Aimee Crombie Champion
was the daughter of James Avery Champion & Helen Letitia Crombie and traces
back to Hezekiah Rogers Jr & Hannah Vincent.
 |
| Stoughton High School, 1924 - Ancestry |
She was born in New
York where she met and married Haakon Ingolf Romnes. Haakon, born in Wisconsin,
was the son of Norwegian parents Hans Romnes & Ingeborg Andreasdatter
Fosdal.
 |
| Karen - courtesy of Robert G Langford |
Aimee died in 2005, and their daughter died in 1985.
The New York Times, 21
Nov 1973
SARASOTA, Fla., Nov. 20—H. I. Romnes, retired board chairman and chief executive officer of the American Telephone and Telegraph Company, died yesterday at Sarasota Memorial Hospital. He was 66 years old. Mr. Romnes leaves his wife, the former Aimee Champion; a daughter, Mrs. Albert Olenzak; two brothers, a sister and three grandsons.
Wide‐Ranging Experience
Haakon Ingolf Romnes, who rarely used anything but the initials for his given names, spent 44 years with the telephone company. His career covered every area of telecommunications, from research and development, where he held several patents, to the leadership of the nationwide Bell System. Mr. Romnes's interest in electrical engineering began at the University of Wisconsin, although he had considered concentrating on economics. His decision led to a job in the summer of 1927 before his senior year with the Wisconsin Telephone Company, where he was a phone Installer and worked with a construction crew. With his newly earned diploma, he joined the Bell Telephone Laboratories—then on West Street in lower Manhattan—as a circuit designer. In the next seven years he was awarded six patents and, despite the Depression, kept his job because of his ingenuity. When he joined the parent A.T.&T. company's engineering department in 1935, he found his interest in economics useful in working out the practical application of laboratory ideas. In 1950 he was sent back to the Middle West as chief engineer of Illinois Bell Telephone Company in Chicago. But a year later New York reclaimed him as operations director for A.T.&T.'s Long Lines department. In 1953 he was made chief engineer, and in 1955, vice president for operations and engineering.
Technical and Personal Changes
These were the years when direct dialing became widespread and many telephone operators were forced out of work. Mr. Romnes saw that the company had a problem—the loss of a personal touch with the customers. It was his concern with the human side of the huge corporation that made him favorite among his fellow employes. As president of Western Electric, the manufacturing subsidiary, from 1959 through 1963, he introduced significant changes. On the technical side, he strengthened links with Bell Telephone Laboratories at the factory level for smoother and more efficient incorporation of new developments. Administratively, he decentralized the management to improve coordination with the regional companies it served. And in human relations, he made Western Electric one of the first eight major defense contractors to pledge equal employment opportunity for blacks on July 12, 1961, at the White House. On Jan. 1, 1964, he became vice chairman of A. T. & T., and president a year later. In 1967 he was made chairman and chief executive officer. From 1970 until his retirement on April 1, 1972—mandatory following his 65th birthday—he was both president and chairman. Company employes commenting at the time agreed that Mr. Romnes was the best chairman they had ever had. Among his favorite themes were the ideas that even sudden change can be rationally managed; that taking time to know the other person better and to listen to him tends to diminish differences; that institutions have no rights except through performance; that longterm consequences are more important than quick results; and that even in a complex society, one man can make a difference.
Comment on Government Role
He was philosophical about government regulation, observing:
“If we in business can say of the bureaucrat that ‘he never met a payroll’, it can also be said with equal justice that ‘we never carried a precinct.’ We have a lot to learn from each other.”
Mr. Romnes was a director, a favorite among his fellow emSteel, Cities Service, Colgate Palmolive and other companies. His civic activities included the presidency of the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation and directorships of the Council for Financial Aid to Education, Planned Parenthood World Population and a governorship of the Business Committee for the Arts.
He held many honorary degrees and had been scheduled to receive next year's John Fritz Medal for scientific or industrial achievement awarded by the engineering community.
 |
| courtesy of Jafrph52 - Ancestry |
SARASOTA, Fla., Nov. 20—H. I. Romnes, retired board chairman and chief executive officer of the American Telephone and Telegraph Company, died yesterday at Sarasota Memorial Hospital. He was 66 years old. Mr. Romnes leaves his wife, the former Aimee Champion; a daughter, Mrs. Albert Olenzak; two brothers, a sister and three grandsons.
Wide‐Ranging Experience
Haakon Ingolf Romnes, who rarely used anything but the initials for his given names, spent 44 years with the telephone company. His career covered every area of telecommunications, from research and development, where he held several patents, to the leadership of the nationwide Bell System. Mr. Romnes's interest in electrical engineering began at the University of Wisconsin, although he had considered concentrating on economics. His decision led to a job in the summer of 1927 before his senior year with the Wisconsin Telephone Company, where he was a phone Installer and worked with a construction crew. With his newly earned diploma, he joined the Bell Telephone Laboratories—then on West Street in lower Manhattan—as a circuit designer. In the next seven years he was awarded six patents and, despite the Depression, kept his job because of his ingenuity. When he joined the parent A.T.&T. company's engineering department in 1935, he found his interest in economics useful in working out the practical application of laboratory ideas. In 1950 he was sent back to the Middle West as chief engineer of Illinois Bell Telephone Company in Chicago. But a year later New York reclaimed him as operations director for A.T.&T.'s Long Lines department. In 1953 he was made chief engineer, and in 1955, vice president for operations and engineering.
Technical and Personal Changes
These were the years when direct dialing became widespread and many telephone operators were forced out of work. Mr. Romnes saw that the company had a problem—the loss of a personal touch with the customers. It was his concern with the human side of the huge corporation that made him favorite among his fellow employes. As president of Western Electric, the manufacturing subsidiary, from 1959 through 1963, he introduced significant changes. On the technical side, he strengthened links with Bell Telephone Laboratories at the factory level for smoother and more efficient incorporation of new developments. Administratively, he decentralized the management to improve coordination with the regional companies it served. And in human relations, he made Western Electric one of the first eight major defense contractors to pledge equal employment opportunity for blacks on July 12, 1961, at the White House. On Jan. 1, 1964, he became vice chairman of A. T. & T., and president a year later. In 1967 he was made chairman and chief executive officer. From 1970 until his retirement on April 1, 1972—mandatory following his 65th birthday—he was both president and chairman. Company employes commenting at the time agreed that Mr. Romnes was the best chairman they had ever had. Among his favorite themes were the ideas that even sudden change can be rationally managed; that taking time to know the other person better and to listen to him tends to diminish differences; that institutions have no rights except through performance; that longterm consequences are more important than quick results; and that even in a complex society, one man can make a difference.
Comment on Government Role
He was philosophical about government regulation, observing:
“If we in business can say of the bureaucrat that ‘he never met a payroll’, it can also be said with equal justice that ‘we never carried a precinct.’ We have a lot to learn from each other.”
Mr. Romnes was a director, a favorite among his fellow emSteel, Cities Service, Colgate Palmolive and other companies. His civic activities included the presidency of the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation and directorships of the Council for Financial Aid to Education, Planned Parenthood World Population and a governorship of the Business Committee for the Arts.
He held many honorary degrees and had been scheduled to receive next year's John Fritz Medal for scientific or industrial achievement awarded by the engineering community.
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