Mary Ellen’s mother was suffering from Alzheimer’s. Her father was being worn down taking care of her. I would be eligible for early retirement at age 60. Mary Ellen and I decided to take early retirement, sell our house and move in with her parents to give her father some relief. I applied to retire on my 60^th birthday, May 1985.

Tommy & Grace Proffitt

Actually, I had reached my full potential with Honeywell. There didn’t seem to be any chance of advancement. My work load had increased and included more stress. Early retirement didn’t pay very good, but it wouldn’t cost much to live with Mary Ellen’s parents. Also, interest from the sale of our house would supply a little income.

By time May 1985 came around, Mary Ellen’s mother had died, but we didn’t cancel my retirement.

We didn’t sell the house. The retirement was not enough to meet expenses. AB Electric Co. was advertising for electrical workers. I applied thinking they would think I was too old. Not so. Alan Baker, the company owner, asked if I knew anything about PC”s. Thinking he meant Personal Computers, I answered, “A little.” I later learned that he meant Programmable Controllers. He asked how much pay I expected. I agreed to start low and if I could do the job, I would like a living wage. I started at $6.00 per hour. AB Electric Co. specialized in Industrial and commercial work. I started as a helper pulling wire and making terminations. I surprised myself with my stamina. I got a raise after two weeks.

Most of my work was at the Wilson Firestone plant. A project early in my new career was helping to install a stock cutting machine that was brought to the Wilson plant from a plant that had closed. It was my job to install seven photo-eyes. One of the wires was a light gray. I assumed it to represent a white wire that would be connected to the neutral. Wrong. I should have read the directions. I turned the power on to all the photo-eyes at the same time and blew all seven. New photo-eyes had to be ordered. Dave, the engineer in charge of the project had a reputation of being hard on the workers. He just said, “Things like that happen.” and let it go. That engineer evidently took a liking to me as will be evident in the next paragraph.

I was soon given more technical duties. While working with another engineer, I was modifying the program in a programmable controller and needed a printer to print out the modified program. The usual printer was in use, so I asked Dave if I could borrow his printer. My co-workers said that he doesn’t loan anything to anyone. I asked anyway. His reply, “It is in my office. Oh, here is an adapter you will need. I have a special plug on the printer so no one else can use it.”

It amazed me that I was given projects with little supervision. I designed the controls and program for a new “Tank Farm”. When I showed the engineer how I had planned to do it, he hardly looked at my plan and said, “That is fine.”

My last assignment at Firestone was updating electrical drawings on a computer using AutoCAD.

Since I was working, I didn’t apply for Social Security until I was 65. I still worked full time, even after reaching a point where I had to forfeit some of my Social Security. My Social Security payments increased because of my continuing to work.

On our visit to Mary Ellen’s father on his 90^th birthday, we found moldy food in the refrigerator. He let a stray puppy in the house; the puppy wet on the rug. We knew it was not safe for him to stay alone any more.

Tommy’s 90^th Birthday

Mary Ellen’s brother, Tom, recently retired from Dupont. Firestone was cutting back and eliminated my job. We took turns with Tom and his wife, Minnie, staying with Mary Ellen’s father a week or two at a time.

Tommy, Mary Ellen’s dad, had said that he would move to an assisted living retirement home when he felt he could no longer handle things by himself. He even had one picked out. He said he wasn’t ready yet. He would let us know when he was ready. He never did say he was ready. The one he had picked out closed. Tom, his son, arranged for him to go to a home near Columbia. We even took Tommy to Charlottesville for a required physical. Tommy balked and would not go to the home.

Tom found a place near Kinston, NC. Tom lives in Kinston. We convinced Tommy to let us move out furnishings that he wasn’t using. Mary Ellen’s sisters, brother and us showed up with trucks and trailers. We unloaded the house down to the chair Tommy was sitting in. Tommy got up, went to his car and said he would be back in half an hour. We figured he was going to see a widow friend. In half an hour to the minute, he returned with his friend. He said, “Which car do I get in?”

Tommy did fine all the way to our house where we stopped to drop off the trailer. When we turned toward Kinston, he said, “You are going the wrong way. I live the other way.” He complained all the way to Kinston. Once he saw Tom, he was OK again.

Tommy half-way accepted Southwood. He would turn off the hall light and tell the others that this is his house and he does as he pleases. We think he started a fire in the kitchen. He would get up in the middle of the night to fix a pan of sausage. We think he left the stove on and the grease caught on fire. The damage was pretty much limited to the kitchen. He was not blamed.

Tommy Proffitt, Braden, Jeanie and Nolan at Southwood

Tom visited Tommy every day and kept up with his medication. Tommy eventually had to be moved to a nursing home where he died.

The children were all out on their own. Finances were not quite as tight. We actually were able to start saving a little. We did need more than Social Security and the small retirement from Honeywell to meet expenses, though, so I took a job with another electrical company. This time, most of my work was at the tobacco company that had the first computer that I serviced in Wilson (the company had changed hands, but some of the workers who knew me were still there). My job was to design controls for new equipment and supervise the installation. When the two projects I worked on were finished, I didn’t like the next project and quit.

I took another job with a truck body building company doing AutoCAD drawings. Actually, I took the job through Kelly Temporaries. The job was to last 3 months. Work was behind at the truck body company and I was hired to help get caught up. Four months later, the work was caught up, but they didn’t want me to go. I didn’t have much to do, so I quit.

I don’t mind not working. While working and by saving some of the money from the sale of Tuttles, we were able to save so there is enough interest coming in to meet expenses. The house and cars are paid for. Our main expenses are taxes, insurances, utilities, groceries and car operating costs. There is not much left over.

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