Situated on the corner of Lincoln Ave. and 16th St. was the once-thriving Big Yank Corporation, which boasted employees of well over 350 people. Locally, the word was, “Everyone knows someone who worked at Big Yank.” To say that this factory formed a strong financial tie to the community would be a great understatement. In fact, many families had more than one of its relatives employed there.
Because of this strong tie to our community, the Tyrone Area Historical Society is proud to have received various photos of former employees of Big Yank. Unfortunately, no names identified the persons who were photographed. Thus, it became the goal of the Society to try to rectify this. On July 2, 2008, Society board members met with former employees, friends, and family members in the meeting room of the Pennsylvania House.
For a quick background, Big Yank originally was known as Reliance Manufacturing Company and was established in Michigan City, Indiana by Milton F. Goodman. The company opened a manufacturing facility in downtown Tyrone in 1933. In 1934, when it opened at its permanent site, Fred Waring held a dance there to celebrate the event. Over the six decades of its existence, the company received various awards for excellence — once for its production of parachutes!
What began as a way to try to identify individuals in some photos became a rare and wonderful opportunity to record “living history” from former employees.
Elnora Westwood Benton Laird
Elnora worked for the company from 1960 to its closing in 1993, circulating into various jobs from sewing, to bundling (individual parts such as pockets were tied together and then given to a seamstress), to taking pants from the oven and hanging them on hangers. When the bosses quit for the day, she took their places on the floor.
Lois Miller Russell
Lois served in unbroken service. Her first job was to sew on buttons by machine; stitch down panes, collars, and complete the side seam. There were two lunchrooms and restrooms. Most people, she noted, carried their lunches, but some chose to eat food from the vending machines.
Martha Miller
In 1946, when Martha Miller first began at the “shirt factory,” as it was commonly referred to, all of the machines were hooked together. When one piece of equipment broke, the entire assembly line was shut down. Eventually, the machines were separated. Eventually, she became the “repair lady” until she retired in 1989. Once, she accidentally swallowed a needle! She was rushed to the hospital, where she miraculously passed it. Martha recalled the time that one woman, Ginny Moore, was working at a machine when a needle came loose and permanently blinded her in one eye.
Mabel “Dolly” Romano
Dolly worked for Big Yank, as did her daughter. Dolly’s working years — from 1966 to 1974 — were categorized as those of “broken service” or there were times that she left the factory to later return. She began doing pockets, and then she pressed pants. Dolly said there was an occasion when she got her finger caught under the sewing machine, which she stated was not an uncommon thing to do. She noted that there were those who could not handle piecework and stayed less than an hour! (Piecework is when an employee is paid at a set rate solely for the number of work items done: the more you do, the more you are paid.) One person explained that to obtain minimum wage, one had to complete a certain number of items. Dolly agreed that some people called the factory a “sweat shop.”
Betty Dearing Gunsallus
Betty worked at Big Yank, as did her husband. She faced pockets and hemmed cuffs. Seven people did the same job in one row. Near Christmastime one year, she and the daughters of the floor lady along with other employees decided they would all take off and go to Altoona for the day. Of course, each girl gave a different excuse to be missing work. When their ruse was discovered, the floor lady threatened to fire them, but that would have meant that she would have had to fire her own daughters!
Betty attended some of the monthly shirt factory social club events at the local American Legion post. Betty further said there was a time that they all had to wear brown dresses. Describing the frocks as truly drab, she said she was grateful that idea lasted only a short time.
Betty and Dolly laughed as they thought of Mr. Harold Spaulding, whom all agreed everyone really liked and respected. He did have a habit of walking through the plant with his head down. One day, he walked into a pole, and all the women nearly choked themselves to keep from laughing. When fellow employee Dick Bell died in the horrible Pennsylvania House fire in 1972, his co-workers purchased his cemetery marker.
Edna Colyer
Edna was employed as a “swing girl,” meaning she filled in on any job position and also trained new employees. Edna mentioned that the factory closed twice a year for vacations — two weeks in July and a week at Christmas.
Everyone we spoke with loved working at the shirt factory, many reiterating they would eagerly do it again. It was evident that they not only had truly enjoyed their time there, but they had established lasting friendships and experiences. Yet we were the richer for having met them; it was a privilege to speak with these individuals and learn a little about their lives. We realize their vocations added to the welfare of their families and themselves, but the obvious integrity and zeal they brought to the nation’s work force created tangible goods that benefited thousands and thousands of people across our land and even beyond our shores.
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