Social Security Administration Leaders Identified

For the hundreds of you (well, maybe not that many  for the scores of you (well, maybe a lot less.) OK..  for the three of you who have asked.. here are the leaders I showed in my last blog entry.. with their names attached:

                                                               IDA MERRIAM

These folks were very active in the 1960's and were responsible for making Social Security work.

I had put the following 1963 picture into my last blog to see if anyone recognised Millie Tyssowski and someone named Ron Bowers.. I'm not sure if that is the same NARFE Ron Bowers or not.. but probably.  Anyway, nobody noticed.

If you have read this far, I will reward (or punish) you with an SSA story from my vaaaast repetoire:

One of the computer programs that I helped write was run on the first day of each month at the stroke of midnight.  We wrote the program early in the 1960's and we never thought that the program would still be running in 1970.  However, just in case it was still running on January 1st 1970, we added a "hidden" computer routine to take care of any problems that would arise with the change of the decade.  However, we just left the routine in without activating it, because we did not really believe the program would still be running then. 

As with all of the programs I was involved in or wrote, I had printed copies of each on a shelf underneath my telephone, to refer to if I got a call that there was some problem.

At midnight on January 1, 1970, my wife and I celebrated the New Year by watching the "Times Square" show and imbibing a little champagne.  At precisely 12:05 A.M., the phone rang.  Arden, the computer operator was all upset and said: "Mr. Vaughan, the XXXXXX program just "blew up" and isn't running. Can you come in and fix it."

Suddenly, I remembered the hidden routine, and as I spoke to Arden, I reached down under the telephone and retrieved the printed copy of the XXXXXX computer program and searched until I found a location to send her to, in order to get the program started and running again.

I quickly found the information and said to Arden: "No problem.  I don't need to come in.  Just "key in" KKKK and press "START" and it 'll begin working again. 

Arden, not knowing that I was looking at my printed program,  was not convinced and said: "Mr. Vaughan, have you been drinking?"

I replied that I had, but I told her to take a chance and do what I told her to do.

Reluctantly,  she "keyed in" KKKK and pressed "START".. the "hidden" routine was activated and I could hear the tapes begin to twirl again as the program resumed its function.

Arden said, breathlessly, "Mr. Vaughan, you are a genius!"

I said: "I know."  And hung up.

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I believe that an updated copy of that XXXXXX program is still running on the first day of every month.


So long for now, and as God told Moses: "Keep taking those tablets."

Joe

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Social Security Administration and Alumni Notes for February 2012

Today, I'll ask for some comments on news items and pictures I have found.  If enough people are interested, I'll publish more of the same.

01. Who is this famous guy? Lots of Social Security activity happened under his overall watch.

02.  How about this guy? If Congress had listened to him, there would not be any question about Social Security solvency.

03.  Remember this lady?  A very dynamic manager at the Social Security Administration.

04.  If you worked in the field, you may have known, or heard of, this guy.

05.  Another manager who made a big impact at the Social Security Administration.

06. Take a close look here. If you worked at SSA, you may have known somebody who is shown.

07.  A Note from Friends

I received a copy of the annual Holiday Letter from Bruce and Ruth Duncan.  For those who don't know these people, let me say that they both worked at the Social Security Administration some years ago.  Bruce had always wanted to be an Anglican Priest; however, he had a stuttering problem that he needed to overcome.  As soon as he did that, he was accepted as a Priest and he and Ruth left SSA to pursue an interesting life in the religious community.

They served the Inuits in Upper Canada, families in California, and parishes in Massachusetts, where they live now.

If you knew Bruce and Ruth and would like to have a copy of their interesting letter, let me know.

08.  Social Security Organization

Former SSA Commissioner Robert Ball founded an organization devoted to International Social Insurance issues: The National Academy of Social Security.  This organization has a wonderful address in Washington, DC:  1776 Massachusetts Avenue.  Check the organization out at:

http://www.nasi.org/

09.  Looking for fellow SSA'ers

Arthur DeRuve is looking for former OHA (now ODAR) workers/employees/professionals to form a group to meet and reminisce about the "old days".

10 We're looking for fellow SSA'ers also.

Don't forget to tell your friends to check out our Social Security Alumni website, which has just been updated:

http://www.ssaanational.org/

11.  Woodlawn Villager

As I've mentioned before, the Woodlawn Villager newspaper continues to publish news and pictures about the Social Security Alumni Association.  A recent spread appeared about our new office open house, with marvelous pictures.  I'll talk more about them in a future blog entry.  Meanwhile, if you live anywhere near Woodlawn, Maryland, check out the Villager.. its a free newspaper that can be found almost universally in the area.

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Thanks for listening.  Joe
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