"You recently asked about
my oldest brother Ed. As I told you he graduated from
the U of M with a degree in chemical engineering. (1922) He went to work for
Standard Oil in OK for a few years. During the depression years he became
involved in the tire recapping business with the mayor of Milwaukee. He did
very well at that and just prior to WWII he started a plastics fabrication
business which was the perfect time. He was a pioneer in injection molding of
plastics. The shortage of metal during WWII made it an ideal time to
manufacture things like cosmetic cases, pen parts, household items like towel
racks and you name it. His cosmetic line was called “Campus Girl.” It was
dime store kind of stuff but the innards like lipstick he bought from Revlon.
Just produced the plastic parts and assembled the finished items. He invented
Botts Dots the raised bumps you see on roads. I think I told you that. Anyway
they didn’t work out very well because they were fastened to the asphalt with a
60d spike through a hole in the center of the dot. Also, hydraulic presses
were not advanced enough then to make an item that big without having flow
lines in them. It required two shots of plastic into the mold and the hot
material hitting the cooling plastic caused the flow line. The dots were named
after Rudy Bott who was Ed’s close friend and accountant. In the 1950's an
engineer from SJ State developed the adhesive that was powerful enough to hold
the dots on the road. His name happened to be Bott and has always claimed
that he invented the dot. Both can claim credit for them I guess because one
wasn’t much good without the other.
 "Ed was a gentleman farmer.
He had 80 acres of prime farm land outside of
Cedarburg, Wisc. A herd of beautiful Jersey cattle and fancy riding horses.
The house was built from limestone sometime in the late 1800’s. He had a
farmer who did nothing but take care of the farm and livestock and a
groundskeeper who did nothing but keep the place up. To make a long story
short he lost it all . . . plus he tried to
expand his business too fast and tied up his capital in a building that had
nothing in it. If Isabel (his wife) had been in the U.S. she probably would
have recognized what was happening and stopped his recklessness. She was in
England for a few months visiting family, etc. Isabel was a great gal and had
a lot on the ball. Her family had owned or were partners in Fisher Body Co.
during the horse and buggy days. . . . Ed died in 1962 from liver problems. After
they lost everything she went back to work as a social worker and very shortly
she was in charge of the social welfare dept. for Milwaukee Co. There is a lot
more to this story but my hunt and peck typing is too slow to produce it!
"Ed’s full name was Edmund Peter Kampa.
1901-1962 Born in Foley, I think."
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