Careers

More on Dad's careers...

Dad didn’t stay with the DWP, although I think he regretted that; as he told me more than once that I should get a job with them, or with Southern California Edison. He also told me that I should avoid getting into construction. The point being that DWP, or any utility, represented security and construction didn’t. I have a suspicion that he left DWP for a higher paying construction job, but I don’t know that for sure. (Good point...ask your parents those kinds of questions!)

I do remember him telling me that during the early years of World War II, he worked on a project to camouflage the North American Aviation plant in Burbank. That is now the Burbank airport. His job involved covering the entire plant with a special netting that made it appear as if the plant had disappeared and been replaced with acres of open fields, roads and trees. He told me that they placed artificial trees, cars and trucks upon artificial roads on the roof to protect the plant from the possibility of being seen from the air.

Other than that, I don’t remember any of his other jobs until I was 8 or 9 years old. That was when he was working for a company called Industrial Furnaces. He had a job as estimator, engineer and project manager; all in one. This company specialized in the relining of boilers and furnaces for commercial applications, such as power plants and steam generators.

This became his career and I will add some of my memories of those days tomorrow.