Ray Carnahan and wife Janice (Shelton) had an automobile machine shop at 410 N. Center in 1940. In 1942 they converted their shop to an unspecified type of war work. (Loose lips sink ships!!!) Local businesses found it difficult to continue operations during the war years due to material shortages, but by converting to war production, they just might keep their business intact until the end of the war.
Ray Carnahan called the war business a "sustainer," because these small time shops were not expected to be profitable, like the industrial giants were during the war. Ray had served during WWI so he knew the value of precision tools to the men serving.
It was a very small shop with just five employees, if you counted the family dog who was a constant companion in the shop. Janice Carnahan is shown here operating a drill press. She was assigned this work because of her ability to make very precise adjustments to the materials. Interestingly, Janice's first name was never printed in the article -- she was referred to as "Mrs. Carnahan, an attractive blonde."
Both Ray and Janice had attended college -- Ray for two years and Janice for four according to the 1940 census. Most likely, Janice was trained as a teacher, but the "marriage bar" may have kept her from teaching after she married Bishop. Census records and city directories also indicated that Janice had only ever worked as a saleslady in a department store. Ray and Janice married in 1933, after their first marriages had ended in divorce. (Janice's first husband, Noble Charles Bishop, remarried two months before she did and Ray's first wife died in March 1943 in Bloomington.)