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Pumpkin masters:
A Public Radio Commentary
by Bill Hammack
Listen using RealAudio
Some people take their work home with them creating tensions in
their families, but one man Paul Bardeen brought his work home
and changed Halloween for his family and for millions of
Americans. Bardeen, an electrical engineer, worked at the State
Power company in Wisconsin. As their chief safety engineer he
developed ways to prevent accidents. It is this safety-mindidness
that Paul Bardeen brought home to his family. Like most parents,
maybe even more so, he did all the usual safety things: He made
sure all the hand rails at home were sturdy, zealously kept the
steps clear of ice, and lectured his children about driving
defensively. But the difference between Bardeen and other parents
was his approach to Halloween. In spite of his careful demeanor
Bardeen was a gregarious man who loved nothing more than a
pumpkin carving party with his five children. Yet here was a
problem for this safety engineer: Five kids each with a knife
stabbing away at their pumpkins, risking puncture wounds and
lacerations.
Bardeen also noticed that the knives didn't let his children be
creative enough; a knife was too blunt an instrument to carve
anything interesting. Bardeen the safety engineer retired to his
workshop to devise a safer, yet more creative way to carve
pumpkins. He returned with an intricate drawing of a
Jack-o-Lantern face. He showed his children how to attach this
drawing to a pumpkin and then take a nail and press it though
small holes he'd make in the pattern to transfer the image to the
pumpkin. Then he gave each child a special saw he'd made in his
shop: A coping saw blade with a dowel for a handle, sized just
right for a child's hand.
This method allowed Paul Bardeen and his family to create the
most fantastic of Jack-O-Lanterns: One with witch's brooms for
eyebrows, a bat for a mouth, and ears shaped like cats. When
trick or treat time came Paul Bardeen's children carried their
pumpkin masterpieces door-to-door to impress and amuse neighbors.
Paul Bardeen died in 1983 and in his honor his son John started a
company called Pumpkin Masters that sells the tools and patterns
developed by his father to help children more safely carve
Jack-O-Lanterns.
After a rocky start John Bardeen's Pumpkin Masters now sells
millions of kits across American bringing his father's unique
blend of pumpkin carving and safety engineering to all children.
Copyright 2000 William S. Hammack Enterprises
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