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ASHRAE Chapter History Leadership Recall Interview Jacksonville, Florida Chapter (034) Date: June 15, 2005 |
EDITOR'S NOTES: The interview began with a request in December to complete a chapter recall questionnaire. A telephone interview on June 15, 2005 completed the process.
This is an official historical recall interview of Lynne Galbraith one of the past presidents of the Jacksonville chapter of ASHRAE.
Lynne was born on March 27, l932 in New Philadelphia, Ohio. He spent his childhood and his early professional career in New Philadelphia. Upon graduation from high school, Lynne enlisted in the Navy. With an honorable discharge from the Navy and the G.I. Bill paying for his education, he enrolled in Tri-State University in engineering. He graduated with a BSME in 1960 and accepted a position with Joy Manufacturing which was based in New Philadelphia. While in school, Lynne had a co-op at Joy Manufacturing as a student. While with Joy, he enjoyed a wide range of assignments that provided a solid foundation for his future endeavors. His assignments included tool design, manufacturing, product design, and testing for sound and performance. During his career at Joy he was responsible for the design, development and marketing of aircraft cabin fan systems for the supply and recirculation of conditioned air. He, also, had engineering responsibility for the design and testing of Joy furnished large fan for General Electric jet engines testing. The testing was used to optimize the reliability and efficiency of the jet engine design. His association with individuals within Joy Manufacturing and the industry in the early 60's made him aware of ASHRAE and the need for more design information.
In 1967, Lynne with his wife and two children, headed south to Jacksonville, Florida with a new career challenge: develop a line of axial fans to expand the product offering of Jacksonville based American Coolair Corporation. (Editor's Notes: On Oct. 29, 1928 a father-son team in Jacksonville, founded American Coolair Corporation, now a leading manufacturer of ventilation products. What began as a small factory operation would expand with new products to become a leading global ventilation manufacturer). During his early career with American Coolair, he became very active in the Air Moving and Conditioning Association (AMCA). He participated and chaired various technical committees and in the writing and updating of the AMCA Standards. During this period, he attended an Industrial Ventilation Conference and would shortly become involved as a conference instructor for some 20 years (1969-1989). Through AMCA he worked with some notable industry experts such a Barry Graham of Buffalo Forge and Hoy Bohana of Acme Blower. With these individuals and other volunteers like Lynne, the HVAC & R Industry moved from an art to a science with test and certification procedures to insure equipment performance.
Lynne served in the Jacksonville Chapter chairs prior to his 1985-1986 presidential year and is presently an ASHRAE "retired" life member. In 1996, he retired his vice-president engineering position at American Coolair Corporation where as a corporate officer he was responsible for design and testing of all products. When he and his wife, Charleen, are not visiting with their children and six grandchildren and traveling worldwide, Lynne can be found back at Coolair as a consultant.
As for any regrets or changes he would make in his chosen profession, Lynne responded "None. Never looked back. Always happy with what I chose years ago"
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