Female guitar makers of WWII the focus of talk Wednesday at Museum of Idaho

Female workers at the Gibson factory in Kalamazoo, Mich., during World War II

I'm probably going to be posting a lot about the exhibit at the Museum of Idaho GUITAR: The Instrument that Rocked the World, which opened last Friday.

This Wednesday at 7, the first guest speaker is John Thomas, author of "Kalamazoo Gals: A Story of Extraordinary Woman and the Gibson 'Banner' Guitars of WII."

While history had it that Gibson shut down production at its Kalamazoo, Mich., factory during World War II, Thomas was intrigued by a photo of seventy women sitting in four rows in front of the factory in the mid-1940s. He set out to find at least one of the women in the photograph and ended up finding a dozen. Despite denials that endured into the 1990s, Gibson employed a nearly all female workforce to build thousands of wartime guitars and marked each with a small, golden "banner" pronouncing that "Only a Gibson is Good Enough." The banner appeared on the guitars at the moment those women entered the factory in January 1942 (coincidentally, the big hit on the pop charts then was Glenn Miller's "I've Got a Gal in Kalamazoo.") The banner disappeared at the end of 1945 when the war ended, the soldiers returned, and most of the Kalamazoo Gals ceded their guitar making jobs back to their male predecessors.

Thomas' talk will be in the Maeck Family Foundation Education Center (in the same parking lot of the museum.)

Tickets are $5 and can be purchased in advance from the front desk or at the door. For more information, call 208-522-1400, ext. 3012

Scientech files building plans with city of Idaho Falls

Scientech's plans for its new office buildings

Scientech has filed building plans with the city of Idaho Falls and is ready to get started on its new office buildings at Snake River Landing.

The company, which provides safety and risk analyses and instrumentation worldwide to the nuclear industry, plans two buildings on 10 acres at the corner of Bluff Street and Whitewater Drive. One building will be 39,500 square feet, the other will be 36,900 square feet, and the two will be joined by a breezeway. The site is near the offices of Potandon Produce and the future site of the Idaho Falls Event Center.

A business unit of Curtiss-Wright Flow Control Co., Scientech has operated for several years out of offices on South Woodruff Avenue. The company employs more than 150 people in Idaho Falls.

ISU's Vicki Allen named 'Pinnacle Professional'

Vicki Lynn Allen

Vicki Lynn Allen, director of clinical site development for the Physician Assistance Program at Idaho State University, has been recognized by Continental Who's Who as a Pinnacle Professional in the field of health care. Allen has more than 30 years of experience in nursing. In 1992 she developed "Adolescence in the Nineties," a six-week program for parents and students sponsored by Pocatello Regional Medical Center. The program ran for eight years.

Her membership in professional and community organizations include the National Association of Neonatal Nurses; Association of Women, Newborn and Neonatal Nursing; American Academy of Pediatrics; American Heart Association; and the National Council State Boards of Nursing.

She also serves as vice chair of the Idaho State Board of Nursing and is a board member of the Pocatello Free Clinic. She has received the Volunteer of the Year Award from Project Safe Place (2000) as well as the "8 Who Make a Difference" Award (2000). She has been nominated as a March of Dimes Nurse Manager of the Year (2006) and was honored in 2007 with a March of Dimes Excellence in Nursing Award as well as a March of Dimes Nurse of the Year Award. Allen has also received the Idaho Business Review Nurse Health Care Hero Award (2007) and was awarded the Idaho Hospital Association Award of Excellence in Patient Care (2008).

EIRMC honors three with Frist Humanitarian Awards

Nate Esplin

Nate Esplin, the Rev. Dennis Alexander and Dr. Flint Packer recently were awarded Eastern Idaho Regional Medical Center's Frist Humanitarian Awards for 2012.

Esplin is a radiology technician at EIRMC's Cancer Center, Alexander is a volunteer chaplain, and Packer is a primary care physician.

The annual award recognizes physicians, employees and volunteers who have demonstrated "remarkable concern for the welfare and happiness of patients, have performed extraordinary acts of kindness, have been committed to community service and have a positive effect on others," the hospital news release said.

The Rev. Dennis Alexander

Esplin has traveled to Haiti twice to help rebuild an orphanage and organized several events to raise funds for the special cause. At EIRMC, he is renowned for making Cancer Center patients feel special by celebrating their last day of treatment with a disco ball and colored lights, industrial bubble blower and cranked-up music.

Alexander serves more hours at EIRMC than many employees, the release said. He works four shifts each week in the emergency room and also is the volunteer chaplain on Saturday.

Dr. Flint Packer

As a volunteer chaplain, Alexander offers support to people who are nervous, frightened or grieving. Away from EIRMC, Alexander is the director of Saints Alive (Saints Adult Ministry) at Calvary Baptist Church.

Packer has helped his neighbors many times with medical advice -- even after hours and usually without compensation, the release said. He coaches youth sports and is a Boy Scout leader. He also served six years as an EIRMC volunteer board member at EIRMC.

EIRMC donated funds to each honoree's charity of choice, including Haitian Roots (Esplin), the Calvary Baptist Church Benevolence Fund (Alexander) and FreeMed (Packer).

Business owner plans to rent studio space, equipment to photographers

Darrin Petersen

Darrin Petersen, owner of D&L Cleaners and Signature Party Rentals, is opening F Stop Studio Rental at 1568 West Broadway.

It will be a place where photographers can come in to shoot in a 26-by-36-foot studio with a cyclo wall. With 4,400 square feet, there will be a changing room, offices, production rooms and storage space. Lights, high-end camera bodies and specialty lenses and computers will be available to rent as well.

"We'll be set up for still photography and video," he said. "I want it to be practical and affordable. "I hope for this to make shooting and teaching while shooting easier than it has ever been in Idaho Falls."

Located in what used to be the Spiders Web tattoo parlor, Petersen is looking toward a grand opening in mid-July.

Petersen is a photography enthusiast, but never wanted to be a professional photographer. With two service businesses already, he recognizes he will be on a learning curve with F Stop. "Your customers tell you when you're getting it right," he said. "I don't want to make it my way, I want to make it their way."