Laura Vesco Russell currently of Barnhill, remembers working for the Universal Sewer Pipe Plant #2, in Goshen during the 1940’s. She says she was able to work there because her husband Joseph Russell, also was employed.
“It was about the time of the war and I worked there for about three years,” said Russell, who is now a spry 95 years young. “I was a pressman and we worked with 4″ pipe. We could put out many pieces in an hour. They would then shut the press down and we’d have to patch and finish the pipe.”
Russell remembers vividly John Weaver, who was her supervisor and a time she had to help out by working with 36″ pipe.
“I had been asked to send pipe down an elevator and I remember an older man who would hollar, look out boys! The first one is going to be a pancake!” said Russell laughing. “But I did a good job.”
Russell says she made 78 cents an hour there and missed her son Raymond while at work. She also has a daughter Jayne. Russell later worked at Weber’s IGA on East High St. New Philadelphia and was a realtor for Barnett Realty. She enjoys crafts and gardening.
Until recently, Russell served as a village council member for Barnhill and was council president for a time. She also has been a Central Committee member for the Tuscarawas County Board of Elections. She is an active member of Sacred Heart Catholic Church, in New Philadelphia and resided in Wainwright for the first 13 years of her life.