Work in High School
Pierce Manufacturing (Pierce Auto Body Works, Inc.)
Dad worked for one summer at Pierce Manufacturing. He had just gotten his drivers license and Pierce put him to work transporting truck frames with the main fire engine shell to another building about a quarter mile away. The president of Pierce was a man named Dudley Pierce. Mr. Pierce was a client of Yonan & Sons, Inc. (the company my grandfather and great uncle started in 1928).
As the story goes, one day my father decided to see what one of these trucks could do in the speed department…well, Dad did not know that the truck body assemblies were not bolted to the truck frame until after more hardware was installed at the destination where he was transporting these vehicles to. Dad took a fast turn and the entire truck body assembly rolled off the truck frame and onto someone’s front yard. Dad thought he was going to be fired for sure…and have to pay for the damage.
Mr. Pierce sat my father down in his office and had a heart-to-heart chat with Dad. My father immediately said if Mr. Pierce would allow him to continue to work at Pierce, Dad would work off the cost of the damage. Mr. Pierce agreed and warned my father never to race any of his trucks again.
At the end of the summer, my Dad wasn’t sure whether he had worked long enough to cover the cost of the wrecked truck body assembly. He walked into the office of Dudley Pierce and inquired as to the current debt status. Mr. Pierce opened a desk drawer and handed my father a bank passbook. He told my Dad that the truck body assembly had been covered by insurance. Mr. Pierce had been depositing Dad’s weekly paychecks into a bank account opened for my father. Needless to say, Dad was stunned and grateful. It also taught him a great lesson about responsibility and the fact that he needed to grow up.
Car Hop at Jake’s Drive-In
I don’t know much about this job. My mother told me he would wait on cars as they drove up. This restaurant was owned by Jake Skall. Jake owned another restaurant in town, a supper club named Jake Skall’s Colonial Wonder Bar. Dad knew Jake very well and my parents had their wedding dinner at Jake Skall’s.
Work after Marriage
Treasure Island
Dad now had to support his new wife and family (I came into this world 9 months and 5 days after the marriage). Dad found work stocking shelves and attending to customers at Treasure Island Department Store on College Ave. in Appleton, WI. It was long hours and not much potential. Dad lasted about 6 months and spoke to a friend in Washington State. The friend (Jack Anderson) said there were lots of jobs on the west coast. So… Mom, Dad and I loaded up the car and off we were to Washington. We ended up in Vancouver, WA.
Wholesale Clothing Sales in Portland, OR
Dad worked for a wholesale clothing manufacturer across the river in Portland, Oregon. Mom worked at a medical clinic. They had a lady that took care of me during the day. Dad always said this job was a learning experience for him, but again, there was not much potential for advancement in this company. I wish I could remember the name of this firm…Dad had mentioned it a few times before…I wish I had paid closer attention…I always thought I would always be able to ask these trivial questions.
Return to Wisconsin:
After about 3 months in Washington, my parents decided to move back to Wisconsin because they simply were not getting ahead in Washington. They likely did not give it a long enough chance, but it was the safe decision at the time. Everything we owned fit into a 1957 Chevy.
Dad took the photo to the right. That’s me in the car on the way back. I traveled on top of a mattress with clothes and other personal property stuffed underneath. I had a very comfy ride the whole way home.
Fox River Valley Knitting Company
After returning to Wisconsin, we lived with my grandmother and grandfather (Mom’s parents) for a short while. Dad found work at Fox River Valley Knitting Company. He ran knitting machines and performed other menial tasks. It was not fulfilling, but it was a living. He worked there for about a year and a half.
Yonan & Sons, Inc. (where he would remain until retirement)
My grandfather (John Sr.) and his brother (Ted Yonan) started the business in 1928. It was very successful with a lot of hard work and afforded both of them a comfortable life. However, both were getting up in years and needed young blood in the company. In addition, they managed their company warehouse, carpet installations and rug repair and cleaning.
There had been some bad blood between my father and grandfather. My father had suffered physical abuse at the hands of his father until late in high school (when my father became bigger and stronger). Therefore, my father did not want to work for his father. Then, uncle Ted met with my Dad and asked my father to come to work at Yonan & Sons, Inc. At first my father refused, but Ted said “Come work for me and not your father.” Finally my father agreed…and Ted sort of retired and began to split his time between Door County at his summer home between May and October and his Florida home the rest of the year. This left my Dad to work for his father. There were a lot of difficult times in the coming years, but Dad stuck with it…
- Dad suffered a ruptured vertebrae and was laid up for several months.
- Dad recommended a neighbor as a co-worker and the co-worker seemed to do everything he could to come between my father and grandfather.
- My grandfather also seemed to micro-manage every decision my father made.
It was a long nine years from 1963 to 1972. My grandfather had become ill (Leukemia) in 1970 after a fishing accident that produced a compound fracture of his right leg. He was jumping from rock to rock and slipped. He agonized for about 3 hours among some rocks next to an active river before he was discovered and help arrived. John Malek Yonan Sr. died on May 5th, 1972.
Because of my grandfather’s illness, Dad had been taking on much more daily management of Yonan & Sons, Inc. He had diverted his attention to sales instead of daily carpet installations and rug repair and cleaning. Dad traveled the entire state of Wisconsin (and sometimes around the country) to meet with clients. He would sometimes let me come with him. He taught me some very valuable lessons when I was allowed to tag along. Later in life, he invited me into the business, but that comes later in this story.
Ted was essentially retired from the business and Dad was now running everything. He secured many contracts with banks, insurance companies, well known businessmen and women, plus thousands of smaller contracts for rug cleaning and repair. The pressure to maintain his numbers and to improve year after year was tremendous. He drank a lot in those years.
Finally, Ted and Dad agreed that Dad would buy Ted out. My grandfather had left the business to Ted to run and my grandmother still owned shares of stock. Dad now had to buy out the stock and buy the assets (warehouse, office equipment, inventory, vehicles, etc.). It was a very large amount of money. But my father was determined to buy everyone out, pay for the company assets, and then truly be the sole owner of Yonan & Sons, Inc.
Dad worked very hard and finally fulfilled all obligations. People were still captivated by oriental rugs and responsible rug owners were seeking out professionals that knew how to properly repair and clean oriental rugs. He traveled the world meeting with suppliers and checking out new products that would complement his main business. Dad and Mom were both in India the day Indira Gandhi was murdered. It was a very tense time with machine guns pointed at them.
My father was an avid amateur photographer and snapped photos of everything of interest. He often gave speeches showing his photographs via slides to large groups (civic organizations, church groups, social groups, etc.). He would share funny stories of his adventures…people could not get enough of Dad and he established many close friendships and business contacts this way.
One event that almost crushed his business was the Iranian Hostage crisis in 1979. Some 52 diplomats were taken hostage and people became wary of anyone of Iranian descent. Business dried up. The number of walk-in’s to the company store dried up. I was very concerned. I should have know that Dad would come up with a solution. To show his loyalty to the United States, Dad erected a very large American flag pole to be proudly flown in front of his store. Almost immediately, people began to return.
Dad continued to work hard, rising early each morning and taking care of business. Even better, he was now able to put decent amounts of money aside toward his retirement and life was good.
My brother Mark and I expanded the business to the Fox River Mall area before Dad’s retirement, but with Dad not at the helm, we had other interests.
Dad retired in 1991 at age 53. The assets of the business were sold to a former employee, with the agreement that the former employee not use the Yonan name. The former employee went out of business a couple of years later.