ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Friday, December 13, 1996 TAG: 9612130040
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
DATELINE: BLACKSBURG
SOURCE: MARK CLOTHIER STAFF WRITER
What began 40 years ago as a temporary gig for a Virginia Tech student ends next year when an increasingly rare kind of worker retires.
Al Bowman, president of Blacksburg's Litton Industries' Poly-Scientific Corp., retires Aug. 4 from the only company for which he's ever worked.
In the meantime, he'll be working on special assignments and easing the transition for his successor, Larry Ball, 42, a general manager of the special devices business unit at Poly-Scientific's Springfield, Pa., branch.
Like Bowman, Ball will oversee the company's approximately 1,200 employees, including 625 in its two Blacksburg locations and the rest in Springfield, Pa., and Murphy, N.C.
Bowman, 64, started with the company on a temporary basis in 1956 as a light machinist making slip-ring assemblies while studying business administration at Tech. A slip ring is used to transfer signals or electrical current between a moving or rotating object. If you had a lighted Christmas tree and wanted it to rotate, the slip ring keeps the light cords from wrapping around the tree. The company sells the devices for use in everything from CAT scanners, aircraft, spacecraft and communications satellites to vacuum cleaners.
Bowman has been with the company for all but three of its 43 years.
"Years ago, a number of folks who started with a company stayed there," Bowman said. "That was the norm 20 years ago. Not many of us will be doing that in the future. These are just different times, products change quickly."
A Blacksburg resident, Bowman has been active in the community. His time is divided among many groups, including the Virginia Tech University Club, the Blacksburg Rotary Club, the Montgomery County Regional Solid Waste Authority and the fund-raising committee for the Blacksburg Area Branch Library.
"Businesses need to be involved in the community," he said. "People complain about what happens and don't do anything about it. But I submit we all need to be involved. Take school systems; business people complain that students aren't properly trained, but business leaders need to get involved in that and all other aspects."
Bowman said he hopes to continue his community activity. He'll split his time between his Blacksburg home and a place in Caswell Beach, N.C.
In a letter to his staff, Bowman wrote, "There comes a time when each of us must recognize that all good things must end. Much like the cowboys of numerous Western flicks of bygone days, I will simply saddle up my pony and ride off into the sunset of my waning years."
LENGTH: Medium: 52 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: (headshot) Bowmanby CNB