| August
2007 Monthly News Letter | Internet Issue #7 |
July11 ... Lunch at Sundstrand Park
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Print and Pass this on to other Sundstrand retirees that may not have email.
Next meeting, August 8 April meeting will be August 8 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 August 3 The program will be Dennis Prescott of Mid-West Capital Services, an 18 year local financial advisory company, he currently has a stock brokers liclicense and is licensed with over 30 insurance companies. The topics that he would like to cover are the changes that have been made in the retirement environment since the pension reformation act of 2006, the changes in medicare, part C, and some some alternative strategies for funding nursing home care. Dennis will limit his talk to about 20 minutes. LOU |
progress???
See you at the COMMAND POST , Lou
Suit
Remembrances
| Carol Lenox Mildred(Wanda) Kersten Irene Pastuska George Kane Don DuFoe Steven Kenny Dale Balch Muriel Swenson Peterson RUTH R. HAYENGA | Information
on passing of Sundstrand Retirees Should be called into Elsie Lundvall 1721 8th. st. *815-965-4904  |
SECRETARY’S REPORT 7/11/07 Lou opened the meeting at 12 noon with 29 presentEldie Lundvall read some poems and said grace. At 12:45 Bruce Nelson, Hank ABrumfield and Dean Johnson, members of “Blackhawk Country, held our attention with some “good” old country songs and stories. They played “pro bono”, but we passed the green hat and made a small offering to the group for their fine effort. Florence Rose obdtained tickets for a 50/50 draw, and came up with $33.00 $16.50 for the Retiree Assoc. and three prizes to Robert Clifton, Helene Lawson and Trudy Richeson. Respectfully submitted by Vera Nordquist Rabe Secretary pro-tem. |
Gettting to know you... again.
Married Harriet in 1953. Have daughter Linda and grand daughter Amber. I started off at Sundstrands at the age of 18. My first place was plant one on 11th. st. Worked in the fuel pump division and also worked on the mills. Went to Hydraulic Division on Harrison Ave worked on the mills then worked on the mills on mag line at railroad ave. and 9th. st. Went to main plant and done assembly work for 32 years. Retired in 1981. I now play my instruments with some neighbors and go fishing. Enjoying life in WI. Have been in New Holstein 5 years. I would like to say hi to all the retiree's and we sure had alot of good times. Was very fortunate to work at Sundstrands. Have a lot of memories and was teased a lot and a lot of laughs. I really enjoy the retiree's news and Warren is doing such a good job getting all the news to everyone and thankful for his work. Warren has also created personal web site for us.. if you like to see it..click on http://warren88.topcities.com/burman/burman.htm |
Don Bissell email....donbissell@usa.net Hello,
all, from downtown Rockford. Don Bissell is a
partner in B&B Properties LLC. Our first, only (so
far), and most
visible product is having completed a historic rehabilitation of a 150
year old
building. During its history it has seen use as a mattress
manufacturing
facility, a printing plant, numerous retail businesses and ultimately
Wortham’s Department Store. For the most recent 40
years it has
been mostly empty. The partners restored the exterior
faithfully to
historic remembrances and photos and adapted the interior to upscale
residential spaces. So far about 2000 visitors have taken
advantage of
scheduled tours and events here. When not in town a common place to
find me is in Ghana, West
Africa. I enjoy hanging out there and am mentoring several
Ghanaians in
business and/or similar endeavors that suit their specific needs and
conditions. While at Sundstrand I spent valuable
and memorable time in
Technical Publications in various capacities. Eventually a
special
project at Sundstrand Technology Development in Costa Mesa, CA tweaked
my
interest and the remainder of my Sundstrand days were in sunny southern
California until the project was sold to a French company
(Jouve). I’m an active and current fixed wing pilot. Occasional episodes of rotorcaft (aka helicopter) flying keep the blood rushing and adrenaline at an elevated level.  I am always reachable via e-mail
which transitions time
zones, physical location and scheduled activities . . . . |
 My name is Harriet Brown. Email.. hbrown2211@insightbb.com I am an 80 year old widow and have lived in Rockford, Illinois, all my life. I have two sons, six grandchildren, and one great granddaughter. My 98-year-old boyfriend, Stanley Stark, lives with me. Late-breaking news: Harriet reports that she and her
long-time boyfriend, Stanley Stark, are going to be married on September
16 at her home during a regular Sunday night supper. All five of their
combined sons will be standing up for them.
I host family dinners every Sunday night at my home. I started in the personnel
department at Sundstrand in 1968, became an executive
secretary in the 70's and for the last seven
years worked in Human Resources orienting new
employees, developing and teaching classes. Retired
in December, 1990, after 32 years. Have served as
photographer of the Sundstrand Retiree group since retiring.
For many years I have had
the hobby of sweepstaking. I developed a kit and wrote a book
on the subject called "The Winning Road." Have appeared on
many radio and TV shows (twice by Oprah, Hour Magazine, PM Magazine,
and others). I've won the coveted 4 C's--CAR (mine
was a 2000 Ford Explorer, CASH (mine was $10,000), CRUISE
(mine was for four people cruising from California to
Mexico), and COMPUTER. I serve as president of a local
sweepstaking club. I'm often asked to speak to non-profit
groups on the subject of sweepstakes and am happy to do so at no charge.
I do quite a bit of
volunteering with Alpine Lutheran Church as a member of the
evangelism-outreach committee, deliver cookies to visitors, and make
lapboards to sell for the benefit of the youth.
I serve as secretary of two investment clubs, one of which (Points
Plus) started at Sundstrand in 1985. Membership is open; come
and visit.
May you all find WONderful
prizes in your future!
|
| RON BLACKBURN
rblackburn@kih.net Sadieville, Kentucky  Sadieville is just the post office. My wife and I live on 9 acres that is 7 miles from nowhere, and about 60 miles south of Cincinnati, OH. We moved back here in 1996 and built a house, mainly because of elderly parents nearby and being native Kentuckians. We actually left our six grown children (and now 14 grandchildren) in Illinois, Michigan, Colorado, and California; none in Kentucky. I worked at Aviation Mechanical from 1974-79 and 1985-93. When I left the USAF, I did not want to be associated with the military-industrial complex, so I joined Caterpillar gas turbine engine research (1965-74). I went to Sundstrand intending to work on the commercial APU (with Allison), but within 6 months I was assigned to the F-16 Engine Start System. Dick Fandel, my boss, said I would retire and that system would still be in production. He was right, and more! I left in 1979 to try again outside the government marketplace, as Manager R&D of Clarage Fan Company in Michigan, then Sheldons Fan in Elgin, IL. That was not going good, so, in 1985 I called Dick Reynolds in Aviation Research and asked if they were hiring or firing. Fortunately they were hiring because of Reagan’s push on IR&D, etc. My second stint at Sundstrand involved a lot of IR&D, plus some side-assignments to the San Diego Power Systems Division, regarding ultra fuel-rich combustion to try to replace hydrazine for high altitude emergency power systems. I was always skeptical of the concept, but the USAF at Dayton was promoting it like it was sliced bread. Sundstrand retired me, giving me a one-year bridge so I could get an age-55 retirement with no health insurance. However, a motorcycle accident near Roscoe in 1994, with the resulting COBRA implications, led to a legal dispute, with Sundstrand taking it all the way to U.S. Supreme Court. I prevailed in 1997 when they denied hearing and remanded it to Illinois court. (I will send 3-page Word document describing details to anyone that sends me email request). At age 60, my Air National Guard retirement set in and my wife and I had as-good or better health insurance (military Tricare) than any Sundstrand retiree. Things really got interesting after Sundstrand. Lockheed Martin hired me in Ft. Worth (1994-96) to be part of a joint design team for the Korean KTX-2 (now the T-50/A-50). After defining the secondary power system, the program went on hiatus, I moved over to the main plant, and expected to be laid off. But that never happened. I had enough time to do some spread sheet analysis of my retirement plans and discovered I could. So I quit in March 1996 and we came to Kentucky. LM contacted me in 2000 to go to Korea for the T-50 production. I could not go at that time, but Al Wood (previously in Aviation Marketing) did, then paved for the way for me and Barbara to follow him in July 2001. We lived in Chinju for 7 months, socializing extensively with the Koreans we had met in Ft. Worth. I have since did some minor consulting with the Korean Agency for Defense Development in Daegu (Nov 2002) and also Samsung Techwin (helicopter APU) in Changwon (March 2006). My time in Kentucky, other than being contractor for our house construction in 1997-98 and stints with LM/Koreans, involved substitute teaching at the local high school and vocational-tech. However, I soon discovered that teaching was more difficult than it looked, with discipline issues, etc. I was a certified Motorcycle Safety Foundation instructor/ridercoach for the Kentucky Motorcycle Program during 1997-2004. I quit that after suffering on hot pavement with Type II diabetic feet. I still ride my three motorcycles, fish, mow about 5 acres with my Farmall Super A, and tend our wine grape vineyard (100 vines) and 14 apple trees. Vineyard more work and expense than I estimated, so that is not too successful. I do miss the engineering challenges and collaboration with other engineers. I still hold out some hope that somebody will develop my patented idea (Caterpilllar) of a “floating stator vane diffuser” for a compressor or the “self-starting gas turbine engine” (Sundstrand patent). Would be nice to have visitors. Stop by any time we are here. Contact me by email and phone number, etc. will be provided. |
Prescott Valley,AZ Family:5 childen,9 grandchilden,1 greatgrandchild[+1more
this month]
Worked:Rkfd,A/C 2ndary Power Systems[Harrison Ave]
Retired:June 1985
Service:34 yrs
Life in the liesure world: It used to be traveling
w/a trailer[gave it up in '93-too much traffic]; tennis forever-work
whenever;working out,swimming,taking in the SUNSHINE & helping
w/the grandchilden.Looking foreword to roaming the Arizona back roads
this year.
We recently [this week] changed our residence from IL
toAZ.What an experience that was--down sizing after living 46 years in
one place.But I know it'll be worth it! |
I'm single and living in Rockford, IL. I have
a time share in Cancun. I have one son living in Rockford and he has three
children: daughter 20, son 14, son 11. They spend a lot of time at
grandma's swimming in my pool. I also stay busy going to baseball games to
see my grand sons play.
I worked in the Research department and
electronics. I started in 1974 for Don Straznickas. Also worked for
Tim Glennon, Dave Hucker, Jerry Mullin and Byron Mehl. I had great
bosses and loved my work. I retired in Dec.1999 after UTC bought
Sundstrand out after 16yr of service. I have worked at H.S. almost all of
my retirement years through Ingenium Tech., however I have been off for a year
now.
I have a vegetable garden, flower garden and
swimming pool. I love to walk and work out at the health
club.
I do miss seeing everyone I worked
with. |
| 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 HSA Office Information: Hours: Mon - Wed - Fri 11am -2:30pm Location: Plant 6 - North Lobby Phone: 1-815-226-6973 |