Taking A Look Back: Anecdotes from WPN’s Legacy Employees
Legacy employees reflect on their years at Willington Nameplate.
Mark Rainaud, 36 Years
Mark Rainaud isn’t just a longtime employee—he’s part of a remarkable family legacy that traces all the way back to the company’s founders! Over the years, he’s had the unique experience of working alongside multiple generations of his family, including his father, uncle, aunt, and cousins Mike, Lynn, and Steve. Even his wife, Amy, and daughter, Jessie, have been part of the journey. Today, he carries on the tradition with his son, Nick who works in the inspection department. At one point, WNP was home to three generations of Rainauds working side by side—a true testament to their enduring family commitment.
These days, Mark applies his expertise in our tooling department, crafting dies and parts with precision. While technological advancements have decreased the need for custom dies, he remains as busy as ever, lending a hand to CNC, fabrication, or any team that needs his skills. Over an extraordinary career spanning 36 years and 4 months, he’s worked in nearly every department—except etch and the front office!
Reflecting on his time at WNP, Mark considers the transition from the old factory to today’s state-of-the-art facility the most significant change he’s witnessed. Having Nick working here reminds him of the days he spent working alongside his father at the Plate. His wealth of experience, kindness, and willingness to share knowledge make Mark an invaluable asset to the company
Lisa Turcotte, 41 Years
Lisa Turcotte has a “Lisa Avenue” sign near her primary work area in fabrication, and boy, has she earned the right to claim that space as her own! At any given time, you can find Lisa operating that die press with a quiet power, cutting out “10 ups” (parts grouped and cut in sets of ten). In fact, Lisa can knock out more than 100,000 parts at that machine in an 8-hour day! Not only that, Lisa can operate nearly every piece of equipment in the Fabrication department. Like Mark, Lisa has experience in many departments, including screen-making, training, and setting up dies. She helps wherever needed, whether in auto-shearing or auto-feed/manual serializing.
Lisa recalls the small two-story brick building where her journey with WNP began, with its large windows, creaky wood floors, and pond out front containing a large brown snake that scared the wits out of everyone! The machines she operated then were much smaller, as the work was all manual die cutting. When the company moved to its current location, there were many changes, including the production layout and innovations created out of necessity! When a customer wanted a part fabricated a certain way, a solution was engineered in-house to solve the problem until a better process came along. “Technology is the #1 change,” Lisa says about the biggest contrast to the early days.
Lisa credits 4 key people for shaping her experience: Marcel Goepfert, the company’s founder, whom Lisa respected and admired; Ray Rainaud, her supervisor and mentor, whose training made her the operator and person she is today; Felix Rodriguez, the set-up person, who taught Lisa how to use the auto-strip feed units and other machines; and Loring “Luke” Lukasiewski, the tool maker. Luke showed Lisa what to look for when running the die presses and how to keep things running smoothly. “They taught me the Willington Way,” says Lisa, and clearly, the Willington Way has served her well.
