Norm Vandecarr, customer solutions engineer, Palm Beach Gardens, Fla., is a pretty regular guy away from work. He likes history and enjoys donating his time to charity.

Oh, and he also cracks into safes that haven’t been opened in 40 years.

OK, so he admits that breaking into an old safe isn’t exactly the most common hobby around. Still, when the Boca Raton Historical Society contacted Diebold about opening a Mosler file safe at a dedication party for the new Boca Raton Army Air Field, Vandecarr was up to the task. So, with 150 people on hand to witness the dedication ceremony, he became the star of the show, opening the safe for the first time in more than four decades.

“I thought it would be cool to show Diebold is here to help things in our own town and thought it could be good for business,” Vandecarr said of his work at the ceremony.  

Cool hardly describes all the treasures found inside the safe. Once it was cracked, the safe produced Navy and Air Force documents and photos – some labeled top secret. When the auction began, four drawers full of non-secret? files were sold for between $300-400 each, with the profits going to charity. Other items were given to members of the historical society for preservation.

Even with all the warm feelings at the event, Vandecarr, who has 28 years of experience at Diebold, felt the pressure of 300 eyes on him while he worked. As the hours ticked away and the safe began to crack, Vandecarr started to drop sweat on the diamond-tipped hole saw he was using to slice through the safe.  

“My nerves were shot,” Vandecarr said of the three-hour job. However, his fatigue was far outweighed by the positive reaction he received.  

“Seeing and hearing all of the people clapping and coming up to me to thank me for doing the job was a very good feeling,” he said.  Vandecarr left everyone else feeling pretty good about Diebold, too.