Crest Ink - Volume 28 - Number 02

Do I Know You From Somewhere? by Cheri Kemp

A few months ago when a new employee walked past the window of Ken Drew’s office at the Karlin Warehouse, Ken felt a glimer of recognition. The face was familiar but at that time a name escaped him. The same could be said true for Steve Hillman. He recognized Ken’s face but wasn’t sure he was who Steve thought he was. “I knew the name and he looked familiar, but I

Steve Hillman and Ken Drew

was not sure it was the same Ken Drew I had worked with all those years ago. He has a little more gray hair now!” “Steve has not changed. His mannerisms are the same as I remember way back in ’74 when we worked together” said Drew. Being that 1974 is over 40 years ago, it is amazing that these two, who had not crossed paths since 1974, still recognized and remembered each other. Ken, who is older by 6 years, said with a chuckle “I tried to teach Steve while he worked here so he would stay but he left anyway. Now he has come back to daddy!” When they started talking about ‘way back in ’74…(1974) it felt as if it was a history lesson from way back in the day. Back in the day, the production area for Crest Foods was located in the basement of what is now the North Plant. There were only 2 production lines. Ken Drew was the Line Operator for the non-dairy coffee whitener line while another person ran the other. There were only about 12 to 14 employee’s running these two lines at that time. Steve was a dumper and stacker for Ken. The line workers at that time were all women. There was no QC person or maintenance person at that time. The Line Operator had to act as QC, sample taker, monitor weights and do change-overs and be an all-around versatility person. “I used to ride to work from Forreston with Bernie Hillers. I also had a motorcycle that I drove sometimes. I had gotten a ticket for driving a motorcycle without a license so one day I drove it to work anyway. Then after work, Ken drove it to Dixon for me while I followed in his car so I could go get a license. I no longer have a motorcycle. Now I like to tinker with computers.” “Steve has taken some of our hand written status reports and made them computer generated. This has been a big help” added Drew. When asked what Steve had done over the past 40 years he said, tongue in cheek “I have been trying to improve myself enough that Ken would let me back in!” Over the recent Christmas holidays, Becky Henson, Ingredient Division Quality Assurance Coordinator, received a call from Steve Caudillo, the Director at Jack Mabley center. The Jack Mabley center is a state institution for the developmen- tally disabled located in Dixon, IL. Steve had a donation opportunity. Due to tight budget constraints, the center was dire need of supplies for residents to do crafts together in their 7 group homes. The center also needed card stock for their news- letters. Several generous Crest employees pitched in their own money or brought supplies in for the cause. We were able to put together 7 totes of supplies, one for each home, that included construction paper, coloring books, drawing paper, scis- sors, glue sticks, stickers, colored chalk, and different sizes of washable markers. Also a case of copy paper was donated from Karlin to use for the Mabley Center newsletters. The craft supplies were delivered to the Jack Mabley Center in January. The director, Steve Caudillo, was very happy and appreciative of our donation. I am sure the residents will enjoy many happy and creative hours of crafting! Crest Foods wishes to thank Becky and those employees who gave of their time and money to do this! Becky Henson & Steve Caudillo

April, May & June 2016 Crest Ink 9

Made with FlippingBook - Online magazine maker