My first experience with Rockford came about to a disastrous day at the Tecumseh labs where I ws employed. I came home feeling totally shot. Martha said to sit down and have supper, things will look better in the morning. It didn’t take that long. During supper the phone rang, and it was a headhunter. He said he had gotten my name from a list when I left Bell Labs. He thought I might like to interview with Sundstrand in Rockford IL. I thought, what the hell, so I agreed to do it.
When I arrived in Rockford, I was picked up by one of their engineers and brought to the plant. I interviewed with the Chief Engineer and their Chief Designer. I was taken to lunch at the Flamingo restaurant which was delightful. Unfortunately, it no longer exists here. This was followed by a lengthy tour of their manufacturing facilities and the engineering laboratory. Their principal products were fuel units for oil burning furnaces. They had a small line of high-pressure hydraulic pumps. They were looking to expand the high-pressure line and were going to build a high-pressure dynamometer lab. The position they were wanting to fill was Lab Engineer.
At the end of the day, I was sitting in the Chief Engineer’s office. After a little chit chat he says to me, “I don’t think you can do this job”. I replied, “I never said I wanted it”. After a considerable pregnant pause, he asks if I am interested. I told him I wasn’t sure, send me an offer and I will think about it.
He did, I took it and stayed for thirty-four years.
