Saturday, March 2, 2013

It Began with a Telegram

One offer led to a family tradition 
by Mary Helen I.

My husband received a telegram, which announced a start date of June 3, 1962, at Lockheed Missiles and Space Company in Sunnyvale, California. After a couple years, the company was starting operations in Houston, Texas, for a development contract (telemetry station and computer data center). My husband’s transfer was for a one-year contract. Another one-year contract followed, then a five-year contract. The contracts continued with employees from other states flowing in and eventually many making their permanent home there. Clem's employment with Lockheed continued until contract loss, some 17 years later.

In the meantime, I became a Lockheed employee on February 14, 1972. My employment lasted during mergers with Martin Marietta and Ford Aerospace and the loss of the ESC contract. My tenure was just 14 days short of 33 years. 

Our middle son, Bob, started to work for Lockheed in 1992 and continued until the same loss of the SEAT contract. Along with 1,700 employees and contractors, we checked out January 31, 2005. Our other son, worked for Lockheed as a summer hire college student.

Between our five family members, we've calculated over 100 years of service on NASA contracts. Each of us took away our own lessons learned, and unforgettable experiences and memories. There were no regrets of our years with Lockheed Martin. We only wished there could have been many more, especially for our younger adults coming into the working field. 

We had unforgettable experiences and memories!