Summer 1987 Published by the Barre Granite Association, Barre, Vermont ~~------~BARRE~------~ GUILD
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Summer 1987 published by the Barre Granite Association, Barre, Vermont ~~------~BARRE~--------~ GUILD Stone Trades School Summer 1987 OPENINGS published by the Barre Granite Association, Barre, Vermont Norman James BOARD OF TRUSTEES The highly respected Stone Trades School of the Executive Vice President Brent Buttura, President Bruce Talbot Buttura & Sons, In c. Barre Regional Vocational-Technical Center has Manager of Public Relations Nick Cetrangolo announced openings for the upcoming school Gary Watson Cetrangolo Finishing Works Manager of year. According to Warren Williams, the center's Charles Chatot Member SelVices North Barre Granite Co. guidance coordinator, the program is accepting Thomas leary Peter Friberg Manager of Planning Anderson-Friberg Co. students for sessions beginning in both October and Development Raymond Rouleau and January. For detailed information about the John Salvador Rouleau Granite Co. Treasurer school, write to the Barre Regional Vocational Kurt Swenson Rock of Ages Corp. Technical Center, 155 Ayers St., Barre, VT 05641. Robert Zider Beck & Beck, Inc. CONTENTS Women in Granite ............................................... 1 North Barre Gran ite: A Heritage .......................... 5 Sculpture Magic ................................................... 7 Freedom of Choice in the Cemetery ................... 10 Mon ument Designs ............................................ 13 BGA Design Contest .......................................... 21 At the BGA ........................................................ 22 Member News ................................................. .. 25 StonExpo ............................................................ 30 Commemorati ng Our Astronauts ........................ 32 Cover and feature photography by Hanson Carroll ABOUT OUR COVER The members of the Barre Granite Association are in the vanguard of their industry ... with products, manufacturing processes and people. Increasingly, women are among the people holding what were traditionally thought of as "men's jobs" in the manufacturing process. One of those women Don Giroux, Stone Trades shop in structor, demonstrates the is Colleen Joeckel of the North Barre Granite Company, who is shown on our cover. Colleen is part of another trend, ap use of the pneumatic tool. plying computers to monument design. in Granite They are pioneers. They are the women who help manufacture Barre granite monuments. Barre has long been known for its innovation in product design and manufacturing processes, but the granite industry is a "people pioneer," as well. 'We hire the best people. It's as simple as that," says one company owner. "Through past ex perience, we know that women are just as qualified for manufacturing jobs as men, and they're particularly dextrous and good at doing fine work." Women have long held important jobs in granite company offices. Some have been executives and owners. But 20 years ago when Jan Welch finished high school and set out to do what her heart told her to do, she became a pioneer. She went to Buttura & Sons, Inc. and got hired in granite manufacturing as a draftsperson. "In the beginning, I was scared," she said. "To day, I can go into the plant and talk about a job, and the men listen to me." Pam LaVanway, a North Barre Granite Com pany draftsperson, also knows how respect for women has grown. "Sixteen years ago when I began, we had no credibility because there were almost no women in the industry. But time has proved our worth." Working with Pam at North Barre is fellow draftsperson Colleen Joeckel (pictured on the cover). Colleen is in the forefront of the granite industry in another way, also. She operates a com With nine years' experience, sandblaster Becky puter to create monument designs at rapid speed. Lafond has produced many monuments for Maurice On the plant floor at North Barre, Anna Setien Memorials, Inc. and Brenda Eggleston cut designs out of rubber mats and sandblast the designs into stone. A little 1 Twenty years ago, Jan Welch of Buttura & Sons, Inc. At Rock of Ages Corporation, Eileene Christie levels led the way for women in granite manufacturing. a stone for polishing. Creating another original etching for S.l. Garand & Company is Neysha Rossi, a designer/draftsperson/stone etcher. more than a year ago, Brenda was a nurse and started working at her father's company when she looking for a new career. "I'm not the type to be was in her early teens, stencil cutting and in an office all day. This is interesting, creative sandblasti ng. work. I get to see a stone come in blank and leave To get to the studio of Neysha Rossi at S.L. as a finished monument." Garand & Company, visitors pass a small gallery Keeping track of all plant production at North of scenic and religious etchings which Neysha has Barre is Darlene Chatot at her computer. She completed over the years. One fateful Christmas 2 Rock of Ages sawyers Joan Gendron and Brenda laPan peek between two diamond saws. Sixteen years of drafting, says Pam laVanway of North Barre Granite Com pany, proves that women can do "men's work." 20 years ago, Neysha painted an angel on the front Barre Life found Becky Lafond inside the shap window of the grocery store she owned. It caught ing room at Maurice Memorials, Inc., happily the eye of a local granite manufacturer who en shaping a monument. She turned off her equip couraged her to go to drafting school. Neysha was ment, took off her helmet and opened the door. snatched out of school by Garand and has been "In the morning I get my two-year-old daughter there ever since, producing unique designs for the ready for the day, then come down here. Maybe Montpelier manufacturer. some people wou Id rather see me at home, but 3 At North Barre, Anna Setien and Brenda Eggleston prepare to sand blast names into stone. Darlene Chatot tracks each job through the North Barre plant. I've been here for nine years, and I really enjoy Eileene Christie, a Rock of Ages polisher, breaks what I'm doing." into a wide grin. "Before I came here, I thought In the Rock of Ages Corporation manufactur granite came out of the quarry shiny. I didn't know ing center are sawyers Joan Gendron and Brenda we had to put the shine on it!" LaPan, mother of Barre Granite Association Eileene knows plenty now, in part due to her secretary Tina LaPan (page 22). kind teacher, experienced polisher George Ger ''The day goes by fast because I'm busy," says rish, who trained her on the polishing wheel. Brenda. "When I go home at night, I know I've "George mother-hen ned me a lot," Eileene said, done a day's work." with an appreciative glance toward George. In Joan leaned across the large slab she was cut time, she got the chance to "mother-hen" George ting. "When I started almost three years ago, I had on the automatic polisher. The two became a no idea of the many things that can be done with team, and help produce the granite monuments granite. I've learned a lot." for which Barre has become famous. 4 AT THE NORTH BARRE GRANITE CO.- The Chatot Fanlily BuDds on a like a factory out of the unpaved Wild West, the North Barre Granite Company was a far humbler Heritage place when the Chatots stepped in. GO BACK FIVE GENERATIONS to great-great grandfather Chatot and you'll understand something about the continuing dedication to quality that is the hallmark of the North Barre Granite Company. Great-great-grandfather, back in France, dedicated his life to stone, cutting rock for houses and railroad abutments. In time, a son-in-law followed his example, helping to cut a mountai n path for the fabled Orient Express railroad. The Chatot family name made its way to Barre in the early 1900s with the arrival of great-grandfather Auguste Chatot and his brother. It was 41 years ago that Auguste's son Jules and his partner, John LePannen, pooled their money to buy a granite manufacturing company that, to say the least, didn't look especially promising. They started atthe North Barre Granite Company with one employee, an old shell of a building, a broken-down crane and a compressor that didn't work. But the two owners worked-hard. Today, North Barre enjoys a widespread reputa tion in the granite industry under the ownership of Jules' nephew Charles, who is president, and Jules' daughter Judee Chatot-Travis, vice president. Ever-aware of production efficiency, North Barre president Charles Chatot (center, in dark sweater) The company's success has been due, in part, checks work flow with expeditor Michael Ornitz. to the Chatots' willingness to experiment with in novative approaches to business. North Barre Putting those modern procedures into practice Granite Company was, for example, one of the is a loyal and highly skilled crew that includes a first manufacturers to acquire letter punchers and fifth generation of Chatots. The quality of work to use belts with its cranes. And the company now produced by the crew has gained North Barre far applies computers to monument designing. (See' reaching accounts, especially in the metropolitan the cover of this issue.) New York City Jewish market. 5 On temporary display in New York is North Barre's disc sculpture for the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Many unique jobs also have come out of North splashes at the entrance to IBM offices in New York Barre's plant. There's the sculpture of large granite City. discs and segments-one disc 13 feet in diameter 'We have a lot of pride at North Barre Granite," -welcoming visitors to the Massachusetts Institute says Judee Chatot-Travis. "It's based on the fact that of Technology. There's the granite doghouse com this is a family business, and we have people here missioned by an original-thinking, canine-loving who care." artist.