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Jack Case: An employee's stories (06/14/2006)

By D. Ray Smith — Ralph Lockhart, an electrician with 36 years experience at Y 12, recalls some early encounters with Jack Case. If you know Ralph, you would expect that his stories would have an unusual "truth is stranger than fiction" air about them. I enjoy listening to Ralph tell of his almost unbelievable misunderstandings with supervision over the years. One almost has to feel sorry for Ralph’s supervisors because he seems to constantly be getting them in some sort of "fix" with their managers. He does not do this on purpose, he just seems to get into extremely unusual circumstances.

I recall sitting in Al Bissell Park one night when he and I were walking the Relay for Life to raise support for cancer as a part of the Y 12 team. He got to telling me stories about things that had happened to him during his career at Y 12. We talked for hours — well, Ralph talked. I listened and laughed until I could not laugh anymore.

The first story I relay is about Ralph building a snowman. One cold winter day when Ralph was waiting on the bus while standing directly across the street from Building 9737, he became bored just standing there getting cold. It was snowing, and the snow was building up a bit. So Ralph started rolling up balls of snow for a snowman. Ralph’s department head saw what he was doing by looking out the window of the front of the building. He put his coat on and came out to where Ralph was rolling up the snow to tell him to quit doing that.

Right then the Y 12 Plant Manager, Jack Case, came driving by in his “big green Buick.” Case stopped, got out of the car, and proceeded to help Ralph finish the snowman. He even put the finishing touch on the masterpiece by removing his own necktie and placing it on the snowman while the department head stood by without knowing what to say or do.

See what I mean? Ralph was just passing the time and the plant manager happened to pass by right at that time. It happens that way with Ralph.

Ralph tells of another unusual encounter with Case.

"On one occasion, I needed to go to Nashville to receive a certificate of appreciation for some work I had done in HAM radio, and I called Mr. Case to ask if I could get permission to do this on company time. He said sure. I told him that no one would believe me and asked if he would put that in writing for me. He agreed and I stopped by his office to pick up a yellow hand written note stating that I could travel to Nashville on company time.

"I took the hand written note from Mr. Case to my department head, and he did not believe it was a real note from Jack Case. He wadded it up and threw it in the trash can. I called Mr. Case and told him what had happened. He said, 'Ralph, you wait right there.'

"Well, Mr. Case arrived and stepped in the department head’s office. He was on the phone and before he could get off the call, Mr. Case picked up the trash can and dumped the contents on the top of the desk. He picked up the yellow note, smoothed it out and said, 'When I send you a note I expect you to read it and do what it says.' Needless to say, that department head never forgot that little incident.

Ralph has many more stories of unusual encounters, especially with Y 12 managers and supervisors. I have enjoyed listening to him tell stories of his mishaps that are well intended but often go awry.

Do you have a story to share? If so, email Ray Smith or call him at 576 7781.

 

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