USS Saratoga Museum Foundation, Inc.

SARATOGA PROJECT GETS HEADQUARTERS
Generosity of the family-owned, West Warwick-based NATCO Products Company results in new home for museum project.

NATCO Products Company's old offices in West Warwick's landmark Arctic Mill have a new tenant. Leaders and volunteers involved in the two-year volunteer effort to create an Air, Land & Sea Heritage and Technology Park at the former Quonset Point Naval Air Station finally have a place to call home.

Commenting on the freshly-painted, newly carpeted 4500 square foot space, "It's better than anything we could have hoped for," enthused Frank Lennon, president of the USS Saratoga Museum Foundation, Inc. "While we've made tremendous progress in recent months, one of our greatest handicaps has always been the lack of a common workspace with proper communications facilities. Thanks to Robert and Warren Galkin, that problem has been solved."

NATCO Chairman Robert Galkin read a Providence Journal article in mid-January reporting the Secretary of the Navy's decision to place Saratoga in donation status, thus making her eligible to become a museum.

"The article said the project was being run out of the garages and basements of unpaid volunteers," said Galkin. "We had this space available, and thought this would be a way to put it to good use."

Warren Galkin, Vice Chairman of NATCO, met with Lennon and quickly agreed to help. "Bob and I are both Navy veterans, and we feel we're better men as a result of our military experience," said Warren. "This is a chance to give a little something back."

As lads growing up during World War II, Robert and Warren Galkin spent their summers in a cottage near Davisville. "All during the war we watched the torpedo bombers and dive bombers making their practice runs up and down the Bay," recalled Robert Galkin. "When a carrier steamed in or out, everyone stopped to watch. It would be good to have a carrier at Quonset again, especially one which will help remind future generations of the sacrifices others made to guarantee their way of life."

Inspired by the generosity of the Galkin brothers, others stepped in to help turn the space into a usable, functional office. Kelly Coates, Vice President of Johnston-based developer Carpianato Properties, provided a professional crew to clean and paint the space and lay new carpet, also donated by NATCO.

Fidelity Investments donated ten computers, Bank of Newport provided a phone system, Cliff Carlson of Telergy did the communications installation and a host of project volunteers helped with the moving and final setup.

NATCO, which now specializes in home furnishings, owns 900,000 feet of warehousing and manufacturing space in Rhode Island. The company runs carpet plants in Georgia, a drapery operation in Oklahoma and a curtain factory in Massachusetts.

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Last Updated:
9/29/01