I was driving a friend down the hill on Granville street when I mentioned that I was looking for  job. He mentioned that his father owned a foundry and I should apply. He said he’d put in a good word for me.

I did apply and found myself working at Bird Foundry on 2nd ave. just east of main. It was an aluminum foundry and fairly modern. It had lifts for the molten metal and a basement where the used sand was gathered and lifted up to the attic where it was shaken down again for molds by the workers. My job, of course, was the lowest of the low. I was the cleanup kid. I had to patrol the foundry and do whatever was needed to keep the place clean and functioning. It wasn’t ’til later that I discovered what a functioning old fashioned foundry was.