#50) Next "Has Beens" Luncheon is Wednesday February 8th

I'm forwarding the following invitation from Ralph Simon. Note, the last "Has Beens" luncheon.was described in Blog Post #28 (Click here).

All Libravets:

I have arrangned for the next Has Beens luncheon to be held on Wednesday, February 8, at the Hill Street Cafe located in Burbank. Please join us to share old war stories and current ailments at 11:30 AM at our usual spot at the back of the restaurant.

Please pass this invitation on to other Libravets who are not on my email list. PLEASE RSVP by February 6th; I will need a head count for the restaurant by then.

Ralph  

Please e-mail me at:  ralph3222@aol.com           

                    

Hill Street Cafe in Burbank

3301 N. Glenoaks  Blvd.

Please click here for directions

#49) A Voice From The Past - Peter DeYoung

I recently received tthe following e-mail from Peter DeYoung who started at Librascope in late 1959. I think you'll find his history with the Company as interesting as I did. We exchanged several e-mails, which I've also included.
Carl 
____________________________________________________________________

Hi Carl,
My name is Peter DeYoung and I am a Libravet. I am on your mailing list and receive your Librascope Memories e-mails. I started to work at Librascope on 12/17/1959. I was hired as a burr hand in the machine shop. At that time Sonny Somerfield was superintendent of the shops.

Several months later I transferred to the tool crib. During that time I applied for and was accepted to the 4 year machine apprentice program. I received my Journeyman Machinist certification and shortly after was promoted to foreman of Printed Circuit assembly. 

After supervising several assembly departments I was tested and selected to represent manufacturing in the GPSI Rotational Training program spearheaded by Lloyd Kelly. The program plan was to spend 1 year at Link in Binghamton, NY- 1 year at Kearfott in Patterson, NJ- and the 3rd year at my home base in Burbank as a management trainee. 

During my time at Link GPSI was bought by the Singer company and my move to Kearfott was cancelled. Link management requested that I transfer to there Sunnyvale, California facility to work as an Industrial Engineer in place of the Kearfott assignment, which I gladly accepted.

I worked in Sunnyvale for 10 months when Link offered me a supervisory position in the NY manufacturing facility. I accepted and worked as Manager of Fabrication for 8 years, Director of Product Assurance & Test Engineering for 9 years, and Director of Manufacturing for 10 years. In 1997 after dismantling and closing Link manufacturing I retired with 37 years service with Link and Librascope.

During my time at Link, I interviewed with Maury Center for the position Phil Toorvald held, but I enjoyed working for Link and decided I didn't want to move back to California. Librascope and Link gave me the opportunity to learn many new and exciting jobs allowing me to develop and use my strengths and abilities in many different areas. 

I truly enjoyed going through the old Librazettes, they brought back so many fond memories of the people I knew and spent time with. Thank you for your time and effort in keeping the Libravette news and pictures alive.
Sincerely, 
Peter
_______________________________________________________________________

Hi Peter,

Thank you for writing, and your kind words. I enjoyed reading your history with the Company. Your history sounds as complicated as mine, which I finally published as a short "Sea Story" on our web-site. See Part III on this web page: http://web.me.com/sonofsoren/Librascope_Memories/History.html. 

I think many other Libravets would also like to hear from you. Would you mind if I published your e-mail on our Blog? 
Best regards, 
Carl

_______________________________________________________________________

That would be OK with me.........Peter

_______________________________________________________________________

 

Hi Carl,

I found your company history very interesting and like mine plagued with mergers and buy-outs. I'm curious as to who was VP of Operations before you, and who was president when you retired.

During my career starting with Librascope and the Singer acquisition of GPE followed by the Bilzerian buy-out of Singer, Link experienced 4 more mergers, (See History of Link). The most difficult was the Bilzerian acquisition. Bilzerian split the military and commercial operations and sold them separately. At that time I was responsible for all manufacturing in Binghamton and Houston with 870 employees. Splitting the operation was a monstrous undertaking plus it disrupted the lives of many manufacturing personnel.

From the time that Bilzerian bought Singer and Hughes made the decision to purchase manufacturing services plus move the company to Texas, the number of manufacturing personnel that remained in Binghamton to support the two remaining secret programs was between 10 and 15. At 57 years old and not wanting to move to Texas I decided to retire. Fortunately, I had 37 years of service and was financially able to retire. 

  

The History of Link: http://www.link.com/history.html

The Bilzerian Story: http://www.nytimes.com/1988/08/24/business/how-bilzerian-scored-at-singer.html?pagewanted=all&src=pm
Peter
_______________________________________________________________________

Hi Peter,
Thanks for the two links. Very interesting history.

Craig Gifford, a parent division import from Manassas, VA in early 1997, was President when I left later that year. The succession chain was: Center, Picker, Center, Hudson, Wilcox, Arnold, Ward, Gifford. Ralph Simon replaced Phil Toorvald who was let go by Hudson, and I replaced Ralph when he was let go by Arnold. Toorvald died of cancer a couple years after he was let go.

I retired at the age of 60, and was happy to leave. With all the turmoil at Link, I suspect you were happy to leave too. Initially I wondered what I would do, but now I wonder when I ever had time to work. My spare time is spent working on the two web-sites, my family history, and keeping several Macs and PC's running. At times, I feel like I need to hire some help. ;-)

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

Carl 

____________________________________________________________________

Carl, 

Thank you so much for spending some time with me, I really appreciate it.

I trust you and yours will have a joyous Christmas and your new year filled with purpose.

Have a great day, 

Peter 

P.S. All in all, Librascope was the best company I worked for. With only a high school education, they gave me opportunities and associated training that would be unheard of in today's business environment.  

________________________________________________________________________

Peter,

My pleasure. Please keep in touch. 
Carl

#48) In Memoriam - Ed Lyneis

Ed Lyneis, 1983

John Guarino reports that Ed Lyneis passed away suddenly December 29th in his sleep. Ed started at Librascope in March 1958 as a Parts Mover, and retired in May 1991 after 33 years at Librascope working in Traffic and Stores. A search of the Librazettes on-line indicates that he was a very active Libravet, appearing in over 20 issues. Ed lived in Grants Pass, Oregon.

#47) A Voice From The Past - George Leiby

A person named George Leiby recently subscribed to this News Blog, but since he wasn't on our master mailing list I wasn't sure he was a Libravet. That led to the following exchange of e-mails:

Hi George,

Thank you for subscribing to our Librascope Memories - News Blog. How did you hear about the Blog?

I didn't recognize your e-mail address, so I searched our on-line Librazettes, and found a G. J. Leiby on page 11 of the September, 1961 issue. Is that you? I was first at Librascope from 1958 to 1961, then I returned in 1986 and retired in 1997.

Hope to hear from you,

Carl

___________________________________________

Hi Carl,

Nice for you to write me. The Librascope experience is one of my fondest memories.

I really don't know how I ended up at your site. I was doing some research on the Burroughs Atlas program and ended up on the Librascope site where Wes Stupar had sent you a note about the short book he has written. As Librascope made the plotters used in the Atlas program, maybe I was searching for something about them.

In any case, Wes hired me, probably in 1961 or so as a field engineer for the FAA program, for either in the Silicon Valley area or at NAFEC in New Jersey. I spent several months studying the drum memory system used on that program and I suppose became more or less an expert with Bryant drums and the drum logic and electronics. I think that Viv Ninninger was the person responsible that part of the system and think that I indirectly reported to him.

I went out to NAFEC in Jersey, only about 40 miles from where my folks lived. I stayed at home, collecting per diem for about six months and then got married to a local girl. When the FAA contract went belly up, Ninninger, I think, invited me to work in engineering on an interface he designed for the Air Force contract, 473L? At that time Viv had left Librascope and was partners in a company called Abacus, co-founded with I think Chuck Davies?? In any case I worked at Librascope for Paul Hickey and later Jim Conway, doing a redesign of the Disk File Interface and the debug of some logic designed by a consultant, John Francis, called a multicolor display interface?? and something else John did, maybe a multichannel interface, that unless this lazy guy looks at some old resumes, will have to be unidentified.

As the 473L design phase wound down, I became itchy for new challenges and headed off to Data Products, which is an altogether different story.

I may have a Librascope Engineering telephone listing or two for the 1960 through 1963 era if this information would be of interest.

Finally, I am trying to find out how to purchase the Stupar book. If you could direct me on this it would be appreciated. I suspect that Wes will have a great perspective on this time interval that we were so lucky to have in this silly computer business.

George

___________________________________________
 

Hi George,

Thank you for responding. Your e-mail story is the kind of thing that other Libravets enjoy reading about. So, would you mind if I posted our first two e-mails (minus the address headers) on our Librascope Blog? As you noted, I did this for when Wes first contacted me. The latest e-mail address I have for Wes is still: compaps@roadrunner.com. I'm sure he would like to hear from you. If you don't hear back from him, try leaving a "Comment" beneath his post (#7).

Yes, I would certainly like to have any old Librascope Phone Books, Brochures, etc. that you may have. My collection is large, but will never be complete. By the way, there are quite a few documents from the 1960's era on our main web-site. It's at www.librascopememories.com. Look on the Librazettes+ page toward the bottom.

Thanks again George. Keep in touch.

Carl

_________________________________________

Carl, 

Post whatever you like. Thanks for the Stupar address. As we will be leaving for a five week stay on Tybee Island, GA Sunday I probably won't have time to sort out what little Librascope stuff I have and send it to you. However, I will do it late in January when I return.

I appreciate you making the very big effort to keep Librascope memories alive. And yes, I know what a big time consuming time it can be.

George

________________________________________

#46) In Memoriam - Carl Krohn

Carl and Ruby's 50th in 2007

Carl Robert Krohn passed away December 1, 2011 near his home in Boulder City, NV. He was 83 and worked at Librascope from 1956 until 1991 when he retired as Vice President of Quality and Product Support. Carl's family has published a very thoughtful obituary with several of his photos, which you may view by clicking here.

Last year, Carl attended the 2010 Libravet Reunion in Burbank, CA. In recognition of his long service at Librascope, Ray Hand and Georgine Archer searched the 300+ Librazettes that are on-line at www.librascopememories.com, and put together an interesting collage of clippings which you may view by clicking here.

#45) Help....Hank Pinczower is looking for info about the Librascope LARGO.

Hank Pinczower is looking for any information available about the Librascope Largo computer. Hank says the Largo was never built, but it was marketed as a lower cost "stripped down" version of Librascope's ASN 24 airborne computer. There were marketing brochures, and he believes there was an article published about the Largo.

 

The computer got its name from Los Angeles' Club Largo on Sunset Boulevard that Candy Barr, the stripper, was performing in at the time. This was sometime around the late 1950's or early 1960's.

 

If you remember the Largo computer, or know of any information available, please comment below or contact Hank or myself by e-mail.

 

Carl

PS If you have any special requests, Libravet news, or know of anyone on our newly updated missing Libravets (click here) web-site, please let me know about that too.

#44) A Couple Interesting Tid-Bits.

1) Since we posted the "Lost Libravets" page at http://goo.gl/siDji we've located 16 individuals that were missing from our current master e-Mail list of nearly 500 Libravets. The "newly found" are highlighted in orange. Please take a look at this newly updated list and see if you know any of the Libravets that are still missing.

2) This month will mark the 1 year anniversary of this News Blog. Since October 20, 2010 we have had nearly 12,000 hits (visitors), or nearly 1,000 per month! Visitors have come from several countries, including China, Iran, Sweden, Canada, Russia, and more.

3) Nearly 100 Libravets have subscribed to our Blog mailing list recently, with many more to come. Remember, it's free and easy to subscribe, and only subscribers automatically receive e-mail copies of postings the same day they are made. See Blog Post #41 below for instructions on how to subscribe.

#43) Janice (Tempesta) Sandiford's Husband Passes.

Judy MacFarland reports that Joe Sandiford, husband of  Janice (Tempesta) Sandiford, passed away September 13, 2011 of Cancer, shortly after his 85th birthday. Janice worked at Librascope for 13 years, and now resides in Carlsbad, CA.

#42) In Memoriam - Tom Kokinda

Tom Kokinda at the 2010 Reunion

Tom Kokinda passed away last Tuesday August 23rd at his home in Southern California. He was 74, and worked at Librascope from 1960 until 1992 when he retired as Field Service Manager. His wife, Donna, says that Librascope was a large part of his life. Per Tom's request, there will be no funeral service.

As a tribute to Tom's long service at Librascope, Ray Hand searched all the Librazettes on line for articles about Tom and put together a very nice collage of clippings. You may view this tribute by clicking here.

#41) How to Subscribe to this News Blog (if you don't already)

Why should I subscribe? If you are interested in current events related to Libravets, and would like to automatically receive a copy of all future posts to the Librascope Memories - News Blog on the same day they are made, you should subscribe now.

Occasionally, I send out e-mails to all the Libravets on our large mailing list, but I hesitate to do this very often. By subscribing to the Blog posts, you won’t miss any Libravet news and you’ll receive it ASAP. Since October, 2010, we’ve averaged about four posts per month.

What does a subscription cost? It’s free.

Can I easily cancel my subscription in the future? Yes, there is an unsubscribe link at the bottom of every e-mail you’ll receive.

How do I subscribe? Simply follow these 3 steps: To Print these instructions, first click here.

1.  Go to the upper right hand side of the news blog just below the red background, and enter your e-mail address in the “SUBSCRIBE TO THESE NEWS BLOG POSTS BY E-MAIL” block. Click on Submit. The Blog’s web-site is located at http://librascopememories.blogspot.com/.

2. After clicking on Submit, you will immediately be taken to an “Email Subscription Request” web-site page designed by FeedBurner to help prevent spam. To verify your request, type in a copy of the “distorted” (CAPTCHA) text displayed in the box, and click on Complete Subscription Request. If your first attempt is not successful, you will be given a new chance. Normally, more than one attempt is required, so repeat this process until your request is accepted.

IMPORTANT - to subscribe to this Blog, you MUST complete one more step....

3. Shortly after you successfully complete step 2, you will receive a verification Email from FeedBurner Email Subscriptions in your Inbox. You MUST respond to this Email by opening it, and clicking on the blue hyper-link provided inside the message. You should then be taken to a FeedBurner web-site acknowledging your successful request. 

Congratulations, you are now subscribed.

Note, if the above Email never arrives, it is probably in your Email program’s spam filter or you may have mis-typed your e-mail address in step 1. Unfortunately, some Libravets have never completed this final step, and thereby failed to subscribe without understanding why.

Thanks for subscribing,
Carl