Leland J. Kennedy Memoir - University of Illinois Springfield

A: The Fourth of July and Christmas, and you'd have - we were in what they called the
lube lab. It was the smallest lab because we didn't deal so much with gasoline, hut they'd
run the viscosities on motor oil and flash and see what it - you had a flash room. And
we had accidents. I was fortunate. I never had a lost-time accident. I got burnt maybe,
minor burns and never had any broken bones or never got any acid or anything like that
in my eyes. I was very fortunate there. I was careful. But they had accidents in the
refinery. Hell, in 1951, I think, they lost eighteen men. I was on day shift that day. It
happened at midnight. It was just shortly after Pat was born I believe. I guess it was
1949, I guess it was. No I think it was 1951. Maybe Pat was two years old. That's what
it was.
Shell was an interesting place and I finally - after I had been in the lab, I guess about
six years, you could get more money if you worked out in the plant, out in the stills. And
I don't know what year it was, 1932 or 1933, after things started to break and business got
better, they had some openings - I don't know what they called - we called it out in the
plant. You had to go down to the employment office and tell them you wanted to go out
in the plant. Of course you had to tell them in the laboratory that you wanted to go out
in the plant, and if there was an opening, and if they thought you were qualified - you
would have to take an IQ test or something like that - they'd transfer you to that particular
division.
And I went out I think in the spring of 1933, and I stayed there until I retired. And it
was a small place and at one time we had maybe ten men on a shift you'd call it. Maybe
there was a couple of day jobs, but I never had a day job. But those jobs generally went
to people that were chemists or something like that. There wasn't any day jobs in the treating
for high school people.
And a lot of fellows went to school. Of course as I mentioned to you that one time, that's
what tempted me to go to that political science class, but I wasn't going to get anywhere
in politics out at Shell. But I didn't like chemistry or engineering or anything like that. So
I just took that. But a lot of fellows followed their education by going to Shurtleff or Washington
U. or St. Louis U. at night school, and they burned the candles at both ends and
some of them were rewarded and some of them weren't. Oh, several advanced to supervisory
capacity and later to department heads, but I guess my main ambition was then - because
by that time, hell, I was in the Young Democrats and I had only - I hadn't been in the
treating department for eight years so I didn't run for office as committeeman or alderman
or something like that, and other guys were doing it too.
We had several fellows that would run for various posts. I know we had one guy that ran
for sheriff and he couldn't make it and he was pretty disappointed, in our department, and
his name was Cuty. And he just died recently but he - he - well, he was disappointed,
but I think he ran for sheriff, or maybe he ran for mayor of Rock Center. That's what
it was, he ran for mayor of Rock Center. He didn't make it, but then somebody always
gets beaten in elections you know, I mean, like all of these fellows on - Thompson and
Stevenson aren't both going to win. (chuckles)
SESSION 2, TAPE 4, SIDE 1
Q: Now I wanted to ask - now you evidently went to, an oil field in Texas . .
A: Well in 1931, I was still in the laboratory, nineteen - no, that's wrong. Wait a minute,
let me see . . .
Q: According to the paper it was 1931.