History

from page 9A age of the car. Kind of like you plug in your charger for your cell phone. It’s very little voltage, but it’s enough to warm the whole suit,” Deacon said.

After the idea came about, one of the brothers went to the Canadian capital, Ottawa.

“The uncle went to the government in the capital, the allied forces department, said, ‘Hey, we got an idea. What do you think?’ (They said), ‘make it and we’ll try it out,’” Deacon said. “It evolved very quickly.”

He said it started in the middle of 1939 and in a matter of weeks almost they had this concept and a prototype manufactured.

Deacon said he worked in the factory from 1958 to 1962. In 1962, his father sold his interest in the business to Deacon’s cousin, relinquishing both his own job and Deacon’s job. The cousin ran the business from then until 1984, when it went out of business.

“But before the business was sold I was the factory manager, right,” Deacon said. “I did everything. I determined what we made, how we made it and when we made it. I was in charge of everything going on in the building.”

The building still stands today, Deacon said. However, he doesn’t know who owns it.

Call Staff Writer Alyssa Ochss at (586) 498-1103.