by Russell H.
In November 1980, I was one of 3,000 new
employees at Martin Marietta. I was hired to support various programs, but in a
few months, I was assigned to a three-person team tasked to develop what would
become a four-hour orientation for all new employees. The theme of the
orientation was “This is Martin Marietta: Its Legacy and Challenging Future.” During
several months, we had mined events from the earliest days when Glenn L. Martin
hired aerospace pioneers, including Bill Boeing and Donald Douglas, through
subsequent decades, to the then-present.
The final product was called the Denver
Aerospace Orientation. It was presented in Denver, and in several other states—Florida,
Louisiana, Texas, California and Massachusetts. The multi-media orientation included a
series of four one-hour audio-visual presentations of President Caleb Hurtt and
three vice presidents. I wrote much of the material.
In Denver, the company rented a high
school auditorium for several Saturday sessions. For out-of-state orientations,
one of the vice presidents would present. A person from my group would
accompany and support the executive. Each new employee received a binder with
over 200 pages and would be served a meal afterwards. New employees felt as if they were with the "big league!"
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| I made this model of the P-38 to scale. |
