Elwin Brown
Daniel J. Clark · University of Illinois Press eBooks · 2024
This chapter explores the life of Elwin Brown, who was born in Pontiac, Michigan, but spent his early life on farms in rural Michigan after his parents divorced. He loved playing sports, singing in the church choir, and hitching airplane rides, but he never achieved his dreams of becoming an Eagle Scout and working as a printer. He entered auto work at Pontiac Motor in 1951 and experienced periodic layoffs and job shifts. Drafted during the Korean War, Elwin became an expert with the Browning Automatic Rifle and considered making a career in the military. He returned to Pontiac Motor instead and stuck with it despite numerous layoffs and secondary jobs, for example golf caddying, before entering the skilled trades.