| Monthly News Letter | April.
2007 |
Internet Issue #3 |
MARCH 14,
2007
Sundstrand Retiree Lunch at
"The Command Post"
Retiree Lunch March
 Helene Laurson and Arlene Garner |
 Harriet Brown |
 Stanley Stark |
 Elsie Lundvahl, Clara Danielson |
 Bob Clifton, Florence Rose |  Tom Fulton |
 Warren and Roberta Carlson |  Sandi and Gene Lindsey |
 Doris Lundgern |
 Mario Calvanga, Clara Danielson, |  Elaine and Bob Murphy |
 Bob Wendorf |
 Trudy and Aaron Richeson |
 Paul and Donna Olszewski |  Lou and Judy Suit |
 Marge and Bill Coe |
 Dick and Mary Aleshire |
 Lou Suit |  Lavonne Arendsee |
 Karen and Avery Vaughn |
 Vera Nordquist-Rab |
 Kay Sward |
 Pat and David Allen |
 Lucille Freding |
 Lorna Carlson |
 John and Pat Flick |
 Chris Frey |
 Sue and David Northrup |
Print and Pass this on to other Sundstrand retirees that may not have email.
News of Next meeting
April
meeting will be APRIL
11 Command Post at noon.(1004 Samuelson Road) Please call LOU SUIT 815-399-0120 Inform him how many will be coming for lunch. Please call before April 9 Clara Danielson will be the focus of the April meeting and I think it would be nice to send her a card (or bring with to the meeting) Her 97th birthday is on April 13, two days after the April meeting. Send to: Clara Danielson 1823 Rural #5 Rockford IL 61107. |
Remembrances
| FEBRUARY Myles Wax Roxy E. Ernsberger Ellen Pauley Pauline Kohler Lucille Opshal Dick Antczak Burdette "Bud "Lind | March Arthur Woodbeck Richard Wood Pearl Dougherty Kenneth Peterson Arthur Fredrickson William Lewis Bruce Soderburg Marge Cozab Edith Reynolds Kathryn Riccoti Clifford Chaplin |
Email List News
We
have now added a current email list to this web site. To insure your email is listed
correctly look for your email address. Email Dick Aleshire of
any changes, additions or deletions needed. |
RETIREE INFORMATION
'Gettting to know you... again.
Listed
below are 10 email addresses,picked at random. We would like to hear
from you.. answer the following questions in an email to warren88@aol.com The list of email address is a suggestion of who may wish to sumbit information.We want get enough info to keep it very interesting. Feel free to send me your information, even if your email address is not on the list.. MORE THE MERRIER beedee@aol.com
kge1@yahoo.com dpelbert@ix.netcom.com kenge@charter.net clairox@cox.net tendy53@earthlink.net frednmert48@aol.com iplayball@bellsouth.net eerickson@aol.com pamali@aol.com Your email address(one of several) was picked at random, from Dick Aleshire's Sundstrand email list of retiree's.(about 300) We are asking the people using this address to reply to the following questions. Seeking participation in the "get acquainted again' section of the new news letter published every month. IF YOU WISH,(totally optional to volunteer) answer the questions and send reply to warren88@aol.com Do
not be too specific, with address and
phone numbers if you are concerned about privacy issues as this will be
available
to anyone. Name? |
John Porrazzo John has 2 daughters, me,,
Betty Ann Manalli and Cathy (Don)Johnson. 3 grandchildren, John Manalli,
Amy and Andrea Johnson and 4 great grand children Maggie, Jack and Emily Manalli
and Maria Lisa Johnson-Knox.
He is always on the go and still plays
the guitar and enjoys life. |
| The Rockford Christian
Fellowship Band 'A Community Concert Band with a Christian Ministry'
sponsored
in part by First Covenant Church located
in Rockford, Illinois
George
E. Strombeck, conductor 815/226-0558 Jim
Martindale, president 815/397-4675 - - - - - - - - - Karl Burdick,
secretary 815 / 399 - 3694 website = www.rcfband.org  Currently these
retired Sundstranders play in RCFBand:
Wally
Perrett - Baritone
John
Whitehouse - Trumpet
Dick
Morris - Tenor Saxophone Previously -
John Flick - Trumpet Karl
Burdick - Baritone  |
|
Jim
Gingrich jameslgingrich@aeroinc.net
Winnebago, IL Jim
Gingrich City,State? Winnebago, IL 61088 Family Status, Children, Grandchildren, etc. Married 38 years, 5 children, no grandchildren Where did you work at Sundstrand? 22 years, ending my career as President of Flight Systems. When did you retire? December 2004. Years of service to Sundstrand? 22 I bought a 143 acre farm in Winnebago and raise dogs and horses. I participate in AKC Field Trials with my dogs. We have raised Vizslas, a pointing dog which originated in Hungary, for 24 years. I also serve on the Swedish American Hospital Board, the Winnebago county Soil and Water District Board, the Rockford Symphony Board, I am President of the Vizsla Club of Illinois and three for profit boards. Yes, I stay busy. . I enjoyed my years at Sundstrand and Hamilton Sundstrand. What I miss most are the people. I don't miss the pressure and the travel. I control my calendar now, something I have not been able to do for 31 years. My kids are close and I get to see them often. Retirement for me is not what it was cracked up to be, it is a whole lot better. I look forward to seeing my fellow retirees in the near future. |
I took a
voluntary layoff while working in San Diego, to accompany my wife
Connie, who got transfered back to Rockford. A previous
employee,as is my wife.
I
am Russell L.Addison, worked for Tom Grifis in Tokyo as a field service
rep.. Then I got transfered to Turbomach when they down-sized the Tokyo
office. I met my wife,Connie Hester in S.D. where she was on a temp.
assignment, then permanent job there. She was transfered back to
Rockford, working for Judy Andrechek. I took my lay-off to be with her.
She resigned a few years after returning. My email
address is c.addison@insightbb.com |
 AROUND OUR TOWN by LOU SUIT Some memories of CLARA RETZLAFF DANIELSON from her book “Looking Down Memory Lane”, wherein she tells how it was living on a farm back in the early 1900’s. Clara was born the youngest of seven children on April 13, 1910 in a nine bedroom farm home on Spring Brook Road in Rockford. At the time it was the only structure on Spring Brook Road between Alpine and Mulford Roads. The gist of the book was how a family of seven children was raised on a farm and all attended a one-room school with all eight grades taught by one teacher and how pleasant it was to walk the country roads and through the woods without any fear of being attacked or kidnapped and working together to get all the summer choirs of farm life done on time-- happy memories. In 1915 a barn was built and erected by a crew of 105 men volunteers. The walls were assembled on the ground then raised in place by 2 PM and were finished in time for supper; this was a 30 x 64 foot barn. The barn, torn down in 1964, was located on the present site of the Harbors Condominiums. There was no electricity or running water and shopping was done out of the Sears and Roebuck and Montgomery Ward catalogs. The children were all taught to work as soon as they could walk by their mother who told them (in German), if they worked hard when young, they wouldn’t have to work when they were old. There was play time also and mother joined them often in their games. |
Harvest Time. The binder was the most advanced piece of machinery on the farm; it cut the oats, tied it into bundles and tossed them along the way all in one operation. A four horse team drew the binder. The men stayed in the field all day and the younger children would carry out a large basket of food for their lunch,which was packed by the mother and the wives of the workers. Also the children would drive out four fresh horses and bring back the four that had worked all morning. These were watered and put into the barn. Bridles were removed and replaced with halters, before feeding. Clara recalls she was too short to reach their heads to remove the bridles, so they always obliged by lowering their heads for her convenience. During all this process day after day, not once did any of the children get injured. After the the shocks of bundles were properly dried, then came the threshers and threshing time was the highlight of the year. Not every farmer could afford one, but usually a few farmers formed a co-op and they purchased a steam engine and a threshing machine and they made it their business of going around the different farms at harvest time and did the threshing. There were usually three men in each crew: 1-2 stoked the machine with coal, 1-2 tended the machine and 1-2 carried water for the boiler with a large water wagon. Because it was necessary to be on hand for an early morning start , the crew usually arrived at 4 AM and were soon at work to get the steam up before the threshing could begin. By 7 AM most of the neighbors arrived with teams and hay racks. There were about twenty men and a dozen teams, which were driven to the fields. One man drove the team while others pitched the bundles onto the hay rack until it was loaded; then to the threshing machine. The oats came pouring out of a spout into a box wagon which was parked in just the right spot, and when it was full to the brim, it was driven to the barn where the grain was unloaded into bins with scoop shovels. The straw was blown out through a long pipe to create a straw stack. The children got to climb on the stack of straw and slide down. They got straw and chaff in their hair, shoes, mouth and nose and down their neck, but that was a small price to pay for the fun they had. While all this work was going on outside considerable work was going on inside of the house. Previous to the threshing day, mother had spent several days baking innumerable loaves of bread and in addition all kinds of pies, cakes, dough nuts and cookies. It took lots of food to satisfy about twenty men, to say nothing of all the wives and children. Several of the ladies helped mother prepare the potatoes and vegetables and meat. Clara can still see those huge roasts of about 15 pounds and remember how delicious they were. The table was then pulled out its entire length and set. When the first crew had finished eating, the table was hastily cleared and reset for the second crew. The ladies and children then sat and ate. Next came the washing of dishes and the hand towels the men had used when they washed up. This was all hard work, but somehow both men and women managed to get a great deal of enjoyment and satisfaction out of it. There was something wholesome about everyone working together and helping each other. They never heard the word “togetherness” in those days - they simply lived it as a way of life. Sounds of Olden Days There are a great many sounds that were once as familiar as daylight, but which are seldom or never heard today. There was the clop, clop of horses feet; each horse had a gait of his own and you could usually tell which one it was without looking. Iron rimmed buggy wheels made a sound all their own. Sleigh runners in the snow squeaked as they slid along and the sleigh bells made fairy music on a crisp frosty night. Many other bells too: church bells, dinner bells, school bells, little bells teachers kept on their desks, fire bells and cow bells with their music. Blacksmiths were plentiful with the ringing of their hammers on the anvil or the roaring of the fire in the forge, or the hissing of a red hot horseshoe plunged into water. In the early winter mornings you could hear the sounds of someone shaking out the ashes, poking out the clinkers from the base burner in the kitchen range and the pouring of a skuttle full of coal into the fire. Instead of a radio and alarm clock you were awakened by the crowing of a rooster and later the cackling of a hen who had just laid an egg. In the house you heard the singing of the tea kettle, the slosh slosh of the churn as you worked the dasher up and down and the crunch of the coffee grinder. And there was the the sound of the steam whistle as the train was speeding through the night; fainter and fainter until it died in the distance. Entertainment: Clara’s memories, ‘Our family spent many sunny summer Sundays at Harlem Park. We would all crowd into our 1915 Reo Touring Car (Ransom E. Olds later known as Oldsmobile) after a lot of preparation, packing a lunch for nine, remembering to bring inner tubes ( we usually had a flat tire when it was time to go home) and huge block of wood to keep the car from rolling down the High Bridge (this was replaced by the Auburn St. Bridge) Our mother would set a time for us to meet for lunch and then off we children went. Our brothers headed for the roller skating rink,Old Mill, Penny Arcade and the Shooting Gallery. Dad sat at the bowl listening to music. (his favorite was Bob Daily) We girls headed for the Dance Pavilion where they charged ten cents a dance. I was sixteen and very shy. My sisters had dancing partners, but I just sat and watched. Once a young man approached and invited me to dance. I told him No thanks, I don’t know how to dance. He said- You’ll never learn how just sitting there, come on I’ll show you how. His name was Lawrence Carlson and we remained friends until his death some fifteen years ago. Eventually one of my brothers got a job and bought himself a car. Then we children were able to visit the Park more often. On Saturday nights my brother would drive into town and take my sisters and me along. We would board the steamboat,Illinois, at the State Street bridge and travel to Park where we would disembark and go to the dance pavilion. We always stayed until the last dance. It was the custom then, that the last boy that you danced with would take you home. Sometimes Spring Brook Road would be impassible so they would take us via Spring Creek Road and we would all walk across the field to our house. Then the boys would walk back to their cars to go on home. The closing of the Park (in 1924) saddened us all, but we found dancing again at the Ing (Inglaterra) on North Second Street. These were very happy and carefree days. Because of space constraints, I am skipping many interesting memories. The Spanish Flu Pandemic of 1918. The Spanish Flu epidemic of 1918-1919 that cost some 675,000 American lives is one of Clara’s unpleasant memories. There were two waves of the Flu epidemic, the first milder wave occurred in the Spring of 1918; the second wave hit in August of that same year and went on to explode in a mutated form in Europe and Africa. In this country, the flu virus was spread to numerous residents during large war rallies and drives, parades and other such events held throughout the country, plus service people carried the virus coast to coast. Clara recalls very well how the epidemic affected people locally and she and her grandmother, brothers, sisters and father, William Retzlaff, all came down with the flu. Her mother, Martha Strassman Retzlaff, who never did come down with the virus,, was the one who nursed the whole family through it and not one of them was lost. She cared for them all with home remedies. She made a poultice from fried onions, lots of them, that she that she placed between two layers of cloth, and then placed on their chests. When the poultice got cold she would remove the onions and reheat them and repeat. Also the stricken ones had to take a teaspoon of a kind of tea she made by boiling flax seed with rock candy and lemon juice. One teaspoon of that every day all through the winter. Clara has memories too of seeing truckloads of flu victims, dead soldiers being transported through town who had died at Camp Grant. Marsh School. All the children walked to a one-room school, which was taught by an unmarried teacher. Married women were not allowed to teach. Clara’s teacher, Edyth Bergstrom, was her idol. She adored her, and always thought that she would love to be just like her when she grew up. They stayed in close contact until her death in 1960. Clara recalled how cold her fingers were when walking to school in the wintertime and Miss Bergstrom would hold them in cold water until they felt normal again. Also Clara could not pronounce her ‘r’s’ as a small girl and one day she needed to borrow a ruler from her brother; as she stood by his desk begging for his ruler he insisted she say ‘r’ before giving the ruler to her, but no ‘r’ would come from her lips. Soon Miss Bergstrom came to her rescue and requested her brother to give Clara the ruler. She always sat beside Clara’s desk whenever she needed help and Clara felt privileged to have her sit with her. The school was heated with a coal burning. potbellied stove. Two outhouses behind the school substituted for plumbing. The teacher walked to and from school every day from North 2nd Street and Spring Creek Road to Marsh School on Spring Brook Road between Alpine and Mulford Roads. (about three miles) During the coldest part of Winter Miss Bergstrom would sometimes stay at the Retzlaff house so her walk to school was not so far. This school is now a private residence. The water supply came from an outside well, pumped into a pail, which was carried into the school. Each student had his or her own tin cup to drink from. All eight grades were taught in that one room. As each different grade recited, the students would go to the front of the room and sit on a bench provided for that purpose. Miss Bergstrom was an excellent teacher, for when Clara entered high school she did not have to study for the first year as Miss Bergstrom had taught her everything that they were learning in the first year. Clara feels pleased and honored that she and Miss Bergstrom stayed in close contact during her entire life. Clara worked at Sundstrand in accounting for over twenty years and quit in the early seventies so as to be with her husband who had retired. She served as Treasurer for the Sundstrand Retiree Association for 17 years. Clara will be 97 years old this April and still drives to her volunteer job at P.A. Peterson every Tuesday where she is known as “Old Faithful”. It ha been a delight to go over old memories with Clara, the best part of this volunteer job of mine. Thanks for all you have given us Clara, we want to keep you around for a long long time. |
| From
Bill Sandberg in China
prc1rep@yahoo.com Hello
and best wishes to all my old friends and colleagues from beautiful
Xiamen,
China. Since this retiree internet newsletter is the start of something
new
I thought I would kick it of with the newest thing possible ¨C
our new Daughter
Nicole Lee. She was born on January 10th and is
such a bundle of joy and happiness it's hard to believe we have been so
wonderfully blessed.  I
retired from Sundstrand Service Corp. on January 1st.
1996 after 35 years of fun (at least most of it was fun). The last
position
I held was that of Manager, Field Service. Following my retirement, I
was
given the opportunity to help set up and establish the Xiamen repair
facility
here in China. That was a lot of fun and it gave me time to explore
this
fascinating Chinese culture at a more relaxed pace. During this time I
met
the beautiful Chen Li Hong (or Amber as some of you know her) and we
became
good friends with a lot in common. Our friendship matured and we got
married
about two and a half years ago.  I
keep fit with weight lifting three times
a week, swimming, and Amber and I climb several mountains every year. I
also
enjoy photography and never run out of interesting subjects to
photograph
as we travel around China. I
spend a lot of time teaching English to
friends and family as I struggle to learn Mandarin. I visit schools and
universities
to discuss the differences in our two cultures and our ways of thinking
and using information. Some of these young kids are sharp and keep you
on
your toes, but thats what makes it interesting and fun. I
guess to sum it up for now; I'm a very happy person and just enjoying
the heck out of life at this point. |
| Ken Brenner and Phil
Walden At
a tennis match at our Greenfield Resort in Mesa, Arizona
 |
We have created this web site for our communication. Any and all information, data, pictures that you wish to shaare with us please email to warren88@aol.com If you 'bookmark' or put it tis site in your favorite places, you can return to it easily every time you wish to see it, First day of the month, we send the site to Dick Aleshire for mailing to the masses. Be sure to meet this deadline, Or it must wait a month. Use of email will eliminate the need of retyping the information, and digital pictures will work great on a web site. Your input here, can make a wonderful site for others to see what and how we are doing. Any information sent to me will be included in one of the next issues of the web site/newsletter. Warren Carlson 969-0082  |
|
| Phone
Numbers Monthly Pension 1-800-466-2900 (Opt 2) Unicare 1-800-522-5561 Cigna Health Care 1-800-858-9203 Fidelity Investments 1-800-466-2900 (Opt 1) Mail order/Prescription Drug card PCS 1-800-897-6435 Lou Suit 815-399-0120 Dick Aleshire 815-282-3515 Warren Carlson 815-969-0082 Harriet Brown 815-399-8494 |
Interesting Links
Stock Market
Information |
News
and Info
from UTC |
|
Hamilton
Sundstrand Association News There are still tickets available for upcoming Cubs vs. Brewer's game on Saturday, April 7. Remember, this stadium has a roof so even if its cold and rainy outside, you'll stay warm and dry while watching the Cubs and Brewers. CUBS vs. BREWERS When: Saturday, April 7, 2007 Game time: 12:05 PMWhere: Miller Park in Milwaukee Details: $48 each for HSA member, immediate family, or 1 guest Leaving Rockford at 8:30 AM Call the HSA Office for details and to make reservations. HSA Office Information Hours: Monday, Wednesday and Friday 11:00 A.M. - 2:30 P.M. Office Mgr: Cheryl Pfeil Phone: 226-6973 Location: Plant 6 - North Lobby (Harrison and Alpine). Email: hsassociationoffice@hs.utc.com MetroCentre Discounted On-Line Entertainment Program The HSA Activities Committee is pleased and excited to announce a new program offered by Rockford Centre Events to allow our HSA members to purchase discount tickets to all events that are eligible for a group discount. The HSA asks our members to utilize this system for all events held at the Metro Centre or the Coronado Theatre as the HSA Office will no longer be selling tickets for these local events. Discount Amounts Discounts and fees will vary per event. Their will be no additional service fees for on-line ordering, but a $3 handling charge per order will be added since the orders are processed individually and mailed to your home. Ticket Availability Centre Events Group Sales will place a group of tickets on hold for each event offered through the website prior to the general public sale. Ticket orders placed through the Group Sales web site will be processed as they are received so best seats will be sold first. Ordering Tickets To order tickets for an upcoming event go to www.centreevents.com/GroupSales/hsa.cfm. Here you will be able to view details on all the current shows available, along with discounts, pre show clinics, photo sessions, and other special offers. If you are not comfortable ordering on line, the web site also gives you the option to print a mail-in order form. Metro Center Group Sales Discounted Tickets for Upcoming Events Click here to visit the Center Events web site - HS Association Page. Click on Current Group Discounted Tickets to find program benefits for upcoming shows. The site also provides a means to purchase tickets on-line if you wish. Additional ticket information is available by clicking on the Buy Ticket Now link as well. Application for HSA Board Click Here for an application to become an Association Board Member. |
Upcoming Community Events
Blow the Whistle on Asthma
The 2007 Spring Asthma Walk is scheduled for Saturday
May 12, 2007 at the Midway Village and Museum Center.
You will be walking 3 miles through a beautiful
historic turn of the century village and nature trails
to support asthma research and education for our
community. Check in time for the race is 8:30 a.m.
followed by the start of the race at 10:00 a.m. For
more info. please call the American Lung Association
at 815-962-6412 or you can check out there website at
www.lungil.com
Upcoming Lunch & Learns
"An Hour a Week-Making a Difference in the Life of a
Child." Big Brothers Big Sisters School Based
Mentoring Program
You will learn about the benefits of meeting with a
child (mostly from single parent families) and what it
means to be their buddy. Kids need adult mentors in
their lives. Kids need adults who are consistent and
care about them. When kids recognize that someone
cares about them, then they begin to care about
others. Come and learn about what it means to be a BIG
deal in the life of a child.
Date: Wednesday March 21st at Plant 6 from 12:30-1:00
p.m. in CR 41.
Presented by: Maureen McGrain
Healthy Tid-bits
Focus on These Fab 4
Good nutrition is about getting enough nutrients. Make
sure you
include these daily essentials:
1. Fruits and vegetables. Plant foods are the
foundation of a
healthful diet. For men, your goal is 9-11 servings
daily, for
women it’s 7-9. One serving is roughly a half cup.
2. Omega-3s. Boost your heart health by eating
foods rich in
omega-3 fatty acids. Good sources: salmon, walnuts,
soy and
flaxseed.
3. Fiber. You need 21-38 grams of fiber daily
depending on your
age and gender to help protect the digestive tract and
control
blood cholesterol levels.
4. Legumes. Low in fat, foods in the bean and
pea family are
excellent sources of protein, fiber and flavor. Add
them to soups
and salads, or serve them on the side.
Have a great month!
From: "SLOATMAN, LARRY HS" <Larry.Sloatman@hs.utc.com>
Please Email warren88@aol.com with additions or changes
