To the Editor,

I would like to comment on “Grateful for Tecumseh Products” in last weeks Opinion section. Yes, we should be thankful to the company and the owners for what they have done for this city. However, I was disappointed that you barely mentioned the 5,000 men and women who were the labor force that made Tecumseh Products run. Without them the owners could not have accomplished what they did.

My grandfather was one of the men who volunteered for the first several weeks to help establish the factory, he retired from the company. My father worked for 35 years for the Products. I remember many days when he would come home dead tired. His back would ache from hours of lifting and the skin on his hands was sore and cracked from being in chemicals all day. He called in sick no more than two times during his employment there. In good and bad weather he got out of bed everyday and dragged himself into that plant and gave himself to make it prosperous. Multiply that over 5,000 men and women and you have one of the reasons the company thrived, and so did Tecumseh.

I am grateful to my grandfather. I am grateful to my father. He raised me and my brother by his daily sacrifice. I am grateful to the many other people who did the same thing for their families and worked with the owners to make the Tecumseh Products the world wide company it has become.

Dean Finnegan
Tecumseh