Our
Digital Stories
Reminiscences about what it was like to work at
Digital - unique or typical moments, funny stories, lessons
from Ken. Send yours to webmaster@decconnection.org.
Marilyn
Goodrich
DECconnection founding director
Deceased, 2 March 2023
|
There are many interesting happenings in the life of an event planner.
A particular one involved a near disaster with Bill Gates and his
introduction to Digital of his Microsoft Word. Back in the '80s,
Microsoft was arranging "relationships" with companies that began using
his popular software. This event happened in Rochester, NY. All the DEC
sales reps in that area were gathered in the Eastman Kodak convention
hall for the announcement. This was my event, and I didn't want
anything to go wrong. Meeting Bill Gates and assisting him with his
presentation was a big deal for DEC. All the large screens were placed
on the stage. Bill Gates was going to install and demonstrate the
software. The electrical system was set up so that each screen would
activate with the push of ONLY ONE BUTTON. I had checked the system
many times and all worked well. It was my practice to have a spare
electrical system set up just in case the system failed. I advanced to
the stage with Bill Gates, introduced him and I gave the sign to start
the computers. WELL, I gave the signal and the system didn't work. I
glanced at my power person, gave him a thumbs up and he immediately
pushed the button that activated the spare power unit. The computers
started and the program continued flawlessly. I nearly had a heart
attack on that one. |
Pete
Durant
DECconnection member
|
In 1967 I’d been managing a memory test group at
Honeywell when some DEC people I knew recommended I interview
there. I set it up and set off to the Mill at Maynard to interview.
I had a nice, but short, chat with the manager of
the new PDP-11 development group, and then he said “They tell me you’re
a good memory guy, so why don’t you spend this time to pick out all the
test equipment you will need for the work, and when do you think you
could start”?
Does the style sound familiar? Only at DEC!!
I spent 23 satisfying years there, until the
special early retirement program in 1999, which my wife and I both took
after we both worked the last 5 years in England.
|
Sandy
Mackenzie, U.K.
June
2022
Working
in U.K. to set up Reading museum exhibits
|
I
met Ken Olsen in Geneva on my New Hire Induction training.
We had just started the course with a very pompous French instructor.
He introduced himself as "my name is Monsieur Pompideau and my wife is
Madame Pompideau..."
After lunch he was a totally different character. He was a quivering
wreck. He said in a stuttering voice, Attention! Attention!
"The President of the company has come into the building and asked if
any New Hire sales courses are going on. Can you believe that? I cannot
understand that he has asked such a thing. Why would he want to so such
a thing?"
Ken came in minutes later and made us all so welcome. Lovely big smile.
Warm blue eyes, and such a soothing voice. Funny too.
He said the main thing as salesmen, is to be honest with your
customers, and if in doubt do what is right. Any problems with company
rules, politics, and they are many etc. Do that.
If you can't resolve the issue tell them to get in touch with me. You
have my permission.
That motivated me tremendously, and I used to tell my customers that
story.
Anyway, I am glad his philosophy and values are still shared between us
old Decmates.
My duration at Digital was 1987 until 10 years later, with the Compaq
takeover.
Sandy
Mackenzie,
sandyhuntermackenzie@gmail.com
|
Michael Bujnowski, NH
DECconnection member
|
The
day I saved the Mill. I have been wanting to tell this true story for
some time now. So before I forget, here it is: It
was a warm sunny day, as best I can remember, sometime in the early
70s. The parking lot at the Maynard mill complex was full and thousands
of employees were hard at work. I worked for a unique part of Digital
called Computer Special Systems, or CSS. Business was robust, and
customers were lining up to have us develop “Special” interfaces
between our renowned Digital computers and their unique gizmos. Life
was as good as I can remember and so were the Digital years: we always
had a good time at Canobie Lake Park, in Salem, NH and enjoyed the free
turkeys at Thanksgiving. Okay, back to the story. It was still a warm
and sunny day. Half a day had passed. I know because it was time for
lunch: something I always looked forward to. It
was quite a distance from building 21-3 to Tobin’s cafeteria in
building 5-5, but worth the walk. Made me feel I did my exercise for
the day. This was the time when smoking was prevalent, and pigeons flew
in and out the mill windows at will. As I made my way to the café, I
can remember how many people I passed that day smoking a cigarette,
cigar, or a cherry red pipe. Do you see where this is going? After
lunch, I returned to the lab where I was debugging one of those gizmos
in my early engineering days. As I entered the lab, I detected a unique
odor which can only be described as a burnt and still smoldering smell.
I hastily made my way through the lab to discover the culprit. It was a
Flip Chip M115 module gone astray. I powered down the equipment,
extracted the module and whisked it away. Any longer and I am sure it
would have burst into flames and the consequences could have been
devastating. I
am thankful to this day (as I am sure you are) that I passed that day
on staying in the café for dessert. And so ends my story “The day I
saved the Mill”. All the very best to my Digital friends,
Michael Bujnowski. mbujnowski@comcast.net

|
Lawrence Mello, FL
DECconnection member
|
Larry Mello's confession: While
working in Educational Services at Parker Street, I had to go to The
Mill for technical information. Being my first time at The Mill, I had
to ask for directions at various points. To me, I was going through a
maze. After finishing my business, I tried finding my way back.
However, being frustrated and too embarrassed to ask for any more help,
I kept trying. I finally got to a room with windows overlooking the
parking lot near the river. There, I saw my car and thought, I found a
shortcut until someone said, “That door is alarmed, it’s an emergency
exit.” My response was, “I’ll be at Parker Street before Security gets
here.” And with the alarm sounding, I hustled out to my car and was
gone before anyone else poked their head out the door.
|
Sue Lawrence-Longo, MA
DECconnection member
|
Sue Lawrence-Longo’s
confession: I once tried to remove Ken Olsen from the Hudson
semiconductor facility. Yup, not my proudest moment. But in my defense,
he didn’t look like a corporate executive, and I had never seen him in
person. So here’s what happened:
In the early 1980’s, I was the “tour lady” providing tours of the
Hudson semiconductor facility to customers, prospects, partners, etc.
One afternoon I had just led a tour group into the basement of the
facility when I noticed a gentleman in a wrinkled suit standing off to
the corner. Due to the chemicals stored there, the basement was off
limits to all but those who had prior approval to enter. When I asked
the gentleman if he had permission to be there, he simply smiled and
showed me his DEC badge. I stammered something like, ”Well I guess you
do...” and quickly (translation: I shoved) my tour group back up the
stairs and out of the building.
Certain I was going to be fired, I dragged myself to the manager’s
office (Dick Plutnicki) and confessed my faux pas. I’m pretty sure Dick
didn’t blink for several minutes while he digested my “I just tried to
kick Ken Olsen out of the building!” hysterics. And I’m pretty sure I
held my breath during his contemplation period. Finally Dick said he
thought Ken would appreciate that I took facility safety seriously ...
but then warned me to please not ever do that again. I went on to enjoy
a 20-year career at DEC, seeing Ken several times during my various
marketing activities. Each time I wondered if he remembered me. But I
certainly wasn’t going to ask!
sllongo33@gmail.com
|
David
Mark, Maynard historian |
David gave a lecture on Digital
on June 14, 2021 at the Maynard Public Library and on Zoom.
Almost 200 ex-DECcies listened in,
and several shared DEC stories in this CHAT file.
Here is a
link to David's lecture on YouTube.
|
Jackie Kahle
DECconnection member
|
Click
on link below to see Jackie's fascinating history with Admiral Grace
Hopper
Grace
Hopper, Digital Equipment Corporation, and Me
By Jackie Kahle
October
21, 2018
|
Jack
Mileski
Stow
MA DECconnection member |
I visited Australia a number of
times during my DEC career. On one visit, after an 18 month visit to
them before, I was on a 48 hour trip there. I left Singapore and
arrived in Sydney and did my assignment to visit some customers and the
local office.
On arrival at the airport to go
back to the US, I was in line to board my flight when two somber
policemen pulled me out of line and took me to a long corridor to a
darkened room. It was like a typical B-Movie investigation room with a
stool I was put on, a small desk, and several chairs (all that was
missing was the spotlight in my face).
Then, without telling me why,
they started to ask me a bunch of questions:
1.) What is your name?
2.) Did you ever have another name?
3.) Why are you in Australia?
4.) Where do you live?
5.) What was your birth-date?
6.) Where were you born?
7.) Who were your parents? What
were their names?
8.) Where were they born?
9.) What was your mother’s maiden
name?
10.) Where did you go to school?
11.) Where have you lived in any other place?
Where and When?
12.) Who do you work for?
13.) Who else did you work for and when?
Meanwhile, during these
questions, one of these two left the room (I suspect they were checking
on my answers?).
Finally, when I was about to
miss the last flight out of the day, I asked why they were asking me
all these questions?
The answer came with another
question? “What were you doing in Australia for the past 18 months”?
I told them I was in Australia
for less than 48 hours.
They then re-checked my
passport and discovered that they misread it in the first place.
They apologized, and thank God,
I was able to catch my flight back to the US!
And that was before
9/11. Otherwise, I might be in prison in Australia today!
|
Jack
Mileski
Stow
MA DECconnection member |
In the late ‘80s I had a trip
to Australia to go to a DECUS meeting. One of the things that they had
was a field trip to a deep space tracking center in the Outback where
they had all VAX computers. There were two buses on this trip and the
corridors of the center could only hold so many people (approx. 20 or
so). So the rest of us were outside waiting our turn. Meanwhile, I saw
a kangaroo jump from a ditch. I never saw a live kangaroo before. I
couldn’t see over the ditch and I had my camera ready. So I stood on a
mound about three feet in height to see if I could see into the ditch.
I was on that mound for a long period of time. I colleague of mine told
me that I was on top of a giant ant hill. My entire body was covered in
ants. I never in my entire life saw an anthill that high! I had no idea
if they were poisonous or not? I remember a movie that I once saw as a
kid of the attack of the giant ants. Since there were no women around,
I took off all my clothes and tried to shake out all the ants. When I
got to my hotel, I couldn’t sleep all night. Whenever there was some
semblance of an inch, I jumped out of bed to look for ants. I do hope
you don’t ever experience this at all!
|
John A. Spadafore, LaconiaNH

603.630.3652 (Cell)
|
I started Digital in the spring
of 1980 and got my foot in the door working Security. The first time I
met Ken Olson was manning the HLO2 lobby, and my boss happen to be
standing behind me when Ken walked through the door. I immediately
recognized him, stood up and ask to see his badge. I thought my boos
was going have a seizure!! Ken flipped his badge over and I said, “
thank you Ken!” Again, my boss almost had a second seizure, I mean, I
addressed him by his first name!!!! For a moment, Ken just stood there
and then stepped up to the counter, each out his hand and said, “what
is your name sir?” So, I looked at my badge and replied,” when Ken, the
badge says John Spadafore, so that must be me!” Right about that time I
thought I would heat a thump behind me from my bosses body hitting the
floor passed out! Then Ken said to me, “Spadafore, I know a John
Spadafore who owns an oil company, is this a
relative?” "It is my dad, Ken, unfortunately, he
passed away five years ago and would surely have been proud that I am
now employed by you and your company." Ken and I spoke about my day for
a bit and told me how he met him and was glad that I was part of the
team.
From that day on, whenever Ken
would come to Hudson, I would always say hello, and would always have a
smile a mile long and always wished me luck with work. I moved from
Security to Datacom and while working in Datacom, I was injured by a
maintenance cart be driven down the hall by the HLO1 computer room.
Sent me to the hospital in an ambulance and was out of work for 8
weeks. When I finally returned, I received a phone call from Ken's
administrator and asked if I could come to Ken's office for a meeting.
When I got there, Ken and I sat for about an hour and a half and asked
me what had happened. After our meeting, Ken said to me, “John, if you
need anything, pleased do not hesitate to email or call me.” Talk about
a smile ear to ear, he was so sincere and genuine, I wish my dad was
alive to hear the story!
Ken, like so many others, you
gave us a career and a working family that has never been matched by
any other company! Digital was a job with family, I would wake in the
morning and couldn’t wait to go to work, it was that much pleasure. As
stated many time by others, “Digital years were the best working years
of my life, and I truly miss the company and the people that Hudson
Semi-Conductor employed.” God Bless you Ken, and thank you for the
memories… John.A.Spadafore@des.nh.gov
|
|
Silly story but last gig before hanging it up was
with HP Enterprise Services; first day got checked in, sent for badge
photo and walked out with a number that looked so familiar; my DEC
badge number from 18 years before. Also gave me hundreds of hrs
vacation time; realized their mistake and next check said 2 weeks, oh
well, "Thanks for the Memories". raflemings@gmail.com
|
Jack
Mileski
Stow
MA DECconnection member |
When I joined DEC in 1974 all
the bathrooms had wood stalls on which there was a lot of graffiti
(virtually all of it is no repeatable in public). However the one that
struck me was:
Someday I’m going to
own this place. (signed) Ken Olsen
|
Bob Nusbaum,
Yarmouth Port, MA
DECconnection member
|
In 1996 I traveled to Warsaw, Poland to address a
meeting of the Polish chapter of DECUS, which by then encompassed users
of both legitimately purchased and smuggled / knock-off DEC
computers.
After my talk, I chatted with one enthusiastic
customer who told me that he had "thousands of WAX systems".
Figuring that the "W" I heard in "WAX" was just an artifact of
differing phonetics in Polish vs. English, I asked "Do you mean
VAX?".
"No", he replied. "I mean WAX -
W-A-X. That is the name of the VAX clones that were used
everywhere in Russia, Poland, and the other countries where DEC was not
allowed to sell during the Cold War! They run VMS perfectly
right out of the box."
P.S. - A shout-out to Jack Mileski, my first boss
at DEC, who hired me fresh out of business school to product manage and
bring to market an ease-of-use software package for the ill-fated
PDT-11 desktop line. The PDTs didn't survive DEC politics,
but the Forms Management System (FMS) that we built for them did quite
well!
Bob Nusbaum,
|
John Holz
DECconnection member
|
Jack...saw
your note below about dealing with the Russians. Reminded me of a
couple of more stories: Lee Dickey (World Support FS) went to Russia to
fix a PDP8. When he was done, the Russians asked if he'd look at some
other computers. Lee found he was looking at a room of knock-off
11/45s.
When
we built the 782, one got ordered and it ended up in Sweden. The Swedes
were suspicious about where it was going so the opened up the boxes.
When they found the 782, they removed the hardware and filled the boxes
with bricks. They then sent the shipment on.
Lastly,
there was a big engineering manager's meeting around 1975 at Phillips
Exeter. Ken was asked why we don't deal with the Russians. He answered
that "communists were boring".
|

Jack Mileski
Stow MA
DECconnection member
|
The Story behind this Russian
DEC manual: What was an enemy a few weeks before became a very
friendly visit!
Very shortly after the Berlin
wall fell, about 12 Product line
members (including myself) visited Leipzig Germany
in East Germany to visit with the foremost Soviet Bloc Computer
Engineering Center there. This center was the epicenter of virtually
all Soviet bloc hardware and software. Most of the equipment there was
DEC equipment (many were smuggled - which, at the time, caused a great
deal of difficulty to DEC with the US Govt. on how this stuff was
smuggled behind the Iron Curtain). The Soviet Union extensively used
DEC designed equipment throughout the Cold War - including their
nuclear facilities (they may still be using it today) Given that the
Soviet Union was now dissolving, the hundreds of these HW/SW engineers
were very anxious to display their knowledge of DEC equipment in order
to get jobs with DEC. Therefore they were very accommodating to us.
They showed us the smuggled equipment, the many, many reversed
engineered PDPs, VAXs, even copies of the DEC100 and other peripheral
equipment (they smuggled some but reversed engineered them all). When
they manufactured the resulting HW/SW products, the East Germans
re-wrote the manuals in Russian. Hence, this is one copy they handed to
me. Since it was only a very short time when the Wall came down there
was basically no infrastructure. The phone didn't work and those that
had to make calls had to drive about 40 miles to Dresden (where there
was still heaps of debris and blackened buildings from the fire storm
that the late WWII bombing did to Dresden). No way do I ever want to go
to a Communist country!
|
John A. Spadafore
Laconia NH
|
I started working at Digital in
1980 at the Hudson Mass Facility,HL01. Security was my way in and spent
a couple of years in this position. One of the notable highlights of
this job was meeting Ken Olson at the front desk and asking him for his
badge. I thought my manager was going to come un-glued at my request.
Course, Ken being the gentleman he was, gladly showed his badge and
complemented me a job well done! After hearing who this
gentleman was, I was impressed that he could be a such a down to earth
guy and treating one of his employees as a person who had dealt with
many times in the past. I found out how quick one could move through
the company with a little drive and help from fellow employees. Moving
from security to data com was a great move for me and it didn’t stop
there. I eventually found my place working for the CAD group under the
supervision of Mike Brophy and manager Victoria Suchocki. What a
wonderful group of people and I truly can say I LOVED going to work!!
In 1997 when Digital finally
came to an end, I moved on with the Alpha Development Group for Compaq
then HD and right back to Hudson HLO2 for Intel. After just under
thirty years, Intel offered many of us the retirement package and I
left. Thank you Ken Olsen for a career and the honor of being part of
the Digital Family. No other company can ever compare to Digital
Equipment Corporation and all that it offered. I miss the people, the
challenges, and the compassion in those people I worked with who put
their heart into a work place that meant so much to them personally. I
look back to those years and cherish all the memories and the friends
who I still have today and realize my life changed because of Ken Olsen
and his company.
|
Karen Hamilton
DECconnection member R.I.P.
|
Many years ago, before we had
answering machines or voicemail, I came into work on a Tuesday to hear
my phone ringing. I answered the call from a co-worker in Geneva who
said he’d tried to reach me the day before. I didn’t answer so he
phoned my boss’s number. When he didn’t answer my friend called the
dept head, and getting worried he phoned Ann (Jenkins) and the Ken.
Thinking some disaster might have happened he called the international
operator to see why his calls weren’t be answered. She told him “I’m
sorry sir, today is Memorial Day – the United States is
closed.” karenhamilton@verizon.net
|
|
This is a link to "Old DEC
jokes" circulated by the Colorado Springs group
based on submission by DEC Connection member Dale Rutschow (R.I.P.)
|
Newbold Noyes, Maine
|
This is a follow-up to
Newbold's email appearing on our NewsBytes
page.
I just received this video link
from a DEC producer yesterday, by coincidence.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WatY6v2RGmU
This was produced by one of
our group, Joe Tyburczy, who lives in Lexington MA. I'm
trying to reach him to find out where he got this transferred, and if I
can get some of the other work together, I'll have this transferred
& put onto YouTube. I'll also contact the camera man I worked
with, who may have more material, including some Olsen interviews.
While at DEC I interviewed a few dozen upper management folk, CEOs etc.
from other corporations as well as top DEC management. Ken Olsen was
the only one who was genuinely puzzled as to why we would want to
interview him. His humility was part shyness I think, part worry that
he was not as articulate as some of his contemporaries. He was always
sitting at his desk, coat and tie on, looking uncomfortable, but I
assumed that was because he didn't like being interviewed.
In one of our first interviews the sound man kept hearing a ticking
sound which we couldn't track down. At one point Ken got a call which
he took in another office, and the sound man approached his chair and
found a piece of the material on the chair arm had come loose. He
flicked the little flap of material and it made the ticking sound, so
he put a small piece of tape over it. Ken came back & we
continued. After a few seconds the sound man heard a scrabbling sound
as Ken's fingers found the taped-down bit of material wouldn't flick...
he looked down at the chair arm and said "what did you guys do
here? fixed my chair?" It was a big old Naugahyde affair, not
the leather that most other CEO's & other DEC VPs had, but an
old comfortable thing, big enough for a big confident man who did not
need fine furniture impress others. When we had to do another
interview, we found the flap of material had been worked loose, we
taped it down again.
After my last interview with him, I realized we had left a piece of
camera gear in his office, so returned and found him pacing around his
office, coat off, tie loosened, with our piece of gear in his hands,
talking with Win Hindle. He was dynamic, vigorous, confident,
articulate - I realized I had completely blown every interview I had
ever done with him - we should have interviewed him standing, anywhere
but behind his desk, with no suitcoat on and with some piece of Digital
equipment in hand... I mentioned this to his secretary as I left, and
she said that she always insisted that he wear his coat and sit at his
desk, looking like a CEO should look - "proper & neat" she
said. Well he never really looked "proper & neat," he was
always a bit rumpled, his mind far beyond well-tailored suits and new
leather arm chairs. A genuine is the word that comes to mind - an
honest man - a strange combination of other worldly and down-to-earth.
newnoyes@gmail.com,
4 June 2014
|
Marcia Russell
DECconnection member
|
Upon learning of the death of
Dave Knoll, Marcia wrote: Dave Knoll and Ed Savage where my first
bosses. They gave me sooo many opportunities ..sigh I could not have
been as successful w/o their undying support. They allowed me to be the
intelligent but also goofy person I was... while doing a whole lot of
creative it never happened before work I had lotsa fun too. I remember
launching a manufacturing Request and Commit tutorial complete with a
chick in a bikini that was named Ophelia Forecast. The physical
document/manual got lots of attention and well it should because it was
the first launch of the beginning of online electronic data processing
directly into a computer.
marciarussell@comcast.net
|
Tom Hayden
DECconnection member
|
One day in the early 80s I
watched the evening news on TV and saw a report of a meeting between H.
Ross Perot and the board of General Motors. I believe it was about the
time when GM bought Perot's company, Electronic Data Systems. One piece
of video showed Perot in a limousine being driven into the underground
parking garage at GM headquarters.
Later that same evening, I accompanied my wife on a shopping trip to
the Burlington Mall. While waiting for her to come out of a store, I
took a seat on a bench in the mall. I looked around and saw - there,
among all the other ordinary guys sitting and waiting for (I assume)
their mates - Ken Olsen. Such a difference between H. Ross Perot and
Ken Olsen!
DEC/Compaq (1974-2002)
Maynard, Marlboro, Spit Brook, Merrimack geezer123v@verizon.net
|
Lyle Hughes
DECconnection member
|
HOW MY 36 YEAR DEC CAREER
STARTED: I started at DEC in the Mill in 1974, badge #39667. I was
hired as a Data Comm. Tech. but my Manager only had a req. for a
Logistics administrator, but he said he’d get it changed after I
started. I suspect this was so he wouldn’t run afoul of any Field
Service job classifications.
I was in a operations group providing computer access to many
Engineering and support functions mainly in Maynard ML, PK’s and
Marlboro. Our computers, DEC 10’s and 11’s were located in ML5B (below
the pond water level). Our clients connected through a myriad of mainly
hard wired lines that ran throughout the Mill, and a “high speed” 9600
BPS line to PK and MRO. Originally, if someone needed a line to one of
the systems, a work order would be filled out to plant engineering.
Weeks later it got installed, (sometimes days if side deals were made
at the Pub on Main St.), usually by running another 4 wire phone line
from their desk to ML5B, or the nearest phone room for remote users.
Repairs usually meant field service would be requested to get involved,
Corporate telecomm primarily supported voice. The process and delays
were unacceptable for most users and management, which is why I was
hired, to facilitate new data comm. orders, installs and maintenance
for our group.
My first project was to decipher and map all of the non-telco cabling
25 pair and larger, and punch down blocks in the Mill. You heard right,
every building starting with ML 3-5 where our group and our public
terminal room was located, down to ML5B. I started with a clip board,
voltmeter and map of the mill. Every day I would trace the overhead
cable to it’s cut down block, check for voltage or current, count the
connections, label it and move to the next one. My neck hurt from
always looking up. After 2 months I convinced my boss that the job was
bigger than was scoped, (I was still working in building 3) and he
allowed me to hire a temp to help out. That project took almost a year
to complete, but in the process I learned every nook and cranny of the
Mill, and we could then connect a new user in 1 day.
Like computers, network technology quickly became more sophisticated
(e.g.DECnet, SNA,IP, Web and wireless) as did my training and skills.
By 1979 my team grew to 6 people, I was promoted and we became part of
Corporate Telecomm’s new data support function. I went on to work for
Compaq, and HP in many Network Consulting and Management roles in
services, and in the last 15 years as a Global Service Delivery Manager
in HP’s Enterprise Services organization.
In 2010, like many, I was WFR’d , but I am very grateful and proud, to
have spent 36 rewarding and memorable years working for DEC, Compaq and
HP and the many great people I met, and worked with including my wife.
And it all began at ML3-5 in September of
1974. Lyle Hughes- HughesLT1@yahoo.com
|
Joseph Nahil
DECconnection member
|
Ken and I flew in one of the
DEC jets to Toronto, Canada, to an industry convention. He was the key
note speaker and I was dutifully along to play interference with
members of the press. They were never Ken’s favorite people. All the
way up, he smiled through his gritted teeth and would always change the
subject when it was suggested that he should – at least – look at the
script. God forbid! We had a few DEC security
folks with us and when we arrived at the hotel, we were whisked away to
a private suite. Security thought it best that Ken relax in the suite,
but I decided to go and get the lay of the land. I wandered to the
press room and then downstairs to an attached shopping plaza. One of
the shops was a fine leather store featuring Canadian leather, and
since I needed a new brief case, I went in. and as I was selecting a
nice black case, I heard, “ I like the brown one better.” I turned
around and it was Ken smiling. I said “What are you doing here.”
He replied, What are YOU doing here?” I bought the brief case and we
both went up stairs to find the security guys didn’t know he was
gone.
Joe Nahil, nanapa@comcast.net
|
Jack Mileski
Stow MA
DECconnection member
|
During the blizzard of '78 Gov
Dukakis banned the travel of roads in Eastern MA. This went on for a
week.
I got cabin fever so I drove to the Mill. The place was totally empty
when I was roaming my office in Bldg 5-5.
Who do I run into? It was Ken Olsen! Did he defy the Gov. ban
(like me) or was he there all the time? I never asked him.
|
Jack Mileski
Stow MA
DECconnection member
|
In the late 80's I went to
DECUS-Australia in Canberra (the Capital). During a mid-week break,
some people went skiing and some of us got on a 12 hour round trip to
the deep space tracking center in no-man's land where they had a bunch
of VAXes controlling the center. About half way out to the center we
stopped the buses for a steak cookout in a very small park. I was
sitting next to a customer during the trip. When we got to the park
there were not enough picnic tables for people to sit. The customer I
was with sat down on the ground. Unfortunately, he sat in a pile of
kangaroo dung. He tried to wash it off in a river nearby but it didn't
stop the stink! I was afraid that he would now sit back near me for the
entire remaining 9 hours of the trip. However, when I got back on my
bus, he was in the next one in the back with all the other people
massing up front (even without a seat). When I got back to Maynard I
told a bunch of people that story. One commented: "Was that a customer?
Why didn't you give him your pants?" I was a very loyal employee of DEC
for over 25 years - BUT NOT THAT LOYAL!!!
|
Jack Mileski
Stow MA
DECconnection member
|
In
the days that the Mill was not air conditioned, people left the windows
open on the weekend.
Bill Heffner's office was in Bldg 5-5 and he had a very early and
important appointment with Ken Olsen and the Executive Committee on
Monday morning at 8:00 am. Bill did his homework, prepared his slides
and his executive assistant converted them to transparencies (the only
technology that existed at the time) and put them on his desk.
During the weekend, pigeons flew into Bldg 5-5 and defecated all over
Bill's transparencies. Since office hours were at 8:15 there was no one
to help Bill recover! I'm not sure what the outcome of this
was but I'm sure it wasn't pleasant !!! |
Ray Humphrey
Sudbury MA
DECconnection member
|
I joined DEC from Xerox in 1982
after spending some wonderful interviews with Ken, Ed Schwartz, Win
Hindle, John Sims, Al Bertocchi, etc.
Shortly afterwards I recommended to Ken that we needed photo
identification (ID) badges. He responded that he "knew everyone in
Digital" and that, indeed, he had hired many folks, their parents and,
in some cases, their grandparents. "there would be no photo badges
within Digital Equipment Corporation"
Several weeks later at about 5:30 a.m., on a Monday morning I received
a telephone call that went something like the following: Ray, I
wandered through The Mill right after midnight. Do you know how many
strange faces I saw!"
We instituted "flying squads" throughout DEC to implement photo ID
badges shortly thereafter!
|
Galen Davis
Phoenix AZ
DECconnection member
|
I am new to this DEC Connection
site but not new to the "low badge number syndrome." It was a
status symbol due to the sequencing of corporate worldwide new hires
badges. Employees returning with a gap in service could apply for
"their" old number back. Your badge number became yours and was retired
when you left the company. My badge in 1962 was #307 and I wore it
proudly until 1992. We would track the number of employees with badges
lower than ours .. to Ken's #1. In the 90's there were an amazing
number of two and three digit badge numbers in the company. When
visiting facilities we would pay courtesy calls on lower badge numbers
merely to congratulate them on their longevity. DEC always remembered
it's veteran's anniversaries with awards and dinners. The recognition
was transparent to pay grade or position in the company. My badge was
always the introduction to a story of "DEC in the early days."
Notes from webmaster:
|
Mike Schopeke, loyal customer
Daily Herald
Chicago IL
DECconnection member
|
As
a longtime customer I’m enjoying all memories that pop into my head as
I read what others have written.
In the newspaper industry since the 70s, I have been involved with
PDP-8, 11/70’s with 13 RP06’s, 11/750’s, 8550’s, and an ES-450. I can’t
even remember the others we have used.
A possible good DEC Employee story…
Back in 1979 we purchased two corporate cabinet 11/70’s serial numbers
56657 and 56658.
The DEC tech that came to do the install was John Alfrinko. His badge
number was 56657. He felt that Ken Olsen had presented him his own
machine. In all the years that we ran those servers he would never let
another tech work on those two boxes. |
Jack Mileski
Stow MA
DECconnection member
|
If you ever worked in the
Mill, you may be aware that in the summer time, tar could leak from the
roof to the top floor of one of the Mill buildings. One day, a salesman
from France showed up with one of his best customers from France. In
those days, everyone wore suits to work. This French executive had a
lily white sports jacket. As he was walking in Bldg. 5-5 a bit of tar
fell on his white jacket. The salesperson tried to wipe it off only to
leave a giant tar smudge on his jacket. Apparently it was the only
jacket he brought with him. For the next two days, he could be seen
walking around the Mill with this giant tar smudge on his jacket!
|
Tom McIntyre
Harvard MA
DECconnection member
|
When I came to DEC in 1978 I
was working on 5-5 and would often wander down through the board shop
on the way to Terminal Engineering. There was a lady with a single
digit badge number who was attaching the handles to the board using a
riveting machine. At that time she had been there 20 years I suppose. I
remember someone remarking that her stock options were worth several
times her annual income. Grin
My best Ken story was when I was working in the Mill and we were trying
to find the light control for one of the crackerbox conference rooms on
5-5 before the renovation. My software development gang worked very
strange hours and it was around 9:00 pm. We were climbing all over the
place trying to trace the wiring for the flourescent fixture when Ken
walked up and asked what we were doing. When we told him, he pointed
out the breaker box about 15 feet away behind a panel. When I asked him
how he knew it was there, he said because he put it there when they put
up the jury rigged partitions.
|
Will Emerson
Maynard MA
DECconnection member
|
Mill
Hazards or "Look out below!"
I was working in the Mill on 4-4 at the time as a "data control clerk"
aka. tape library type. Anyway, to "set the scene", it was later
winter, the room I worked in had a "service window" out to the hallway,
across from and diagonally about 20 feet from the elevator that served
Bldg 4 and Bldg 3 along with the ground floor of Bldg 6. Well, one day
I'm sitting in front of my trusty VT100 logging in tapes, and I hear
this "Kerrrack" followed in most rapid succession with "BOOM!!!!!!!!",
and dust coming in the window. "What th' [ ] was that?" I thought, then
I had an immediate thought that it would be prudent to investigate as
from the volume of the noise, I considered the possibility that
something really bad happened to the elevator, and Billy, the operator,
especially with all the dust coming from that direction.
Well, I got to the elevator just as Billy was coming up, and he stopped
and raised the gates for me to get on. "What happened?" I asked. "I
dunno" he said, "but there's a lot of people wandering around down
there yakking". "Billy, can you drop me off down there?". Well, I
arrived on 3-1/6-1 to see a first class commotion. It turned out that
the "Kerrrack" was a large chunk of ice that no longer desired keeping
company with the roof of bldg 4, and in obeyance of the law of gravity
took the express route to the ground. The roof of Bldg 6 attempted to
intervene in this (source of the BOOM!!!!) but only succeeded in
reducing the ice's velocity slightly, and the chunk of ice landed a
couple of feet away from a very surprised facilities Carpentry
Supervisor who had been working at his desk right below. Suffice it to
say he was rather unnerved by the incident. |
Bob Moore
Burlington MA
DECconnection co-founder
Deceased, July 8, 2017
|
I remember when they had the
first Board Of Director's meeting in Concord VRO5, some time in the
mid-80s. The buildings at VRO were built to DEC spec and the first one
had this really neat Boardroom on the second floor. The building was
designed with an entrance on each level at ground level. Obviously the
ground had to have been seriously rearranged to make this happen.
Anyway as I recall, the
meeting was to take place at a time of year when tulips were not in
bloom. However when we all came to work that day the upper and lower
walkways were surrounded with at least half-jillion RED AND YELLOW
TULIPS IN FULL BLOOM Wow Mother Nature had to be really amazed at what
had happened in her back yard overnight.
The rest of the story is that after the last Limo had departed and the
Board has all gone back wherever they came from, an announcement was
made, "anyone who wished to take home a tulip, may do so after work."
And we all did because it was so easy. None of the tulips had been
actually planted in the soil but they came in a pot and the pot simply
was placed in its entirety in the ground. I'm sure this whole operation
had been out-sourced as it happened so quick.
|
Jack Mileski
Stow MA
DECconnection member
|
In the late '70s a young DEC
engineer, Brian Hessler, was asked to visit some customers in Europe
and some DEC sites. Brian was never out of the US in his life. His
first stop was to visit a PDP-11 customer outside of
Amsterdam (a parts manufacturer). After a red eye flight to
Schipol airport in Amsterdam, Brian exited customs and was greeted by a
limousine driver who held up a sign saying "Mr. Hessler". There was a
drive for about 45 minutes outside of Amsterdam. But the limousine
driver did not speak English and Brian didn't speak Dutch, so there was
no conversation between them. After his arrival, the plant executive
offered some coffee and a pastry and started a small talk conversation:
"How was the trip?". "Have you ever been to Europe?" Blah, blah, blah
for about 10-15 minutes. Then the executive said: "How are things going
for Kraft Foods?". Brian answered" "Kraft Foods?" After a bit of
confusing bantering, it became obvious that Brian was in the wrong
place! This wasn't a parts manufacturer. It was a cookie factory. His
customer was totally on the opposite side of Amsterdam! They called
Brian a cab and he finally arrived at the parts manufacturer 3-4 hours
late. God knows what happened to the Kraft Foods Mr. Hessler left
abandoned at the Schipol Airport?
|
Kerry Bensman
Broomfield CO
DECconnection member
|
I had graduated from M.I.T. in
June 1969 and had taken a job as a newbie at a major manufacturing
company. Several months later I was being assigned to work in
Pittsburgh PA which for some reason didn't seem right for me. So I sent
my resume out to a few headhunters and, lo and behold, I was granted an
interview in the mill in late winter. Not many of us (I had a four
digit badge number) may still remember those days. So I arrive early
and am kept cooling my heels for over an hour. Finally, I met with the
hiring manager (anyone remember Maury F.) who invited me to the Mill's
cafeteria. I settled on one of now famous hamburgers, which tasted like
compressed computer chad from the paper tapes being produced in those
days. Afterwards, I was offered one of two jobs, one for small
computers (PDP-8) and the other for a big computer (PDP-6). So in my
infinite wisdom, I figured big was better than small and chose the
latter.
So what was my reasoning in joining DEC in 1969? This is true. I
figured than any company that could mess up the interview process so
bad and have such lousy cafeteria food had to have something going for
it. Little did I know.
P.S. The bar and the deli across the street from the mill entrance had
nothing to do with it.
P.S.S. My first "office" was next to Bob Lane's and across from Stan
Olsen's. The stories I could tell. And I still miss Ethel Lane to this
day.
|
Hank Vezina
Brookline NH
DECconnection member
Deceased, Nov. 9, 2012
|
Back in the late '60's when I
was working at the Mill, Ken always seem to catch me throwing things.
First it was a circuit board I through out the window into the Mill
pond, then he wasn't too pleased when I broke a window pane of his
office with a softball a while later. But on my 5th anniversary
luncheon at PK-2 when Ken saw me coming up to the podium to receive my
Cross pen set, he tossed the box to me before I even got close to him.
After I caught it and was shaking his hand, he said "Glad to see you
can catch better than you can throw".
Or how about the time just after I bought my '68 Corvette, I had parked
it next to building 21 and got a call from security saying the high
winds had blown tar paper off the roof and it landed on my car. When I
rushed out to see how bad the damage was, I found Ken cleaning off the
paper from my car. Since there was no real damage to my car, we went
over and cleaned the stuff that had fallen on his Pinto.
Hank Vezina: DEC Employee from 1967 to 1983, DEC Contractor from 1987
to 1997 |
Edmond Hennessy
NH, USA
|
Worked for mighty DEC in the
70's and early 80's.
There were many, times when Ken & Stan Olsen and members of the
Executive Team attended events.
Always interesting to engage with this group of unique individuals.
Started with DEC in the field and then migrated to a role in the
Product Line (then became a Business Unit and eventually an Industry
Group).
While in the field - our branch office was near Bridgeport - where Ken
Olsen's daughter attended school.
Ken would make a point to drop-in at our office - hardly recognizable,
as the Founder & CEO of one of the Industry's glamour Computer
Makers and braintrust behind DDP and Minicomputers. He was open -
sincere - the genuine article. And, he made the trip in his Ford Pinto.
Before joining DEC - a
recruiter approached me and asked, if I wanted to join a "do your own
thing" company (DEC was doing $200 million annually at the time), plus,
he indicated that the Founder Ken Olsen's mantra was "in the final
analysis, people will do the right thing."
This became an element of the DEC Creed, which was actually put to
practice.
About a year ago, our firm published an article titled, "Entrepreneurs
Met Along The Way - Are They A Reproducible Breed?" Ken Olsen was the
headliner in the article, however many of the other Entrepreneurs
profiled actually were ex-DEC employees. Another testimonial
to the impact DEC and Ken Olsen had on the Industry. Clear that there
are multitudes of people that were directly impacted, by the DEC
experience.
Here's a link to the article and a tribute to the man.
Ken Olsen's impact - will not be forgotten - it is enduring.
Edmond Hennessy
|
Jack Conaway
Digital
1979-1993
DECconnection member
|
Ken was a many-faceted person
who could determine the essence of problems and opportunities in many
aspects of Digital's complicated business. The first time I met him was
in the early 1980's. The ESG Product Line was running a CAD/CAM Expo on
the west coast. It was our first show of that type and I was very
surprised to see him there.
Engineering Systems was the first group to develop joint marketing
relationships with third party application vendors as a fundamental
strategy to leverage the sales of the new VAX computer. Ken dived into
the displays with a tremendous amount of energy. He talked to our demo
people about their backgrounds and even tried out some of the software.
He asked the customers what they thought of the event and how important
the software was to their business and asked our management about the
partnership strategies and deals. I was even more surprised at the
length of time he spent in long conversations at the event.
We returned to the office pleased with the customer results. A while,
later Ken's office announced DEC Town the pre-cursor for the highly
successful DEC Worlds that extended this model in a networked fashion
to all the applications and industries that Digital served. What a
vision he had! |
Bruce Lynn Lexington, MA USA
DECconnection member
|
In 1980, early in my tenure at
DEC, my father passed away. Shortly after I received a beautiful
houseplant with a card signed by Ken to express his sympathy. How many
companies of this size would have a policy like this? My guess would be
close to zero! That was how I thought of Ken for the 18 years I
continued to work at DEC and how I remember his to this day.
Bruce Lynn (Lexington, MA), Global Healthcare Solutions Practice, EMC
Corporation |
Jim Raffa
Stow, MA
USA
DECconnection member
|
My name is Jim Raffa. I worked
in the Law and Contracts Department in Merrimack, NH from February 1978
- January 1980.
My
first day at Digital in 1978 was a Monday in February. It was a dark
day with light snow and with a forecast of a severe Northeaster
expected over the next 24 hours. I signed in, signed all my papers, was
briefed on my position, met my new boss, sat at my desk for less than 1
hour. As the day finished, I said good bye to my new acquaintances. I
knew my drive back from the Merrimack, NH facility to Stow, MA was
going to be slow as there were 6 inches of snow on the ground when I
left the facility. I did not return to work for over a week. The snow
storm turned into the Blizzard of '78.
I knew that I was a new employee with no sick or vacation time built
up. Therefore, I expected that February was going to be a tight month
financially for me and my wife with over a week of no pay. However,
when I arrived at the Merrimack, NH facility, the first thing my new
boss said to me was that Ken Olsen had approved payment for all
employees, even me the new employee, of salaries for the time missed
because of the blizzard. The time that I missed was not to be docked
from my sick or vacation time. This was one of the many wonderful
experiences that I had while working at Digital and my beginning
admiration for a man that remembered his employees as much as making
great products and being profitable.
|
Bob Glorioso
Stow, MA
USA
DECconnection member
|
I was fortunate. I had the
opportunity to interact with Ken on many occasions both at DEC and
after we both left. However, one of my first encounters always comes
through when I think of him. As you may recall, the blizzard of '78
caused all the roads in the Commonwealth to be closed for a week. After
getting dug out and hanging around for a few days, I decided to go into
my office, then in the bowels of Building 4, and get a jump on things.
So, I quickly drove to the Mill - it was only 4 miles- and started
working. No one was around and the mill was strangely quiet. About
one-half hour after I got there Ken walked into my office and sat down
and proceeded with some small talk about the devastation of the storm
and then a technical discussion of the things we in the Research Group
were working on. This went on for at least an hour and, as it was
starting to get dark, I headed home. Needless to say, I didn't get done
what I planned but was happy to trade it for a far ranging and
interesting conversation with a very nice man. |
Chris Peters
Arlington, MA USA |
I spent 12 years in the Mill in
the metals business on 5-1. During that time I was on the safety
committee for a few years. Ken used to come down to work on some of his
skunk work projects.
I would catch him in the machining or sheet metal area without safety
glasses. I would ask him to please leave the area until he put safety
glasses on. He would always apologize for his error – march out and
come back with his glasses and promise not to do it again, until the
next time he came down. |
Stan Tomczak II, FL, USA |
Please note that if you are
offended by strong language, do not continue to read this.
While working in the Washington DC Field Service Group (1970's) I was
told the story by a Maynard Product Support Engineer, while he was
helping me on my first "impossible to fix" PDP-8 ("straight-eight")
problem at a newspaper sight. DEC had not started using microprocessor
chips in the field at that time and, in fact, we did not use the term
"operating system". The story goes that the earliest printed
documentation was stopped before the press work by the graphic designer
of the front cover. The chain-of-command went to Ken for a
modification! Some of you will remember how we used
the first letter of words to form our own "DEC-speak". Well, the story
continues that the controlling software would be called a monitor, it
would be addressed through a keyboard (KSR "teletype"), and it would be
upgradeable. The legend states to name was to be: First Upward
Compatible Keyboard Monitor. |
Jack Mileski
Stow MA
DECconnection member
|
In the mid-70's in the
bathroom in the Mill on Bldg 5-5, there was some graffiti on the
bathroom stall that said: "Someday I'm going to own this place" -
signed Ken Olsen. Of course, I doubt Ken wrote it.
|
Faye Detsky-Weil
Del Mar CA
DECconnection member
|
A Digital Experience - by Faye
Detsky-Weil: Monster.com asked people to write to them about their best
bosses.
The best boss I ever had was
someone who cared about me and my future. He took the time to talk to
me about what I wanted to do and where my interests were. He had me
write objectives for my job and for my career. At the time I dreaded it
and thought of it as punishment, only to look back and realize that he
was doing me a favor. He was the first boss I had who did this for me
and I realized in the years that followed that he was not typical of
most managers. Many have to write up performance reviews and objectives
as a job requirement. He was my mentor. I was rather young at the time,
but I was not afraid to talk to him about my goals. He encouraged my
talking to him and knew that I was destined for a better and more
fulfilling career. He saw my potential and took an interest. After I
moved on, he contacted me about a position in his department. I turned
it down and have always wondered where I would be had I accepted it. We
worked together at Digital Equipment Corporation, the best company I
ever worked for. I am still in contact with some of my coworkers, but I
regret not having kept in touch with him. I thank him for making me
feel respected and empowered. That man is John Doherty.
Faye Detsky-Weil, Sept 1980–May
1986 (Tax Department and Educational Services) - email Webmaster to
contact Faye.
|
|
|
Copyright©
2006-2023 by The DEC Connection TM
and DECconnection
TM.
All rights reserved.
|