Discovering The Mature Lifestyle
Bloomington man still works full-time, exercises at 92. Page 5
Careers
September Issue
September 15 & 16, 2016
Medtronic ‘garage gang’ was a good career beginning for Fridley man BY SUE WEBBER CONTRIBUTING WRITER
You might say that Earl Hatten got in on the gr ound floor a t Medtr onic. He was n umber 8 in the list of emplo yees hired at the company, and in 1959 joined a gr oup ther e kno wn as “the Gar age Gang.” That’s right, the close-knit gr oup worked out of the gar age w here Ear l Bakken started his Medtr onic b usiness at 818 19th Ave. N.E., Minneapolis. “I was working in the mechanical division a t Gener al Mills w hen I hear d about an opening at Medtronic,” Hatten said. “I was interviewed at 6:30 a.m. one day, and at the end of the interview I was told I would start a w eek from the ne xt Monday.” A Korean War Army veteran, Hatten studied engineering at the University of Minnesota. “I’ ve al ways done some of that,” he said. As a dr aftsman, Hatten said, “I lik ed working at Medtronic. Mr. Bakken said he wanted it to be the best medical electronics service company in the Twin Cities. Then that darn pacemaker got in the way and w e w ent into man ufacturing. Nobody had the f oggiest idea then ho w it would grow.” Medtronic moved out of the garage in
1961 and r elocated to a big plant in St. Anthony, Hatten said, prior to the construction of its curr ent headquarters in Fridley in 2008. His car eer with Medtr onic lasted 35 years. Bakken and some of the original “Garage Gang” still meet periodicall y for lunch, Hatten said. In the meantime , he’ s contin ually working a t m ultiple pr ojects. Li ving across the str eet from the Fridley Community Center f or 56 y ears, Hatten has become the gar dener ther e. Connie Thompson, F ridley’s senior pr ogram coordinator, sa ys Ha tten came to her between 18-20 y ears a go. “He w anted to spruce things up and make the center more friendly and in viting,” Thompson said. “So we started buying planters.” “I do it as a pr oject f or Medtr onic,” Hatten said, noting tha t Medtronic donates $500 a y ear to the F ridley Senior Center Program in exchange for Hatten’s volunteer contrib ution. “Medtr onic pays the senior pr ogram to keep me off the streets,” he quipped. “The program used to be called ‘Time and T alent;’ no w it’ s ‘Mission in Motion,’” Hatten said. “I plant flowers in the spring. I pick out the flowers and pay for them. People tell me they like the flowers. I’ve planted se veral trees, and I Earl Ha tten has been taking care of plants and fl owers a t the F ridley Community Center for HATTEN - TO PAGE 2 almost 20 years. (Sun Focus photo by Sam Lenhart)