James J. Clune - Founder

James J. Clune was born in County Wicklow, Republic of Ireland in June of 1936. In 1953, at the age of 17, he immigrated from Ireland to North America with $17 in his pocket. His one-way ticket on the S.S. United States took him to New York then by rail to Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada.

Jim Clune started out working as a janitor until he was offered a chance, by a shop supervisor, to learn the welding trade. Increased opportunities for his trade took him, and his now established family of four, from the aerospace capital of Canada to the aerospace capital of the USA, Los Angeles, California, in 1967. At his new job, Mr. Clune grew in the organization rising from night-shift welder to plant supervisor in just a few years.