Joann Longden
Joann Longden is the daughter of a shoreside business owner. Her father owned and operated Marine Radio & Electric Company in Fairhaven, Massachusetts. Because they sold parts and repaired equipment, they worked 365 days a year to help keep the fishing vessels operating.
“It was a family run business. My dad ran everything of course. But my mother would be called on to go down to the shop and answer the phone while he went over to town to do business, maybe to Beckman’s or to do banking. So, that could happen at any time. At that time, we had no cell phones, so we had one line that would ring at the shop, and it would ring in the house. So, after hours, it would ring whenever it wanted to ring, with someone looking for help.”
“We were at 42-44 Main Street (Fairhaven). There’s a big picture window there. And every Christmas, my dad would have Dave Baileys come paint a mural on the window. The one I remember the most was a Santa Claus scene. Sleds, reindeers going up, a lot of white and red. Always between Christmas and New Year’s, he would have an open house on the Saturday. My mother and aunt would make cookies and sandwiches and dips. Anybody that came in would have that or drinks or whatever. And at that time, he would pass out the calendars that he had made. Everybody seemed to want one of those.”
“He sold radar, sonar, fish scopes, and depth sounders. Kelvin Hughes, the Robertson automatic pilot, RCA products, and Bendix was also another name he carried. It seemed like he always had something new. When I would go, he’s got a new piece of equipment down there. He was on the cutting edge of that. It wasn’t just like a one room place that he would fix equipment. He was selling as well as servicing. And he loved his business. That’s what he was all about. It consumed him. My mother ran the house, he ran the shop. That’s how it was.”
“My father, he only had an eighth-grade education. But he became successful because he was honest. He had integrity. When he died, I remember Mr. Mitchell coming in and saying, ‘Well, you know with your dad, there was nothing underhanded it was always top drawer.’ So that made me feel good. It was a work ethic that he subscribed to.”
“We had to sacrifice somewhat. My mother would always say, ‘You know, Joann, I can’t do (this or that), because this is our bread and butter. We have to be here.’ Or my dad would call and sometimes I would say, ‘Oh, mom, can we go shopping at the mall?’ ‘We can’t. Today I have to go down to the shop. It’s our bread and butter.’ So, she’d go, and I understood.”
