Vern

Steel fabrication is my craft. No formal training, no history of schooling was required the day I applied in 1959 for a job at a local steel fabrication shop. One of my first jobs on the shop floor was rolling red-lead paint on large steel beams for the Michigan Department of Transportation bridges. For the next thirty-four years my education was on the shop floor and fine-tuned through an education at Lansing Community College. Electric arc welding was essential in fabrication of steel, and my work as a welder/fitter and foreman of a steel fabrication crew led to the forty-plus years as an adjunct welding instructor at LCC. Applying these skills to the restoration of five historic riveted truss bridges for the Historic Bridge Park in Calhoun County, Michigan, 1997 through 2007 was a memorable experience. I continue to work toward educating those in preservation with the processes I used in the preservation of these five historic bridges.