A. E. Bentz Memo on a Kerrville Couple's Fiber Glass Duct Complaint (1977)

A three-page memo of September 26, 1977, by A. E. Bentz of Johns-Manville, about a retired couple in Kerrville, Texas. After the couple wrote to Underwriters Laboratories about fiber glass air ducts in their home, Bentz visited them. He found the J-M duct board in fair condition but the installer's work "rotten and sloppy," and suggested J-M pay for the duct replacement "to show good faith, and to cool things down," not to show guilt.

What it shows

The memo is about J-M fiber glass ducts, not asbestos. Its interest is the tone in which a company representative reported a customer's health complaint. Bentz writes that the wife "surely wears the pants in their home life," describes the couple as older people "with nothing to do with their time" but worry and find faults, and ends by saying he "started to call her up and suggest she turn herself into the State Hospital." He also notes that he would "hate for this situation to get strung out in the papers," since J-M glass made up most of the ducts in the local market.

About this copy

The couple's names are blacked out in this copy and withheld from J-M's description below, to protect their privacy.

In Johns-Manville's chronology

Johns-Manville's own chronology of what the company knew describes this document as follows:

Memorandum to Unknown; From: A.E. Bentz; dated 9/26/77; re Case on [name withheld], Kerrville, Texas. Bentz states that [name withheld] "surely wears the pants in her home life, as she did 95% of the talking." Bentz further described these two people as; "two older persons in their late sixties with nothing to do with their time but worry and find faults." On page 3, Bentz states that he "started to call [name withheld] up and suggest she turn herself into the state hospital."