The Importance of Composite Parts in Aerospace Manufacturing

By Jeremy Brown

Originally published by The Sumiteer, reposted with permission

 

 

It was 1960. Chubby Checker’s hit song The Twist went to #1 on the Billboard Hot 100, The Flintstones debuted on ABC and Bill Null gained employment at Prospect Mold in Cuyahoga Falls.

Now, after 65 years as a loyal employee of Prospect Mold, Bill Null, 83, has finally retired— though, it wasn’t his first attempt to resign from the company.

After just a week-long vacation following his graduation from Cuyahoga Falls High School, Null began his life-long career at Prospect Mold on June 13, 1960.

Null served the company as a machinist/grinder and also ran equipment in the electrical discharge machining [EDM] department, among other positions.

It was exactly 65 years from the day Null began working at Prospect — on June 13, 2025 — that he decided to retire for good. But friend and fellow employee Bud Heffley warned Prospect Mold President Brandon Wenzlik that he could change his mind at the last minute, like he did many years before.

“I warned the president of the company, I said, ‘You have to be careful when Bill says he’s going to retire, because he did this one time before, he was going to leave the company. We took him out, had a good time, had a few drinks, took him to dinner. All the guys went, and we did our goodbye,” Heffley said. “Monday morning, lo and behold, he shows up to work and says, ‘I changed my mind.’”

But this time, Null might actually retire, as he wants to take some vacations with his wife, Joyce, and spend time woodworking, a hobby he enjoyed before he became employed at Prospect all those years ago.

“It’s helped me keep in good shape, physically and mentally, working here,” Null said. “Because it’s not like you’re going to come in and do 1000 parts that are the  same, you’re doing something different practically everyday. … I think it helps keep your memory sharp. After 65 years, I just said, ‘I think it’s time.’”

A celebration to commemorate Null’s many years as an employee at the company took place at the factory on June 27, with about 150 employees in attendance. Catering was provided by Old Carolina BBQ Company.

During the celebration, Wenzlik gave a speech honoring Null and his long service to the company and presented him with a company hat.

Wenzlik’s speech noted historic events that occurred during Null’s tenure at Prospect:  Neil Armstrong’s landing on the moon in the ‘60s, the Star Wars film premiere in the ‘70s, MTV airing in the ‘80s, the Hubble telescope launch in the ‘90s, the final episode of Friends airing in the 2000s, the launching of the iPad in the 2010s and the COVID19 toilet paper stockpiling frenzy of the 2020s.

Wenzlik said, even at the age of 83, Null can still perform all of his duties as a machinist.

“Literally, I can tell you without reservation, we could still trust him with the most difficult jobs that we have here, it’s unreal. He’s obviously a very loyal employee and always has a smile on his face,” Wenzlik said. “I won’t experience something like that in my career again. I can’t imagine the amount of people he’s influenced over his career, but everyday when I walk by, he looks me in the eye, says ‘good morning’, says ‘hi.’ It’s pretty great.”

This wasn’t Null’s first commemoration, either. Heffley said about 13 years ago, Cuyahoga Falls Mayor Don Walters visited Prospect Mold to present Null with a plaque and proclaimed that day, Bill Null day.

Heffley worked alongside Null at Prospect from 1969 until his retirement in 2017; he said Null’s work ethic is rare.

“I’ve worked with Bill in every single department in that shop. I swear I have,” Heffley said. “I just think he enjoyed working. He’d go in everyday, and if you needed him on weekends, he’d be there. He worked 12 hours a day if you wanted him to, and then you’d have to tell him to stop, because he’d just keep doing it.”

Charlie Hendershot, a Prospect employee since 1993, is another lifelong friend Null worked with at Prospect.

“He has always really been there for my children for graduations and all that kind of thing,” Hendershot said. “He really supported them through their sports. At one point my son was playing football for Cuyahoga Falls and was the running back, and Bill had a little shrine around his toolbox with all the news articles from the Falls News Press and the Beacon. He’s a good fella.”

Prospect Mold & Die was founded in 1945 by William Wright and his partners, William Dalcher and Walter Nagel. Dalcher left the company shortly after it started, and Nagel retired in 1974. Wright’s son, Bruce Wight, bought the company in 1989. Bruce ran the company until 2014, when he retired and sold the company to an equity group.

William Wright passed away on June 13, 1996— the anniversary of the day that Null was hired.

Bruce, 75, started working at Prospect after graduating from Ohio State University and attending the National Tool & Die apprenticeship program, but he had been hanging around Prospect since he was five years old, being that his dad would take him to work with him. Bruce was about 10 years old when he met Null in 1960.

“His work ethic was amazing, always on time to work, always one of the last to go home,” Bruce said. “We gave him checks to go on vacation, he’d come back later and say ‘I’m not taking a day, can I have the money.’ That’s, kinda, Bill. He just loved coming to work. It was his life. He’s just a special, very good apprentice, a journeyman, willing to help anyone, anytime.”