[PRCo] Quality people
Harold Geissenheimer
transitmgr2 at earthlink.net
Sun Jul 11 20:31:28 EDT 2004
Greetings to all
I am amazed in these discussions about quality people.
I grew up in New York City during the depression. Received
a good education from the then public schools in NYC. My
parents and I worked to send me to NYU in 1945. ( I worked
after school starting at age 14.)
By joining the ERA and meeting railfans I was fortunate
to know many interesting and capable people. When I
was a teenage editor of ERA Headlights, I secured
a wonderful staff. All with different ages and qualifications.
Several remain close friends to this date. Ray Degroote in Chicago,
Ed Schell in Baltimore, Karl Groh in Florida. We all made a team.
Bob Saxon was a chemist and my news editor. Bill Higinbothan
was a telegraph operator for United Press
Leader of the gang was EJay Quinby, an electrical engineer. I
was still in high school and yet fully accepted.
Because of the depression and World War II, many people
were working "out of class". One Colonel I served under
in the National Guard was a PC&Y locomotive engineer,
another was a railway mail clerk. Each was a fine person
making a contribution to their country
All thru college I worked with senior people as a copy boy
for the NY Times. When I moved to Pittsburgh I was exposed
to the wonderful people of of western Penna. My first job
from the NY Times was with Montour Motor Coach, 20 buses
in Moon Run, Pa. Quite a change from Times Sq. But some
of the best people I ever worked with.
This continued thru Harmony Short Line and in 1960, I was given
the job of saving the jobs of 100 people when Harmony folded.
I became Manager of Community Transit and worked for Dave
Brown. A self made man..son of a coal miner in Hickory, Pa,
bus driver, union rep and then regional manager for Blue Ridge,
then founder and owner of Community Transit (with the small
fleet of ex-West Penn buses), then assistant toGM at PAT.
In each case, the man fit the job. He often said he walked
barefoot to school
Later I worked for John Mauro. Son of a shoemaker in Tarentum
yet the most understanding man I every worked for. He accepted
my interest in Trolley Cars and we did the mod trolley, etc together.
Later I moved to Chicago and found an equally proficient work
force at CTA.
Getting back to the National Guard, my Nike missile unit which I
comanded for 13 years consisted of Apalacian or eastern european
men. Many I still see. Some like John Turyan went on to be a
high executive at Heinz or Jim Schweiger as an accounting partner.
Stan Stein became a lawyer but furst did two years of probono.
My point in all this is that I was fortunate to know people in all
walks of life. Working together, we did a lot.
Boris never raised any issue. He is a fine young man and it
is nice to have him here in Western Penna.,
I SUGGEST WE NOW DROP THIS ENTIRE DISCUSSION.
WELCOME TO THE LIST MARC. ENJOY AND CONTRIBUTE.
HAROLD GEISSENHEIMER
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