"This is the story of a man who felt the call to be creative, to disdain the ordinary and to challenge the areas where others y

The Bobbitt Family In America

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"This is the story of a man who felt the call to be creative, to disdain the ordinary and to challenge the areas where others yield. This is a story of giving and receiving, of making one's own breaks and seizing the opportunities presented.

"Joseph Franklin Bobbitt is respected by all that have encountered him, for his forthright honesty, his willingness to be of help, his single-minded application to the immediate task faced and his unwavering stand for what he believes to be right. All that know him respect him for the qualities of hard work, imagination and true courage that he Possesses in such measure.

"This is the story of a man who built a unique company.

"During his high school days he also began to accrue the business experience that enabled him to manage so well his later operations. His parents had given his brother and sisters their college educations, but the depression of the thirties bore heavily upon the resources of each family, including the Bobbitts. So during the latter part of his high school days for the two years he spent at North Texas State, Frank used the profits from a service station he operated to finance his education and personal expenses

"During his high school days he served as a page in the Texas State Senate. During this time he learned that he was not suited for a political career."

On October 1, 1947, Frank and his family moved from Fort Worth, Texas to Sylacauga, Alabama where they have remained since. Mary and the children were happy in their school and community surroundings, and they had made many friends in their church.

"It had become the dream of Mr. Hamilton to develop new methods of molding and other techniques in foundry practice. Frank was selected to head the operation. He agreed to take the responsibility only if he could move the project away from the shop at Anniston where the "old timers" resisted innovation. In January 1951, a new subsidiary of Rudisill interests, the Eagle Iron and Brass Company was formed to operate in Sylacauga, Alabama. From the original seven employees, including Frank, it eventually grew to a personnel complement of nearly one hundred

"When the War Production Board closed the shell forging plant and the outside orders began to drop off due to the business recession of that period, it became necessary to close the Eagle Iron and Brass operation in May of 1958.

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