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[My name is Joe Kehlbeck, and I was with General Electric for 36 years. ]
[I started in Bloomfield, New Jersey, and wound up in Louisville, Kentucky, ]
[with a number of plants in between. So it was in 1988 I retired. ]
[The first time I met Ronald Reagan was at the Tyler, Texas, plant. ]
[This was a small satellite operation of Louisville, Kentucky, and we had very few]
[visitors in those days. So when we heard about Ronald coming to the plant, ]
[we were all excited. The plant was just anxious to see him. ]
[The trip from Houston was by station wagon as he refused to fly in those days. ]
[When he did arrive, we had it set up for him to tour the plant. He first stopped ]
[with the union people out in the production area. And at that time, ]
[I was a unit manager, so I was deeply involved in the visit out there. ]
[The thing that really impressed the fellows was the fact that he talked in such a way that he ]
[was one of them. He highlighted the fact that he was part of the ]
[Screen Actors Guild, that he was a union member, and he could understand]
[their position on a lot of issues, and it just went over great as far as the people in the shop. ]
[He then also toured other parts of the plant and met with the different operators. ]
[We had about 40% women in the plant, and they just were swarming all over him,]
[wanting their picture to be taken, especially in the office area, ]
[which was very clerical-oriented. There were a number of the women there that insisted]
[on having their pictures taken, and I always remember one of the young ladies there said]
[that she wanted that picture so she could put it on her headboard, of her being]
[with Ronald Reagan. It was a really exciting visit as far as Ronald going through the plant,]
[shaking hands, communicating with everybody, putting his arm around the girls, ]
[and so it was exciting for everyone.And he, in turn--this visit was tied in with ]
[the Tyler Rose Festival where once a year they have a guest speaker, and it's a big event. ]
[And Ronald was asked to be the master of ceremonies. The speaker at that meeting]
[was Lyndon Johnson. And so he had to introduce Lyndon Johnson, ]
[and I always remember he said he would do it because he was a GE person, but he]
[wasn't that keen on Lyndon Johnson, And so we had the speech. It was well-received. ]
[He spent time in the town talking to the people and telling them about General Electric]
[and what a great company it was, and I always remember that as he was ready to leave]
[town, he said that he really enjoyed being in Tyler, meeting the GE people in Tyler, ]
[and he would hope that his daughter Maureen would be invited to participate]
[in a future Rose Festival parade as one of the princesses. And that was big news. ]
