The handwriting was on the wall.

It was put there five years ago when Kovatch Corporation in Nesquehoning, one of the largest employers in Carbon County, announced the sale of a major component of its business.

The firm said in 2016 that ownership of the emergency vehicle business would be transitioned to REV Group in just a matter of days.

At the time, company officials said local employees wouldn’t be affected.

In fact, they said there could be an increase in the number of employees at the local site after the transaction.

“Our employees are still full-time and not going anywhere. Headquarters will stay in Nesquehoning,” said John Kovatch IV on social media post.

But many others weren’t so sure. It was the beginning of the end, they figured.

An April 12, 2016, editorial in the Times News summed up the sentiment with a headline.

“News of Kovatch sale greeted warily.”

People in Carbon County saw the sale differently. They lamented that any portion of world headquarters of Kovatch Corporation would pick up and leave. It was tantamount to the locally owned company moving away.

It caused concern, and rightfully so after what happened several miles away at what once was J.E. Morgan Knitting Mills.

At that site in Hometown, just over the line in Schuylkill County, a similar scenario played out.

The plant, begun in Tamaqua in the 1950s, was a homegrown success story similar to Kovatch.

Morgan Mills was not only Schuylkill County’s largest employer, but the largest maker of thermal underwear in the world.

However, the operation was acquired by Dawson International PLC in 1984. Then in 1999, some 1,000 Morgan employees learned that a sale to Sara Lee Corporation was imminent.

The handwriting was on the wall. And it was a worst-case scenario.

Local jobs vanished.

Today, Morgan Mills is only a memory, reduced to a nostalgic display inside the Tamaqua Historical Society Museum.

Kovatch Corporation, like Morgan Mills, has a proud local history.

The place was founded by John “Sonny” Kovatch II in 1946.

Manufacturing facilities were opened at the junction of routes 209 and 54 in 1950. It blossomed into a major employer guided by family ownership and fueled by loyal, local workers.

But it appears KME in Carbon County will become a memory sometime after next April.

It’ll be reduced to possible subject matter for a colorful display inside the Nesquehoning Historical Society Museum.

The announcement of the closing came with expected platitudes by REV Group.

“The KME brand has a rich and enduring legacy. Our commitment with this transition is to preserve the legacy by continuing to deliver to our customers and dealer partners what they have come to expect from the KME brand through their many years of valued loyalty to KME,” said Kent Tyler, president.

“This shift in production locations enables us to better access our broad operational expertise and resources, provide custom engineering, enhance quality and improve delivery times by leveraging the advanced manufacturing capabilities that we have through the REV Fire Group network.”

But some affected local workers likely feel otherwise.

They might be saying, “Hey, wait a minute. If there’s broad operational expertise and appreciation for KME’s ‘rich and enduring legacy,’ why leave? Why not keep the home fires burning?

For those loyal workers and many others, a KME plant gone from Nesquehoning is no longer KME.

By Donald R. Serfass | dserfass@tnonline.com

The foregoing opinions do not necessarily reflect the views of the Editorial Board or Times News LLC.