Super Senior: Warren Garfield

In historic downtown Springfield, there is a company that's been there for almost 100 years.

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Super Senior: Warren Garfield Posted: May 19, 2016 4:52 PM EDT Updated: May 19, 2016 7:52 PM EDT By Joe CarrollCONNECT SPRINGFIELD, Vt. - In historic downtown Springfield, there is a company that's been there for almost 100 years. From the outside, Lovejoy Tool Company has a feeling of times gone by. There are fixtures from the past inside, too, like a freight elevator. "Kind of low-tech," Warren Garfield remarked. But step around the corner and it's a different world; high-tech is everywhere. Million-dollar machines make cutting tools and Warren is in the middle of it. Reporter Joe Carroll: If you didn't automate, probably this company wouldn't be around? Warren Garfield: We wouldn't be able to be competitive. Definitely had to automate. The Brattleboro native went off to college in Boston and then came back to Vermont. "Graduated on 6/5/66 and started here on 6/6/66," he said. In June, that will make it 50 years working at the same business, in the same building. Joe Carroll: What keeps you here? Warren Garfield: I love what I'm doing. Warren was just shy of 20 when he started as a machinist; he is now plant manager. "We're small enough that we can take a hundred-piece order and it's a nice order for us," he said. A lifetime tinkerer, Warren rebuilt a Ford engine when he was a young teen. "Out in a pit in an old barn in the middle of winter and I would use a lightbulb to warm my hands up so I could use it," he said. The company now employees 46 people, far fewer than before automation. "I've seen a lot of changes," Warren said. He has seen the ups and downs of Springfield, the once industrial hub of Vermont. Warren says even in the 1980s, 3,000 employees worked in manufacturing in the town. Now, he says, it's less than 200. Companies closed. The biggest was Jones and Lamson, the empty plant is less than 1 mile from Lovejoy. "Sadness, what was one of the strongest companies in Springfield that help so many other companies get started and be one of the first to go," Warren said. Others followed. "We struggle to find employees that want to be machinists now," Warren said, "because they have seen the hard times of all the shops going out. The uncles, aunts, grandfathers were all laid off." Warren says Lovejoy's hasn't had a layoff in years and right now the orders are humming along. Warren Garfield: Over the years, I've run several of these machines. Joe Carroll: Do you know how to run all these machines? Warren Garfield: Not all of them, but a good share of them. Warren and his wife, Jeanice, plan to have a party to celebrate his 50-year career. Many of the old employees will be coming back to reminisce. "We talk about it being a Lovejoy family," Warren said. "You know, if somebody has a problem, they can sit in my office and talk about it. Everybody cares about everybody else." Warren says the half century has flown by, a sign that the man and his machines are in perfect sync. Warren says he plans to keep working for a few more years.