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Thomas Duncan Clint
1875-1951
He Helped Build First
Buick
Thomas D. Clint Begins Retirement; Came to Flint
from Detroit in 1903
One of Buick’s original
employees, Thomas D.. Clint, began his retirement this week after 47
years of service with General Motors divisions.
Clint, 73, can remember
way back when the Buick plant “was only a small place about twice the
size of the first floor of the new engineering building.”
He learned the machinist
trade at the Frost & Woods Co. agricultural machinery makers in Smith
Falls, Ont., where he was born in 1875.
In 1896 Clint went to the
Redbird Bicycle Co. in Brantford, Ont. He came to the United States in
1902 to work for the Leland-Faulconer Co., a Detroit firm that later
became part of Cadillac.
After a year in Detroit,
Flint beckoned and he began his employment at Buick the day after
hiring began in 1903. He worked in experimental engineering as a
machinist and mechanic with David Buick and Walter Marr, Buick chief
engineer. He helped them build the first Buick automobile.
During World War I he
worked on Liberty aviation engines at Buick, but after the conflict
was over he transferred first to AC Spark Plug Division and then to
Chevrolet where he was in charge of the tool room. In 1927 he returned
to Buick and had been working in experimental engineering.
Last Saturday his
associates gave a farewell party for him.
Clint lives with his
daughter and son-in-law, Mr. and Mrs. L.G. Steward, 2302 Welch Blvd.
He is an active member of the Genesee Masonic Lodge 174.
Thomas D. Clint,
Who Helped Build First Buick, Dies
Funeral for Thomas
D. Clint, veteran auto worker who helped build the first Buick, will
be at 3:30 P.M. Tuesday at the Algoe-Gundry funeral home. Mr. Clint,
75, died Saturday at his home, 2302 Welsh Blvd. Burial will be at
Gracelawn. The body is at the funeral home.
He was a member of the
First Evangelical Church and a member of Masonic Lodge 174, F & AM.
Mr. Clint retired in
August 1949, after 47 years of service with General Motors division.
He learned the machinist
trade at the Forst & Woods Co.in Smith Falls, Ont. Where he was born
Oct. 4, 1875. In 1896 he went to work for the Redbird Bicycles Co. in
Bradford, Ont. He came to the United States in 1902 to work for the
Leland-Faulconer Co., a Detroit frim that later became part of
Cadillac.
In 1903, he came to Flint
and was hired at Buick the day after the plant opened. He worked in
excperimental engineering as a machinist with the late David Buick and
Walter Marr, former chief engineer. He helped put together the first
car to bear the name of Buick.
During World War I he
worked on Liberty aircraft engines built by Buick. After the war he
transferred to AC Spark Plug Division and later to Chevrolet, but he
returned to Buick in 1927 and remained there until his retirement in
the experimental engineering department.
He leaves two daughters,
Mrs. C.H. Wilkey, Lost Angeles and Mrs. Lloyd G. Stewart, Flint. There
also are two sisters, both in Ontario, and thee grandchildren and
three great-grandchildren.
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