The Last Leg of the Circumnavigation: West Virginia at night in 1955/56: a Wild Ride! And more car trouble! But first:
A Lesson in Labor Relations and Other Complications
During that second week at Ford, we started to work one morning and the car would not start. Maybe, it was the battery. It just wouldn’t turn over. A new acquaintance offered to give us a shove and start the car that way. The problem was his bumper was too high to meet our bumper. So I decided to stand on his bumper so my weight would force down the bumper of the car pushing and meet the bumper of the car being pushed so we could get the shove we needed. It worked. The car started. But this was another instance where I failed to think things through before acting. The problem was when the driver stopped rather suddenly I flew off my perch on the bumper and hit the pavement with my head. This slowed us down a bit so I got to work late. When I checked with my boss, he told me I didn’t work there any longer. They fired me for coming in late. My story and the bumps and scratches on my face made no difference. I was out the door and my dream of returning to school was history — at least for a while. But then I learned something — a very important lesson. One of the old timers who had been working there for several years asked me if I was a union member. Of course the union had signed me up the day I started, so I said yes. Then, he takes me by the arm and walks me down the aisle a ways and introduces me to the union steward. I explained to him what had happened. Upon hearing my story he says come with me. He spoke to my supervisor and the super told me what my job would be and welcomed me back into the labor force. This makes me wonder about becoming a ‘right to work state.’ Maybe we need to think this through. One person is powerless in the face of corporate will. But, if you are a member of the union…
The Second Major Lesson Learned at Ford: A Lesson in Labor Negotiation
Working for Ford taught me many things that I found worthwhile. Let me tell you about one of these insight producing events. Of course, it doesn’t amount to anything great, but it did make me a little wiser.
One day my supervision put me at the head of the production line that was stamping out a support component for a Thunderbird frame. So being first on the line I wanted, of course, to make production. Further, I wanted to demonstrate that I not only could make production, I could reach new levels of production. Well, so much for good intentions. It wasn’t long before one of the guys down the line walked over and offered me some helpful instruction concerning union sanctioned production goals and the processes of negotiation that arrived at these goals. Well this short course in labor relations fell on deaf ears. I continued to pour it on. The next level of response was that the union man began throwing the production excess on the floor. Well this was okay with me. I was making the rest of the line look bad. But I was looking good — in my own eyes anyway. Well, at break time I made another discovery. Union people have more than one way of getting their point across. The man who had offered the friendly advice and one of his cohorts who was even larger than he approached me during our union sanctioned break — but armed this time with one of the cross members he had been throwing onto the floor. Thus armed he proceeded to make threats of violence upon my person that were unmistakable in their intent and pertained to the crippling condition in which he intended to leave me if I continued my misguided ways. Well, I was stubborn and no doubt would have pushed this gentleman and his cohorts to the point of committing an act of violence. Apparently I could not feel the fear that his words tried to convey. I was hardened to punishment by my early years and it was difficult to make me feel fear or even prudent insights favoring self-preservation. So I continued my self-righteous ways.
Well, as this excess production accumulated it got the attention of the supervisor who began to make inquiries. The result of his interest in the matter was that he took me off the line and put me on a machine where I worked by myself. This seemed to be acceptable to the union and management, though my efforts to reform the union in favor of my personal work philosophy went down the drain. Can we label this: lesson learned?
Upon reflection and supported by years of additional education and experience I came around to a more enlightened point of view. The labor unions work hard to defend the rights and dignity of individuals in the labor force. If it were not for the union, the individual laborer would be at the mercy of the various company people. And of course the company man would be constantly pushing to meet company goals — even if it meant wearing down and wearing out the individual worker. Of course the point of view of management and investors must also be a major consideration. Well that was already in place when I arrived at Ford and they had worked out the details without my assistance. Once I discovered this I became more content just to do my job and serve both the union and the company interest.
Closing the Circle: Back to Tennessee — Trip 7
To close the circle we needed to make it back to East Tennessee. So, a week or maybe two after landing the job at Ford (first payday, flush with cash) we headed home on Friday evening right after work. The driving was easy at first. Then we hit West Virginia. West Virginia roads in 1955/56 were not the roads of today. Though they were under construction — with limited success. There was no interstate super highway to smooth out the curves and lower the mountains. I am confident the roads of that era followed cow trails, wagon roads, or old hunting trails. For miles uphill and down we were swinging hard right then hard left. Then, there were the coal trucks to contend with. When you got behind one you were just stuck there because you would not find a safe opportunity to pass for many, many miles. And to attempt to pass without a clear view could put you face to face with a coal truck coming at you head on.
It was fun at first, but it soon became a major chore. Then after several hours of tiring driving and very late at night our generator quit charging. What to do? We couldn’t charge the battery, so we couldn’t use the headlights to see the highway. What to do? Well to make it to Tennessee and back before work on Monday we had to keep driving. Well, as they say: ‘necessity is the mother of invention.’ So, we invented. Traffic was not heavy at all in this neck of the woods — no, it’s not what you are thinking. No one had to sit on the hood and hold a flashlight while the other drove, not at all. We fell in behind a lone tractor trailer, blinked our lights a couple of times, and then turned them off. He understood. Now all the battery had to do was provide the energy to fire the spark plugs. This could keep us going all night, and it did — thanks to a very agreeable trucker. Early next morning we pulled into an auto parts house. Thirty minutes later we were back on the road with a hot battery and a generator that was charging. And now we were making good time. We would soon be in Tennessee.
Roads Diverge — Could This Be Called Kidnapping?
Well, with a good job, my friend began to think he could support a wife, and he had a girlfriend in Tennessee that he wanted to marry. Well I didn’t know exactly what he had in mind — if anything, but this was the weekend he decided to bring back a wife — and her girlfriend. His wife was not 18 years old and did not have her mother’s permission.
It was strange the way this guy went about getting a wife. In fact, as I look back on it. He obviously had a long running relationship with this girl. Further, looking back, I recall this girl was from a poorer part of Johnson City and must have been either crazy in love as only a teenager can be, or dumb. Or, possibly, just wanted to escape the life she was in. Obviously, her parents didn’t want this marriage, and tried to prevent it. So my cohort and his girlfriend engineered an elopement. Anyway, as it turned out when we headed back to Ohio, he had a wife with him, and she had a girlfriend with her.
Parting of the Ways: Good Bye Old Friend
The first day back at work I responded to a native Ohioan that I worked with, who had offered me room and board in his home, which was only a mile from the factory in Bedford. I immediately moved in with him. I didn’t even have to go back to Toledo to pick up clothes because my suitcase and all my worldly belongings had been lost in the hills of West Virginia over the weekend as we whipped through the mountains in the middle of the night. The trunk lid on the old car had come open and my suitcase had gone over some mountainside. When we discovered it was missing, we did a backtrack, but to no avail. No sign of the missing suitcase was ever found.
I did not like the arrangement my former traveling companion had made and wanted no part of it. Other than splitting up with my friend the other memorable event of that fall/winter was the death of Hank Williams. In fact, as I recall, Hank died in his car on a West Virginia highway. Even Hank couldn’t take the loneliness of that desolate drive — and he was a specialist in loneliness.
A New Friend
This young Ohio man, with whom I was now boarding, really impressed me. He had an amazing tolerance for cold weather. He would work on his car right through the winter in an unheated shed. I tried to help, but my fingers would just get painfully cold, go stiff, and refuse to move.
So the first major saga ends with a good job and a lot of experience. I was wiser for it. But, there is more to follow!!!
Map of a Mountain Man 