Editor's Note: We received some really great responses
to this one (and still getting more), so we have plans
to use some that don't appear here elsewhere. Stay tuned.
Dennis:
Back in the fifties and early sixties, our country just didn't
have the wide variety of fast food restaurants and chain stores
to work in so during my first three summers at home from Tech, I worked
in the fields picking beans for the princely sum of a dollar a bushel.
I also picked corn and baled hay which was very strenuous. During the
last summer before my senior year and graduation, I worked at GM Technical
Center as a summer student trainee. The time spent out in the fields
under the hot sun and getting filthy dirty gave me an appreciation for
working in an air-conditioned office and wearing a nice suit to work
every day. Ah, those were the days!
Don Robinson, 1963
***
Hi Dennis,
One somewhat unique job I had one summer was shaping Christmas trees. With I
being 6' 7" I could shape some of the taller trees that otherwise would
get left to mother nature for there shape. One that might that may be fairly
typical for Tech student, but often under appreciated is the student janitor.
Cleaning those bathrooms on Saturday and Sunday mornings after student had
over indulged in their beverage of choice and not hitting the toilet, shower,
or sink was quite an experience. Working the Front Desk in Coed Dorm and Leading
the MEEM Department's part of the Summer Youth Program was much more enjoyable.
Other summers where more typical like washing dishes at a local restaurant,
stock boy at a local department store, maintenance for a Pipe Line company,
etc. Thanks for the topic of discussion. It brings back a lot of fond memories.
Keith Knickerbocker
BSME '83 and MSEM '85
***
Dennis,
I worked summers chipping out cement mixers with an air hammer
- yes I climbed into the trucks and chipped them out, as well
as all the upstream equipment. It was a ready mix plant that
also made concrete blocks - which also had mixers to he chipped.
The noise and dust and generally poor working conditions put
cash in my wallet and determination to complete a degree.
While at school I worked at Roy's pharmacy for 4 years - wonderful
employer. I also took out student loans.
Wasn't easy, but worth it.
-Randy Berry
Comp Sci 1982
***
worked cleaning the women's bathrooms in DHH on the weekends, cleaning
rooms in DHH one summer, and at the desk in DHH--sorting mail and checking
out sports equipment and magazines. I wonder if the dorm still gets Playboy?
I remember reading Playboy just to piss off the guys who eagerly waited
for it every month!!!
amy rapaich moser 76
***
Dennis,
While I didn’t have the opportunity to participate. It was
rumored that John McInnes was instrumental in getting some
of his hockey players summer jobs in a uranium mine.
The joke was you could find a hockey player in the dark during the fall
term just by looking for the glow.
Kenneth R. Oscarson, P.E. – ‘69
Ken: We believe that rumor is true. The mine was near
Sudbury, but I don't about the glowing part.
***
Dennis,
Thank you for putting together the very informative and entertaining
Alumni Newsletter. I always look forward to reading it. I was intrigued
by your request for work that students did while in school. Like most
students I had a few jobs while up there. I was one of the first employees
of the Sears store, delivering appliances from Ontanogan to Baraga and
all points in between. With the small old mining houses and the winters
you can imagine there are plenty of funny stories to go along with that.
I did that for a few years and was later able to tap two of the Keweenaw's
most abundant natural resources, snow and student housing. I came by
a stroke of luck to know the owner of the Gazette apartment building.
He owned a few other apartment complexes in Houghton and Hancock as well.
I started shoveling snow for him at $20 a day. It took me an hour every
morning that it snowed, which as we know can be everyday for a week or
more. It worked great for me, it had me up early and I made as much as
I would have in 4-5 hrs of minimum wage after school (it was $4.25/hr
at the time). I also helped clear roofs, almost saw his son take a dive
off the roof of the 3 story Lakeside apartments in Hancock. After that
I wasn't so keen on shoveling roofs. I parlayed that into a summer job
renovating apartments after the students left, painting, repair etc.
Learned there to always shut the power off when doing wiring!! (even
if it means you have to go to the truck for an extension cord and drop
light), and that staining overhead decks ranks right up there with water
torture...
I count myself as lucky in that I was fortunate to never have to work
in food service or in the dorms
Nate Hincher
Akebono Corporation
Foundation Brake Test Engineering
***
Dennis,
In the Summer of my Junior and Senior Years I worked at Bendix
Aerospace in South Bend Indiana analyzing components from Aircraft Landing
gear systems, quite interesting.
While at Tech I did some early morning Lifeguarding at the SDC pool. But
the more interesting job I had was my senior year, '87, when Tim Walilko
and I coached the Houghton High School Swim team. That year the Lady Gremlins
swim team took 2nd in the UP finals. We lost out to Hancock that year and
finished just ahead of Marquette. We clinched 2nd with the last relay!
Regards,
John M. Flynn, Jr.
Blizzard
at Huskies Tailgate at Tourist Park, Marquette 
Group
Picture from Columbia, Maryland - The Greene Turtle
