Foreign Roots, Guts And A Great Work Ethic Were In My Blood 

At the end of the day, there is no amount of experience, nor any type of formal education, that could exceed the value of what my dad taught me early on. He was born an orphan in 1906, and due to the fact that his mother died at his birth; it left his immigrant father with no choice but to put him in a basket on the church steps, with a note. The note explained who he was, and that he was unable to take care of him due to the circumstances. He became a part of the foster care system in Kansas, and in this day, that meant that the foster parents got paid to care for him. Sadly, in that era, many of these children were used for income, and in some cases even child labor. In his case, he was working in the under ground coal mines across Southern Illinois, as early as ages 9 and 10. He could not read or write, and his life had been very difficult, as it is likely that he had been abused as well. Finally, in his late 20’s, he was able to join the Army Air Force, and shipped off to join the fighting in World War II. He ended up serving 2 tours, met the love of his life along the way (my mother), whom he would go on to marry, and have us 3 boys I being the oldest.

This backstory was written to illustrate a point; that point being that my dad was able to make up for his lack of formal education simply by using a lot of good common sense. The number one thing that has made all the difference in my life, is the way that he taught us boys, "A MAN IS ONLY AS GOOD AS HIS WORD”,  And "A HAND SHAKE MEANT SOMETHING".

Those are the exact principals that he lived by and I am proud to carry on and have passed on to my family as well as our many long term employees to this day. Living by this simple list of rules that both my father and grandfather followed, and believed every man should follow have served me well throughout my life and business ventures. They are as follows:

• LOYALTY TO GOD AND COUNTRY
• A MAN IS ONLY AS GOOD AS HIS WORD
• A HAND SHAKE IS A BINDING CONTRACT
• THE GOLDEN RULE IS HOW TO LIVE AND OPERATE YOUR LIFE INCLUDING YOUR BUSINESS