Remembering James "Jim" M. Callihan born in Byesville, Guernsey County, Ohio who worked with my father for many years at the General Industries Company in Elyria, Ohio

Remembering Mr. James "Jim" M. Callihan today on this Veterans Day, November 11, 2022.  Jim was honorably discharged from the Army Air Corps in 1947. 

It was my pleasure to meet Jim and Ruth Callihan on October 20, 2012 at their lovely home in Elyria, Ohio.  

Thanks to the Internet, I was able to make a connection to them and exchange information about the General Industries Company where Jim had worked starting in 1952 as a sales manager and general sales manager retiring in 1990.  However, he stayed on serving as a consultant with the company through 2003.  

My father, Harry Limes, worked at General Industries from 1934 retiring from a position of foreman in the Plastics Division.  

My mother, Virginia (Zagorsky) Limes, worked at General Industries as well as a molder from 1940 to 1947 following the shutdown of her first employer, Central Glass Works in Wheeling, West Virginia that occurred in1939.  My father was my mother's boss. They were married on December 7, 1944. 

Thus, the General Industries Company has held special significance in my life because my parents met there. My father died in 1988, and my mother died in 1995.  

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Sharing an excerpt from a letter to me from James Callihan: 

"I came to GI from Cambridge, Ohio (130 Miles south) and was hired by Allan Fritzsche in July 1952 as Sales Manager of the Plastics Div. when I was but age 26 where for many years I worked and developed friendships with many co-workers including Harry.  

In the photo you sent, it included Bill Foster who was the son-in-law of Fritsche who owned the company at that time.  Bill Foster was to become the President for 23 years to his retirement in 1980.  We both kept in close touch throughout our retirement years and he died in Florida at age 86.  I talked with him 6 months prior to his death.

I later became General Sales Manager then Vice President of Sales & Marketing of both Plastics and Motors Divisions and upon retirement was Senior Vice President of the Company which as your know burned down a few years ago.

 I have many wonderful memories of my years with GI and there are only a few of us still alive of the management group.  Milan Bendik who was V.P. of Personnel lives close by.

  I noted a 1948 picture of the GI league bowling team I'll send you of which included your dad and Joe Ursem who was a compression molder. Joe's daughter, Joanie, was secretary to Bill Foster and  myself for several years.

Below is a group photograph of the November 1947Bowling team at the General Industries in Elyria.: 

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I finally succeeded in a plant wide clean-up effort but it took about 5 years to get there!! The first time I walked thru the plant at GI, I was walking thru water due to steam line leaks and it looked and felt like I was walking on boardwalks in the old west!!

Orlo Marsh who was then V.P. was the first GI Exec. to interview me and tour plant in Cambridge and he was astounded at how clean it was and it opened his eyes to what GI had to do to become more competitive and produce less scrap due to contamination of bakelite dust flying all around. First thing we did at GI was build enclosures around every one of the molding presses in the first 6 months after I arrived!

Following that we fixed all the water line leaks, removed all the wooden planks on the floor that were deteriorating due to the water."

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Truly, Jim Callihan was the proverbial "walking Encyclopedia" recalling memory after memory from his tenure at General Industries including the company's extensive history. 

Eagerly I "soaked in" all of the details no matter how small, but for me were so significant, as he moved along sharing them with me.

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The photograph below is a colorized birds eye view of the General Industries Co. plant in Elyria, Ohio (circa 1930s) which sadly burned down to the ground in 2008. 

Fortunately my parents weren't alive to know about its demise.

Mr. Callihan took a moment out from our conversation to show me some of the video of the fire he had saved on his computer.  I could see how sad it was for him to view some of it.:

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Below - left is my bakelite bomb fuse and to the right is my lucite bomb fuse made at the General Industries Co. in Elyria during WWII.  These might have been "seconds".  My mother told me she helped to make these for the war effort.    

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Below is another example of Lucite with a religious medal encased in it made probably by my mother.: 

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Thankfully, Mr. Callihan donated all of his "GI" collection to the Lorain County Historical Society ensuring the material will be available for viewing and study by researchers seeking to learn more about the company. 

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Below is Mr. James "Jim" Callihan in 2016 in Colorado where he relocated following the death of his wife in 2015.: 

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Rest in eternal peace, Jim.  

Thank you for touching my life in such a memorable way!

Happy Father's Day! Remembering my father today in a bit of a different way.

 

Wishing all of the fathers, and those who are role model fathers for others, a wonderfully happy Father's Day 2020! 
This Father's Day is unlike any other, however, because of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic continuing across America, and indeed around the world. 

I do feel confident, though, that our 21st Century resources being utilized by professionals in the fields of science and medicine are the best equipped in history to meet and ultimately conquer the challenges presented by this deadly disease. 

It does help though, to have a supportive and loving father by our side to reassure and guide us through it.  

But, that is not possible for many of us is it, for one reason or another.

For those of us who have lost our father, please know he is only a thought away if we so desire to ponder what he has meant to us.  We have our memories, photographs, artifacts, his life history, and all he shared with us that offer a cradle of comfort whenever we choose to draw nearer to them.  If you have studied your father's life then you know about his occupations, hobbies, his character, insights, education, sports affiliations, accomplishments, and his triumph over tragedies that made him unique and strong.  

So, one way we can honor our father is to share what we know about him and his life.  We can do that in different settings -- privately or publicly. 

One public way to offer honor and respect for a deceased father is to post an online memorial for him.  

I chose to do that on "Find A Grave".  

I created my father's memorial several years ago, but today I decided it was overdue for me to take the next step and sponsor it.  

The cost wasn't much, $5.00, but it enables removal of any pop-up advertisements on his memorial page.  It also permits me to post more photographs than the normal limit of 5.  I felt good about doing that as a small gesture.  It was my small way of conveying my appreciation for his love and concern for me during our time together.  

So, thank you daddy for being a role model for me, for all of your loving support and concern for my welfare, for your grins and hugs, and for teaching me how to properly catch fish and worms!

  

Here is my Find A Grave memorial for my father, Harry Limes.    

Remembering my mother on Mother's Day 2020 - 25 years after she left me and this world behind

I can't believe it has been 25 years since spending my first Mother's Day without my mother being in my life.  

My mother, Virginia Harriet Zagorsky Limes, passed away on February 3, 1995 after suffering for 8 years from the after effects of two strokes - her first one was major and the second one was minor.  My father had died in 1988. I was their only child - a later in life baby for each.  My father died from prostate cancer that had spread to the bone that was quite painful for him to endure.  He was first afflicted with it in 1983.  So, counting up all of those years they were the worst 12 years of their lives - for dealing with severe illness.  And, in mine, for feeling helpless to at least ease their pain.

My mother and me in 1984 - 2 years before her first stroke

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My mother's stroke turned her into a person essentially I had not known before.  I can say the one positive after affect for her was that she lost weight.  That might have been it.  Her first stroke left her with limited mobility on one side of her body and mentally in poor shape because dementia set in.  As time went on, she walked using a crutch but tired easily.  She never really had abundant energy it seemed to me as a child romping around wanting to play and go outside. She would need to "take a flop" after dragging the Electrolux canister vacuum cleaner up and down the house going from the back room through a hallway, kitchen, dining room, and living room before finishing up in the bedrooms.  And, when she was dusting and got tired of it she would just say "I'm going to dust the dining room table "with a lick and a promise." Of course she never told my father such things - only me. 

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I'm sure we all have special memories of our mother.  Some are more endearing and heartfelt than others.  Still, a mother is unique; and she will be a unique person in our life.  Our time with her will hold its own meaning that we will carry with us the rest of ours.  

Some of us are, or were, close to our mother and for some perhaps they could say that wasn't quite so true.  Some may have never known their mother at all.  But, we know there was one or we wouldn't be here!  It sounds kind of simplistic to state that but each person's relationship with their mother is unique.

So, it is the uniqueness of mothers that I feel we can celebrate and honor because we know there will be no other person we can truly call Mother but one; the one who gave us life.  We would not be here without her being part of our world first before we even entered the one we would call our own time on earth.

These thoughts come to mind when I think of my mother and her life before I came along and afterward.  I would like to tell her "thank you" in person one more time for her sacrifices made for me so my life would be better growing up.  For all of the food she cooked and heaped up on my plate.  The clothes she picked out for me that she liked even if I would have maybe chosen something else.  She cared and wanted to do what she could to keep me safe and happy; adequately clothed and well fed!  

Please spend some time pondering the little things as well as the large momentous events that helped shape your relationship with your mother.  If she is still living tell her how you feel, and show your feelings to her.  She may have had to hide some of hers from you, but she'll be glad you shared with her to tell her that she will always be your mother; your unique mother.  One day you may not be able to do that in person.  You just might wish that you had spent more time sharing your thoughts and memories of your life with your mother when you had the chance.  Don't let the opportunity go by if you still have that chance.  You may not get another. 

My mother and me about 1952

I look up to the sky now and say "Mother are you listening?"  

Remembering my father, Harry Limes, on Father's Day 2018

It was 30 years ago, on March 22, 2018, when my dear father departed this life a few months shy of his 84th birthday.  He died due to having prostate cancer.  I remember his saying that he had hoped he would make it to age 90.  Sadly, that did not happen for him.  

But, for the past 30 years, and as long as I live and have my mind and memories, I will remember him, and take comfort on days like Father's Day, Christmas, Thanksgiving, and his birthday, to devote more time to reflecting on him and his words of wisdom given to me over the years; not the least of which was: "always live within your means."  

My father lived during the Roaring 20s and the Great Depression.  The 1930s was a much different type of decade to live through with its austerity and hardships that meant an adjustment from the carefree and less stressful decade that had ended with a crash; quite literally, when the U. S. Stock Market crashed in October of 1929.  I know my father's lifestyle altered drastically during the 1930s; but I also know he found ways to cope and make it a time to try new things and start a new line of work that would last the rest of his life. 

Sharing here my "Find A Grave" memorial that I created for my father., Harry Limes.  He was named after his mother's youngest brother, Harry Lombard.  The memorial includes a biography about my father's life that I compiled from personal knowledge and extended research about him.  I can only hope that he would be pleased, and it would meet with his approval.  

Harry Limes (1904 - 1988) - Find A Grave Memorial

Harry Limes (1904 - 1988) - Find A Grave Memorial

Remembering my father, Harry Limes, buried at Elmwood Cemetery, Lorain, Ohio

Harry Limes (1904 - 1988) - Find A Grave Memorial

Harry Limes (1904 - 1988) - Find A Grave Memorial

Sharing my Find A Grave memorial for my father in honor of his birthday today; July 27, 1904.