Harry Warner

After graduating from high school in 1962, I took a number of civil service exams to try and get employment with the state. I had an aunt and uncle who worked for the state and they advised that I would be able to get excellent benefits. Among those exams were Rodman B for which I had no idea what I would be doing, Motor Vehicle Operator, I liked driving so this had to be a good job and last for Radio Operator. I only took the Radio Operator exam because my cousin was taking it and wanted someone to study with. At that time we had to memorize all of the main highways in Michigan and the cities they intersected in as part of our studies.

My state service started April 1, 1963, as a Rodman B with the Michigan Highway Department. I worked out of the Hartland office and during my short employment with MDOT we measured blacktop on the shoulders and rest area of newly constructed I-96 from M-52 to US-23 as well as a couple of interchanges of US-23 north of Brighton. The position also consisted of setting survey stakes for new construction of several miles of M-52 from Stockbridge south.

On November 1, 1963 I was hired as Motor Vehicle Operator with the Department of Administration. The position involved pickup, sorting and delivery of mail to state offices all around Lansing. It gave this farm boy his first chance to traverse the streets of what seemed like the big city at that time in a 1 ½ ton mail truck.

Exactly a year later November 1, 1964, I was hired as Radio Operator at the Detroit Post located at 7 Mile & Grand River Ave. at that time. Bill Culbert was my supervisor and he indicated that I was the replacement for Bob Gabbard who had gone into the service. About the time I was getting used to the position and getting settled into a new place to stay in Detroit I received my draft notice in June 1965.

After basic training I was sent to Ft. Dix, New Jersey for CW training and on to Ft. Gordon, GA for Radio Teletype training. I was stationed with the 75th Signal Company near Orleans, France. Our equipment was a 500 watt transmitter, a bank of receivers on the back of a 2 /12 ton truck and 5 KW generator pulled behind on a trailer. All of our traffic was either in encrypted code groups sent via CW or teletype that was first encrypted before being sent. I had the opportunity for a few temporary duty (TDY) trips to Germany where we set up HF stations to work back to France. Before I was due to come home President DeGaul decided he wanted all American troops out of his country and for those of us with a limited amount of time left to their service were mustered out early.

In April-May 1967 when I returned from the service I was placed in Operation, East Lansing as Radio Operator. For those of you who might remember those years, it was the most eventful of my time as radio operator. That summer we had race riots in all of the major cities of Michigan. I began taking an FCC course with DeVry Institute of Technology so that I could eventually work as a Radio Technician. I was transferred to Radio Install while still a Radio Operator in the summer of 1968.

In 1970 I got my FCC license and was promoted to Radio Technician Trainee 07 and sent to Jackson to train under Fred Blink. The two years that I spent in training were very beneficial to me as a new technician.

Early in 1972 I was Radio Technician 09 and transferred back to East Lansing. During my time as tech in East Lansing there never seemed to be a lack of things to do. For some time I maintained all of the portable radios with the exception of most of those in the 2nd District. I was responsible for installation and maintenance of the low band radios in all of the MSP aircraft. At one point I worked with Norm Karlberg to design and build a microphone amplifier that would allow the pilot to use one headset for all of his radios.

I was promoted to Radio Technician 10 in 1976 and made supervisor over the 1st District radio technicians.

I was promoted Radio Technician 11 in 1978 and transferred into the office with Dave and Jerry. Dividing assistant duties of the districts.

I was promoted to Radio Technician Supervisor VII in 1978; I think this was just a change in civil service titles.

I was promoted to Radio Technician Supervisor X in 1989 – 1997, serving as Assistant Division Director.

I was promoted to State Deputy Administrator 15, in 1997 – 2002

Harry (March 12, 2009)