40 plus year old unsolved crime
 

Shocking evidence: [attach=config]378034[/attach]

The victim:
[ATTACH=CONFIG]378035[/ATTACH]

That is hilarious! How did you come to own the machine?

If the guilty party comes forward you gonna give 'em the machine .... or a knuckle sandwich?

Joe

When I was 6 years old I scratched my 4 year old brother's name into the lid of my grandma's piano. He didn't know how to write so I was caught! Now the piano is mine, and his name is still there!

I bought the machines from the school - I think there were 15 machines - all but two work - those two were the parts donors. I learned a lot about the Singer 404s and 401s from that lot of machines. I was looking at the bed of that machine and saw looked like letters so I rubbed it with a crayon and could see what it said.

I did a google search - I think I know where a Keith Fowler lives and I found his wife's name. But did he marry the gal who wrote his name on the Home Ec class machine? If so are they still married? Did they have any children? Does she sew? Is she a QB member??? What if he married someone else? Does Keith Fowler know some gal engraved his name on school property? Did she get caught by the teacher? Am I the first to figure out the dirty little secret?

We bought a brand new car 30 some years ago. Our oldest son wrote his name all over the place on one of the doors. the next day. Then he took a stick and drew all the way around the car.

This is intersting.. back in the day.. people where encouraged to engrave there names on valuables.. along with there social security number.. so in the event its was ever stolen.. it could be returned. I have my mom's 306W.. good thing it never left the family , since her social security number is etched into it. Funny I never thought about this until you posted this .

I have a lot invested in that machine. I want answers...:D

Oh yeah, in Phoenix, AZ it was called "Operation Identification". Just call the Phx PD at 602-262-6151 (still a current Phx PD non emergency number) and they'd loan you an engraver.
I had my own engraver and put my drivers license number; D-111X1X all over my tools. They got stolen and I've never seen a one.
It was a waste of time then and still is.

Strange how I remember all that information. That had to be 35 years ago. Geeze I'm gettin old.

Miriam,

Contact Keith and see if he's the one. I would love to hear the rest of this story.

Joe

You've got to give that Keith a call. It would be hysterical if it turned out to be the same one. Oh how funny!!!

Soo funny! You really need to investigate this one!

more shocking evidence but possibly a different suspect and a more difficult case to track... [ATTACH=CONFIG]378089[/ATTACH]

Maybe there was a fad for awhile... maybe someone was tired of those 404s and thought they wanted Touch & Sew machines like we got in my home ec class... When we got the Touch and Sew machines everybody was Mad, mad, mad. we spent all our time trying to wind a bobbin. Then had to sew at home because we all ran out of class time to use the stupid Touch and Sew. Those 404 and 401 machines would at least teach you to sew - I Loved the one I had and asked my mom to get one of those - nope she had a FW and that was that... I gave up on Singer sewing machines for years after that. Then I found a 401G in the trash - it was easy to love and no going back. I'm a fan of the 403 especially. That one is very simple and it does what I tell it to do. Bobbins wind just fine - no lost time. I screwed up though - I should have invested money in the thread company - with the T & S you waste so much of it... :D:D:D

At the high school I attended the boys had to take home ec and the girls had to take shop classes for a little while. Maybe Keith carved his Own name into your machine. Contact him for further information. He can plead the 5th if he doesn't want to be convicted!

Contact Keith and at least you will know one way or the other if it is him. Go girl!!!

Miriam I think you should contact this guy! If he engraved his name, he might want the machine! Even if he didn't engrave his name - he might want to own the defaced machine with his name on it! If he is the right guy, it will bring back memories of that time frame! Bring a smile to his face if his name was engraved by a girl friend - whether he married her or not! But, of course if he carved his name during a class, he could of turned out really bad with no respect for other people's property! Or, maybe he owned the machine - put his name on it as we were all told to do with our things - then it got stolen? You might find out something very interesting!

Nancy

it was not stolen - I purchased the Singer 404s and 401s from Shelbyville High School in a round about way - loaded them all on our truck directly from the school building. I kind of doubt if the Keith Fowler I think is the guy would have been taking home ec - I just don't think with his age they would have opened it up for guys quite yet. I wonder about the first names on the other machine.... Last week, I saw a sewing machine advertised for sale - it said there were words on the machine but no porn. I guess I should be thankful...

Miriam,

Contact Keith. I'll be he gets a laugh out of it weather or not he's "that" Keith. I agree with Nancy.

A couple years ago rumors were circulating in my wife's family that one of her brothers was dead. Nobody had heard from him in a very long time. Yet nobody wanted to call him. Even my wife was tongue tied. So I called the BIL and said: "Is this XXXXX? He said tentatively .... yes. Then I told him who I was and asked , did you know you're family thinks your dead? He sputtered and then started laughing. He was just living his live and not giving the family any extra thoughts.

Contact him. I'll bet he gets a chuckle out it.

Joe

Is it not possible that Keith Fowler himself took Home Ec and engraved his own name on the machine? Boys took Home Ec when I was in high school -- I was in a class with the first boys (most were our friends) to ever to enroll in a Home Ec course. They did it mostly as a joke...and to be around girls....but the teachers Loved it and encouraged them. They had great fun and so did we. We were all ahead of our time, I think. :)

That is so funny. I would think he would get a hoot out of it, even if he was the culprit! LOL

Oh, what a great story. I would contact him and just take it from there. Please keep us updated!
Such a great mystery!

Absolutely contact him. I think that most people would find this humorous. Cam you imagine how awesome it would be if his wife had a crush on him in high school, carved his name on the sewing machine and then later got married! Can you tell that I'm a romantic?

Miriam, get the school year books. We want to know what this geezer looked like. Was he worth risking getting caught during needlework class?

a good point - but he would be old and perhaps ugly by now.

Yeah but what if he divorced and remarried and the new wife is the jealous sort...

Oh my gosh. This brings back memories........No, I'm not the carver of the now famous Keith Fowler......I carved my brothers name on my folks toilet seat (I was mad at him for being mean). I just learned how to print his name. The seat was that horrid green color that was all the rage and I was inventive.....I used one of my mothers bobby pins to do the crime.

I wonder what 'tool' was used to do the crime?

[QUOTE=J Miller;5674094]Oh yeah, in Phoenix, AZ it was called "Operation Identification". Just call the Phx PD at 602-262-6151 (still a current Phx PD non emergency number) and they'd loan you an engraver.
I had my own engraver and put my drivers license number; D-111X1X all over my tools. They got stolen and I've never seen a one.

From Lynnie:
for several years the AZ drivers license number was your social security number! My. Dad goes to a lot of yard sales and buys tools...I'll tell him to keep an eye out for yours! Lol

[QUOTE=Lyncat;5676208]IF he ever runs across any tools with that sequence of numbers PM me and I'll give you the entire DL #. The X's are substitutes for the actual numbers.

Joe

here is one like it on CL http://stlouis.craigslist.org/hsh/3415409388.html
I bet that one doesn't have Keith Fowler's name engraved on it...

I'll be on the look out for the culprit.
J J

I'm thinking the guy lives in Indiana but not in Shelbyville

I bet he did it himself and he used a straight pin to do the deed. High school girls wrote stuff in nail polish, lipstick, and ink pen on the bathroom walls. They rarely carved.

Pocket knife. Back then they weren't banned.

Joe

yeah - I even had one... But BOYS didn't take Home Ec until a few years later - this Keith Fowler I found is too old to have been in the class. BUT what if they boys snuck into the room and carved their names on the sewing machines? NAH take another look at the O in Fowler. Looks almost like a heart to me.

Joe, maybe you should call the guy for me.
I was hoping Mrs. Fowler was a QB member and would come forward.
Alas if she is a QB member she is keeping her mouth shut right tight.
I wonder if the lady still sews or did she ever learn? Was she too busy
day dreaming about Keith Fowler? Nah - how could you not learn to sew on
a Singer 404?

This caused me to remember some cheap, but solid wood dressers we had years & years ago. We couldn’t even afford paint to protect the wood. Any way, the drawers wouldn’t slide out securely, they would drop downwards. In order to prevent this from happening, I got some leftover lumber and cut out the right size to install in the dresser to support the drawers. While cut to size, my children & I used a wood burning tool to write names & draw pictures. I don’t remember what ever happened to these dressers. I think it would be fun to come across them in an auction or household sale.
Kathleen

[QUOTE=J Miller;5674094]Oh yeah, in Phoenix, AZ it was called "Operation Identification". Just call the Phx PD at 602-262-6151 (still a current Phx PD non emergency number) and they'd loan you an engraver.
I had my own engraver and put my drivers license number; D-111X1X all over my tools. They got stolen and I've never seen a one.
It was a waste of time then and still is.

I can tell you the other side of this story. I didn't engrave my stuff and it was stolen. The police recovered some things and I couldn't prove it was mine. Sometimes you just can't win!