Moore and F.C. Mason: together for over 60 years

Parts aren't shipped in pork barrels anymore, and the huge air and drop forge hammers have been replaced by modern equipment, but one important part of The F.C. Mason Company remains the same.

Ken Moore is still "checking the numbers" each and every day, just like he has for the past 60-plus years.

His friends and associates at the local manufacturing and agricultural parts distribution facility recently celebrated that phenomenal longevity 'on the job' with a lunch-time party and presentation of an engraved, gold watch.

The vibrant gentleman acknowledges that when he first walked through the company's door on Railroad Street back in April 1941, he had no idea that one day he would be its executive vice president and a major stockholder.

"I asked the guy in front who I could talk to about getting a job, and he pointed to a fellow at a desk in the back," Moore recalls of his job 'interview' with its owner at that time, William V. Gay.

"We talked for half an hour or more about farming and this and that, and then he said, 'When can you go to work?' I said I could start right then, or in the morning, and he said, 'There'll be a card in the rack for you.'

"I never did fill out an application."

The young man who grew up on a farm near Maple Rapids began in the shipping and receiving department.

"Everything came in and was shipped out in pork barrels back then, almost all of it via the railroad," Moore says, adding that a new heading had to be made for each barrel that came through. "The only way to get it opened was to smash the top."

His willingness to work and aptitude for learning new skills took Moore from the shipping dock to the office - in just four months time.

"Mr. Gay came to me and said, 'How'd you like to do some bookkeeping?', and I said I could give it a whirl," Moore says of his start in "checking the numbers."

"A few months later, he came and said, 'How about doing some corporate bookkeeping?', and I said I could try that, too. He was just a wonderful fellow - a peach of a guy."

Now, 60 years later, Moore still keeps careful track of the company's receivables in the big ledger - but today, he's checking his figures against a computer.

"I've got to prove whether the computer is right or wrong," he says with a laugh, noting that mistakes do crop up from time to time - most often, his numbers are correct.

The passing years at The F.C. Mason Company have provided more than a place of employment for Moore. It's a home-away-from-home, filled with lots of wonderful co-workers - two of whom are his children. Pamela Rosner is the assistant to the plant manager - and a computer wizard, according to her father - while his son, Thomas, is purchasing manager for the resale distribution side of the company.

"Both of them started working here during the summer while they were in high school, and they’re still here," Moore says with obvious pride, adding that his help-mate during the first 50-plus years with the company was instrumental in his earning the job.

"Pauline's father was Rollie Munger - he told me he thought the company was doing some hiring," Moore says of the former Pauline Munger. They were married Aug. 3, 1941; she passed away in 1993.

He and his wife, Barbara, have been married for six years; they live in St. Johns. Moore has been an active member of the St. Johns Exchange Club since 1957, and of the First United Methodist Church where he serves as an usher and on the Board of Directors.

"I guess I keep busy every day of the week," he says of his rigorous schedule - which he has no plans to change just yet.

He'll just keep on "checking the numbers - as long as the brain stays clear."