“Lincoln Larson has record of 40 years service” from the August 31, 1965 Door County Advocate
Lincoln Larson has record of 40 years service
By FRANCES BADTKE
Forty years of service to the city of Sturgeon Bay is the enviable record of Lincoln Larson, 440 N. 7th av., who retired last week from the Utilities crew.
A lot of changes have been made in the city services in that period of time and they have been a part of the life of Mr. Larson.
Lincoln started with the city crews Nov. 3, 1925 making him the city employee with the longest record of service to the community. He started out as a fireman at the old electric light plant which formerly stood at the corner of Nebraska and Second av.
Steam from the big boilers heated municipal buildings and business buildings on the east side of Sturgeon Bay until 1949 when the plant was closed. The public service commission had ordered the city either to make the plant pay or close it down in favor of separate heating plants in the individual buildings. This latter was done since the central heating plant was no longer a paying venture.
The crew at the old heating plant had no “soft 40 hour week” it was recalled by Larson but the men worked seven days a week.
When the steam heating plant was closed down Larson was transferred to a line crew, in which position he remained until his recent retirement.
Since the Utility crew covers an area not only including the city limits but about ten miles on either side there has been a considerable amount of general maintenance and line construction which Larson has seen accomplished.
With the rock strata lying so close to the surface of the ground this has posed special problems for the line crews putting in new poles as blasting is necessary in order to make a deep enough hole to keep the tall poles from leaning or toppling over.
One time when his crew was engaged in blasting pole holes an irate housewife vented her ire and displeasure upon Larson for blasting. He took the brunt of the discourse mainly because he was the nearest one to her.
Larson and the crew with which he worked have removed innumerable cats from transformers after they climbed the poles. Squirrels are another hazard to continuing electric service to users as they (the squirrels) climb the poles and wires and then often accidentally touch the hot wire and a ground and are killed and must be removed.
Another hazard is kites. When these become entangled in electric wires they present a danger of shorting out lines and must also be removed. Then the patient crew drives out, climbs the pole and removes the offending object.
When Larson started, not all the homes in Sturgeon Bay even had electricity and much installation was required. With the advent of television and hot water heaters the use of electric current grew even more rapidly and now there is at least ten times as much electricity used as when he started.
When it rains and storms other city residents can remain inside snug and dry, but not so with the utility crew. They must be out there in the worst of it restoring service when a transformer is hit by lightning and removing hot lines that have come down.
Genial, patient and with a sense of humor, Larson is an example of the type of man necessary to deal with the public and offer long years of devoted service to an exacting and often rather exasperating job.
There are only a few left at the Utility that were with the company the first few years that Larson worked at the old steam plant. One of these is Elmer Fleming, himself due to retire in a couple years. Retirement is mandatory at the age of 65 and when Larson reached this age Aug. 18 he automatically retired.
“Now I will have time to do some hunting and fishing again,” Larson said. He used to do both with his son Glen when he was younger but did not always have time for both these sports.
Mr. and Mrs. Larson had five children, four of whom are still living — Glen, June, Delores (who is Mrs. Einar Evenson) and Doug, former Advocate editor now with the Press-Gazette. Einar also works for the Utilities and he and his father-in-law were members of the same line crew, Einar on the poles and Lincoln on the ground. One daughter passed away last year.
There have been some exciting times with the job which ordinarily would be routine. One time when they were whitewashing the walk at the old steam plant the barrel they were using to spray the walls blew up and went right “slick and clean through the roof” Larson said.
The crew was given pills one time to prevent them from getting poison ivy when they were due to work in an area where this plant scourge was plentiful. Every man took the pills except Larson. What happened? You guessed it, everyone in the crew got poison ivy except Larson himself.
A party was given in his honor by fellow employees recently at the Otis Trodahl cottage and he was presented with an AM-FM radio which he enjoys. Since it is also battery powered he can take it along with him on his trips up to son Doug’s summer home near Ellison Bay known to Advocate readers as “Thistledown Manor.” Lincoln was born at Gills Rock and likes the area.
When we called on him he told us he has been “resting up so I can do some real loafing at Thistledown Manor.”
FORTY YEARS OF SERVICE with the Sturgeon Bay Utilities ended last week for Lincoln Larson, 440 N. 7th av. This is how he enjoyed one day of his “retirement,” watching Elmer Fleming oversee the servicing of a transformer just across the street from his home. On the pole are Robert Shaffer and Francis Kern. At right in the foreground is the AM-FM radio fellow employees gave him as a parting gift. —Harmann
Courtesy of the Door County Library Newspaper Archive
Articles by Frances Badtke
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