PLACES
WHERE I HAVE WORKED
Introduction
I worked for pay for over 50 years before retiring
in 2004. Prior to holding those paid
jobs, I had various jobs in and around my home.
My dad was very handy and I learned a lot by helping him do things. Some of those jobs were my responsibility as
a member of the family and I did them in that spirit. I didn’t have a formal allowance; but I got
things I needed and sometimes got money to buy things that I wanted. My formal working career began in 1963 with
my graduation from Western Reserve University. During that career I had the
opportunity to work in many very interesting buildings, mostly in the Cleveland
area. Prior to my graduation from college, I also had some jobs which supported
my interests and helped me save money for my education.
My
work history before graduating from Shaw High School
Throughout my youth if I needed money for any
purpose, such as buying something for myself or a present for somebody else, I was
able to get funds by mowing lawns, shoveling snow or doing other odd jobs.
The
Cleveland Press
In 1950, when I was 10 years old, I had my first
paid job as a paper carrier for the Cleveland Press, an afternoon paper, which
was Cleveland’s largest. At that time
there was one morning paper, the Plain Dealer, and two afternoon papers, the
News and the Press. This job was great experience for a young boy. It was usually passed along by an older
brother or close friend. My friend,
Ralph Pratt, had the route before me and he passed it on to me when he moved on
to other things.
When I moved to Nela View Road in 1953, the Press
route belonged to my best friend, David Reynard. David’s father was a teacher at Shaw High
School and as a result their family had the ability to take long summer vacations. I became David’s designated substitute for
several weeks each summer and at other times he needed help. My next door neighbor, Lewis Jones, also had
a nearby route and I became a substitute for him as well. Those substitute carrier jobs provided enough
spending money for me those years and helped develop my sense of responsibility
and work ethic.
Ricks
Radio and Record Store
One of my greatest interests during my teen years
was big band music and phonograph records.
When I was still living on Shaw Avenue and delivering the Cleveland
Press, I discovered Ricks Radio and Records on Euclid Avenue near Allandale
Road. It turned out that I spent most of
my paper route money on records at Ricks.
The store was owned by a married couple, Cappy and Kitty Ricks. Cappy
did the radio and TV repair in one section of the store while Kitty ran the
record store. I had been a regular
customer since about 1950 and I got to know the Ricks well. When I moved to Nela View in 1953 and didn’t
have a regular job, Kitty Ricks offered me a job at the Record Store. For me that was being like a kid in a candy
store.
I worked at Ricks for a couple of years. I didn’t make much money, about 50 cents an
hour; but I enjoyed the atmosphere and learned a lot. I probably spent most of my earnings on
records. That was near the end of the 78 rpm era; 45 rpm records were just
starting to come in as were 33 1/3 rpm LPs.
Most of the records I bought were 78s. I was just starting a collection
which now includes about a thousand 78s, hundreds of LPs, cassette tapes, 8
track tapes, reel to reel tapes, CDs and a lot of equipment on which to play
them, including a juke box for my 78s.
While working there I learned a lot about running a
small business including dealing with customers, handling money, and
maintaining a file system for old and new records. I also learned a lot about different styles
of music, because many of our regular customers had interests in specific types
of music. I also learned how to deal
with the various record company suppliers.
I remember one time Cappy came out of the repair office and told us he had
just heard a record that we probably should order. It was Mitch Miller’s Yellow Rose Of
Texas. Less than an hour later the
Columbia Records Rep came into the store with a box of that record. I guess they knew it was going to be a hit.
Another great interest of mine was radios and audio
equipment. I had been fascinated by radios since I was a little kid. At that time I hadn’t yet built a radio; but
I had taken several apart. I read every
book in the 538 Dewey series (electronics) in the East Cleveland Public
Library. While working at Ricks I had many opportunities to watch Cappy and
learn things about his work. In addition to repairing radios and TVs, he built
and maintained sound systems including one with large speakers on top of his
Ford Panel Delivery truck. The speakers
had come from Shaw Stadium after he had installed new ones there. Cappy was also a ham radio operator (W8DXW) and
inspired me to become one too.
In addition to working in the store, I spent most of
the summer of 1955 helping Cappy and Kitty restore an old farm in Montville,
Ohio. Since the record store was not
open on Mondays, we would go to the farm after work on Friday and stay there
until returning to work on Tuesday. On
the farm I helped with the garden, drove a tractor and helped to tear down an
old barn. I wasn’t paid for that work,
but it was great experience. I also went
with Cappy on some of his sound jobs including the drag races at the Akron
Airport, where I met Art Arfons with his “Green Monster” racing car. I also
spent many evenings with Cappy in his radio shack talking to other ham radio
operators around the world. My time with
Cappy and Kitty didn’t earn me a lot of money; but the experience did a lot to make
me the man I became. That is priceless and I owe them a lot.
The
Cleveland Heights Public Library
Another great interest of mine was reading. I learned early in life the wonders of the
East Cleveland Public Library. I learned how to use the card catalog when I was
a student at Prospect Elementary School.
With help from the friendly librarians I became an avid library
user. That interest in libraries
followed me throughout my l life. That
may have something to do with the fact that I am married to a librarian and I
served several years as President of the Friends of the Beachwood Library.
While I was at Shaw High School in about 1956, I
discovered that the Cleveland Heights Public Library was looking for a part
time library page at the Lee Road branch.
I lived on Nela View Road, which was in Cleveland Heights, but part of
the East Cleveland School District. I was really a part of two communities. At
that time I felt more like an East Clevelander.
We moved there so I could continue to attend the East Cleveland schools. Taking a job at the Lee Road branch library
introduced me to the community in which I was later to live for about twenty
years. The library was three miles from
my home, too far to walk, which would have taken about an hour in each
direction. Fortunately I could take a
number 7 bus from Taylor and Monticello Blvd. transferring to the number 40 bus
at Lee and Mayfield Road.
Lee Branch Library
The job paid $ .70 per hour, which doesn’t sound
like much; but it was a lot for me at that time of my life. Working as a library page was a great
experience. It was a thrill to handle
all those books and to keep them in order so that I and others could later
retrieve them for our reading pleasure.
It also helped me during my later life when my detailed knowledge of the
Dewey decimal system helped in my search for knowledge. I worked at the Lee Branch and sometimes
filled in at the main branch on Coventry and Euclid Heights Blvd. for about two
years. It was an experience which did much to influence everything I did later
in life including my life today
My
work history while attending college
When I graduated from Shaw High School in June of
1958, I wasn’t sure what I would be doing for the rest of my life. One thing I was sure of was that whatever I did;
I would have to go to college. One thing
I didn’t know was how I would pay for it.
My high school record was not good enough to obtain a scholarship; so I
knew whatever I did, I would have to pay for it myself.
There was a mild recession going on the summer I
graduated. It was not easy to find a
job. Fortunately, my friend and fellow
Shaw graduate, Al Sattler, had an uncle who was service manager at Dowd
Oldsmobile in Cleveland Heights. His uncle arranged for Al, and his friends, Al
Clum and me, to attend the General Motors Training Center on Brookpark Road next
to the Chevy plant. The Training Center was
run by GM to train workers in the automotive field in the repair and maintenance
of GM products. We had week long sessions
on carburetors, electrical systems, body work, and other automotive
systems. After a summer of that
training, we were probably qualified for a lot of jobs in the automobile repair
field. For us it was a useful way to
spend our summer and for me it helped me in another one of my interests,
antique automobile restoration and repair.
However that was in my future, since I bought my first antique car in
1966, a 1929 Model A Ford.
Higbee
Department Store
I didn’t enter college in September 1958; so I did
some part time work before starting my University career at Kent State
University in January 1959. My first job
in downtown Cleveland was as a Christmas season employee at the Higbee
department store on Public Square. I was
a stock boy in the notions department.
The work was easy and it gave me an understanding of how large
department stores operate. Most of my
Tuition at Kent was
very reasonable, so the money I had earned and saved supported me during the
winter and spring quarters at Kent. I lived in a rented room off campus and ate
on a meal ticket in one of the dormitories. I completed my
first year at college during the fall quarter of 1959. I decided that I could save money by driving
to Kent in the fall while living at home.
That was a bad decision and helped me determine that I should transfer
to Western Reserve University where I could have a better campus experience
while also staying at home. So in January 1960 I began my college life at
Adelbert College of Western Reserve University.
Adelbert Hall at Western Reserve University
That turned out to be a great decision which resulted in obtaining a
great education and finding a life partner in my wife, Jean, who I married in
November 1962. Jean graduated in June
1962 and I decided to graduate in June of 1963 by going part time and
continuing to work at my campus jobs. Those
jobs which I held from January 1959 until June 1963 are discussed below.
United
States Railroad Retirement Board
At some point in my young
life I became aware of the Federal Civil Service system. Through that system you can obtain good jobs
in the federal government by taking a civil service examination. Many of those jobs are part time or temporary
and the pay is quite good. I learned about jobs available and took examinations,
which led to jobs that helped pay for my college education.
The first federal
agency for which I worked was the United States Railroad Retirement Board.
During the summers of 1959, 1960 and 1961 I received 3 month appointments as a
GS 4 File Clerk at the Board. These were
well paid and interesting full time jobs. The USRRB is the equivalent of the Social Security
System for railroad workers. We
processed claims for unemployment and other benefits for railroad workers in
Ohio and parts of Pennsylvania. When I
started work my duties were mostly filing client folders after claims had been
processed. Later they also had me
reviewing claims for benefits. By
working there I learned a lot about the various railroad job categories and the
places that those workers were employed.
I also learned that you can succeed in any job through hard work and
meeting expectations. I’m sure that I received my second and third appointments
with increased responsibility as a result of good performance in the first one.
The Public Square Building
;
The USRRB office was on
the second floor of the Public Square Building. That building was an old and
interesting place to work. It had been
on Public Square since 1895 and was demolished in 1990. The site of the building is now part of the
Sherwin Williams development. As an
older building, it did not have air conditioning. On some summer days the heat was almost
unbearable. To combat the heat salt
tablets were provided in the men’s room and there were a few days that we were
sent home early. Those days were few and
they didn’t affect my pay, because I was not an hourly employee.
This was my
introduction government employment and especially the Federal Civil
Service. I used that service
successfully at other times in my career including the next employer listed
below.
United
States Post Office
The United States Post Office employed extra workers
for the peak work load time around the Christmas holiday. For several weeks at that time mail was
delivered two or more times a day in most residential neighborhoods. In 1959 I went down to the East Cleveland
Post Office and applied for one of those jobs.
The post office for zone 12 was on Euclid Avenue near Windermere. I was assigned to work on mail routes in my
own neighborhood. After that first trip
to the Post Office I didn’t have to return there. The mail was delivered to one of the drop
boxes in my neighborhood. I was given a
key for the box and delivered the mail that was left there.
East Cleveland Post Office
The job paid well and was a great way to earn money
for holiday gifts and to save for the college tuition, which was due in
January. I worked two years delivering holiday
mail in my neighborhood. My last holiday
assignment for the Post Office was as a mail clerk at the downtown post
office. That assignment was in the
wonderful art deco building next to the Terminal Tower. I worked the second shift sorting and moving
mail around the large facility. I again
commuted to and from work by rapid transit just as I had when working at
Higbees and the Public Square Building.
Western
Reserve University
Starting in 1960 I was able to earn money working
for the university. One interesting job
I had was washing walls in the girl’s dormitories on Bellflower Road. Those dormitories were actually old houses,
which have since been torn down except for Guilford House, which has been
preserved. I and some other student employees were
assigned to work with full time members of the paint crew. Our leader was an Italian painter who smoked
little cigars and told us not to set a bad example by working too fast. He showed us how to move the bed to block the
door so we could take it easy for a while.
Even a menial job like that was a learning opportunity and I am an
excellent wall washer to this day.
Guilford House at Western Reserve University
Most of my work for the university was at The
Freiberger Library. I worked there
during the school year and at times during holiday breaks. For over three years my work at the library
helped pay tuition and some of my other expenses. I have already mentioned my love of libraries
and my experience at the Cleveland Heights Public Library.
Freiberger Library at Western Reserve University
My experience at Freiberger included working
in most sections of that large library.
I started out as a library page shelving books and keeping the area neat
and orderly. Eventually I worked at the
loan desk, reserve desk, and specialty areas such as government documents and
photo copy services. My experience working in libraries helped greatly in my
future work as well as when I was later working on my Master of Public
Administration degree at Cleveland State University.
