Machinists

Calvin P. Evans, a retired Coast Guard machinist and former bar owner, died of asbestosis and heart failure at Tate Hospice House in Linthicum. The longtime Severna Park resident was 88. Mr. Evans, the son of a waterman, was born and raised on Smith Island. He attended Somerset County public schools and worked as a waterman before enlisting in the Navy during World War II. Mr. Evans was a machinist aboard repair vessels in the Pacific, family members said. An engine machinist, Mr. Evans went to work in 1949 at the Coast Guard's Curtis Bay shipyard.

Charles William "Smiling Charlie" Fredlund, a retired machinist, died Tuesday of cancer in the Carney home he designed and built with his own hands more than 50 years ago. He was 84. Mr. Fredlund was born and raised in Rutherford Heights, Pa. After graduating from Rutherford Heights High School in 1941, where he had taken the commercial course, Mr. Fredlund planned to be a bookkeeper, secretary or farmer. "With the shortage of work in Pennsylvania at the time, he attended a trade school and taught himself algebra, calculus and trigonometry," said his daughter, Mary Margaret Fredlund of Carney.

John Edward Hipley, a retired machinist and avid gardener, died Saturday of lung cancer at Stella Maris Hospice in Timonium. He was 84. A lifelong Kingsville native and resident, Mr. Hipley was educated in Baltimore County public schools. He went to work in the 1940s at the Koppers Co. and later became a machinist and tool grinder. He retired in 1983. Mr. Hipley served in the Air Force from 1946 to 1947 and participated in the postwar occupation of Japan. He was discharged with the rank of sergeant.

John William Student Jr., a former machinist foreman for Koppers Co. who started a Boy Scout troop in the 1950s at the Maryland School for the Blind to show his son he could do the same things as people who have sight, died Thursday at Broadmead Retirement Community. He was 91 and had suffered from congestive heart failure. Mr. Student also co-founded a PTA chapter at the school for the blind in Baltimore. He had several interests, many of which entailed helping others, and worked as a volunteer for Meals on Wheels for 18 years, delivering food to the elderly and disabled, according to his son, John W. Student III of Nottingham.

Edna M. Plater, a retired machinist's helper who enjoyed entertaining family and friends and cooking, died of heart failure Thursday at her Northwest Baltimore home. She was 102. Edna Margaurite Boardly was born in Baltimore, the daughter of a bootblack and a domestic worker. She was raised on Stockton Street and later Carey Street. She attended city public schools until the seventh grade, when she left to help support her family. In 1923 she married William Plater, a roofer. Mr. Plater died in 1992.

Alan Lee Metten, a machinist who was a Baltimore County volunteer firefighter, died of cancer Saturday at his Cockeysville home. He was 50. Born and raised in Fullerton, he was a 1975 Overlea High School graduate and attended Catonsville Community College. He became a machinist at the Slaysman Co. in Baltimore and later worked at the old Noxell Corp. in Cockeysville. He retired this year from Lever Brothers on Broening Highway. For 20 years, Mr. Metten was a volunteer firefighter. He began at the Fallston Volunteer Company and later served with Baltimore County at Cockeysville, Chestnut Ridge and Lutherville.

Nelson Joseph Crocken Jr., a retired steel company foreman and a World War II veteran, died Monday of heart failure at Anne Arundel Medical Center. The longtime Pasadena resident was 85. Mr. Crocken was born in Baltimore and raised on Wilhelm Street. He attended Baltimore public schools until the eighth grade. "He later returned and earned his GED," said his childhood sweetheart and wife of 67 years, the former Margaret Florence Butterworth. During World War II, Mr. Crocken enlisted in the Army and served with the 100th Infantry Division.

Louis Stephen Matte, a retired machinist and Columbia resident, died of lymphoma Saturday at Howard County General Hospital. He was 88. Mr. Matte was born in Farrell, Pa., and raised in Pittsburgh, Wyoming and Montana. He earned a bachelor's degree from Grove City College in Grove City, Pa., and during the Korean War was an Air Force sergeant. In 1953, Mr. Matte moved to York, Pa., where he worked for Sylvania Electric Co., which later became a part of Verizon. He retired in 1983. In York, he was a member of the Masons, Knights Templar and the Harrisburg Shriners.

Reginald Priester II was going to work in a shoe store for $6 an hour after he graduated from high school in 2005. Money made college problematic, and any job was looking pretty good. Then he found that the global economy was ready to bid much higher for the drafting and math skills he learned at Edmondson-Westside High. Today he's a designer for Marlin Steel Wire Products, making close to $30,000 a year, plus retirement and health care plans. He figures he can double that in a few years.

Everett C. Dann Sr., a retired Westinghouse machinist and museum volunteer, died of stroke complications Friday at Lorien Columbia Nursing and Rehabilitation Center. The former Catonsville resident was 88. Born and raised in Greenville, Mich., Mr. Dann enlisted in the Army shortly before World War II and, while stationed at Fort Meade, met his future wife, Elaine Bonsall, at a Baltimore roller rink. They married in 1944. They moved to the Academy Heights section of Catonsville after the war, and Mr. Dann became a Westinghouse machinist.