Assistant Editor
Heat Treat Today
Heat Treat Today publishes twelve print magazines a year and included in each is a letter from the editor. This letter is from the April 2025 Annual Induction Heating & Melting print edition, and serves as a farewell from Evelyn Thompson, a dear member of the Heat Treat Today team.
In 2015, my dad came home with yet another big idea. As the last remaining Glenn kid at home — a bit of an angsty 16-year-old living in the attic above my dad’s home office — I had plenty of experience with my dad’s big ideas, enough to know, “This isn’t going to work out.” To give you some examples, here are a few of my dad’s other big ideas:
- “Cappuccino eggs.” Exactly what it sounds like — a gas station cappuccino poured over scrambled eggs.”
- “I’m thinking about selling vegetables at the local farmer’s market.” He is in no way a farmer.
- “Let’s invite a few complete strangers to intimate family gatherings!” This made for some pretty awkward family dinners.
The infamy of Dad’s big cappuccino egg idea lives on in the minds of all three Glenn kids.
The track record was not looking good for the big idea of 2015. And that big idea was: “I’m thinking of making a career change in my early 50s while paying for three student loans. I’m going to start my own thermal processing magazine!” Sounded like cappuccino eggs to me. Needless to say, I did not believe in him.
Much to my surprise, though, this big idea stuck.
Throughout my last few years of high school, my dad would come home every day, walk up to his office, put his backpack down, boot up his computer, and get comfortable at his standing desk. From my attic perch, I could hear him tippety-type away. When I ventured down, he’d say, “Ev, come take a look at this!” “This” was a mid-sized email list he’d compiled from his phone contacts.
“I’m putting together news items to send out on a semi-regular basis. I call it ‘Chatter.’” And that Chatter will go straight into everyone’s junk folder, I thought.
But I was wrong about Chatter, and I was wrong about my dad’s big idea.
Today, the Heat Treat Daily e-newsletter (what Chatter became), has a circulation of more than 4,000 industry members. My dad employs over ten people, and Heat Treat Today is the number one thermal processing magazine in the North American heat treating industry. Making a drastic career change in his 50s wasn’t such a bad idea. He was right after all.
As I wrap up my time as assistant editor at Heat Treat Today to have my second kiddo, I am beginning to realize my dad was right after all on a few other things, too.
Here they are, for posterity’s sake:
- “Don’t worry about money, just do what you love.”
- “Always do the right thing.”
- “Sleep is underrated.”
- And lastly (most importantly to me): “God does not make junk.”
Contact the Editorial Team at editor@heattreattoday.com.
