A pedestrian bridge is being installed in a southeast Kansas park. This project did not involve any supply chain issues, because this bridge didn’t come on a slow boat from somewhere. This 60 foot long bridge was built from scratch and installed by a craftsman in rural Kansas.
Nancy Crum is the owner and operations manager of C Cross Custom Welding, the company that produced this 60 foot long pedestrian bridge. Her husband Chip primarily does the welding and fabrication. C Cross Custom Welding is based in the Elk County town of Howard.
Nancy grew up in the Howard area. Chip also lived in Colorado for a time before coming back to Howard. They met and were married.
“My grandpa was a blacksmith,” Chip said. “My dad was a farrier, a farmer and a carpenter,” he said. “One day when my dad was farming, the disk broke in the field. I welded it and it stayed together.”
Perhaps this showed that Chip had a gift for welding, although he didn’t have formal training.
“It came easy to me,” Chip said. “All I’ve had is on the job training. If you keep your eyes and ears open and your mouth shut, you can learn a lot.” Now, there’s some wise advice.
Nancy does bookkeeping for local businesses. “I worked with computers and I liked art,” Nancy said. Chip was working at a nearby rock quarry and dabbled in welding. Continue reading “Nancy and Chip Crum, C Cross Custom Welding”
