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Author	Topic: retirement from ONC
middletom Posts: 467 Registered: May 2004	posted 07-21-2011 02:42 PM I want to announce that Bob Lapham is retiring from ONC this week. We are having a small retirement party for him tonight. Bob has been with ONC for forty-eight years and is now approaching 66 years of age. He will be greatly missed for he has been a mainstay of the company for many years. His skills as a silversmith are unmatched at the company and he has been responsible for many special designs requested by customers over the years. Bob has said he will be available to come back to help when needed but he is done with forty hours a week. This leaves just me making flatware at ONC and it saddens me that the company has come to this. Peter Dooney, the owner, for whatever reason, has let it dwindle down to near nothing. We have many orders and an enthusiastic clientelle, but he seems determined to kill the company. He strikes me as a petulant child who won't allow other children to play with his toys though he is not playing with them himself. I have a few years in me but who can say how long I will last? middletom IP: Logged
Scott Martin Forum Master Posts: 11520 Registered: Apr 93	posted 07-21-2011 03:09 PM Please give Bob Lapham our well wishes. What is he going to do? Travel? Move out west? Start a smithery? Teach? Write? etc.? If Bob isn't a SSF member please encourage him to join and to share his ONC memories. I would hope some smart person just getting out of Art/silversmithing school would volunteer to spend time at ONC. I am sure in just a few months, the student volunteer would learn more than they have after several years of formal Art/silversmithing schooling. Peter Dooney should be smart and encourage this. S. IP: Logged
argentum1 Posts: 602 Registered: Apr 2004	posted 07-21-2011 08:29 PM Tell him to enjoy retirement but he may find himself working just as much. Find like minded indivuals and invest a bit of money and start your own ONC as The New ONC. Some years ago I worked for a small custom furniture business. The owner was busy spending what his father had built as a good regional business. The hand writing was on the wall so I talked my brother and a friend into starting our own shop. The business grew as the other business sank. We are now retired but I keep my hand in custom work by doing smalls. This was not my day job but I did eventually switch and enjoyed every minute of it. IP: Logged
jersey Posts: 1203 Registered: Feb 2005	posted 07-21-2011 09:24 PM Hello Middletom! My best wishes to Bob for a very prosperous future. As they say, one door closes & another opens. I know it will for him. Have a toast with the bubbly & tell him "Don't worry be happy!" Jersey IP: Logged
middletom Posts: 467 Registered: May 2004	posted 07-22-2011 03:35 PM I will pass on your good wishes to Bob. Scott, we recently had a young woman come to see us. She is a recent graduate of art school in Maine where she specialized in flatware and hollowware forging and raising. She, as amazing as it sounds, was able to contact Peter Dooney and he invited her down for an interview. Wer've not heard anything from her since, but we did hear third hand that he was still considering hiring her. Whether he will or not, I don't know, but his record for the past thirteen years says that he is talking through his hat and will actually not do a thing. Our office manager contacted Dooney's headquarters in Connecticut and told them of Bob's retiring. We have heard exactly nothing from them. middletom IP: Logged
June Martin Forum Master Posts: 1326 Registered: Apr 93	posted 07-23-2011 05:00 PM middletom, please send my best wishes to Bob as well. It really is distressing to hear the level of neglect on the part of the ONC owner. What a waste of a wonderful resource. We met a couple the other night that were very enthusiastic ONC clients. Maybe argentum is onto something. Start a new ONC. It's never easy for the ones left behind but know that we all appreciate and support the beautiful work that you do. IP: Logged

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