I was deeply saddened to belatedly learn of the passing of my friend, Carl Back. It seems he had a long life of 91 years and I guess we should thank God we had him that long. But it is with sadness we realize he has passed. I knew Carl from his days with the Cyclone Drill Company and, as we were both drillers and graduate engineers, we had a lot in common. The Cyclone plant was a short day’s drive from where we usually held our Michigan association convention, so Carl would almost always come to the convention, many times bringing his wife Lillian. Lillian would sometimes do humorous readings as part of the banquet entertainment and she had us rolling in the aisles. They were a lovely couple, very friendly and outgoing, and I wish to extend my condolences to their son Jerry and other family members as I know Jerry from his trips to the NGWA convention.
In the days that I am remembering, rig manufacturers would often bring a new model rig or rigs to our convention just to show them off and show the advances in technologies they had made. I can remember conventions when we had more than 25 rigs on display, usually outdoors, from all the major manufacturers. Nowadays, we are lucky that we get one. I have been told that in 2016 a manufacturer will not bring a rig unless it has been sold. Such are the ways our economy has changed in the last 50 to 60 years.