In 1961, Owens-Illnois built "one of the most highly automated glass container plants in the world" (above) on Owens Road (off Route 31). The plant employed more than 400 workers and occupied about 350,000 square feet on a 70-acre site. It closed in 1985. The manufacturing plant was torn down in the 1990s and the warehouses were sold to Allied Frozen Storage in 2002. Reprinted with permission from Around Brockport by William G. Andrews.
|
L to R standing, Dick Fleming, Joe Fox, Tom Meyers, Warren Saul, Bob Sease. Seated, Dick Hughes, plant manager; Lola Kinder, Janet Thompson, Sam McAllister, Chuck Shrum.
|
Those honored with awards for senior service were: (Standing, l to r) Joe Orth (25 yrs.), Joe Fox (30 yrs.), Keith Kessel (25 yrs.), Fred Exter (15 yrs.), Dick Fleming (25 yrs.), Warren Saul (25 yrs.). (Seated l to r) Janet Thompson (25 yrs.), Sam McAllister (35 yrs.), Lola Kinder (25 yrs.) and Bob Sease (20 yrs.).
|
Thirty-two Onlzers were honored at a special Service Awards dinner on Thursday, October 23 at Craig Hill Country Club. Receiving awards for 10 years of service were: (standing l to r) Richard Cornelius, Roger Hinkley, Dick Tolster, Steve Lane, Phil Scott, Dan Knittle, Chuck Lane, Earl Brown, Lee Berlin, Ray Purvee, Ron Harrington, John Sokol, Larry Watkins, (seated) Helen Fiore who accepted award for her husband Austin Fiore, Frances Carnahan, MiMi Mortimer, Nancy Seever, Peggy Tucker, Marion Brown and Mae DeHond.
|
At the Brockport Plant's twelfth annual Service Awards ceremony held Thursday, October 18 at Craig Hill Country Club, those pictured above were honored for years of service with Owens-Illinois. Seated from left to right: W. Carnahan (25), R. Toney (25), B. Hammock (40), N. Guntrum (30), R. Casseday (35). Standing from left to right: R. Rhea (20), J. Miller (10), D. Kams (10), D. Fisk (10), R. Ennis (10), L. Banty (10), E. Mattison (10), R. Gillette (10), R. Perugini (10), M. Reed (10), C. Smith (15), D. Kirkland (25), C. Meyers (10), J. Thompson (15), J. Fulks (15). Not shown were K. Cooper, R. Rogers, J. Shaffer, D. Townsend - all ten year awardees. (1973)
Photographs provided by Janet Thompson.
|
Former employees of Owens-Illinois gather for reunion
It all started with a "we should get together sometime" comment and blossomed into a full fledged reunion for former co-workers of Brockport's Owens-Illinois plant. A committee was formed and plans are underway for a reunion of the 20th anniversary of the plant's closing.
"This is the first time we've had a real reunion," co-organizer Janet Thompson said. "Sometimes we'd (former co-workers) run into each other in the grocery store and say it would be nice to get together and this year we decided to do something about it."
Thompson was an employee there for 35 years - many of those years were spent at an O-I plant in Charleston, West Virginia, she said.
The plant in Charleston closed in 1961 and the people that worked there have gotten together for a reunion every year since it closed," Thompson said. Brockport's plant closed in February of 1985.
"Owens was a big company but the plant in Brockport was kind of small and it was like a family," Thompson said. "It was a good place to work."
Thompson and her husband were both employees' Janet worked in the office. Marian Christ, who worked in the Brockport plant for 18 years, said when she heard they were talking about planning a reunion she decided to jump in and help get things moving along. "I figured we just needed to do it," she said.
Christ said that when she worked there she did a "little bit of everything" from sweeping floors to working on quality control issues to packing bottles and making cartons.
"There were about 640 people at the plant when it closed, some have moved away and some have passed away but we still keep in touch with a lot of our friends even if we moved to other states," Christ said.
So far, Christ said about 100 people have indicated they would attend the gathering to be held at the American Legion Post 35, 131 South Main Street, Albion, on Sunday, October 16 at 1 p.m. (dinner 2 p.m.) Tickets are $18. Paid reservations were due by September 30.
For information contact Marian Christ at 589-9729 or Irene Drennen at 589-5028.
|
|
|
