Sidney Daily News from Sidney, Ohio • 22

TTT iw 1 1 I Tlx Sidney Daily Newt Satnrday October 28 2006 PngelOB Beck Bus era was vibrant part of history By Rich Wallace and Terry Lee This business was once such ayibrant part of the local indus trial scene Only scant remnders of it dot the community The let ter chiseled in stone still holds an honored place above the front door of the CompAir plant on Russell Road in Sidney Beck Drive winds around through the Bon Air subdivision in north Sidney There are few other reminders of CD Beck and Company and its ingenious and ambitious owner Clayton Beck His buses were a common site in small town America for over two decades This is the story of bus business and its intrepid owner powerful industrial pedigree attracted many differ ent types of entrepreneurs over the last century Our town was home to some of the leading manufacturers of school desks cookware road scrapers lathes paper folding machinery wood working equipment and compressors It was not surpris ing that the automobile industry relied on Sidney during its expansion years as well Anderson Body and Pioneer Body both produced wooden automobile bodies for Dodge and other car makers The Anderson plant was located at the intersection of Clinton Street and the East Avenue extension The body business declined after a few years when the switch to all metal car frames began An article in the Sidney Daily i 1 Early advertisement for Beck Buses try) It was an instant hit Orders in 1934 and 1935 totaled 200 buses Beck was becoming a well known name in the industry At the center of the growth was the enterprising Beck To turn ideas into reality he need ed an engineer with a vision He found that man in Don Manning Manning graduated from Sid ney High School in 1933 and immediately began working for Mr Beck as the first draftsman This brilliant engi neer spent over 60 years in the bus business and was with Mr Beck for the entire history of the CD Beck and Co The Interstate Commerce Commission specified the man ufacture of all steel bus bodies only for safety reasons in 1937 thus ending Ore era of wooden bus bodies new product Steeliner ended up being best selling bus The Airstream series of buses were redesigned to be of all steel construction as well and that line continued until 1939 People today complain about too' much government Imagine our reaction if a government order resulted in the immediate halt of production That was what faced Beck in 1942 The War Production Board ordered all bus production to stop Monarch Sidney Machine Tool and Copeland received similar orders and their factories were converted to war time pro duction An inspection revealed that the Beck Bus Co site (the old Anderson Body location) was not suitable for war work Beck was therefore free to 1 4 A 't Sr1 I THE NEW LIGHTWEIGHT METRO INTER COW PARLOR COACH BECK News on July 10 1931 hailed the dawn of the bus era in town The headline read Bus Body HH Young a Loudonville bus body manufac turer leased the Anderson plant and began the production of bus bodies He continued use of the Anderson name CD Beck moved to Sidney after working as a salesman for the remont Metal Body Co He knew about the growing market and purchased business in January 1933 Beck began by continuing what Young had start ed the manufacture of school buses However his main market idea was to concentrate on the lightweight inner city bus market new line of buses hit the market in early 1934 The line composed of three models was dubbed the (That name would fmd more fame later on within the travel trailer indus resume the manufacture of buses by the spring of 1943 Government regulations how ever specified only the largest bus the company made could be built and it must use only author ized material and have no decora tive trim The result was the Beck Commuter Express model Apparently all its competitors were making war material and Beck was building the only full sized buses in the country The first order of business in the post war era was to construct a new facility It was built on the far north edge of Sidney at that time Russell Road The facility was finished in July 1946 Continued product innova tions were necessary in the 1950s Beck produced a and a type of scenicruiser These were the largest vehicles Beck ever built They carried up to 43 passengers and even had a restroom Seven of these models were exported to Cuba He described his last years in business in a letter to the editor of the Motor Bus Society newsletter kept building larger and larger equipment using Cummins diesel power until we were finally building our largest deck and a half model During this time many features were developed such as air ride place of springs air conditioning toilet facilities and so Mr Beck continually searched for new ideas as well Since the chassis for buses and fire trucks were the same get ting in to the latter business made sense The first line of a story that appeared in the Nov 17 1953 addition of the Sidney Daily News captured the excitement felt in the community Brad Van TilburghSDN photo iM jflnt M' ''wluW I IBr I Ikksi Sounds of music TYLER WISMAR performs during North the son of Rex and Denise Wismar of Sid wood chorus concert Tuesday He is ney or news sports weather and more visit us on the Web at sidneydailynewscom gfan gM Need a Doctor? Board Certified Physicians Accepting new patients now All patients and most insurances are welcomed Taj Rashid MD Padmaja Satin MD We specialize in Internal Medicine Diabetes Chronic Disease Women's Health Geriatrics RHk welcome you at their Offices at Upper Valley Medical Park 3006 County Rd 25A suite 102 Troy OH 45373 Call today for an appointment Tel 937 3399030 engines being made at Beck Mr Beck purchased the business from the Ahrens ox Corp of Cincinnati Ahrens ox had been involved in the fire truck business for over a century CD Beck was nothing if not colorful Some remember his fondness for having a nightcap at the end of the business day from the well stocked bar in his plant office Legend has it that some of those 400 employees were fired at night but then rehired in the morning There was more good news for Sidney residents in 1956 Mack Truck a well known national company purchased Beck and Co and moved its fire truck division here in the fall of 1 956 from Allentown Pa A major expansion of the Russell Road facility was com menced in ebruary 1957 It resulted in the addition of 143000 square feet of floor space However labor problems and other reasons resulted in Mack moving its business back to Allentown and selllhg the building to Westinghouse Air Brake in 1960 It was the end of an interest ing and profitable era in Sidney manufacturing Over 3100 buses rolled off of the Beck assembly line from 1933 to the late 1950s The Beck name was well respected throughout the transportation industry Don Manning continued his career with Mack both in Sid ney and Allentown When Mack got out of the bus business entirely Manning went to work for General Motors in its bus division Mr Manning had over 30 patents to his credit by the end of his career His influence is noticeable even today in the bus market Every school bus is required by law to be designed with an escape hatch on the roof The idea and design were both Man This Sidney High School graduate has been nominated for the Sidney Schools Hall of Honor Clayton Beck the great entrepreneur died of heart fail ure in 1994 at the age of 88 Committed Caring 6M (yare ooidem in Become a Certified Type Child Care Provider! Work in your own home Set your own work schedule Attend free trainings Be included in a free referral service to help your business Make a difference in a life! Applicants must be at least 18 years old have a high school diploma or GEL) Please call the Shelby County Department ofjob and amily Services at 498 4981 ext 292 for further information 822329 Shelby County willing to provide quality child care services New Bremen Emergency Squad Recognizes Volunteers This past week there was a letter written to the editor of all the local papers giving thanks to Mr Terry Dick for his many years of service to the New Bremen Emergency Squad I felt after reading this letter that a response was in order I personally agree that Terry Dick deserves a public thank you for all his years of service Terry served as President of our squad for several years and had been a loyal member for over 30 years Terry joined the squad 6 months after it was started and has been on thousands of runs over his tenure 1 personally Served with Terry from 2003 thru ebruary of this year and enjoyed serv mg with Terry over this period While I think it is appropriate to thank Terry 1 think we must also acknowledge that there are many volun teers who have given countless hours over the past 30 years and who been acknowledged ollowing is a list of some of thpse volunteers (this list is not all inclusive but I tried to list everyone I could fmd records on Ronald Adams Jim Angles David Anthony Cheryl Barlage Jon Belton Denny Bey Doris Blanke Joseph Blitch John Bomhorst Barry Boyer Joann Boyer Debra Brackman Rhonda Brown Linda Bushman Tracy Caudill Keith Dabbelt Sandy Dean Carol Dick Ginny Dicke Janet Dicke Paul Dicke Virginia Dicke Bonnie Droesch Matthew Dwenger Linda Emmons Mark Enzle Karen arley Bev leddetjohann Robert ortman Robert Garman Lori Gilbert Sarah Gottchalk Merrily Good Cheryl Gossette LaRose Gossette Mike Gossette Dale Grilliot Doug Harrod Carol Hehr Bob Heitkamp Dale Heitkamp Mike Heitkamp Carman Hirschfeld David Hirschfeld Don Hoelscher Pat Holmer Andrea Homan Randy Houseworth Belinda Hudson Peg Wuebker Hurick Nancy Johnson Michelle Kleiri Jim Knapke Lynn Koenig Andrew Kramer David Kramer Donald Kramer Jim Kronenberger Christina Kuck Robert Kuck Pat Kuniewiez Scott Laleur Clarence Lesher Dorothy Lesher Kevin Luedeke Alfred Manbeck Greg Maurer Tim May Judy Meckstroth Cheryl Micheal Barbara Moeller Mike Moeller Rebecca Moeller Edna Moore Barbara Moore James Moore Jane Moore Robert Nagel Jerry Nerderman Marilyn Nerderman Robet Niekamp Andrew Nieport Carol Opperman redrick Pape John Parlett Mary Paul Dan lilipot Beverly Plattner Kim Plattner Ralph Plattner Greg Pleiman Peter Qualtieri Lowell Quellhorst Tom Quellhorst Karen Rammel Sharon Rich Sue Ritter foe Ritter Jr Carol Roediger Sandy Rollins Lori Rump Ed Rump Don Scheer Dwight Schroer Barbara Scheer Jerry Scheer Lester Schmackers Charley Schmidt Rick Schoby Curt Schroer Dwight Schroer Anita Sextro Jennifer Skinner Wayne Steinman Cindy Storrer Amy Stuhlemmer Kurt Stuhlemmer Mike Swackhamer Dan Tebbe Scott Temple Sandy Thjeman Jason This Kathy Tontrup Ron Tontrup Thieda Tontrup Joyce Topp Barb Tostrick Bill Tostrick John Tostrick Joey Weaver Gary Wehmeyer Larry Weimert Evelyn Wenning Jerry Wente Jim Westerbeck Juddi Westerbeck Connie Will Brenda Williams Dale Wilson Kathryn Winner Dan Wissman ay Wroblewski Robert Yeater William Young and many others I listed here who also gave many selfless hours serving their community All of these members have not only given their time and commitment but their families have sacrificed as well 1 would also like to thank all the current volunteers staff the New Bremen Emergency Squad Although we did pass a levy in New Bremen to pay for paramedic coverage we are still a volunteer organ iza tion Getting people to volunteer for Emergency Squads is a growing problem in our nation but those who come forward and volunteer feel the satisfaction that comes with helping their fellow neighbors While Terry and his family would like you to believe he was forced off the squad the truth is Terry resigned on March 6 2006 stating he did not agree with the cur rent leadership and direction of the squad Two months ago Terry did submit an application to re join the squad but the details of why we did not vote Terry back onto the squad are a private matter as all dis cussion was held in executive session We have never made the details of these votes public in the past and we will not do so in the future There is always a rea son when we deny somebody acceptance into our organ ization and this instance was no different Since Mr Dick resigned in March he has felt the need to bring his grievances to the community 1 have been reluctant to respond to his accusations I believe it is healthy for the community to have these issues discussed in a public forum and as such I will not respond to those accusations either now or in the future What is important is that the citizens of New Bremen and surrounding communities know that the New Bremen Emergency Squad js a viable organization and we continue to provide high quality service If anyone has any concerns regarding the squad please feel free to contact me I can be reached at (4 1 9) 629 43 13 As I stated previously in my letter we are attempting to recruit new members onto the squad If you have any interest I would ask you please get in touch with Cheryl Micheal at (419) 629 2969 John Parlett at (419) 629 2866 or me to get more details We are hoping to have a class starting in ebruary of 2007 in Minster for those interested in becoming EMT Basics We would be happy to discuss any questions or concerns you might have regarding this class or volunteering for the squad It is a very challenging and rewarding experience Thank you Robert Parker President On Behalf of the New Bremen Emergency Squad moj 4.