Robert Wilson – The Whistle Blower

You may not recognize his name, but if you’re old enough many of you relied on him on a daily basis. Robert Wilson was working in Memphis, Tennessee when he heard about a factory called Fairbanks in Beloit, Wisconsin that was hiring and paying train fare to those who would relocate. Wilson responded to the call and came North. He began working at Fairbanks on February 28, 1917 for 22 ½ cents an hour.

Over the years he worked through numerous jobs at Fairbank and was later transferred to the Power Plant, where he advanced to the rank of Chief Operator of the Power Plant in 1951.

Robert Wilson also became the whistle blower at Fairbanks, blowing the whistle for the workers at 6:50 A.M. and 7:00 A.M shifts. He also blew the whistle at noon, 12:30 PM, then again at 12:50 PM, 1:00 PM and 3:00 PM as well as on Veteran’s Day.

With fifty-two years at Fairbanks, Wilson was honored in 1969 as the Longest Service Active Employee. Robert Wilson officially retired on February 28, 1971, exactly fifty-four years from the day he began working at Fairbanks. As a result of his retirement there was no longer a whistle blower. It has been said that Fairbanks’ replacement for Mr. Wilson just could not get synced with the timing, so there was no longer a blower to sound the Fairbanks whistle. Beloit residents who had relied on the whistle for getting to work and school on time expressed their regrets for no longer having a “whistle blower.”

Robert and his wife, Inez (Johnson), were the parents of nine children. Their last child Donald “Doone” Wilson, passed away on May 10, 2019. Inez passed away in 1961, Robert Wilson passed away on March 13th, 1978.