Barry Bauer’s photo project">Barry Bauer’s photo project

Owen Baese retired on January 1, 2001 as a press operator, but he’s mostly remembered for the years he spent as the inspection group leader on third shift. Federal-Mogul used to have a lot of floor inspectors checking everybody’s work to make sure they were producing the best quality parts possible. Floor inspectors have mostly been eliminated, and that made the operator 100% responsible for their work.

Owen’s two older brothers, Bob and Eldon Baese, also worked at F-M.

Some people thought Owen was the “phantom whistler.” The whistler usually made his appearance on the P.A. system during the holidays. Do I think it was him? I don’t really know.