Thanks for Quitting. Heres Your Gold Watch.

When Fred Tryon retired, Arizona Public Service Company gave him a gold watch. Then the multibillion-dollar utility claimed he hadn't retired, but quit, and took away his pension and his benefits. Then Fred Tryon died of a heart attack. Now, his wife o

Comments (0) By John Dougherty Thursday, Feb 1 1996

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And if Fred did agree to cancel his company life insurance policy, why, Doris wonders, hasn't APS offered documentation of the waiver?

In a recent interview, Harris said Fred Tryon wasn't eligible for retirement benefits when he left APS because he "didn't have enough years of service."

Pressed for further details, Harris declined to elaborate.
But co-workers say Fred Tryon would never have retired early from APS if he knew the company was going to cut his medical benefits. His primary reason for seeking a job at APS, they say, was to gain medical coverage for his sick wife.

"Benefits were number one to Fred," Mike Robbins says. "He was not going to terminate himself early and lose those health benefits."

Fred Jordan was a neighbor of and a coworker with Fred Tryon. He says Tryon described his discussions with APS personnel officials before deciding to retire. Tryon was very excited when he learned that he could retire early and receive the benefits immediately, Jordan says.

"I know for a fact that Fred would not have retired early if he thought he wasn't going to get anything," Jordan says. "They told him he would receive something, and he retired. Then they told him they made a mistake, and you're not going to get anything.

"My feeling was that was pretty chickenshit."
Doris Tryon isn't asking APS for much.
She wants only what was promised her husband, and nothing more.

"They need to live up to their original agreement and provide what they told him he would get," Doris says.

Then she pauses in her needlepoint.
"I'm not doing this because I think this is an easy way for a fast buck," she says. "I'm doing this for Fred.