.

He's personnel
you that when I'went there, that Henry Hun was president
after he left, Joe Scheer came in and then •••••••••••••
with the Reo and then John Tucker was president
Hanson.

Did anybody tell you about Hanson?

Well, then alright, then I'd better tell

and then in come

and then
got involved

IB:

•••••• Hanson.

Haight:

C.R. Hanson, yeah, and then Heinesch
for all these fellows.

came in, Jack Adams and I worked

IB:

Were they, were they good to work for?
with any of them?

Do you remember

any problems

Haight:

No, no, they treated you like a human being.
gentlemen
and Mrs. Johnson and I worked for all those people so I must of done
something

They were, they were
and then in come Cappart

and Eaton was another president

right.

18:

What was your opinion of Mildred Johnson?

Haight:

She treated me very nicely.

18:

She did?

Haight:

And I met her sons and I met the boy, ah, her brother,
woman.

beautiful

18:

Was she?

Haight:

•

Yes, I have her picture out here at the house but you got me at the
wrong time 'cause I have yard sales.
sales for 19 years, something
cC')veredup out there in the garage but I'll show you what I do, that
I have got.

But, no, no, Mildred Johnson treated me very nice.

to do, so a lot of my pictures

After I retired,

I've had yard

are

Vivern (Vern) Haight
2/4/93
Page 5

18:

What about Mr. Cappart? Did you meet, you met him, you say?

Haight:

Oh, yes.

IS:

What did you think of him?

Haight:

He was a gentleman to me all the time.

IA:

He was.

Haight:

He always talked about his family.

IA:

Oh, he did?

Haight: Yes.

Talked about his family and so I can't say nothing bad about

him and that's true.

IS:

What exactly was your job at the clubhouse?

Haight:

Well, I went there as a janitor and then after Charlie Griffin quit
and went to the state, I took over his job and it still classified me
as a janitor. They wouldn't change it because there was a lot of
fellows that wanted my job and they thought, well, you keep him at
that, that's it.

I•••

IA:

But you ended up doing all the scheduling kinds of things •••

Haight:

Yes, so I ended up doing all the scheduling, renting and anything was
to be done, that was my job.

IA:

To oversee what went on in the clubhouse.

Haight:

That was my job. They never bothered me.
was like my own place.

It was like I run it, it

IS:

So you were the manager really.

Haight:

Yes.

IS:

Sut you had the janitor classification on your papers.

Haight:

That's right.

IS:

Isn 't that interesting.

Haight:

Yes, that's what they done to him, so I didn't care because that was,
that's the way it was and I belonged to the union •

IS:

Oh, you did?

•

•

• Vivern

2/4/93
Page 6

Haight:

(Vern) Haight

Yes, and ah •••

IS:

Was that optional or did you have to belong to the union?

Haight:

I had to belong to it.

When I went there, I belonged

to it but •••

IA:

So you were there when they had all the strikes in '46?

Haight:

But all these presidents

Yes, yes.
gentlemen
and doing this work, I knew a fellow by the name of otis •••••••• , a
Is that alright to say?
colored,

and I used to work, how I got into with these presidents

that was there, they were

a black man.

IA:

Sure, yes.

Haight:

• IA:

IA:

Haight:

Haight:

And ah, so, oh, what a gentleman.
and he took me under his wing and he'd say, now listen.
somebody to chauffeur,
where we'd meet different,
pretty close friends.

you go with me and we'd go a lot of places

two cars at a time, and so we got to be

Oh, he was so lC?ved by everybody

When I need

Was that his position,

was to drive ••••

He was a janitor, too.

Oh, he was a janitor, too.

He was classified
and nobody would ask for our jobs over •••••••••••
they all heard of all the banquets
you know, we'd have •••

and parties

as a janitor but we both were classified

that way
at times because

and the music and oh,

IA:

We heard a lot about the dances that went on at the •••

Haight:

Oh, yeah, and •••

IB:

So it sounded like fun.

Haight:

• IB:

Haight:

I'm working with these fellows that I

Now, that's all, that, I just live it and I

It was, I loved it.
still dream about the Reo.
worked with for years.
this morning,
work in the morning
I'd be, and I'd stay right on and I'd work from 8:30 until 12 at
night and I don't know how I ever done it because
day after day, year after year.

she said, why do you do it and I said, well, I go to
at 8:30 and I'd set up all these parties

My wife was just telling me

It's terrible.

I worked day after

and then

You never had any layoffs or •••

No, no.

•

Vivern (Vern) Haight
2/4193
Page 7

IA:

It was steady.

Haight:

Yeah, and well, I'd have to practically beg to get my two weeks
vacation because everybody'd say, hey Vern, we're coming in for a
wedding reception .We
I'd say, hey listen, I got to get away.
week and what went on after I'd leave I could care .less but when I'd
come back the job was always there.

're coming for dad's. 'Wewant you there and

I've got to get away for a

IA:

The clubhouse made Reo special; didn't it?

Haight:

Yes.

IA:

The fact that they had the clubhouse and all the things that went on
there.

Haight:

Yes, because that was the only place. Civic Center wasn't there.
didn't have nothing but there was girl, a woman's clubhouse up three
or four blocks from us that R.B. Olds had and •••

You

IA:

It's still up there, too. They have offices in there now.

Haight:

Yes, yes, but you know what was kinda bad?
from the Olds house and kept it. They just tore it down.

They never took one brick

IA:

You mean his residence, where he lived?

Haight:

Yes, yeah.

18:

Did you see it being torn down?

Haight:

No, no.

I didn't want to see it.

18:

I don't blame you.

Haight: And I didn't go back when, in my 30 years, I never was laid off and I

never went back to watch 'em tear down the clubhouse. When I handed
the keys over, it was an awful empty feeling, believe me.

IB:

Was it?

Haight:

But we used to have Woody Herman, Counte Bassie, stan Kenton come
there with their bands.

IB:

Oh, is that right?

Haight:

Yeah, and Governor Williams was always there for talks and speeches
and he'd call square dances.

IB:

Oh, he did?

•

•

•

•

•

Vivern (VernlHaight
2/4/93
PageS

Haight:

Oh, sure. Oh, and ah, I met, I've been around a lot of the
g0vernors.
the wooden leg.

I'm trying to think of the other one, the one that had

IB:

Kim Siegler(?)

Haight:

Oh, yes, I saw him but I•••

IB:

I'm trying to think, too.

Haight:

Talk about a neat looking man, Kim Siegler was.

18:

He was very dignified and distinguished.

Haight:

Oh, yes.

IB:

Oh, Swainson, Governor Swainson?

Haight:

Yeah, that's what I want to tell you.
know, in the Korean War and when he'd come up those steps and there
was a lot of steps to get up there in the clubhouse •••

Now, he lost his legs, you

IB:

There were?

Haight:

Yes, and with those wooden legs, he'd walk up those steps, you
wouldn't believe it, get out and dance and he'd have his pictures
taken, we always had two old cars in the main lobby and he'd get up
there in the car and had his picture taken.
That's when Hanson was
president and Biggie Munn was always there.

IB:

Oh, yes?

Haight:

Yes, Biggie Munn was always, he and Hanson were good friends.

IB:

Hum, they were?

Haight:

Oh, yes, very close and high up in Boy Scouts.

IB:

Oh, really?

Haight:

Duff Daugherty and what's the name of the baseball field there, Kobs?

IA:

IB:

Kobe, isn't it Kobs Field?

I think so.

Haight: Well •••

IA:

The one up at State?

•

Vivern
2/4/93
Page 9

Haight:

(Vern) Haight

Biggie Munn,
Yeah, well anyway, he used to come there a lot butoh,
on my, when he came in there, see, he was one of the first that won
the championship
oh, the big banquets
Club •••

to the Rose Bowl for State and we used to have the,

for all the coaches, the Downtown

Coaches

IA:

ah, that used to be at the clubhouse?

Haight:

Oh, yes and when he'd come, the place would be packed with coaches
from allover,

Ohio, Pennsylvania,

Indiana •••

IB:

All the Big Ten coaches?

Haight:

Yes, oh, and all the people that belonged
and he'd walk down towards the podium, you wouldn't
just separated
was something.

just like the Lord was walking

to it and when he walked

believe

it.

in, big aisle.

Aw, he

in
They

•

IB:

ah, that's amazing.

Haight:

ah, he was something.

IA:

He was well liked?

Haight:

on, yes and then •••

IB:

And you got to meet him?

Haight:

on, I was with him, tended bar at his house.

IB:

on, really?

Haight:

I tended bar •••

IB:

He had you come to his house to help with some parties?

Haight:

Yes, and out to Hanson's
everything
me, they'd introduce me to their wives and they all said, this was
the janitor at Diamond Reo.

and I tended bar and run the movies.

and still I was considered,

that was my, and anybody see

I done

IA:

ah, dear.

Doesn't that kind of bother you?

Haight:

but in order to get around that, a lot of times

Well, sometimes
they'd say, well, what is your position
sanitary engineer,

you know.

at the Reo and I'd say I'm a

IA:

Well, you did a lot more than that, though.

Haight:

ah, yes.

•

• Vivern

2/4/93
Page 10

IB:

(Vern) Haight

Oh, he managed and directed that clubhouse.
say you had a banquet coming, what did you have to personally
Did you have to arrange for the food and the decorations

or •••

When you had a banquet,

do?

Haight:

Ah, Mr. Meyers downstairs
would serve the food and I would set 'em
up, 800, 900, 1,400 at a time and they'd bring in some help to help
me.

IB:

I was gonna ask what kind of a staff you had.

Haight:

Well, I was the only one so it all depended
and so Mr. Meyers would bring in boys to help me set up and get the
microphones.
everything

I'd have to get the microphones,

on me, it had to be done

had to be done.

the speakers,

IB:

Where did he get, did he draw from the factory for people to help
you?

Haight:

No, no.

No, he'd hire people.

IB:

• Haight:

IA:

He'd hire people from say a catering

service?

And he had, yeah, he had a big staff down there.

We've heard the food was good.

Haight:

Oh, Lord, and from, good?

IB :

IA:

It's beginning

to make me hungry.

Yeah, I know.

Haight:

And you know all those years, I never had to pay for no meals and a
lot of my clothes is furnished.

IB:

Oh, really, like uniforms?

Did you have to wear a uniform?

Haight:

No, when I, and we'd have to have Our red jackets and all

No, no.
that and when we tended bar, we, I'd always hire otis, that I talked
about and •••

IB:

Otis Neumas?

Haight:

• IB:

Yeah, and ah, I can't think of the other's name.
2S years.
from the Olds, 80 people, every day that I was there, they never
missed coming from the Olds to eat at the cafeteria.

Well, anyway, from the Olds, every day they walked over

We worked together

Is that right?

•

•

Vivern(Vern)
2/4/93
Page 11

Haight

IA:

Fer lunch or supper?

Haight:

Lunch.

IA:

IB:

Haight:

For lunch.

People that worked at the Oldsmobile came to Reo?

Oh yeah, talk about food, Lord, and so many bowling banquets, big
thick steaks, you know, and maybe 35 td 50 bowling banquets.
known allover
to eat there.

We were
and Howard Sober's men would come and bring truckloads

IB:

He owned a haul away business, over the road haulers to haul the cars
from state to state.

Haight:

Yes, yup, he did.

IB:

My gosh. Gee, you just met all the greats and near greats, didn't
you?

Haight: Well, yeah, and then Gerry Burn was a very strong Republican and Al

Zimmer that was a, Gerry Burn was a Democrat and Al Zimmer was a
Republican and I want to tell you, that wasn't good.

IB:

Why is that?

Haight: Well, Al Zimmer was just a full Republican and I mean, when ah, when

a Governor Williams got the last term, he was so sick he had to go to
bed.

Yes •••

IB:

Because a Democrat was in.

Haight:

No, Republican, yes, 'cause a Democrat was in. He wanted Republicans
in there.

IB:

Oh, he was really a staunch party man, wasn't he.

Haight:

Yeah, he was, he was a general manager out in the shop, Zimmer.

IA:

Right, we've heard his name, too.

Haight:

Yes, and he could be rough?

IB:

Could he?

Haight: Oh, yes.

IB:

Very strict disciplinarian?

• Vivern

2/4/93
Page 12

Haight:

(Vern) Haight

Strict, yes.
left 'a light on over their machine,
he was a nice man but he was strict.

He would go through the shop at night and if anybody

he was there to tell ya.

But ah,

IS:

He expected good performance

from you?

Haight:

You better believe it and I want to tell you, they put the trucks
out.
He was a good man and after he left, why Clare Loudenslager
took over.

IB:

What do you know about Clare Loudenslager?

Haight:

I worked for him and another thing I had to do was to take 17 cars a
week over to have it washed and their cars gassed and see, that was
taken care of.

IA:

For the people who were high up in the management.

Haight:

Yes,yes.

IB:

Oh, I see, not company cars but the executive's

personal

cars?

•

Haight:

No, no.

The company cars.

IB:

Company cars, okay.

Haigh~:

But he was a good man and I mean to tell you, he was strict.

IB:

Was he?

Haight:

Oh, when he give an order, you better jump because he wanted things
done right and when he, when the Reo went down and he went with CATA,
and he's the one that put CATA on the map •••

IB:

Oh, really?

Haight:

in Lansing.

IB:

Oh, that's interesting.

Haight:

•

Don Heinish,

all those fellows, you

So, this Hanson, oh, what a man.
just can't believe when you rode beside
'em, they always treated you as a gentleman
the REO, there used to be, we used to have an old car, 1933, it was
black and we would take that car out and I would have to go out and
chauffeur
worked,
cylinder
by White Motor and I'd have to go out and pick up the president

and I used t'o have to go out and at one time, we were owned

and pick people up from the airport.

So this car was a 1933 flat head, 8

'em, driving along beside

and then out in front of

You asked me if I

I done everything.

and I

(Vern) Haight

Vivern
214/93
Page 13

rememli)erhim saying to me one time, he said, who you gonna vote for,
Nixon or are you gonna vote for Kennedy?

IA:

This must have been in 1960.

Haight:

I didn't

I'm voting for Kennedy and he said, so am I.

Come out and pick me up and there was another

Well, I said, I guess I might as well not lie to
He said, you're

And so I want to tell ya, that put me on the spot because
know what to say.
you.
my man from now on.
little fellow that used to come in there.
it's terrible.
as he, and he come through the cafeteria
I said, do you care if I carry your tray to your, I never knew the
man, I said, do you care if I carry your tray over to the table.
he said, I'd like to have you.
of the board at White and he was in there setting around, seeing what
was going on.

So come to find out, he was chairman

I'd forget that man's name and much

I can't think of his name,

and I walked over to him and

I can't believe

Oh,

18:

Oh, from White Motors?

Haight:

Yes •

IB:

'Cause they were getting ready to buy?

Haight:

Well, they, they owned it.

IA:

They already had it bought.

Haight:

They already had it and so I got, and he was chairman,
something,
president
meeting there and we had meetings
the United States, their salesmen and one of the presidents,
rather not mention his name •••

he was chairman of the board and we used to pick up the
and, well, I didn't know who he was but one day they had a
from, they were there from allover

and he had

I'd

IA:

That's fine.

Haight:

He said, ho, ho, wait just a minute.

Your main stay and you didn't introduce

Didn't introduce me.
Mr. So and So, who is your man that, look what he's doing for this
company.
high, you know, because
nothing of it but he did and he also was part owner of the Cleveland
Indians so he was a, isn't that awful, Mr. Black was his name,
Mr. Black but oh, would you ever like him.
fellow, wore dark suits and he would, what a gentleman.
a believed
From that time on, I could walk allover
it.
didn't even need a badge •

I knew all the fellows.

He's a little short

I didn't think

I felt that

him.

You wouldn't
that shop, I

He said,

IB:

Is that right?

•

•

'.

Vivern
2/4/93
page 14

Haiqht:

(Vern) Haight

Plant prot.ection never said, Vern, you can 't, where I went, it was it
and you know, what made it kind of bad, I belonged
to the union and a
lot of people was afraid to talk tome
I'd run back and tell management
me nothing and I never run back and talked.
hired for.

They never asked
That wasn't what I was

'cause they was afraid that

and I never did.

IB:

Mr. Black was the chairman of the board or he was the president?

Haight:

He was the chairman of the board of White.

IA:

IB:

Haight:

White.

Of White Motors.

And he was also an owner in the Cleveland
made, at the Reo, we made the Reo Flying Cloud.
We made lawn mowers.
toys?

We made toys.

But you know, we
We made the trucks.
Did anybody tell you about the

Indians.

•

IA:

IB:

No •

What kind of toys?

Haight:

Well, kids toys.

IB:

Like wagons , scooters •••

Haight:

Yes, yes, we made toys at the Reo and across over where John Beam is
now, the Reo used to own that, too, you know, and down on South
Washington,
that building,

that would be Mt. Hope and South Washington,

we owned

too.

IB:

Was that the truck plant?

Haight:

Yeah, it was a truck plant.

That was the truck plant.
Downtown

on Baker and Washington?

Where were the toys made, in what plant?

No, it was, I think it was, I'm not sure but I think it was there
where the lawn mower, and then one day, and then see, and then my
in the
job, when I went there in '45, the agreement
clubhouse

I worked on the lawn the other six months.

was, I worked

six months,

Oh, outside.

Outside doing yard work.

IB:

Haight:

IA:

IB:

•

•

Vivern
2/4/93
Page 15

Haight:

(vern) Haight

So I got pretty good at it.

Yes.
that worked for R.E. Olds, the old man that worked up to his home.

In fact, I was taught by the man

IS:

Oh, his gardener?

Haight:

Y·e·s.

IS:

Oh, really.

Haight:

Yes, so he came down and showed me how to take care of the shrubbery
and that clubhouse
and at the time, I'd work one block and that would be down, years ago
there was a fire department

was by the tracks, you know, the railroad

down there.

tracks

IS:

That's right, there was.

Haight:

Yes.

IS:

Right on the corner of Saker and Washington.

Haight:

That's right •

IS:

Southeast,

yeah, southeast

corner.

Haight:

Yeah, and so I was taught by this fellow and so o1).eday I was working
th.ere and putting
old man and it was R.E. Olds and I had my lawn mower running
come. up to me and he's a little bit of a short fellow.

in some tulips and in drove a car and out come an
and he

IS:

He was?

Haight:

Yeah, he was short.

IS:

Oh, really?

Haight:

Wore glasses, gray suit, black shoes, I can remember
said, how's the lawn mower work and I said, just fine.
me try it and I said, oh, I don't know and I let that clutch out of
that lawn mower and I want to tell you, he flew, and run up along
side it and shut it off and he turned around and went back to the car
and that's the last I seen him at that time.

He said, let

him, and he

IS:

He didn't say anything to you?

Haight:

No, no.

IS:

He just tUrned and went back to his car •

Haight:

I think it surprised

him, shocked him.

•

•

•

(Vern) Haight

Vivern
2/4/93
Page 16

IS:

That that would go that quickly.

Haight:

Yeah, because he was probably

used to a hand mower.

IA:

He wasn't a young man then either.

Haight:

No, no he wasn't.

IS:

And he hadn't worked a power mower before.

Haight:

So later on and then, do you want me to tell you all this?

IA:

IS:

Sure.

Yes, absolutely.

Haight:

Well, anyway •••

IS:

These are the kinds of things I love to get.

Haight:

Well, Gerry Surn was a, oh, he was a big fellow, good sized and
smoked cigars and oh, he had class.
Fern Placeway worked for him.

Oh, he had it and his secretary

IA:

Oh, we know Fern.

We've met her.

Haight:

Oh, she's a nice lady.

IS:

We're hoping to interview

her very soon.

Haight:

And some time, tell her you was out here.

IA:

Okay.

Haight:

Sut ah, Fern Placeway was a nice lady and at that time, and Hilda
Smith was in there too and she just passed away here ••.

IA:

IS:

Oh, she did?

I didn't know she passed away.

Haight:

Oh, yeah, she passed away.

IA:

IS:

Oh, 'cause we went to visit her out at Tender Care.

Tender Care.

Haight:

Yeah, well, I did too, and so she passed away and then there was a
nurse by the name of Mrs. Meade.

•

Vivern
2/4/93
Page 17

IA:

IS:

(Vern) Haight

We haven' t heard that one yet.

Oh, in the first aid?

Haight:

¥es.

IB:

Mrs. Meade?

Haight:

Yes.

IA:

IB:

Haight:

You're gonna write that, right?

Yeah.

And oh, she was a nice lady.
She loved everybody.

You couldn't

a found a nicer person.

So when she left, Ardith Packet came in.

IA:

Right, we've been in touch with her, too.

Haight:

•

And talk about class.
white hat, she had class.
class.
worked for Clare Loudenslager,
the personnel
Axelane.

He just passed away.

When she had her uniform on and the little,

Loved by everybody,

I mean, there was

So, but there was so many out in the shop that, foremans that

there's Don Bashore and then over in
office there was, and the fellow just passed away, Al

IA:

IB:

Right.

I saw that in the paper.

Haight:

And Bill Terrell,

did you ever talk to him?

IB:

Bill Carroll?

Haight:

Terrell.

IA:

Terrell,

no, but we met him at one of the reunions.

Haight:

Bill Terrell, there's another one that had class.
class.
were, you were one of the gang.

They were just a big, happy family.

But everybody

had

I don't care who you

IA:

And it had that feeling the whole time you were there, you think?

Haight:

Oh, yeah, well, it changed as time went on.

IB:

Towards the end?

Haight:

Towards the end because a different,
in and things didn't go just right but ah •••

different

class of people come

•

•

Vivern (Vern) Haight
2/4/93
Page 18

IA:

The last few years, when did that start to change, do you think?

Haight:

Oil·,probably a year,.the last year for me.

IB:

'75?

Haight:

Yes.

IA:

Starting in the '70s?

Haight:

No, no. No, probably, I say probably '74.

IA:

Oh, I see, just a year before.

Haight:

'73, '74 but ah, no, when you talk about Mrs. Johnson, pretty woman,
class and all the money that Cappart had, he treated just like a,
like a janitor.
know, he was, had quite a lot to do with the school.

I used to take him up to Alma, his college, you

•

IB:

With Alma College?

Haight:

Yes.

IB:

He did?

Haight: oh, yes.

IB:

He was on the board or something?

Haight:

Yeah, he was on the board up there and he had a nice big planes that
they brought in, that he bought from England.

IB:

Planes?

Haight:

Plane, he had a plane and it would hold 90 people.

IA:

Oh, my.

Haight:

But he took all those seats out, we took all those seats out and that
was all nice davenports and chairs, the bar in there and someone told
me that it took 90 gallons of gas to just get it off the ground.
was that big.

It

IB:

And he used it to •••

Haight:

Go back to Mississippi.

IB:

Oh, to go back and forth to Mississippi.

Haight:

Yup, he and Mrs. Johnson.

•

•

Vivern(Vern)
2/4/93
page 19

Haight

IB:

Did you ever get a chance to ride in it?

Haight:

I was always afraid to ride in the planes.

I had'

I've been in it.
chances to go to Washington,
like planes but now, I do now, after my son-in-laws
Las Vegas and different
daughters
clubhouse.

and one of 'em had their wedding reception

places but then my daughters,

Chicago,

got me going to

I had two

at the

all those, and I just didn't

IB:

Oh, what year was that?

Haight:

that, she's teaching

Oh, whew, and then, I got to think that over.
daughter
today, 29 years and she used to bring her tricycle
with me and both the girls would bring their coloring books and spend
the day with dad.

school up here, she's still there

That was a big deal.

Then I had another

and spend the day

IB:

Oh, isn't that wonderful.

Haight:

I got their pictures

Oh, yeah.
this time because there's so many, so much of the things that I
gather up during the winter time, start out selling,
pictures

are covered but I have pictures

out here but I'm sorry you come at

of R.E. Olds and I have •••

a lot of

IA:

Did you live out here in Webberville
Reo?

when you were working

at the

Haight:

Yes, yup.

IA:

You always went back in, back into town •••

Haight:

Two or three times a day.

IA:

Two or three times a day.

Haight:

Yeah, I was on 24 hour call.

IB:

Oh, you were?

Haight:

If I'd get home and they'd say, Vern, can you go, can you come

Yup.
back and I'd have to go back up and have something
done for 'em or I'd have to go take their cars and go to Metropolitan
Airport to pick up people

that had to be

IA:

And then you "d have to go back into town and take 'em in.

Haight:

Yes,. oh, never knew.

IB:

That'd make it a little difficult
and •••

for your wife trying to plan meals

•

•

•

•

•

Vi vern (Vern.) Haight
2/4/93·
Page 20

Haight:

Well, no, because my wife went with me.

IB:

Oh, how wonderful.

Haight:

Yup, my wife went with me and always spent some, if I had to work, I
spent so much overtime
the entertainment,
together.

that she'd come in and get a chance to see all

all the eats and so we spent all the years

We've been together

S3 years.

IIi:

Oh, that's wonderful.

IA:

But your daughters

went to school out here, Webberville?

Haight:. At Webberville,

yes.
was it DAR, something

My oldest daughter was valedictorian,
like that for good, I can't tell you.

got the,

IB:

DAR award for good citizenship •••

Haight:

Citizenship,

yes.

IB:

And high marks.

Haight:

She just got her 20 pin so I educated

Yes and she's been up here 29 years teaching.

She'll retire
Yes.
College,
next year and my other daughter
secretary.
the girls good, got
good jobs but then the second time that I met R.E. aIds, I was out in
the yard again and I was always, from the clubhouse
office, back and forth, back and forth and he drove up and he was so
old then and he brought a truck up and he was so old they had to pick
him up and set him in the truck.

is at Lansing Community

to the main

IB:

Oh, really?

Haight:

Yup, in a ••••• truck and that was the last that I saw of R.E. aIds.

IB:

That must of been close to the end of his life.

Haight:

Yup, it was and we used to have a canopy out in front where they
drive, oval, oval drive and that canopy, then Gerry Burn, he was
classy and he wanted, we always had, every year, a 21 foot Christmas
tree.

IA:

In the clubhouse?

Haig·ht:

In the clubhouse.

IB:

In the clubhouse.

Haight:

At Christmas
get these 21 foot Christmas

time and when I started, and my job was to go out and

trees.

Well, there were Christmas

trees

•

(Vern) Haight

Vb/ern
2/4193
Page 21

that were little bits of things and every year, you know, they grow
here, they grow a foot and by the time I left, they were tall and so
I never had to worry about finding 21 foot Christmas

trees.

IB:

Are you saying that they bought live tress and planted
outside the clubhouse.

'em right

Haight:

Yes, yes, and we'd have to •••

IB:Clarify

this for the tape.

Haight:

then we'd have to put, we'd take a truck out, take a truck out, lay
'em on this truck and bring
'em in and then we'd have the carpenters
come in and put these trees up in the corner so that, and put wires
on 'em so they couldn't
years and one time, the steering Gear Club, we always had Christmas
parties there and that little kid come in and said, Mother,
never took down their Christmas
the same size.
Christmas
do you call 'em •••

See, they were
tree from last year.
So Gerry Burn said, well, why don't we put a 21 foot
tree on top of the canopy and so we got a truck over, what

fall over and that went on for years and

they

IB:

With a high arm or something

on it?

Haight:

Yes, to pick it up and when they put it on there •••

IA:

It would hold it?

Haight:

it dropped right on through.

IA:

Yeah, that's what I •••

Haight:

It was rotten, the roof •••

IB:

What was the canopy made out of?

Haight:

Well, it was wood.

IA:

Oh, it wasn't a canvas thing.

Haight:

No, oh, no.

It was all •••

IB:

But it was, had been there many years.

Haight:

Well, you'll see it when you go out, pictures
was made of wood.

that I've got and it

IA:

And it went right •••

•

•

•

Vivern
2/4/93
Page 22

Haight:

(Vern) Haight

It went right on through and dropped to the floor, or to the ground.
Well, that's when you took the canopy off.

So •••

IB:

Had you said to 'em before hand, I don't think it will hold it?

Haight:

You didn't, you never told them.

No, no, oh, no.
That's why we got a lot •••••••• But this otis, I was gonna tell ya,
he was just like I was.
go.od money and he was a jani tor there.
done, they called him and I'd always say, otis, I'm gonna take your
job from you and he said, go ahead, try it, 'cause he was so well
liked there was 100s of people there at his retirement

He washed cars and he used to make awful
When they wanted anything

They told you.

party.

IB:

And that was held in the clubhouse?

Haight:

Yes, all these parties but ah, and then one time I was telling you
about this Zimmer that was so religious
heard that that, our president,
wife was going to be stopping at the crossing
come over and he said, I want to tell you something_
this porch all cleaned and I mean clean and we used to put flags out
and it was chairs out in front where people come and set.
was nic::e.

or was so Republican
Nixon and Pat and Eisenhower

at Grand Truck so he

that he
and his

He said, I want

I mean, it

IB:

On the porch.

Haight:

Oh, that didn't go over too good.

Yes, and I said to him, he said, I want you to put the flags all out
and in a joking way, I meant as a joke, I said, do you want me to put
13 flags out.
That didn't go over
good.
Eisenhower
a while and he let the whole shop out and that was something
He let the whole shop out so they could come over and be there when
Nixon come in.

and his wife and Nixon and there was Pat and he talked for
unusual.

Well, anyway, so up come, and so the train come in.

It w~s

18:

So they were lined up all along the track, then, the workers were?

Haight:

Allover.

All Lansing was there.

IB:

And did you have a good spot where you could see?

Haight:

Well, I, I went up above so that I could look down, yes, I had a good
'cause when they, I'm right
spot because that was my job to be around
there and I mean, you better be there.
So, we had a lot of hockey players,
teams, all Detroit teams used to come there for, when the kids, so
that they could see the Tigers and all the, the hockey, Ted Lindsay
and Howe and all them fellows but when Governor
come down,
they had a big doings uptown and I got a chance to see President
Kennedy.

hockey teams there, the baseball

That's my job for 30 years.

Williams

•

•

•

Vi vern (Vern). Haight
2/4/93
Page 23

18:

Oh, you did?

Haight:

Yup, I saw President

Kennedy.

18:

Did he come at the same, the Grand Trunk crossing,

too?

Haight:

No, no.
around Lansing.

No, he was uptown in front of the,. they were parading

him

IB:

So you saw him in front of the Capitol?

Haight:

then the

College.

at Community

And then I was

for I ever went home.

So this Mr. Hanson come tome

She, for 30 years, I had the same

and then if, when I worked overtime,

But I, so I did get a chance to see the end of

and I'd go pick her up and we'd
and thai? all had to be

Y.es, I went up there to pick up my daughter
She commuted back and forth.
hours, from 8:30 tillS
girls would stay right with me or my wife would come in, years ago
all the time on the bus, Greyhound,
spend our time, 8, 10 hours at the clubhouse
cleaned up for the next morning
up the next morning at 8:30, right back to work.
like I say, years.
it.
job for you.
down to Detroit.
to see Eisenhower.
Senator, there was some Senator, and when I got down there, there was
300 and some people setting on a podium, or setting at the head
table.
to go down on the train and I said, I think I'll drive.
and I went and we drove, I got a chance to sit beside Eisenhower
eat because when they got down to Novi, the truck hit, ah, the car
hit a truck and so it held 'em up so Ingham County people got a
chance so I pushed myself up to be just as close as I could to him.
and I saw Kennedy and I saw Truman
I've seen a lot of the presidents
and his wife.
Roosevelt
and I've seen President

and I want you
They're having a big banquet down there and the

one day and he says, say, I got a
He said, I want you and your wife to go

They had three tiers and so when it got down, we were suppose

I can't go and I got these tickets

That went on year,

I said, fine.

So my wife

and

18:

All here in Lansing?

Haight:

Yes.

IB:

Oh, how amazing.

Haight:

Yeah, and I saw Truman and then my wife and I drove out and we saw
Carter.
well, I've seen so many of 'em.

We've been out to Carter's

home, Plains, Georgia

and anyway,

18:

What did you think of Eisenhower?
thought he would be or •••

Was he as tall as you

•

•

• Vivern (VerA')Haight

2/4/93
Page 24

Haight:

Yes, yes, he was a tall man.
fac:t,I've got my book here on Richard Nixon.
a lot of 'em. Truman.

I read a lot about Eisenhower.

In

So, but ah, yeah, I sw

IA:

You were in a position to have this kind of an opportunity.

Haight:

Yeah, it was my, it was what I done and you see, years ago, in '26, I
saw Tom Nix and Hoot Gibson •••

IS:

You did?

Did they come to the clubhouse?

Haight:

No, they were in Lansing.

So I got a chance to see 'em.

18:

How did that happen? Where were they?

Haight:

I was going to Oak Park School and you remember the old, the park
there, it's still there, across from Motor Wheel and I see a crowd
out there and I went out there and there was Tom Nix and his horse
Tony.

18:

Oh, you must of been just a little guy.

•

Haight:

Yes, I was but that was a thrill.

IS:

IA:

How exciting for you.

Now did you, you grew up in Lansing?

Haight:

We left in '29.

IA:

You left Lansing in '29?

Haight:

In Depression time, we, yeah, we came here. My dad was a blacksmith.

IS:

Here in Webberville?

Haight:

Yes, and he used to shoe horses and I've seen him shoe horses many,
many times and throw 'em on their side 'cause they were mean.
had to stake their legs to the ground so they, so you could shoe 'em.
I went to school here in Webberville.

You

IA:

Sut you said he worked at the Reo, too?

Haight: At East Michigan, at the sales department.

18:

• Haight:

IS:

When did you start there?

Pardon?

When did you •••

•

(Vern) Haight

Vivern
2/4/93
Page 25

IA:

Tchat was, that was his dad.

Haight:

That was my dad.

IB:

Oh, your dad, that's where he went?

Haight:

Yes.

IB:

Okay.

Haight:

That's where they made the Reo Flying Clouds and my dad on Sunday,
his job, too, was to take 'em for trips to see how the brakes worked
and how the car worked and we'd always head for Holland,
I want to tell you, we'd really go.

That was his job.

Michigan

and

IB:

So he was a test driver?

Haight:

Yes, yes.

He was foreman, too.

IB:

Oh, he was.

Haight:

But that was his job.

IA:

Was this before or after he was a blacksmith
to get •••

'cause I'm just trying

Haight:

No, before.

IA:

He worked at the Reo before was here.

Haight:

Oh, yes.

IA:

Did he •••

Haight:

'26 , '27 •

IA:

Okay, and did he lose the job at the Reo because of the Depression?

Haight:

well, yeah, everybody.

Depression,
there in that Reo benefit,
years, Jess Stanley, he's dead and a f.ellow by the name of Monroe,
he's gone, but ah, it was the place to work, believe me.

lost their job and down
that, those two fellows had been there for

Everybody

IA:

Your dad thought

it was a good place to work, too?

Haight:

Yeah, everybody,

Oh, yes.
you worked at the Reo, you just call it the old soldiers
you had a job there for life and everybody

it was just, it was a, they called it when
home because

liked each other.

IB:

Did any of your other relatives

work at the Reo?

•

•

•

•

Vlvern (Vern) Haight
2/4/93
Page 26

Haight:

My brother-in-law, Ike Bennett and my father-in-law worked there,
Roger Bennett.

So •••

IA:

So when you showed up for work in 1945, you weren't going some place
strange 'cause you had a lot of people you knew that already worked
there?

Haight:

No, I didn't know nobody.

IA:

Oh, you didn't.

Haight:

They were strange to me.

IA:

But your dad had been there and •••

Haight: Well, I didn't know nobody though.

IA:

Right, you didn't personally know, yeah.

•

Haight:

No, no.

IB:

How did you happen to go to the Reo?

Haight:

I was working at Sears and Roebuck.

IB:

What were you doing there?

Haight:

I was manager out in their garage and when I went there, I didn't
pass for the Army and they said you'd better get into a place where
they're making parts for trucks, for Army, something to do •••

IB:

War material.

Haight: Yup, and so went out in the shop for three months and I worked for,
on a lathe and when that three months was up, the War was over, the
Second World War and so I got laid off and I was laid off for a long,
long time.

IB:

Oh, you were?

Haight:

Yes, and ah •••

IB:

IA:

What did you do during the interim, while you were laid off?

That's when he was working out at the farm, right?

Haight:

Yeah, I worked.

IB:

Oh, that's right. We talked about that.

•

(Vern) Haight

Vivern
2/4/93
Page 27

Haigh't: At Okemos, yeah, I worked out there and then I went to Oldsmobile
194Qand
I worked on the line and I was there when the last, when
they took all the spare tire off the car and all the chrome and I
worked there nine weeks.
worked you nine weeks and how they lay 'em off so they can't get with
tbe union and start drawing money and so when I got laid off, I was
drawing
expecting,

$7 a week unemployment
paying rent and •••

You know what they always did, they always

and it was tough going because we were

in

IS:

And having to drive back and forth, the gas and everything.

Haight:

Yup, yeah, and so that's why I went to Sears.
going back to Olds but I didn't like it there.

I had a choice of

IS:

You didn't like it.

Why, why was that?

Haight:Nope,

I didn't like working on the line.

IA:

Oh, it was line work.

Haight:

Yeah, I just didn't like it.

IS:

Monotonous?

Haight:

I just didn't like it.

Then I stayed, when the shop went down at

So I went to Sears and go in good with them and

Well, I just, no, it wasn't that.
like shop work.
stayed two and half years.
the Reo, I had a lot of parties that was booked and so they said,
are over with and then give us the
well, you stay until these parties
So after, so this Eaton come by
key.
you're, that you was ready to retire
and he said, Vern, I understand
So he went to
and I said, yes, I have my 30 years and three months.
Mr. Shelly and, that worked at Reo and he said, Shelly,
••••••••• he
said, take care of him and so I went over to John Seam after retired.

will be done.

The clubhouse

I didn't

•

IS:

Oh, you did?

Haight:

Yes, 11 years.

IA:

Oh, you worked there 11 more years.

Haight:

And I worked on 11 more years for Mr. Shelly.

IS:

What did you do at the John Beam.

Haight:

•

Some thing. Washed their car.
throw the marble in the room and it just rolled allover
was to be done, it was mine and I used to go to the bank for 'em.
to bank, wash their cars and anything that they had to be done and
I'd work three hours, 8:30 till 11:30 and they paid me good enough

you just
and what job
Go

I was just like a marble,

•

Vivern (Ve~n) Haight
2/4/93
Page 28

that my wife would go in with me, set in the car and wait three hours
far me and then we'd go out to eat, go to shows and go to Las Vegas.

18:

You enjoyed life.

Haight:

Yeah, yeah, sa I got a chance to see Woody Herman, Counte Bassie,
Stan Kenton, Liberace, Elvis Presley, Wayne Newton, Tom Jones, Frank
Sinatra and Sammy Davis, Jr.

IA:

Oh, these people at Las Vegas?

Haight:

Yes, they come to Lansing, a lot of 'em, too.

IB:

Some of 'em did.

Haight: And Detroit so I got a chance to see 'em all, Tom Jones and Tony
Martin, or Tony Bennett, oh, just so many of 'em, country music.

IB:

How was the Elvis show? Was it pretty good?

Haight:

There were 62,000. That, when I retired in '75, Elvis was at the
Pontiac Stadium, there was 62,000 of us there that night.

IB:

Close to the end of his career then?

Haight:

Yes, and my son-in-law was a cousin to Elvis Presley.

IB:

~eally?

Haight:

Yeah, and I'd been out to, I'd been out to Graceland.

IB:

In Memphis.

Haight:

Yes, and I've seen Mickey Rooney.

IB:

Oh, you have?

Haight: Alice Faye, oh, I liked her, Alice Faye.

IB:

Wasn't she lovely?

Haight:

Yeah.

IA:

Did you know any, I'm gonna change the subject a little bit.
know any of the people who worked in the clubhouse before you?
there some of the other people around •••

Did you
Were

Haight:

I've heard his name. His name was Harden and I guess he was so bad
of having rheum, arthritis and it just took him minutes, hours
sometimes to even get out of the car to get inside.

•

•

•

•

•

(Vern) Haight

Vivern
214/93
Paqe 29

IB:

So he really could'n't do much of a job then?

Haight:

I don't know, and all that nice equipment

that we had at the

No.
Reo, the projectors,

they gave that to Civic center.

IA:

IS:

Oh, they did?

on, they did?

Haight:

It was all gived to the Civic Center.

IS:

When the clubhouse

closed?

Haight:

No, no, while I was there.

IA:

No, they stopped showing the movies.

Haight:

They quit showing the movies and they gave all the projectors
Civic Center.

to

IS:

Oh, okay.

I'll catch on in a minute.

Haight:

It was 115 foot long and 68 foot wide and

was built in 1917 and it was
and they had a huge stage, four

And you see this clubhouse
built for the employees
dressing
rooms.
we used to have a lot of bingo parties there and Gerry Surn
would be up there calling the numbers but ah, I just, I just
You never said, I
can't tell you the feeling there was.
never had a feeling,
Never.
You talk to anybody and they'll tell ya, Vern Haight was
I was sick, hurt, I was there.
always on the job, whether

I don't want to go to work.

IS:

What happened to all the things in the clubhouse
ended, when the Reo went out of business?

when everything

Haight:

Well, there was a, I have a picture of it out there, there was a, an
auctioneers
that the old
car, the '33 went to Portland.
over there bought it and I have a lot of, that organ up there, that
they brought

I understand
The fellow that runs the elevator

from Olds' home, I have seven of the reels that •••

come in and auctioned

it off.

IA:

IS:

Oh, the tapes.

The rolls.

Haight:

Rolls, yeah.

IS:

Oh, you do?

Haight:

Yup, I never knew where that organ went.

• Vivern

2/4/93
Page 30

(Vern) Haight

IS:

Well, I think that it went to Idaho.

Haight:

Went to Idaho?

18:

let me see, '89, in '89 or '90

the Museum there, I got a phone call from a

The reason I think that is because,
when I was managing
museum in Idaho and I cannot remember what city.
and they wanted to sell it and they wanted to know if we would buy it
since, you know, we're the R.E. Olds Museum and we kicked it around
and it's so big we
for a while but it would have been so expensive
didn't know, how could we afford to ship it back here.
Where would
we put it when we got it where it could be •••

They had the organ

Haight:

And it didn't work.

IS:

It didn't work?

Haight:

• IS:

Haight:

No, not at the very end.
everybody
because

it just didn't work.

working on it and it just, you're better off without

it

Maybe 10 years it never worked.

They had

Hum, that's interesting.

I have a film upstairs

and all that, they jult couldn't

Sut it did work at one time but I do have the rolls

They would come up there at noon hour and work on it, fellows that
worked in the engineering
work right.
upstairs.
and they got up there in the hills, mountains,
it's a picture of, and when they're riding along, the black kids, you
know, they never seen a truck and the lions would be laying along
and they got up there in the hills or
side the road and giraffes
mountains,

of fellows that went over to Africa

I guess, and they,

there is mountains

isn't there?

in Africa,

get it to

IA:

IS:

Oh, sure.

Yes.

Haight:

okay, well, they got up there in the mountains,

Alright,
trying to go up these hills with this, with this truck and they'd get
stuck.
other trucks to get the truck out.

They have to put chains on the truck and keep pulling with
I have that in a film upstairs.

th.ey was

IS:

Were those Reo trucks?

Haight:

Yes, yes.

IS:

• Haight:

Who went on this expedition?

Someone

from the Reo?

Yes, Lonnie Hudson was in charge of it.

•

(Vern) Haight

Vivern
2/4/93
Page 31

18:

So several men that worked there went on this safari?

Haight:

At the Reo, yes, Lonnie Hudson was in charge of it.
away and his son worked at, in engineering.

Sut ah •••

Now, he's passed

IS:

I wonder how the Reo trucks got to Africa.
if they'd been sold there to a safari company or something?

Had they been, I wonder

Haight:

I don't know whether they drove them there •••

IS:

That's interesting.

Haight:

Sut see, ••••••••••••••••
up there and they would see if they could climb the mountains
much power they had.

and they would go over the mountains

and go
and how

IA:

Like an endurance

test.

Haight:

It was to test, it was testing.

IS:

That's what I was just thinking.
testing them.

Maybe that's what it was.

It was

Haight:

Yes, testing them.

IS:

Hum, that is so interesting.

I never knew they did that.

Haight:

Yup, so, it, ah, oh, there's
you'd be here a long time but it was a place.

so much, if I sat here and told you,

IS:

It was a family.

that we have talked to right, even one person we didn't,

we've talked to has said the same thing.
Everybody

Everyone
everybody
home.
have one person we 'interviewed that started out saying" didn't like
it there, so on and so on, didn't have that family feeling.
didn't agree with that.
the end of the interview
memorabilia,
to you and toward the end of the interview,
miss it.

It was just a place to work but he said at
and he kept all kinds of picture~

you don't keep things unless it really meant something

cared about one another and we

he was saying, I kind a

It was their

and

He

Haight:

Did you ever interview Leberette?

IS:

Who?

Haight:

Leberette.

IS:

No.

•

•

• Vivern (Vern) Haight

2/4/93
Page 32

Haight:

Well, there's a fellow you should talk to because he's out in the
shsp. He just lived Res.

18:

What, I guess I don't •••

Haight:

Leberette.

18:

Lowberette?

Haight:

Leberette.

18:

I wonder, how would you spell that?

Haight:

I don't know. Leberette.

18:

IA:

18:

Leberette, okay, and he lives in Lansing, do you think?
alright.

Well, that's

Well, I'll spell it the way it sounds.

Yeah, I did, too.

Perhaps somebody else might know, too.

•

Haight:

I should know it.

18:

That's alright.

Haight:

Leberette, in fact, he had his wedding reception there, in the
clubhouse up in Steering Gear Room and you know, I was trying to
think •••

(Woman) Lowell

Haight:

Lowell Leberette.

18:

Thank you.

Haight: And he works, last I knew, he works over near the Capital Airport.

(end sid, 1) Press department, he was one of the formens and his boy
just got killed. He was in service and he just got killed in an
automobile accident.

18:

Here in the states?

Haight:

Yes, yes.

18:

Oh, for goodness sakes.

• Haight: And I knew his wife and he has two daughters that's working for

Meijer Thrifty Acre and I used to hold that little kid in my arms,
the boy, and he had beautiful kids. Oh, them girls, they were, you

Vivern (Vertl) Haight
2/4/93
Page 33

know, the Mexican girls, they were pretty girls.
family.

He raised a nice

IA:

IB:

Yeah, we had a nice time talking to him.
We went over there to talk with him there.

He works over at Demmer.

We talked to his wife on the phone and she just seemed so friendly
and nice.

Haight:

Oh.

IA:

IB:

We met her at the reunion at Coral Gables.

Yeah, that's right, we did.

Haight:

Yeah, she's a little gal.

IB:

Do you go to the Reo reunions?

Haight:

No, I've never been to one.
that's it.

When I gave the key, I just kind a said,

IA:

You moved on.

Haight:

Yup and they've asked me and asked me to come but, a lot of times,
we've been traveling a lot and ah, now you're lucky to find me here
today because we were, I have a son-in-law that has property up
across the straits near ••••••• , ••••••• and ah, we would have been
up there.
collecting
mother, his family but the time, like I say, you've come at the wrong
time.

But I have pictures out in the garage that I have been
for 50 years.

I'll back my car out and let you see 'em.

I have pictures of R.E. aIds' dad and

18:

We'd like to.

Haight:

And the big band, I have their picture of the Reo band, two pictures
of 'em and I have a picture of the whole Reo years ago that shows the
South Washington
the Reo and all the women that worked in the office, they're all
standing on this canopy.

Thank God it didn't drop through.

all the people that worked at

and North Washington,

IB:

IA:

Right, oh.

When it was good.

Haight:

Yes.

IA:

Oh, my.

•

•

•

•

•

(Vern) Ha!ght

Vivern
2/4193
Page 34

Haight:: Oh, I was gonna tell ya.

There was, there was, when Henry Hunt was

there, there was, oh dear, there was a fellow that, author, a poet
that used to come from Detroit.

IS:

Ob, Edgar Guess

Haight:

Edgar Guess and I met him there.

IS:

Ob, you did?

Edgar Guess, oh, when he came, man, you better be on the

Haight:

Oh, yeah.
ball.

IS:

Oh, really?

Haight:

Yes.

IS:

Why is that?

Haight:

Well, he's, he was Henry Hunt's friend and everything
right.

had to be just

IB:

Henry Hunt, HUN

T?

Haight:

in engineering

his son worked

had to be just so, so.

He was the second president

Yeah, and his son, oh, the president,
and everything
You know, Joe Scheer came one
that I knew and they went and had
time.
a nice picture of Henry Hunt made and they put it, hung it up in the
Steering Gear Room and they put a cloth over it, you know, and
everybody
stood around there and thought
pulled that down, ohhh, talk about a man being mad.
Christ fellows.
Get
that picture down and don't never put it up again so we put it up in
the attic and after a few years, then Mr. Tucker took it down to
Oh, they all stood
Detroit where Scheer lived.
there, you know, everybody
didn't go over so good.
is coming here.
Roberts

one day, they said to me, Dale

He. said, I'm not dead.

He said, I ain't dead.

it was a great deal.

Well, that cheering

Oh, was he mad.

He said, holy

all that.

cheerin',

Another,

They

IS:

Oh, yes.

Haight:

You know who he is?

IB:

Yes, I do.

Haight:

•

all in good shape.

And they said, ~e're gonna have him spend the day so get the
clubhouse
all Lansing was there and he bought a lot of trucks
'cause he had a
lot of horses and he moved these horses around in these trucks down
in California

but talk about a good looking guy.

So he came to the clubhouse

and most

• Vivern (Vern) Haight

2/4/93
Page 35

IS:

Yes, he was.

I wish I'd been there that day.

Haight:

He was handsome. Well, you've seen him on television now, haven't
you, where he drives that big car around, his hair is gray and has
big, long horns on the front of his car.

IS:

He's from Oklahoma.

Haight:

Ye.ah,he was •••

IB:

The Reo special built some of his horse vans and his trucks and
things for him.

Haight: Yes.,yup.

Bought a lot of 'em.

IB:

So you got to meet him or you just saw him?

Haight:

No, no, no.

Talked with him.

IB:

• Haight:

Haight:

IB:

Did they have 'a banquet for him or a lunch or •••

No, no, he just came in and I talked to him.

Did ya?

Oh, yeah.

IB:

What'd you two talk about?

Haight: Well, we just talked about his horse and the movies he made and a lot

of kids came in and they said, well, Dale, where's your horse and he
said, I left it back in Hollywood.
They said, we wanted to see your
horse so bad.
come a week ahead of time, the kids.

Yeah, and some even had •••••••• time to come, they

IA:

They were so excited.

Haight:

So excited to see him, yeah. And I seen Blackstone.

IB:

The magician?

Haight:

Yeah.

Boy, I've seen so many.

IA:

Sounds like anybody who was famous who came to Lansing ended up one
way or another at the clubhouse.

• Haight: Well, somewhere, now, somewhere along the line, you got a chance to

see 'em but a lot of 'em we'd go to Las Vegas and we'd go to, oh,
what's that other place.

•

Vivern (Vern) Haight
2/4/93
Page 3;6

IB:

Atlantic City?

Haight: Atlantic City and then we saw Mickey Rooney in Chicago or in Detroit,

New York, the Sugar Babies.

IS:

Sugar Babies.

Haight: Yup, and he left there and went to England. A lot of 'em.

IB:

A lot of 'em came through the clubhouse, though, didn't they over the
years?

Haight:

Yes.

IB:

A lot of important people, local and statewide and countrywide.

Haight:

That's right, anybody that was something and then when the Civic
Center come in then it gradually begin to go down and that's when it
began to hurt.

•

IB:

IA:

IB:

When did the Civic Center first get built?

Some time in the '60s or '50s?

Sometime in the '50s•••

Haight:

'50s, '60s, somethin' like early '60s, yeah.

IB:

Late '50s, early '60s.

Haight: And now, now they're going down.

IB:

Yeah, they have a new one.

Haight:

Yup, they're going down.

IA:

Mr. Haight, I just have a couple of questions. One of the things
that I like to know about is family background a little bit.
there's just a couple more things.
dad but I wanted to know, was he born in Michigan, too, like you?
Was he born he?

I know a little bit about your

So

Haight:

Dakotas.

IA:

He was born out in the Dakotas? Were they ranches or settlers out
there?

Haight:

I don't know. All I know, my dad was 13 years old when he left home.

IA:

He left without his family on his own?

•

•

•

Vivern (Vern) Haight
2/4/93
Page 37

Haight: Well, yeah, he j.ustwanted to go out and do something. He run away

from home when he was 13 and he went to shoe, horseshoes at Ringling
Brothers and Barnum Bailey and then he'd been over the Panama Canal
a:Rdshot a lot of the mules and he said they used to die there by the
hundreds.

IA:'

cause of the malaria.

Haight:

Yeah, and working so hard and it was so hot.

IB:

Oh, the mules died.

Haight:

Yes.

IA:

And how did he end up here after all those adventures?

Haight:

Well, I don't know unless he got to ramblin' around and kind a liked
Michigan and then my mother was born in Indiana.

IA:

Okay.

Haight:

There's a funny thing. My dad had a glass shoe and my mother had a
right shoe, ah, glass and when they got together, they were mates.
They were mates.

IB:

IA:

Haight:

18:

IA:

My goodness sake. Oh, that's kind a spooky.

Yeah.

So my dad shod horse around Lake Odessa and Mulligan.
born in Mulligan.
a month and then we went to, lived on Thompson Street, 1905
Thompson Street.

I was
Then we went, I think I lived there about

In Lansing?

In Lansing on the north side?

Haight:

Yeah, Lansing, yup.

IA:

So you don't know how they both ended up here, your mom and your dad?

Haight: Well, yeah, because the Depression come on and my dad went back

shoeing horses so the horse, right down here at the end of the
street, there was a blacksmith shop.

18:

Oh, really?

Haight:

Yeah.

•

•

•

•

Vivern(Vern)
2/4/93
Page 38

Haight

IA:

What I meant was how he ended up in Lansing, you know, from all of
his travels and everything.

He just came.

Haight:

They just met and he shod horses in Mulligan and •••

IA:

Oh, I see, in the area.

Haight:

In that area.

IA:

Where'd he meet your mother?

Haight:

Pardon?

IA:

Did they meet here, your dad and your mom, did they meet here?
mean, in the mid-Michigan

area?

I

Haight:

Yes, they were married in Charlotte.

IA:

Oh, okay.

Haight:

So, and my dad used to go out, over here to Fowlerville
and shoe horses and I was with him the day the horse kicked him.

Fairgrounds

IB:

A horse kicked him?

Haight:

in '29 and it pretty near pushed him right out through the

Yeah, one of the race horses and there weren't, years ago, those old
buildings,
side of the building and he said this is the last horse I'm ever
gonna shoe.
here and went to Oldsmobile
the line and then, I don't, something about engineering,
was it, for he got through, well, where they make tools.

None of the other horses ever kicked me.

and he was a smart cookie and he was on

I think that

So he quit

IB:

Tool and die?

Haight:

Tool and die, yup.
and dad are buried up here in Webberville

He died in 1962.

Cemetery.

No, I'm wrong, 1952.

My mother

IA:

It sounds like he had a very interesting early life.

Haight:

Yeah, he'd been around.

IB:

I think you've had a very interesting
going.

life so far and it's still

Haight:

The only part about this, when I retired I was 56.

IS:

Oh, you took a retirement

from the Reo or Beam?

Haight:

Well, when it went down •••

•

•

(Vern) Haight

Vivern
2/4/93
Page 39

IB:

Oh, that's right, of course.

I keep forgetting.

Haight:

IB:

When they went down in '75, I was 56.
I'm pretty lucky to have all these years of retirement.
married

a nice gal here.

Now I'm 74.

So you see, but
And I

Did you get any kind of, I know a lot of the people that worked at
Reo lost the benefits,
what happened
were you caught up in that situation,

Did you get retirement

at the very end.

and everything

retirement

benefits

benefits

else in

too.

or

Haight:

No, no.

No, I, I got my retirement.

IA:

You did, oh, good.

Haight:

Because

I had my 30 years and three months.

IB:

And so you retired before they closed the doors?

Haight:

No, a·fter.

IB:

After, but you were lucky enough to get your retirement?

Haight:

Yup, and I invested money and bought a lot of stock and different
things and •••

IB:

We've talked to so many people who didn't get anything
know, in the bankruptcy
benefits
eventually

got $100 a month or whatever.

lost their retirement

from, you
and maybe

Haight:

Well, I know a lot of the fellows that lacked maybe a week of gettin'
their retirement
themselves.

and I think some fellows, a couple fellows shot

IA:

Yeah, we heard about that.

Haight:

And they turned out to be alcoholics
because a lot of women say, well, you ain't got nothing.
worked all these years, you haven't got anything.
it quits.

It was a sad deal.

It was sad.

and a lot of 'em, divorces

You've

We're gonna call

IB:

Very tragic.

Haight:

Yes.

IB:

•

when you worked your entire life thinking

Especially
retire from that place and you'll have enough to live on and then
suddenly the rug's pulled out.
whose husband was in that same position

We had a volunteer

and he went, didn't do good.

you're going to

at the Museum

•

(Vern) Haight

V!vern
2/4/93
Page 40

Haight:

What was his name?

IS:

and he had a nervous breakdown

Let me think a minute,
never the same after that.
know, with the settlement
some. such thing and she said it cost more than that just for
insurance.
this moment.

I'll have to think about her name.

His wife said eventually

He's passed away now.

and he was
they got, you

they got a little, $130 or $150 a month or

I can't recall it at

Haight:

There's Bob Montague.

Ever interviewed

him?

IS:

Bob Montague?

Haight:

His wife just passed away.

Yes.
class what he walked.
he was, they used to dress good.
was a club in Lansing,
Clark ••••••••••••

He was a handsome man.

Hehad

God, the women just loved to see him.

I mean,
I was trying to think of the, there

Clark's, Clark, what is it •••••••••••••••

IS:

He's so worried but it's fine.

Haight:

Yeah, it was Clarks.
go up Clark's Tailoring •••

What we would do, the Steering Gear Club would

IB:

Oh, Clark Tailors.

Haight:

There used to be on Allegan.

On Allegan.
guys would, I mean, they would dress.
we'd have the card parties,
mean, we had a lot of pretty women and I tell ya, they were
something.

They've moved now.

the girl's club would put it on and I

They really had suits and when

The

JA:

We've heard about some pretty wild, they had parties up in the
Steering Gear Club and we were told that they had lots of parties up
there.

Haight:

Yes.

IA:

Louie used to tell us •••

Haight:

Oh, Louie liked to drink.

He liked his drinks.

IB:

I can ••••••••• he's a party guy.

Haight:

Oh, yeah.

Oh, he was a nice fellow.

IB:

Yes, he is.

We liked him •

Haight:

Oh, you couldn't help but like Louie but I tended bar up there in the
Steering Gear Room and when some of the fellows come in, I knew 'em.

•

•

•

(Vern) Haight

Vivern
2/4l93
Page 41

You knew everybody

'cause you know, all keyed up during the day and they'd

and when I'd
You know, you knew every foreman.
come in, they'd say, well, we want a triple shot, a triple to calm
'em down,
have double shots and we'd have parties up there.
a lot of cards till one or two o'clock in the morning
want to get up and fight.
saw anybody get boisterous,
buddies.
were.

That's all there was to it.

They were friends.

They'd play cards,
but you never

They were all
We all

IA:

Did the steering Gear have its own, or the clubhouse
separate
a regular restaurant

getting a liquor license?

liquor license from the city, you know, or was it just like

have its own

Haight:

Well, gee, that's my job to take care of it.
yeah, we had a liquor license.

I don't think we had,

IA:

I guess you would have to.

Haight:

•

and they would drive up with
that Schlitz beer up there and

Yeah, we had to and they'd bring, we had a lot

Yeah, we'd have to.
of steps come up along side the building
their truck and we'd have to carryall
that was another one of my jobs and carry that Schlitz beer up there
and have it all cold and iced for 'em.
there, boy,. they were ready to, and then they'd go down in the
basement,
the big ballroom
that big, huge screen.
as some of these movies got today.
115 foot and big pictures,
things.
time, we had in Bo, from Michigan,
Schembeckler.

for the foremens and speakers
of Michigan,

Oh, it was just like, it was as nice a screen

and that's where they had the banquets

that we'd show movies and different

They were huge that would show

Well, when they'd come in

in the main lobby or in

down in the basement

It was educational

and sometimes

and we had

University

and one

Bo

IA:

IB:

oh, Bo Schembeckler.

Oh, Schembeckler.

Haight:

Yeah.
how •••

You know the fellow that used to announce

over the radio

IB:

Ernie Harwell?

Haight:

'.

Well, we've had, I got a ball out in the garage area signed by Ernie
Harwell,
but ah, we just, well, I was gonna tell you about Biggie
Munn and when he was up to the podium talking and he said to the
boys, the white boys, black, too, he said, I'm gonna tell you
doing?
fellows.
They start up at J.C. Penneys and they run the whole length out to
Michigan
that, you ain't gonna be on the team and look at 'em today.

He said, do you see these black boys what they're

you boys, you white boys don't start doln'

State University,

Look

• Vivern (vern) Haight

2/4/93
Page 42

who's taking over today.
you guys get in these busses and ride out there.
them busses.

You start walking, or start running.

The black are good athletes but he said#,

He said, get off

IB:

You're gettin' soft.

Haight:

Yes, but so while he was standing there, Oldsmobile had brought over,
after they won the Rose Bowl, they brought on the stage this
beautiful Oldsmobile. You never seen so much chrome on an automobile
in your life and when I pulled open the curtains his knees buckled.
Tchatwas his.

IA:

IB:

Oh, wow.

It .s a gift to him.

Haight:

It was a gift and another good speaker was Daugherty.

IB:

Oh, really?

Haight:

• IB:

Haight:

Oh, when he had a few drinks in him •••

Duffy Daugherty.

Daugherty could talk.

IB:

Could he?

Haight: Yes, he was good. You just couldn't help but like Duff Daugherty.

IB:

Well, look at the Perles who doesn't know how to speak but it's still
fun to listen to.

Haight:

But Daugherty was Irish and he loved to tell stories.

IB:

He had the gift.

Haight:

He could tell 'em. Roll right out of your seat on the floor but he
was good.

I talk too much?

IA:

No, I was just, I'm getting anxious to see the pictures 'cause you
keep telling us about them.

Haight: Well, you want to go out?

IB:

• Haight:

Yes, we'd love to.

Well, why don't you wait
It's kind of cold out.

here just a second till I move my cars out.

Vivern (Vern) Haight
2/4/93
Page 43

IS:

I'll back mine up.

I think I'm parked right behind you.

Haight:

Got to move two cars there.

IS:

Okay •

•

•

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