Halleck Award: Thomas Murray Sr. was presented with the Pulaski County Chamber of Commerce's 2012 Halleck Community Service Award Thursday evening. With him are son Tom Jr., wife Thelma, daughter Teresa Blankenship and son Tim. See story below.

Murray is the 30th recipient of the Halleck award which was first presented by the Chamber in 1979 to its namesake, the late Dr. Harold J. Halleck. Murray was presented with his award by last year's award winner Judge Mike Shurn.

Of his many community activities over the decades, he said he grew the most from his experience as one of the original members of the Pulaski Memorial Hospital trustees. Among the trustees he served with was Charles Arens of Winamac, one of the “Early Bird” pilots in the early years of aviation. He noted that Arens sometimes took the Murray family up in his plane.

Murray, who confesses his favorite snack is mini-Snickers or peanut M&Ms, said he also enjoyed serving on the Pulaski County fair board and working with youth. He was a 10-year 4-H’er himself. More recently, Murray's work in the community has been through Pulaski County Human Services (PCHS).  He received the PCHS Volunteer of the Year Award. He has also been involved in many entities and efforts well outside of his work.

The annual Halleck Award is given to a recipient who has an identifiable and successful record of service to the community in a variety of public service endeavors. The award recipient must be a resident of Pulaski County. The recipient need not be retired. Posthumous awards are not given.

Plymouth Tube - Chamber’s “Organization of the Year”

The Plymouth Tube Company was founded in Plymouth, Mich. in 1924. The company is a specialty manufacturer of precision steel tubing, steel and titanium Near-Net Shapes, and steel and titanium cold drawn shapes. Comprised of 10 manufacturing plants, including the one in Winamac, Plymouth Tube is family-owned with fourth generation leadership from president Donald Van Pelt. The company moved its headquarters to Warrenville, Ill. in 1986.

The Winamac plant was the Plymouth Tube Company's first expansion to a new location. The cold draw mill was the first building constructed at the Winamac plant in 1961. In 1988 the Winamac hot mill facility opened to produce redraw stock for the Winamac cold draw mill, as well as to manufacture hot finished seamless carbon and alloy steel tubes.

Although the oldest of Plymouth Tube’s mills, the Winamac cold draw plant’s continuous programs of renovation and expansion maintain the facility’s position as one of the most modern redraw facilities in the world. Located on a 51-acre site, the initial cold draw facility (12,800 square feet) was designed and constructed by Plymouth Tube personnel. Since 1961, the plant has undergone nine significant expansions and now has 200,000 square feet under roof. A 48,240 square-foot bay was completed in 1988 to house equipment for the mill’s large diameter tube production. Winamac cold draw produces cold-drawn carbon and low-alloy tubing for boiler, pressure, aircraft, ordinance, bearing and diverse mechanical applications.

Representing the most significant investment in new capacity in the company’s history to date, construction of the hot mill began in late fall 1986, with formal dedication occurring just two years later on Oct. 16, 1988. The hot mill is housed in a 136,500 square-foot building located in the northwest corner of Plymouth Tube’s 51-acre Winamac site. Winamac seamless hot mill enables Plymouth Tube to be its own supplier of its tube hollows for redraws at both Winamac cold draw and Streator mills. The hot mill also allows Plymouth Tube to broaden its product base to include hot-finished seamless mechanical and boiler tubing.

Quench-and-tempered (Q & T) products started to become a major focus for both the hot mill and cold draw business units in 2007. These products are widely used in the oil and gas and OEM markets, and became an important part of the site’s strategic vision. A capital expense project for over $5.4 million was approved at the end of 2007 for a quench-and-temper line to be installed in the old weld mill building which was shut down in 2001. A modern operating labor agreement and an additional electrical substation for the town of Winamac also became a part of this project. Along with the cost savings, other benefits include a much shorter product lead time and R & D capabilities. The first orders were run in December 2008.

Currently the Winamac site has 156 employees with roughly 12 open positions to fill ranging from hourly UAW positions to staff level finance, quality and engineering positions.

Election of Chamber officers, directors

Chamber president Judy Heater opened the evening’s program with the Chamber’s annual business meeting.

She took a brief moment to thank area media for “keeping Pulaski County in the news.”

The Chamber members re-elected president Judy Heater, vice president Brad Conn and treasurer Steve Morrison. Mary Perren was elected the new secretary.

New board members elected were Josh Johnson, Donny Link, Bailey Hoover, and Mashell Roudebush. They join returning board members Judy Heater, Steve Morrison, Angie Anspach, Brad Conn, Willie DeGroot, Brandi Larkin, Jacki Frain, Kathi Thompson, Amy Hoover, Christy Perdue, and Mary Perren.

Angie Anspach has served as the Chamber's executive director since June of 2009

Previous Halleck Award Recipients

Previous Halleck Award recipients are:

A first trustee: Thomas Murray (third from left in this 1962 photo) was one of the original members of the Pulaski Memorial Hospital board of trustees. Murray was presented with the Pulaski County Chamber of Commerce's 2012 Halleck Community Service Award Thursday evening. Fellow trustees were Benjamin Day, Charles Arens and Orville "Pete" White.