Oral History - all
Moze Mossay was given a guitar as a gift from his father when he was a kid and he fell in love with the instrument. Moze sought to understand all elements of the guitar and soon found himself taking the instrument apart and putting it back together. Over the years, he studied the many instruments... more
Trevor Rabin was raised in a musical household, with a father who was a musician and he encouraged Trevor to play the piano at an early age. Later, his father gave him a guitar as a gift which started Trevor off on a side musical experience as a session player in his hometown of Johannesburg, South... more
Mike Ortigara runs the piano repair and restoration branch of the store his father Ben opened in 1947. Ben opened an accordion store in Chicago which expanded overtime to include pianos, organs, and a well-respected lesson program. When Mike came into the business he focused on the repairs and... more
Mary Ortigara has always had a deep passion for education and was even an English major at Xavier College. After graduation in the late 1950s, she began working in her brother’s music store providing accordion lessons. She soon expanded the lesson program within the store to include other... more
Mario Ortigara joined his brother’s music store just two years after it opened. Since 1949, Mario worked alongside his brother Ben who started the store to teach and sell accordions. By 1959, their sister, Mary, joined the team and years later both of Ben’s sons, Mike and Dan, came on board. The... more
Birth Date: July 19, 1934
Deceased Date: August 11, 2022
Bob Olsen often said because he did not play a musical instrument yet had a successful career in the music products industry that he was “a vegetarian in the business of prime meat.” The fact is Bob became very passionate about the music companies he worked for, beginning with Hammond Organ and... more
Clay Barclay was associated with Crown International in Elkhart, Indiana for more than 40 years. As a kid, he took radios apart to see how they worked and has been fascinated with audio his entire life. He is a brain surgeon by trade but always worked in the field of electronics with the goal of... more
Jim Wordinger was hired by the founder of Crown International, Clarence Moore, in 1972. While he started as a technician, Jim’s career developed over the years and expanded to engineer and then Principal Engineer before the closing of the Elkhart, Indiana factory in 2018. Among the projects that... more
Tom Szerencse worked his way up to an Engineering Group Manager overseeing Crown International’s design prototyping efforts. In the mid 80’s his team worked with the Marketing department to define new products that would solve customer requirements. Then later he moved to manufacturing as a... more
Jim Marks always enjoyed ham radio and often sought opportunities to learn more about audio equipment. He was working as a radio station engineer for Progressive Broadcasting when he heard of an opening at Crown International. He joined the company in 1970 as a service repair technician and his... more
Don Peterson wore many hats during the 21 years he worked for Crown International in Elkhart, Indiana. He began on the factory floor in QA Factory Services before working in the Engineering Services, Technical Services, and Field Services departments. Don enjoyed each position he had including as... more
Ken Woodcox was an early adopter of computer technology when he proudly joined Crown International in the 1970s. Bringing his skill set to Crown and having the company embrace computers resulted in faster customer service and a wider global reach. Ken became the Sales Manager for the Western United... more
Brenda Mortimer worked for Crown International in Elkhart, Indiana for 36 wonderful years. Her mother and aunt both worked in the factory, so Brenda grew up understanding and appreciating the family centric culture in the company. She began in 1981 as a wire cutter but soon advanced, becoming a... more
Larry Shank joined Crown International in 1985 with a computer background. He had the goal of bringing computer technology to the product line. With the help of Dick Hyser, the inventor of the technology behind the TEF analyzer, Larry was able to assist and became the Sales Manager for TEF. Among... more
Steve Mills was a music student in Seattle when he landed a job at Crown International in 1979. He began working on the bench on circuit boards, and after earning his electrical engineering degree at Purdue, Steve became a microphone engineer and then manager of the Microphone Engineering... more
Mary Miller interviewed for a factory job with the founder of Crown International, Clarence Moore. Mary recalled that day in 1966 as the interview was long, but it gave her a chance to understand the company and its values. She left for a year but returned in 1968 and stayed until her retirement in... more
Mark Darnell, as a musician, often wondered about the inner workings of the microphones he used, so he set out to learn more and in 1992 was asked to join the Crown International team in the customer service department covering the company’s microphone products. He soon became an expert on the... more
Dave Stuber was just out of high school in 1968 when he was hired to work as a technician in the tape recorder production of Crown International. The Elkhart, Indiana based audio company continued to pay Dave and even gave him raises when he was drafted to serve in the army during the Vietnam War. ... more
Steve Peer has a very interesting take on the 1971 fire that destroyed the Crown International factory in Elkhart, Indiana. Steve just joined the company a few months before the Thanksgiving Day fire but was told the factory started in two chicken coops. Over the years the factory was expanded a... more
Verne Searer began working part-time for Crown International in 1963. He left to earn his engineering degree at Purdue and returned to Crown in 1970. He stayed nearly twenty more years with the company in several positions including as a technician, engineer, the Director of Engineering, and the... more