Quote:Thank you Kent! More people should have your book! On pg.12, you mention that Pierce destroys their files after 50 years.When I visited, that was the reasoning I was given for the lack of historical photos, true or not. I was truly shocked at how little there was. The biggest manufacturer in the US...and its early history was contained to a couple of file folders in the cabinet in the administrative offices. I was even given free run of the old plant...and found nothing there either. I've heard reports of the "mother load" of old photos floating from location to location...and now nobody knows that happened to them. But, I'll never forget doing the book or that visit. Shane and I would spend hours at night messaging on the computer selecting photos. As for the trip...Doug Ogilvie picking me up at my hotel and driving me (25mph) to Helen Haase's house. She was in her 90s then, sharp as a tack, and could still outsell any fire apparatus salesman. I listened to story after story, while Doug Ogilvie slept in the recliner next to me! LOL. Doug and Helen MADE Pierce. I think that when corporate conglomerates take over...the history goes to crap. Same thing with E\-One. Federal Signal took over...and pushed Robert Wormser to the side...and nearly killed E\-One (and did Superior and Saulsbury) in the early 2000s. There were even rumors of Oshkosh shopping Pierce late last year! But...such is the fire apparatus industry!
How terrible that Pierce ignores history, and destroys it too...
Kent Parrish
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