Graduates of the College of Engineering at the University of Kentucky in 1943 were few indeed. Westinghouse men interviewed graduates and hired me. They directed me to report at the Educational Center in Wilkinsburg, Pennsylvania in about a week.

I arrived at the Center on schedule wearing my lone suit with pants seat worn thin enough to show the color of my under shorts. It was an exciting day for a young fellow. We were given the lowdown on our location and our purpose in being at the Center. The first order of business was to get all the new hires settled into living quarters. I arrived at Mr. and Mrs. Smith’s house in Wilkinsburg, bag in hand. The Smiths provided board and room for as many as half a dozen men. I was readily accepted as a member of a congenial family. The Smith house was located among many others that burned coal for heat. Needless to say I needed to find laundry service quickly.

We spent our first week with the Company at the Educational Center. Men from various divisions of the Company came to the Center during that week to tell us of their products and the kind of engineering work they did. This gave us a good idea of how to better fit into the workforce. I listened to several of the presentations and made my choice. I got three one month assignments at the Pittsburgh facility and one month at Lima, Ohio.

My first assignment was at the East Pittsburgh plant where I arrived by street car after a half hour ride. I was really amazed by the size of the factory and the mass of people arriving at work. I followed the crowd in and the receptionist saw to it that I was escorted to my workplace. Someone showed me to a desk and handed me a clean rag. It was easy to see what the rag was for. The morning ritual saw me wiping the chair and the desk, and then sitting down. Even so I left with blackened shirt sleeves. I spent most of my day in the test lab where one expected it to be dirty.

The next assignments were at the research labs located in clean, air conditioned buildings, away from the factories. I don’t remember learning much, but I enjoyed my two months at the labs. I even enjoyed a little social life during lunch hour. Living in Pittsburgh was a mixed bag. I liked the area where Pittsburgh University is located, but I despised trying to get around downtown. The triangular blocks made the streets most confusing to a poor boy from a little town in the hills of Kentucky. I had some doubts about fitting in, especially since it was such a dirty city. It was cleaned up in due course, starting with the steel mills. I hoped for an environment more to my liking with my next assignment at Lima.

I bid farewell to my Pittsburgh friends and boarded the early morning train for Lima. It was still early when I arrived at the Lima plant, a much smaller facility than the East Pittsburg factory. The air was clear and crisp while abundant frost covered everything in sight. I later found that the town was laid out rectangular so that I could learn my way around without much trouble.

B. O. Austin, the man who made the presentation at the Educational Center showed me around and got me settled in his section. One of his group took me under his wing and taught me the ropes for the next month. By that time I had decided that I would like to work with these men. They were doing the kind of work that I would enjoy.

Not more than two or three weeks after I signed on I received a greeting from Uncle Sam. After my tour of duty in the Army I returned to Lima, resumed my job, married, reared a family and stayed on the job for 49 years and liked doing it. I thought I fit a place in life pretty well.