Her colleagues by day formed her network of friends outside of work. Rebecca Barnett’s connection with Cummins was that tight for nearly 12 years.
But losing her job at the Columbus-based engine and power company through downsizing didn’t alter all of the priorities Barnett embraced along her life journey, including:
The time she cherishes with Fred Barnett, her husband of 17 years.
Her dogs, horses and cats — two of each currently, and prior animal rescue work.
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An eight-year commitment to making Elizabethtown a better place to live.
The attention the Barnetts gave to their yellow Queen Anne Victorian style home built in 1890 by one of Elizabethtown’s founding families.
A pay-it-forward commitment to “coach, mentor and guide people to become the best leaders then can become,” having been helped herself by a mentor early on.
Barnett’s job at Cummins was one of 2,000 worldwide eliminated in 2016 during an economic downturn. Today, another worsening economic climate has resulted in 2,000 additional losses of Cummins jobs.
For workers left seeking a new professional path, Barnett has walked in your shoes.
“I lost my job, which was difficult. But I (also) lost my community,” Barnett said during a telephone interview from her new home in Memphis, Indiana. “I was just devastated.”
The term community has two meanings for Barnett — her network of close friends as well as the 504-population Bartholomew County town where she and her husband became heavily invested.
Shortly after arriving in 2011, Rebecca and Fred helped launch the Elizabethtown Environmental Challenge and Revitalization effort.
About 90 volunteers, many of them from Cummins, did yard work and home repair for elderly low-income neighbors so they could age in place. It was funded by a $203,500 grant from the Indiana Housing and Community Development Authority and a $25,000 match from Cummins.
Volunteers remodeled the town hall, where Fred attended meetings as a first-term council member, making it handicap-accessible, and added a children’s library inside.
Workers also cleaned Little Jordan Creek, improving the water flow, with help from a $10,000 Cummins community grant.
“The people in Cummins are the best — the smartest people you would want to work with,” Rebecca Barnett said. “Their values and mine (such as diversity and high integrity) were so closely aligned. Those values shaped who I am today.”
Barnett held three different jobs with Cummins. She worked six years for Cummins Filtration in Nashville, Tennessee, before relocating to the Columbus area.
She was materials readiness leader in High Horsepower at the Seymour Engine Plant for four years, then global supply chain operations leader at the Corporate Office Building in Columbus her final year and one-half with the company.
The up-and-down cycles that accompany a manufacturing career were never a top-of-mind concern for Barnett, who grew up in an Ohio working-class family.
“It’s very satisfying to hold a tangible product,” Barnett said of her career choice, having earned her bachelor’s degree from Ohio State in business administration, transportation and logistics.
She added two advanced degrees, a master’s in organizational communication and an MBA in lean manufacturing and supply chain.
With her training and experience in manufacturing, she stayed the course post-Cummins.
After securing a six-month position with LHP Engineering Solutions in Columbus, she landed a permanent opportunity in October 2016 as a strategic initiatives leader for General Electronic in the Cincinnati area.
However, commuting realities meant Barnett would have to spend weekdays in the Ohio-Kentucky border region, only coming home on weekends.
After a year, Barnett found a manufacturing job in supply chain and operations with aerospace and defense contractor BAE Systems in Louisville. She commuted 90 minutes each way from Elizabethtown for a year before coming to the realization that she and Fred, the code enforcement officer for the City of Columbus, would have to move.
Memphis, only slightly bigger than Elizabethtown with 695 people, was a manageable commute for each.
“We did have to relocate. It was very wrenching — very wrenching,” Barnett said.
But with the world economy changing dramatically, Barnett concluded that she could not take her layoff personally.
“The job is not who you are. The job is what you do,” she said.
One of the most valuable takeaways for Barnett was to build her community outside of work, expressing a confidence that she and Fred have landed in a good place.
Retired editor Tom Jekel writes a weekly column that appears each Sunday on The Republic’s Opinion page. Contact him by email through [email protected]. Send comments to [email protected].
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Age: Turns 59 on Monday
Family: Husband, Fred Barnett, code enforcement officer for the City of Columbus; daughter Rachelle McKnight, Albany, N.Y.
Current residence: Newly built home and small barn on 6 acres in Memphis, about halfway between Louisville and Columbus, Indiana.
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