[GreenKeys] Telepals

[Ralph Irish]

Re: Telepals 




I put in almost 44 years with Ford. Ford had a department in the World Headquarters called the “Recreation Department.” 

This group/office handled a lot of things for the 30-some employee clubs under the heading, “Ford Employes Recreation 

Association,” or FERA. 




I’m not going to list all of the clubs, but there was a Radio Club, a Pinochle Club, Bridge Club, Aerosports Club which owned 

their own plane that was housed at Detroit Metro Airport, a Badminton Club, a Softball Club, and another 20-some clubs. 




The Recreation Office kept a mailing list of each club’s members, and sent out mail to each group, with camera ready text from 

various club secretaries or representatives. 




Each of the Club Presidents was automatically a member of the FERA Council. This group met monthly and helped promote 

the clubs within the company and occasionally in the nation-wide employe newspaper. 




A lot of administrative ‘stuff’ was done in the Recreation Office, saving individual clubs a lot of money. FERA also put on 

fundraising activities for the benefit of individual clubs. Those who wanted to do a little extra could really help their club. 




Sadly, the Recreation Office was one of the ‘fatalities’ of a cost-saving move, back in the last century. There were over 15 employees 

there in different functions, all relating to the benefit of individual clubs. 




FERA still exists, but without any financial help from the company. They hold their monthly meetings and still promote the fundraisers, 

etc. Just all external to the company now. 




For three terms, I was President of the Ford Tin Lizzy Club, which was the name of their Radio Club. Being on the FERA council was 

most interesting. 




Since this is about 99% ‘off-topic’, I will end it here. I like the info about the ‘Teletype Club’. Just shows what a company/corporation 

can do for its employes if they choose to do so. 




If anyone wishes more info on the Radio Club, contact me off list. It still exists and does Field Day and offers communication services 

for local groups for bike-a-thons, etc. 




Ralph - W8ROI 
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----- Original Message -----

From: "Jim Haynes" <jhhaynes at earthlink.net> 
To: "Jordan Spencer Cunningham" <js at cunni.co> 
Cc: "Green Keys" <greenkeys at mailman.qth.net> 
Sent: Monday, November 12, 2018 8:08:08 AM 
Subject: Re: [GreenKeys] Telepals 

For Teletype employees there was the Teletype Club, which made you a 
member just by being an employee. Teletype Club was an umbrella 
organization for a bunch of more specialized clubs it sponsored. There 
was a big garden club, and a ham radio club (with a station in one of 
the Teletype buildings), a flying club, a rifle team, a photography 
club, and a bunch of others for various hobby interests. 

One of the annual club activities was choosing the "Hi Telepal Queen" 
I forget now exactly how she was chosen, but there was a ball where she 
was crowned. During her one-year reign she represented the club and the 
company for various functions, such as charitable programs the club 
undertook. One of these was around Christmas the club would get a list 
of kids' names from orphanages and such, and employees would buy them 
Christmas gifts which the club would present to the institution. There 
was also an annual picnic and a Christmas party and dance. 

When the queen was chosen the club would print decals with her picture 
and the slogan "Hi Telepal". These were distributed to all employees via 
the company employee magazine. The idea was to put it in your car window 
and then when you were about town you could recognize cars belonging to 
fellow employees. I don't think it was used as a parking pass. 

The parent company Western Electric had a similar program called "Hello 
Charlie" with decals. "Charlie Western" was the symbolic W.E. employee. 


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