Granite Pillar Award

My nephew, Steve Sargent, is a member of the BYU Management Society.  Each year they honor someone in the community who has exemplified moral and ethical leadership in business.  He suggested my dad be nominated.  My brother-in-law, Van, and I both submitted nomination letters and they selected my dad to be the honoree.

They held the dinner on February 1st at the Hilton Garden in.  There were about 80 people in attendance.  About half of them were our family and the rest were members of the committee and past honorees.  

My niece, Sara, put together the program.  She did a really nice job.  She also video taped the program.  I really appreciate all of her efforts.  I wouldn't have even thought about it. 

My dad was quite pleased at the turn out and thought there might only be a dozen or so people in attendance.  I was glad that I was able to get both of my parents out for the evening.  It really was a great night.  I am so glad that my dad received this honor and was spotlighted for a lifetime of his hard work and success.

One of my Dad's first employees at his blacksmith shop was Don Guymon.  He worked with my dad for over 25 years.  We were so happy that he and his wife Geri were able to attend.

My brother, Garth, was the keynote speaker.  He did an amazing job.  He focused on my dad's hard work ethic and determination and how having those qualities automatically lead to moral and ethical business dealings.  My nephew, Ted Garling, filmed it and put it on youtube.  

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z5aEZ2Nwmks&sns=em

Dad was shocked and pleased that the award actually was a granite pillar.  He thought maybe he would get a certificate or something.  

This is the same granite that was used in the LDS Conference center in Salt Lake City.

After Garth spoke, I gave a biography on my dad.  

It is quite a daunting task to give a brief and concise biography of the 90 years my dad has lived.  I remember as a kid listening to Paul Harvey and his program “The rest of the story.”  This is in no way the rest of the story.  This is only the tiniest part of the story.  This is in every way the Reader’s Digest version of the story.  For every experience I mention there is an hour’s worth more of detail that my father would like to give you.  In fact he would be thrilled to give those details to anyone who would like to come and sit in his living room and hear the rest of the story.  In fact he has a 300 page history you where you can read all about it. 

So Dad, please forgive me if I don’t get every detail right and for the many stories that I won’t have time to tell.

Roland Romrell was born on June 15, 1922 to Hyrum James and Ruby Taylor Romrell in Harrisville, UT just outside of Ogden.  He was the youngest of five children.  His mother died when he was only five years old, which impacted his life greatly.

He grew up working on the farm with his father and when he was twelve years old he began his entrepreneurial career by taking on a paper route for the Deseret News.  He grew the route from 13 subscribers to 48 and covered over 10 miles on his horse and finally the first balloon tire bike in Ogden that he was able to buy with his earning.  

After high school he trained as a welder and worked in the shipyards in southern California.  When World War II began he felt it was his patriotic duty to enlist even though he could have had a deferment because his skills in the shipyards where in high demand.  He felt guilty making the big money of $1.25 per hour while his friends where off to war. So he enlisted with the Marines and was ready to ship out with the shock troops, which are the first to hit the beach.   As they were lined up to get on the boat he was called out because of his previous training as a welder and he was transferred to work as a technician maintaining the equipment.  His skill of welding without a doubt saved his life.

After returning from the war he and his wife, Joy, moved to Ammon and bought the Ammon Blacksmith shop and the home that was next door for $6000.  He had farmers from miles away tell him they knew what time he started work that morning, usually around 4 a.m., from the sound of his hammer hitting the anvil to sharpen plow shears .  He always said he could go out and make $50 before breakfast by sharpening a set of  plow shears.

Roland and Joy had a chicken coop with over five hundred  chickens. They supplied eggs to the hospital.  After long days in the blacksmith shop and Joy in her beauty shop they would stay up until the wee hours of the morning candling the eggs to make sure they didn’t have any blood spots.  Roland devised a system so the eggs would roll down out of the nest and a watering system for the chickens where they could press it with their beak to get water.  One year when Joy was doing the taxes Roland discovered that they were actually losing money.  The chickens went up for sale the next day. 

Roland built many truck beds for farmers that are still in service today over sixty years later.  He prided himself on his workmanship and always told his customers that his truck beds had a lifetime warranty.  While building the truck beds he had the opportunity to become a distributor for the Harsh Hoist, which made the truck beds much more functional and user friendly for the farmers. 

At this time Roland served as a leader in the Elders Quorum.  There was a gentleman in the ward that needed some major repairs done on his home.  He decided he would close the blacksmith shop for a few weeks in order to help get the job done.  He had one employee, Basil Fosbinder, who he told he would be closing the shop and would pay him even though he wouldn’t be working.  Basil asked what he would be doing and Roland told him about it.  Basil offered to help dad with the repairs rather than stay at home doing nothing.  When they were done with the job Roland started to pay Basil for the two weeks of work.  Basil asked what Roland was being paid for the work and Roland explained to Basil, who wasn’t a member of the church, that he was getting “Mormon Pay” or just the blessings of giving service.  Basil told him he would take the Momon pay also.   

While still in Ammon he had the opportunity so sell the Vista Liner Camper.  He sold them from the front yard until  the manufacturer threatened to give the franchise to someone else in Idaho Falls unless he moved out to the North Yellowstone Highway where there would me more exposure.  He did this and built a 60x100 foot building where he also continued to build the truck beds.  He also became a dealer for the Farm Hand Implement at this time.

Roland was given the opportunity to start his own camper manufacturing business that he named Freeway Campers.  He had dealerships all across the country and got to the point where they were putting out a camper every 45 minutes.  At the height of their production Roland was second only to the INL in the number of people he employed.

Roland partnered with Dodge on a national advertising campaign that featured a Freeway camper on a Dodge truck.  This campaign was included in the Chrysler Theater and Bob Hope show every Sunday.  

He eventually discovered that with the cost of the raw materials that had to be shipped in from Oregon, California and Indiana, it became impossible to compete with manufacturers from those states since they didn’t have the freight costs involved in having the materials shipped.  In order to compete he would have had to move the operation to Indiana, but he really didn’t want to raise his family there.  So he sold out to Vista Liner. 

He had already started selling motor homes and from there diversified into becoming a dealer for snow machines, boats, chainsaws and manufactured homes.  Roland found he had a natural affinity for sales and when the manufacturers offered sales incentives he found it easy to reach their requirements.  He and Joy were able to travel all over the world on trips that he won for meeting certain sales goals. 

Roland found that selling quality merchandise paid off in the end.  In the seventies when the gas prices sky rocketed to $1.50 a gallon, many R.V. dealerships across the country were going out of business.  But Roland was selling the Holiday Rambler which manufactured high end, quality R.V’s.  He found that the people with money wanted to buy quality.  So he was able to make it through that down turn in the economy when many others did not.

Roland had a realtor friend who would often say, “Roland, what can I sell you today.”  Roland responded, mostly just to make conversation, “Oh, I don’t know, maybe a duplex or something.”   This turned into the purchase of Riviera Apartments, a 60 unit apartment complex located on 17^th street.  On another occasion this led to a purchase of a farm located on the Bonneville/Jefferson county line.  Roland eventually developed this into a beautiful 100 home development called Country Squire Estates.

As if working 60 to 80 hours a week wasn’t enough, Roland found time to also serve on the Ammon City Council for many years.  He enjoyed being a part of helping this community transition from a village to a town to a full fledged city.

He also took the opportunity to serve on the Bonneville District 93 school board.  He took an active part in getting the Hillview and Falls Valley Elementary schools and the Bonneville High School built.  And he was pleased to be able to hand diplomas to most of his ten children as they graduated.

Being in business for himself gave his ten children the opportunity to learn how to work. They all worked in the business at one point or another either sweeping the factory floors, answering phones, stocking parts, delivering and setting up mobile homes, flying to Los Angeles to pick up motor homes (on the day they received their driver’s license, which at that point in Idaho was age 14!) selling R.V’s, and running an apartment complex swimming pool.  And the list goes on and on.

The majority of his career was spent as owner and operator of Romrell R.V.  He spent many long hours on the lot and would never turn the key to the door if he saw a customer drive in.  In the early 80’s he sold the business to his son, Garth, but kept his finger in it by coming in early every morning to unlock the doors.  Garth continued the tradition of selling high quality product and diversifying as the market demanded when he added fitness equipment to the product line. 

Roland had many highs and lows throughout his career.  He had many successes and a few disappointments.  But if you asked him what he is most proud of in his life he would tell you it is his 10 children, 56 grand children and 90 great-grand children who bring him endless joy.  And we are equally proud of him and the life of service and hard work he has given us as an example to follow. 

After the award was presented Dad got up and shared a few words that I helped him prepare.

I would like to thank the Greater Teton BYU Management Society for honoring me with this Granite Pillar Award.  I can’t say I have any secrets to my success other than a saying we have on a magnet on the fridge that says, “I got my money the old fashioned way…I worked for it.”

I have recently been reading the autobiography of David Miller, owner of the Jazz basketball team.  I feel many things in common with him and felt that his philosophy on business mirrors my own.  I would like to share one excerpt from his book that sums it all up.

“There are few great secrets to my professional success, just hard work and a conscious attempt to draw conclusions or lessons from things that happen to me and around me and to learn everything I can about my job and find a better way to do it.  Whether something was a success or a failure, I tried to understand why that happened and learn from it.  I worked 80 to 90 hours a week, year round, for two decades, while Gail took care of the kids and made our house a home and supported me in everything I did, although I sometimes wonder how she managed it.” 

I could not have had the successes I did without the love and support of my beautiful wife, Joy.  I loved every day that I went to work, and I never considered it work.  And if I was twenty years younger I would start another business in a minute!

Thank you again for this great honor.