Ed note: This story is being told due to the work of two different parties of people. The first party approached me from Arizona. Nelson Ford, husband of the grand daughter of Richard Shimer (his daughters name is Mrs. Ann Barker). Through the well documented family history the following photos and documents are presented.

The second party, is the TCA's own Bill Menosky, our club Secretary, who was doing research in the newspaper archives of Bridgeport. Bill was looking for information on his own father's work with Auto-Ordnance.

Richard W. Shimer was born in 1907 in Pennsylvania and attended Penn State University, graduating with a degree in Commerce and Finance in 1929.

His first job was with New York Guaranty Trust, the bank founded by Thomas Fortune Ryan, in their stock transfer department.

This is where he first came in contact with Walter B. Ryan Jr., the son and executor of the Auto-Ordnance stock owned by Fortune Ryan.