by Joe H.
Both my parents worked in
Burbank, California. My father was at CALAC, as Lockheed–California came to be
known, having joined the company in April 1941 as a payroll clerk. My mother
hired on at nearby subsidiary Vega Aircraft Company, and I still have her
one-year employment pin. Mom left Vega when she was pregnant with me. I was
born in December 1943. Dad departed shortly after the end of World War II. I
still have a photo on my wall that includes my father with the aircraft
assemblers on a bomber line. The photograph was taken to honor meeting a
production goal. My Dad is the only person in the photo wearing a tie!
Dad rejoined CALAC as an
employment interviewer in 1951. He transferred, first to Van Nuys and then to
Sunnyvale, as part of the newly developing Lockheed Missiles and Space Company.
He was an employment supervisor in 1968 when I ‘snuck in the back door’. I was
hired by Sunnyvale by a technical publications organization, supporting the
Polaris/Poseidon FBM programs. In the ensuing years, because of my skills for
computerized technical publishing systems, I was loaned out to support leading-edge
programs, including the Space Shuttle orbiter, the high- and low-temperature
reusable service insulation (heat resistant tiles) programs and the Cruise
Missile program, when that concept was merely a twinkle in the eyes of engineers.
The 38 years I spent at Lockheed
Martin allowed me to feel that I was supporting the United States in the best way I
could.
