Fred Elder, Early Jobs

Fred Elder, 2024

As I recall, my first job (really a business venture) was in the summer of 1953 or 1954 when I loaded my wagon full of tomatoes from our garden (most of the garden work was done by my mother) and headed around the neighborhood, knocking on doors.  I have no idea how much I charged for those tomatoes, but I am confident my mother informed me what to charge.  I do remember the neighbors were pleasant and several actually purchased tomatoes.  It was my first foray into the world of big business.

Then, in 1955, when I was 12, I obtained a Wichita Eagle newspaper route.  I was pretty excited about this opportunity to make ‘real’ money.  The excitement soon waned when I had to get up very early, don the requisite newspaper carrier’s pouch (papers front and rear) and walk the route, throwing the papers.  I had not thought how heavy that newspaper pouch was going to be on Thursday and Sunday!  Ah well, I soldiered on.

I was on my route, about ¾ finished on the morning of May 26, 1955, when my mother appeared in the car.  This was unheard of.  It was almost like seeing a ghost.  Naturally, I was most curious and was soon informed that near 10:30pm on May 25, 1955, the small community of Udall, Kansas had been virtually removed from the earth by a large, E5 tornado.  (Udall was a town of about 400 residents and 82 were killed by the unannounced tornado.)  We had relatives in the area of Udall and my route was soon finished (with my mother’s help) and we were soon on our way to check on the relatives as all phones anywhere near the tornado were out of service.  Fortunately, all relatives were unscathed. 

By The Way – I learned how hard it was to collect 55 cents (the weekly cost of the newspaper) from some of my subscribers – but I persevered – it was the money I needed to pay the Wichita Eagle for the papers I delivered to my customers.

My next work adventure came in the summers of 1957, 1958, 1959 and 1960.  I spent the better part of each of those summers on my uncle’s ranch in Greenwood County, Kansas.  The ranch was 18 miles from the nearest city (Eureka, the County Seat), so trips to town were a weekly or less often proposition.  I did everything.  I drove a tractor in the field to plow, disc, combine (my uncle’s combine was not self-propelled) and more.  I drove a truck to and from various work locations.  Many times, I was working on my own, several miles from my uncle’s home. 

I also spent time on a horse working cattle with my uncle.  Working cattle involved all sorts of activities including branding, spraying for flies and much more.  All of these activities involved rounding up the cattle and getting them into a pen.  The work was hot and the hours were long, but I found I quite enjoyed much of the work, even the early morning milking of the cow – the source of our milk and butter. 

Evenings (which were late) often found my uncle and me skinny dipping in a pond near the house to cool off and get rid of some of the day’s accumulation of grime.  Somewhere during this period of time, I opened my first bank account.

Fortunately, I was awarded a football scholarship at the University of Kansas beginning in the fall of 1960.  What a relief.  I had indeed found a way to pay for my college education, though this commitment took more time than most jobs performed by college students when in school.

The summer of 1961 found me working construction in and around Wichita, Kansas (my home town).  The work was hard and I think I was paid $1.35 per hour.  I started working primarily on new homes, but was soon moved to working on a new motel being built at the corner of Broadway and Kellogg.  One outstanding memory is pouring a 2^nd floor slab, but having to carry all of the concrete up a construction ladder in 5 gallon buckets – whew!

The summer of 1962 found me behind the wheel of a large delivery van – delivering Kitty Clover potato chips. First, I trained by going with another driver, but soon, (when the driver went on vacation) I was on my own – covering his route.  That meant everything from gas stations, to bars to large super markets.  One had to take down stale product, fill the shelves with fresh product and get paid.  The job was not difficult, but it was rather boring.  Boredom ceased when it was decided I would perform the same service on out-of-town routes.  One such route was in and around Emporia, Kansas.  Another route was in and around an Oklahoma town about 60 miles south of the Kansas – Oklahoma line.  When in Oklahoma my truck threw a rod and I had to wait for Wichita to bring me a backup truck – then transfer all of the product.  I ate a lot of chips and some sausages one finds in bars.

During the Christmas break in 1962, I found a job at a local sheet metal shop.  The shop was building prefab Griff’s Burger Bars.  (At that time, Griff’s was a McDonald’s competitor.)  I worked in the shop over Christmas break and during the subsequent break between semesters.  (Remember, at that time the Christmas break and the semester break were 2 distinct, non-contiguous time periods.)

The summer of 1963 was a major upgrade.  I finally got my first engineering job – well, almost.  I was hired as a tool design draftsman at Boeing-Wichita for the summer.  I liked the detail work, but I was not a very fast draftsman.  I remember one large project I was working on and after some 3 weeks of drafting and changing, my lead man came to see me.  His question: did you hear this contract was cancelled?  I replied I had not.  He then proceeded to tear my drawing from my drafting board and put it in the trash with the words – it never pays to keep work for a cancelled project.  It was difficult to watch him tear up my 3 weeks of work!

During the 1963 -1964 school year, I worked some week-ends at a local bar called the TeePee.  I remember one particular incident when a fight broke out on the dance floor and I went out to see what was going on.  Someone came up behind me and pinned my arms.  As I was struggling I was suddenly free – because my friend Jim Becker (also a football player) had entered the fray by hitting my assailant over the head with a metal folding chair.  The fight was soon under control and we dragged 2 of the now unconscious aggressors out the front door and left them where they could wake up and head for home.

The summer of 1964 was even a bigger up-grade.  I spent that summer in Lawrence and drove daily to Kansas City to work for Black and Veatch – a large engineering consulting firm that designed electric generation plants, among other things.  So, I actually got to use some of that thermodynamics I had been struggling with at KU.  It was an intriguing summer and I learned a lot.

Remember – during all of these KU summers I was also working out daily as I was on a football scholarship.  1964 was my senior season and I wanted to play well.

Editor’s Note: This is the first part of a memoir Fred has written about work and jobs in his life. The second will be published next week.  What do you remember about your early jobs? Share your stories with us!  (mbellert@niu.edu and ddzinn@aol.com)