Larry Case

Larry Case came to Lodge in 1980 when he was 23 years old. He had worked previously as a manager in the grocery business, but decided to quit that and try something new. At Lodge, Larry’s first job was running a Bobcat and a payloader to help set up patterns on the old molding line. He then worked on what they used to call “shakeout,” separating the hot castings from the sand. They wore thick gloves, but he remembers castings sometimes being “as red as an apple.” “You’d be soaking wet when you worked down here back then,” he recalls. “You talk about hot – I’ve seen my boots smoking before.”

Larry remembers a lot of pranks being played among the men back then. He says one time some of the guys in the foundry started throwing dirt clods at each other. A man nicknamed “Big Apple” who sat high off the floor in a chair to operate levers was hit by one. “They threw one up there and hit him in the head,” recalls Case. “It knocked him off, and he relayed on the radio, ‘Mayday! Mayday! I’ve been hit!’” Case says Big Apple was okay, but his “MayDay” line is still used occasionally today.

Larry now works as a utility in the finishing department, helping load and  repair machines that need it. He says he had planned to retire at age 55, but decided to keep working. (He’s now 57). When Larry does retire, he looks forward to spending more time outside hunting.

Thanks for all your hard work, Larry!