Calvin Knoke

The Life of Calvin Knoke

“Helping Out”

On a cold, blustery early winter day in northern Wisconsin, in my father’s logging camp, I, Calvin Knoke, was born, November 16, 1924. I was healthy, and joined three sisters, Ruth, Arline, and Lillian. My mother was strong and, with some help in the camp kitchen, cared for her children and made meals for the 30-some loggers and the family. When I could walk I joined with my sisters in our daily walks led by the handicapped daughter of the cook. The huge tractors and sleds pulled by strong teams of horses made an impression on me and created a desire to join in the action.

After five more years in the camps, our family moved to a wooded farm farther north. A fourth sister, Evelyn, now rounded out our family. Dad bough several cows to provide milk for the family and for sale. He also moved two logging teams of horses to the farm to provide power for ground preparation and cultivating a large garden and crops of corn and grain. Father cut down and trimmed trees for saw logs and railroad ties. When I was five I was drafted as water boy and “grunt” for this one-man logging operation.

When the depression of the 1930s began to wane, Father upgraded his sawmill and began to travel about the state cutting timber and operating the mill. I was left at home with instructions to help Mother and my sisters with chores, including care for the animals and flocks of chickens and turkeys. During the school year we children were bussed to school in Elcho, two and one half miles away, and were all excellent scholars; Ruth, Arline and I were named class Valedictorians.

In the early 1940s the family moved south in Wisconsin to Wild Rose in Waushara county, and area which provided an endless supply of oak timber for the saw mill. I continued to help out in the woods hauling and in the saw mill when not in school. By the age of 17 I decided to go to college and prepare for a career as an engineer. After one year in the University of Valparaiso and three semesters in the University of Wisconsin (UW), with the draft imminent, I joined the 4Navy and headed for boot camp in Great Lakes, IL. A Navy testing program resulted in sending me back to the UW to continue my engineering studies. Once I accumulated almost enough credits for the degree I was commissioned an ensign and sent to the carrier USCVB Midway, where I was appointed Assistant Communications Officer. “Helping Out” continued as I supervised an enlisted staff and processed secret messages. My degree certificate in Civil Engineering was mailed to me aboard ship. (Ten additional credits had been awarded for military service.)

In 1945 I was discharged from the Navy and returned home to work with the loggers while looking for work in the engineering filed. A visit with the UW Engineering Dean resulted in my being hired as an Engineer I in the Wisconsin Highway Commission in Wisconsin Rapids, Wis. There I worked on surveys, right-of-way design and on-site inspection of road construction. In my spare time I helped the Regional Boy Scout Commissioner with scouting programs and was groomed for the Commissioner spot when I found a new job in the atomic energy field in Richland, WA. Also in “The Rapids, I met and planned to marry Ernestine, a young lady who demonstrated the same commitment to “helping out.”

The Richland job involved layout of nuclear facilities to be constructed and checking to see if the structures as built met the requirements of the drawings and specifications. These activities formed the basis of much of the work I was involved for the remainder of my career.

While in Richland I married and I became the father of my first on, John. After three years, the then-current phase of construction was completed and I was released. I took the family back to Wisconsin and resumed working with loggers while scanning the country for further opportunities in the construction filed. A friend suggested that I join the Bureau of Reclamation which was then involved in construction of the Hungry Horse dam in western Montana. I was appointed to lead a crew of surveyors on layout and inspection of the dam powerhouse. We loaded our basic requirements on a small trailer and headed west to the mountains of Glacier National Park where the Bureau had begun construction of the dam. Within two years the contractor was closing out the construction of the powerhouse and dam and my wife and I welcomed our second son, James.

During another job search I contacted an engineering friend from Richland who recommended me to his design/construction administration firm, Giffels and Vallet, to join him on construction of a nuclear processing plant in Paducah, KY. I was selected and began working as a Senior Inspector on two of the plant facilities. There I had my first chance to inspect structural steel erection, on the 80-foot high roof and floors of the building. After three years, construction was completed. We also enjoye3d bringing forth our third child, a girl, Deborah.

As construction wound down I learned, from a Bureau of Reclamation employee, of a project in Turkey which involved construction of several power lines and substations. My inquiry to the Boston-based designer-construction management firm, Chas. T. Main, Inc., came to the attention of the Turkey on-site manager, a former Naval officer. When he reviewed my application he noted my Navy experience and felt that it, with my other background, was sufficient to prepare me for the project work. My wife was ready and willing to tackle the family move, so we bought clothing for the growing children for a three-year period, loaded our car, and headed for Boston. The fo0llowed our first ride on a commercial airline, with the family flying from Boston to Ankara, turkey, including an overnight stay in Amsterdam. I had turned over the disposal of my nearly-new Nash to an employee of the firm, and lost a few dollars on the sale.

From our headquarters in Ankara, we supervised construction of the substations in Ankara and in Karabuk, near the Black Sea, in Adapazari, and an underground cable around the city of Ankara. Soon we found that the Turkish contractor was incapable of meeting the schedule and construction quality required, so we recommended terminating his contract. I was elected to take over the job of Construction Superintendent, and our engineering staff began performing necessary material purchasing and personnel hiring. We met the schedule requirements and put the lines and stations in service as required. As we completed the job, our family all became ill with hepatitis; my wife and I were hospitalized for a month. The children remained at home in the care of our Turkish maid. Once we recovered and were able to travel, we all flew to Boston. There we picked up a new Mercury which we had purchased from a Turkish dealer, and met my dad’s truck driver, Benny. He drove us to Wisconsin with stops in Cleveland, OH, at Ernestine’s fathers’ home, and Chicago, Ernestine’s aunt’s home.

Back home in Wisconsin we made the4 rounds to visit relatives and friends. I was tapped by my Boston firm to serve as Chief Inspector on three power lines, and underwater power cable, and two substations, part of the St. Lawrence Seaway Project, in northern NY, near Plattsburg. We drove to Plattsburg, leaving the three children with my parents in Wisconsin. A downtown apartment was found, and we got ready for the project work while awaiting the arrival of John, Jim and Debbie.

The project office was in Massena, a half day’s drive away. I was assigned two field engineers to help with layout and inspection of the work. Two good contractors quickly began construction of the substation and power lines. A third received the underwater cable for the half-mile lake crossing and prepared the terminals on each side of Lake Champlain north of Plattsburg. The work progressed quickly and we met our schedules. This included a power line connection to the US Air Force base south of town. On the cold winter day on which we made that connection, many of the airbase officers were looking over our shoulders to see if we could get the power back on to avoid freezing the facilities, which included heated water lines beneath the hanger floors.

In my spare time I worked with a Plattsburg committee from our Lutheran church, selecting a location on which to build a new church and laying out the structure. This was built on schedule. I still maintain contact with the congregation.

In the meantime, my boss from Turkey had joined the Seaway project. When we completed our construction in Plattsburg, he arranged to assign me to the 345 KV powerline project which ran through Rochester, from Niagara Falls to Syracuse, NY. I was designated Project Manager for the section of lines from the Falls to Rochester, and also looked after the substation being built for both the line and substation. Four inspectors kept track of the constructions. Variable soil conditions necessitated careful selection of footing types for the towers. Right of way clearing and fence gates kept us busy, selecting types of clearing limits and gate location. This was my first opportunity to use a radio in my vehicle so I could contact my inspectors and the office near Syracuse.

A power line of this high voltage, the first in New York State, was new to most of the people involved. Care was needed to avoid scarring the aluminum cable, which could cause noisy static, a power loss, and a bright corona effect, once the power was applied. Such scars had to be removed prior to full operation of the line. Polishing of the wires was done by men riding chairs slung from the cables. The power substation at Niagara Falls came on line as scheduled, and our line to Rochester also met schedule.

After our line was completed to Syracuse, the Project Manager for the Rochester-Syracuse line and I made an on-foot survey of the Syracuse-Utica line section, looking for potential problems and deciding what gates were required for fences crossing the right-of-way. On one afternoon during that survey we heard on our car radio of President Kennedy’s assassination.

While still in Turkey I had begun contacting a friend in San Francisco, with whom I had worked in Richland about the possibility of joining his firm, Bechtel, one of the largest design/constructors in the world. He entered my name and qualifications in the personnel department, and before the power line was completed I was visited by a member of Bechtel’s construction department.

As our project wound down I contacted Bechtel again, and was requested to present further information, after which I was offered a job. I was told to report to Bechtel’s personnel office in San Francisco, in early February 1966. Leaving the home front and kids in the capable hands of my wife, I headed for CA, and a 26-year association with my largest engineer-constructor in the world. This was my first cross-country drive and my first view of the “purple mountain majesty.” I was impressed.

Bechtel’s personnel department quickly made signed me in and enrolled me in the “Power and Industrial Division.” After three months in the San Francisco office I was assigned to the aluminum plant construction job for Intalco, north of Bellingham, WA. I drove up the coast, visited the job site, and was signed in as Job Engineer, to supervise six Field Engineers. The Superintendent, Pinkie Fallon, was an “old school,” hard-nosed, competent constructor. We got along well. I found a wonderful, rural home in North Bellingham, and arranged for my family to head west as soon as school was out.

My wife and kids quickly made themselves at home. We joined the Lutheran Church in Bellingham, the Lions Club, and neighborhood groups, and then arranged for the kids to resume school in the fall.

The aluminum plant “potlines” construction job moved along well, including a massive pier on the Pacific Ocean, where shiploads of alumina were received. Before the plant was completed I transferred to Longview, WA, where Bechtel was constructing an addition to another aluminum plant, for Reynolds Metals. There I also served as Job Engineer working with 5 field engineers and a very sharp young Superintendent. With those potlines nearly complete, the Superintendent was transferred, and I was assigned to replace him—my first opportunity as head man on a large construction job.

When the job was completed I was sent to AZ to cover an electrical conversion for a large copper mill from 25 to 60 cycle power. All of the plant electric motors were either replaced or rewound. The jobsite was in Inspiration, AZ. We bought a small house in nearby Globe and the family did a lot of grading and planting around the home to improve the site.

The conversion job required about 40 craftsmen and I had the help of four field engineers, and two craft superintendents. The huge ball mill motors were trucked to Phoenix for the rebuild. With good craftsmen we met our tight schedule.

My wife joined a local women’s group, the boys joined the scouts, and Deb worked in the hospital as a “Candy Striper.” We attended a Lutheran Church between Miami, AZ and Globe. I helped design and build an expansion to the church structure in my spare time.

With about a year to go on the plant conversion I was re-assigned to an iron ore mine and processing plant in Labrador, Newfoundland, Canada for Canron. One of my superintendents took over to complete the work.

This move came in the fall during the school year. Jim remained in AZ, attending a small junior college. John attended a college in WA, and Deb enrolled in a Canadian high school in the home of the next job, Labrador City. This move was fortunate for Deb since she was able to complete high school in three years instead of four. We were assigned a pretty good house, near downtown about two miles from the project site. We had arrived at the city by air, there being no road access to the area. Our car was later delivered by rail.

The job involved an extension to the processing mill, the pellet plant, and the ore crusher. Cold weather and material deliveries were a challenge. Minus zero temperatures existed through the winter and snow covered the ground into the month of May. The family toughed it out with Jim arriving near the end of the first winter. I “contracted” with Deb to do the snow shoveling and she wisely “subcontracted” part of the work to a neighbor boy. Snow drifts were high enough to block our view of the street in front of the house.

All of the facilities were operational on time, and we headed back to the States for the next assignment. I was expecting to be located in a warmer climate, but the work load resulted in my being sent to Hibbing, MN, another cold spot, in the USA. The project consisted of building a new iron ore pellet plant. Due to the size of the project I was assigned a retiring superintendent to help out with planning and scheduling duties. Th3e large staff necessitated bringing in a couple of trailers for office space. My wife was hired as an assistant in the office. The craft people were good and cooperative workers. Weather caused some delays including the search for material which was buried by heavy snows. As the project neared completion, Bechtel called me to another job, in TN, a copper mill in Copperhill, east of Cleveland, TN.

The work involved modifications to the ore processor and smelter. We bought a fine home in Cleveland. The 40-mile drive each day from Cleveland added to the stress of the work. I collaborated with my staff of two engineers in commuting to work. A strong, experienced field superintendent helped to make the work go smoothly and was ready to take over the job when I was called to the next assignment. It had been a pleasure to have a job where snow and cold weather were not a problem. One day I received a call from the Manager of the Mining and Metals Division in San Francisco saying that I needed to make a trip to Washington, D.C. for a meeting with the management of the Washington Area Metropolitan Transit Authority. Bechtel was managing construction of the new transit system. There had been an unusually heavy number of accidents and construction problems which had delayed the work and Bechtel had been requested to bring in a licensed engineer with strong field experience who could serve as a “trouble shooter.” My meetings with Bechtel management and the client were successful, and I was assigned to go to D.C.

The field superintendent in Copperhill took over the management of the remaining work. I left immediately for the new work, leaving my wife with a rented car and the closeout of our home. Son John had begun working for Bechtel, Jim was working with the mine in AZ, and Deb had been hired by the police force in Hibbing.

I found the Bechtel staff in D.C. to be hardworking, well qualified and cooperative. We set up a field visit and work review program to best allow me to check on the performance of our contractors and the Bechtel field staff. Much of the work was underground, and gave me my first opportunity to check on that sort of excavation since the tunnel at Hungry Horse Dam. I photographed every phase of the work underground, and in the stations and on the rail line. Every week I presented the pictures for Bechtel managers and visitors, also using this means of showing field crews the work and problems to be faced as those work elements were begun in their area. I also discussed my findings with the Bechtel boss and recommend necessary changes. I was fortunate we had no significant accidents or problems on the project during the three years of my work in D.C.

My wife enjoyed her home and contacts with our good neighbors and the group of Bechtel wives. We gardened and made changes and improvements to our home in northern VA, including a deck at the back of the house. We attended a Lutheran church, in which I modified the basement kitchen and designed modifications to a large basement area to prepare it for classes.

The next job was my final official construction project and my last work for Bechtel. They had begun the task of cleaning up sites around the country on which uranium had been handled or processed during the World War II activities leading to the manufacture of the atomic bomb. The office in Oak Ridge conducted surveys of the sites, designed necessary cleanup steps, prepared contracts to be bid by qualified contractors and had a field force to lay out he work at each site and monitor the contractor’s cleanup performance.
I had a field force of up to 30 superintendents and inspectors spread out over as many as six worksites, from New York to New Mexico. We were supported by a staff of experts in nuclear waste inspection and hazards. They monitored the contractor’s personnel and the completed work to assure that sites were clean. I visited sites as required and assisted the Oak ridge staff in preparing contracts for cleanup. I spent one summer on site in New York a large site north of Niagara Falls, checking on the contractor’s performance and the cleanup of the site. The large pile of contaminated soil was covered with tarps and topsoil and surrounded by a drainage system to control possible contaminated runoff.

During the Oak Ridge job we lived in Farragut, TN in a home we purchased in a pleasant neighborhood. We attended a Lutheran church in south Knoxville. In my last years in Oak Ridge, I was designated Construction Manager, and given more authority to control the field forces. I retired in 1991 at age 66 having worked an additional year in the absence of a scheduled replacement. In my first retirement years I continued doing fixups around our home, and increased my daily biking miles. I had been hiking or biking for over ten years. We also did more traveling. In 1993, after several years suffering from Crohn’s disease, my wife died in the hospital. Most of our immediate relatives came in to attend burial services and help me contend with the loss of a loved one. My sister Lillian helped me learn some of the things I needed to know as a bachelor.

I continued to do the necessary jobs around the house, and made several long trips including a drive to the west coast to visit John and his family in Oregon, Deb and her family in AZ. I attended Grief Support group meetings conducted by our pastor Evers. It was at one of these meetings that I met Elsie Schmied, a recently widowed member of our church, and we quickly became friends. We began to enjoy travels in our area and took a trip out west to enjoy meeting my John and his family and her John and his family. In April 1997 we were married, in the company of most members of our families. We purchased a home in southeast Oak Ridge and I sold the Farragut house and moved everything to Oak Ridge. Elsie sold her home in Oak Ridge and did the same.

We made a number of changes to our new home including landscaping with many shrubs and four large trees. We built new retaining walls on two sides of the lot and upgraded the lawn. Elsie continued her support for Reading and Recording for the Blind and singing in our church choir. At the urging of my friend, Charlie Miller, I joined Habitat for Humanity, working with the crew two days each week, constructing new homes and fixing up old dwellings. This Habitat work period is now approaching 12 years and over 6000 man hours. I also put a lot of miles on my pickup truck hauling material and disposing of waste. Presently I make trips to a steel/iron firm, disposing of metal material donated to Habitat but not resalable.

Our son Jim died in the spring of 2013, and John and Debbie traveled to MI to close out his residence and local contacts. He had been working with Meals on Wheels for a number of years, and they were helpful in the closeouts.

Other deaths have decimated my family, since sister Arline and husband, Norman, were killed in the accidental landing of a light plane in northern Wisconsin in September, 1981. My mother died in February 1983 and my dad in April 1984. Oldest sister, Ruth, died in Wisconsin on February 19, 1996.

Sister Lillian celebrated her 90th birthday last summer, with most of her family and lives with husband, Gil in Hibbing, MN. I am expecting to see some of my family here in TN for my 90th birthday, in November, 2014. Evelyn lives in Oregon, WI, near Madison, close to her daughter, Susie, and family. Evie’s husband, Don Kullerstrand, died several years ago.

We have made a number of trips with our Oak Ridge Seniors learning group, ORICL, visiting interesting sites in the southeast and have traveled with a Knoxville tour group, MoeFaye, to many eastern US places, including New York City, and cruises to the Caribbean. Our families have kindly made many stops at our home here, including an all-kids visit for Elsie’s July 2013 birthday.

Elsie sings in the church choir and works with the quilting group and I try to help with fixups and cleanups around the church. I had served as a Trustee at Faith Lutheran for a number of years but now my work there is informal and infrequent.

We continue to look for new places to visit such as a recent visit to the Chattanooga Railroad Museum and the Volkswagen plant. We try to exercise to stay healthy, and do not eat too much. Life is good.