The Hytrol Story

Allis and Jonesboro every two weeks. On one occasion, when flying toward Arkansas, Tom became lost. He usually flew simply by sight, noting landmarks and using his compass. On this day, however, he didn’t recognize the land area. Staying calm, he landed the airplane on a farmer’s field. As the farmer came out to meet him, Tom asked, “Where am I?” The farmer was quite excited to have an aircraft land on his property and happily gave Tom the necessary directions. He added, “I’ve had people stop their car to ask for directions, but this is the first gol’ darned time I’ve ever had an airplane stop and ask for directions!” After getting directions and his bearings, Tom took off once again and made it to Jonesboro safely. Since Tom was visiting Jonesboro quite frequently and his family had not yet made the move to Arkansas, he rented a small cottage apartment from the Mayor of Jonesboro, Mayor Herb Sanderson. It wasn’t anything fancy; just a place to hang his hat and coat. As construction rolled along, the sales team continued to serve Hytrol’s distributors. Since the office section of the structure wasn’t yet completed, Tom had a temporary office area constructed in the front area of the plant. It was made of plywood and covered with plastic sheeting. While this temporary structure protected the office workers from the dust and debris during construction, it did nothing to keep out the noise. To those who were taking sales and customer service calls with Hytrol’s distributors, it seemed that whenever the telephone rang it was a signal for the construction workers to crank up the jack hammers, saws, and drills! Everyone was well pleased when the permanent office structure was finally completed. When Tom and Chuck returned to West Allis after their first visit to Jonesboro, they had a meeting at Tom’s house in July of 1962. It was a “family” meeting and the wives were there, too, including Sam and Marney Leone. As expected, the main topic that evening was the eminent relocation of Hytrol Conveyor Company. There were a hundred things that had to be planned and considered. During the discussion, the need for a production leader was expressed. Chuck Loberg had been handling some of the production responsibilities, but he was vice-president of the company and had a number of duties at this time. Hytrol needed someone to completely oversee the manufacturing operations of the company. As the three men and their wives sat around the kitchen table, considering whom Tom and Chuck could get to manage the production area, Marney Leone mentioned the name of Ralph Pocobello.