[Keith Seymore]

I've got a ways to go before I beat this guy:

Can't Stop, Won't Stop

 April 12, 2017

By Darin Copeland

John Hake, a final process driver at Wentzville, recently celebrated 60 years of General Motors service. He was hired at the former St. Louis Truck Assembly plant on February 19, 1957, when he was 21 years old. Today Hake, who’s 81, is in first place on the Wentzville seniority list with no plans to retire.

Following a celebration for his 60th anniversary, Hake sat down for a one-on-one interview to share his life experiences and perspective on how the world and the automotive business have changed since the late 1950s.

A LIFE FULL OF EXPERIENCES

Hake grew up the oldest of 14 children on a central Missouri farm. He joined the Army at age 19 and the GI Bill allowed him to finish high school and receive a diploma from the St. Louis Board of Education. After finishing up his education, Hake looked for a good-paying job.

“It was difficult for a lot of guys to get a job with GM in the 1950s. At the time they were looking for guys with strong backs and a weak mind,” said Hake jokingly as he talked about writing on his job application how many pounds of feed he could carry on his back. “They must have liked my credentials because it wasn’t long after I applied that I went to work at the St. Louis plant.”

Hake married his wife, Jenny, in 1963 and said the Vietnam conflict caused problems for GM and his career.

“We could not build enough vehicles. There was lots of turnover and too many guys leaving for the war effort. I remember being so weak and tired from trying to keep up with production that I couldn’t even sit down. It was hard on me and the family.”

He and his wife raised eight children.

Hake toughed it out during the ‘60s and spent nine years as a gang leader — the equivalent of a team leader on the line today —in assembly before he switched to paint repair for the next 25 years. When the St. Louis truck plant closed in the mid-1980s, he moved to Wentzville, where he worked as the plant fireman, an inspector and a sealer before moving to the final process line, where he remains today.

In his 60-plus years at GM, Hake witnessed a lot of technological advances. He said computers were probably the biggest change, and that the first machine in his office was like a huge typewriter. When robots were added to the paint department, Hake said he marveled at how good the jobs turned out.

WHAT WAS IT LIKE TO WORK FOR GM IN THE 1950s?

Hake said the world was a fairly calm place in the late 1950s.

“I remember the starting wage was $2.20 an hour and that used to buy quite a bit of 28-cent-a-gallon gasoline,” he said. “It bought about as much as wages do now — maybe even a little more because not as many taxes were taken out at that time.”

During Hake’s first year at GM he received the annual 3 percent raise and a night shift differential bump that put him at $2.45 an hour. “That wouldn’t buy a bag of peanuts now but in 1957 it wasn’t too bad.”

Education levels and expectations were also much different then. “I remember when I hired on there were a lot of guys with just an eighth-grade education,” he said. “Probably 20 percent of the guys around me didn’t have a high school education.”

Hake remembers well that Chevrolet was at the top of its game.

“The Chevrolet division alone produced almost as much as all Ford Motor Company products combined,” he said with a chuckle. “Packard and Studebaker were still around, albeit not for much longer and Chrysler did all right, but when sales would go down they would nearly go under.”

When asked if he remembered who was president in 1957, Hake was quick to reply with his knowledge of President Eisenhower. “I believe he was our 37th president. Hard to believe that was so long ago.”

Eisenhower served as president from 1953 until 1961 and was largely considered a friend of the automotive industry due to his support for a national highway system. He signed the Federal Aid Highway Act in 1956 – just one year before Hake began his career – which established the beginnings of the national interstate highway system.

FAVORITE GM VEHICLES

Hake loves GM vehicles.

“I really enjoyed driving my ‘61 Impala. And it didn’t hurt that my wife liked it, too.”

More recently Hake gave a big thumbs-up to the 2014 Malibu and 2016 Silverado.

“That Malibu was a great vehicle until a lady rear-ended me on the way to work one morning. Now I’ve got the Silverado and I think it’s the best truck I’ve ever owned.

WHEN IS HE FINALLY GOING TO RETIRE?

Hake has no plans to stop working.

“Seniority looks different at different ages. I remember when I first started there were a couple of guys with 47 years of seniority and I was thinking no way that will ever be me. Now I’ve got 13 more years of experience than they had.”

When GM brought the full-size van line to Wentzville he was off work for a year and a half and got a taste of retirement.

“I found out that after a year and half off work that whatever fantasy I had about retirement was going away and so then it set in that I had to go back to work. I really learned something about myself at that time.”

In 1957, GM employees needed 35 years of service to retire, so that was Hake’s first goal. “I just wanted to get my 35 years in so that I could retire, but now that I’m well past that there is no reason to stop now.”