In my early days at Westinghouse, electric power systems used 28-volt direct current generators to provide the electric power required for airplanes. Control and protection devices were required to complete the power system. Our military business was involved with people at Wright Patterson Air force Base where our sales representative was Jack Crockford.

Tall with sandy colored curly hair, Jack was a young man in his twenties as were many of our coworkers. He made a trip to Wright Field almost weekly to keep up with developments there.

In the days before President Eisenhower convinced the powers-that-were that the interstate highway system was necessary for national defense, I sometimes was elected to go with Jack as an engineering representative. A lot of our work was to assist the Air Force people in writing specifications for future jobs, which of course we hoped to win.

Jack had a good appetite after our visits. He took various back roads home and knew of lots of places to get his favorite foods. I think his favorite was corn fritters. We stopped at the Corn Fritter Inn where they served corn fritters, no matter what dinner one ordered. Corn fritters were a doughnut-like concoction without a hole but heavy-laden with whole kernels of sweet corn embedded throughout, and served with maple syrup. Jack wasn’t satisfied with only the Corn Fritter Inn, so he found another place, the West Milton Inn, ten miles out of the way that served the delicacy. On our trip home we scarcely ever missed our fritters.

Jack did his sales job well and was a good-natured fellow who seemed to like his state-of-being as a bachelor, but he also had a dark side to his personality. He loved practical jokes, at someone else’s expense, of course. After my wedding he corrupted my new brother in law into helping him to pollute the bridal suite with corn fodder, toothbrush bristles in bed, and Limburger cheese on door knobs and on my car’s engine. This after he had been honored as an usher at our wedding.

Several other guys of our acquaintance were married in the next few years and Jack showed his prints in most of them. Most memorable to me was the La Rotunda wedding. It was a beautiful one that went as planned. I know it was beautiful because my young son whispered “He sure got a pretty woman.”

During the reception that followed the joker team was busy. Unfortunately for the newlywed couple their getaway car was not properly hidden. Jack’s team was well prepared. It had done its homework ahead of time. When the young couple emerged, ready to leave, they were aghast at the sight of the car. It had the usual Bon Ami white words, “JUST MARRIED” and other fun-poking words scrawled over it. For good measure a square of sheet metal with a couple of punched holes near the top carried its own special message. The metal sign was attached to the car by a chain passed through the prepared holes and around the doorpost through the open windows on the driver’s side. A lock joined the ends of the chain. After a few minutes hesitation the bridegroom entered the car through the door on the passenger side, followed by his bride. He started the engine and began to drive away, but was stopped by a loud ratting noise. It took a moment for him to realize what caused the noise. He had not noticed the tin cans strung to the back bumper. The cans had been carefully tucked under the car, out of sight. As La Rotunda eased the car ahead, likely with bolt cutters in mind, someone handed him the key to the lock. They drove away, cans bouncing along behind until they were out of sight. See, the jokesters were not entirely cruel; the key proves it.

The sentiment among Jack’s victims grew toward a get-even attitude. They just couldn’t wait for Jack to get married. Boy, we’ll fix him and we’ll have plenty of help. However Jack seemed to be in no hurry to marry; perhaps he really liked being a bachelor with its freedom of movement. 

A few years passed and Jack took a job with a local manufacturers representative. Although he remained in town, his old friends lost close touch with him. One day we learned that a young woman had smitten him. Many of the old friends were invited to the wedding.

By this time most of those who had been the brunt of Jack’s pranks were family men, interested in their own families. The irony is that it no longer mattered to get even with Jack and he got off Scott-free. I often wondered if he felt slighted. Time really does change things.