From Book 4
I laughed and said, "Due to all your hard work, I am happy to report a corporate profit for this year of $51 million!" There was not a sound in the room; a dropped pin would have sounded like an explosion! Then everyone started talking at once, "How, Who, When, What ......" I put a chart up on the easel that showed how it had happened, and everyone was amazed.
We voted bonuses for all the employees and funded the retirement account. We then got down to business and voted to build an additional four grain silos, add to the truck fleet and order two more harvesters. I asked for an additional fire truck and the addition of several men on the security force. We put new televisions in the Retirement Home and agreed to sponsor a Junior ROTC unit at the Junior High School. We also added another flash chiller at the peach packing shed as the new peach trees will begin to produce this next year. We also agreed to add a new sales office in Dallas, Texas. I announced the promotion of Tommie Ito to Executive Assistant. That got his attention; it was something he had NOT known was coming. I had discussed it with his Poppa, Albert, and he agreed with me. The boy was going places, as were his two younger brothers.
We ended the meeting and everyone headed for their homes, it had been an exciting year and we all felt good about what we had accomplished.
Chapter 1 - GOODTIMES AT LAST
We were done with 1956, despite the terrible tragedy of the Marysville fire we were looking forward to 1957 with anticipation. Our recent expansions and land acquisitions had made us one of the largest farm corporations in the state. Our Farm Gold label was gaining national recognition and we were shipping our frozen food products as far east as Chicago and several test shipments had been made to Charlotte, Atlanta, Richmond and Savannah.
I was having to leave management of the Farm more and more in Todd's hands as the new properties, the winery and the Farm Gold label were consuming most of my time. Albert Ito was a godsend, I had promoted him to Senior Executive Vice President and Tommie as my Executive Vice President. The Father-Son team was a fearsome pair.
There was no question Albert had his Grandmother's blood in him, those at fault crossed either one of them only once!
After a mediocre first vintage, the Ripon Winery started turning out some premium wines and we were commanding a respectable market share. David Jones came up with an idea to hold a fair on the Winery Property and we would feature as many of our Farm Gold products, as well as Ripon Wine.
We advertised heavily throughout the state, but primarily in the San Francisco Bay Area. The Auto Club picked up on our fair and an article appeared in their monthly magazine. The fair took place on the third weekend of July, just as the early grapes were headed for the crusher.
There were so many visitors, the Sheriff's Department had to send deputies for traffic control, the county road was blocked!
Josef brought over a truckload of his premium cheeses and offered samples to those tasting our wines, before noon he had to radio back to the Home Dairy to send another truck load, he had sold everything he brought, except for the smell!
By Sunday evening, we were exhausted, but David had a huge smile on his face, he had sold the entire stock of wines we had in the cellars and had pre-orders for almost the entire this year's crop!
I asked Todd if there was any additional acreage we might purchase for the vineyard. That boy, I don't know, he laid down a map with land plots marked in red that he said were for sale!
He said he "Just happened to have a map in his pocket!"
Most of the grains had been harvested and we were busy with the corn, it looked like silo space was again going to be a problem.
The sales teams were moving the grains as fast as they could, Rainbow Mills has opened a new bakery for their Holsum brand and they ordered up a hundred cars of wheat, we could hear the augurs screwing grain out of the siloes all night long.
The days were long and hot and everyone was working at a frantic pace to get the crops in before the fall rains came, the last of the corn was still being screwed into the siloes when the first fall drizzle hit us, nothing got wet, but it was a near thing.
Gordon and Paul Blount, Uncle Kelly's boys, came to see me, they had been to San Francisco on a sales trip and had eaten supper one night at Fisherman's Wharf.
Their favorite place was Giaccomo's Palace and they had been talking with Daniel Parrelli, the general manager of the restaurant. He had told them that the big Italian Bread and Pastry Bakery, Donatelli's had burned down and the family was not going to rebuild.
Gordon handed me a slice of bread and said, "Try this." I bit into it and was a little piece of heaven!
I asked them, "Where did you get this?"
Gordon laughed, Cook dreamed it up!"
Paul added, "Let's add this to our Farm Gold line. The old Italian Bakery in Stockton is closed down and the place has been for sale for ages."
I thought to myself, "Why not, we can at least explore the idea."
I went over to talk with Cook, he was a little concerned that he might be in trouble for wasting time experimenting, but I set his mind at ease by telling him it was the best-durned piece of bread I had in a long time!
He got all excited about the idea and was willing to go with me and Gordon and Paul to inspect the old bakery.
We went down there the next day, the old bakery sat on a whole block on the south side of town. The buildings were in pretty good condition and Cook had a field day inspecting the ovens and processing equipment. He told me that it was all Italian-made and the very best quality. It would require some upgrading, but it was made for turning out the type of bread he had given me to taste.
The realty agent was hanging on my elbow the entire time we were there, there had been no offers on the place and the family was desperate to sell.
I told him we would think about it and get back to him within the week.
When we got back home, I asked Roberta, Cook, Todd, Josiah and the boys, Gordon and Paul to meet with me. They were all eager to try our hand at bread making.
I asked Cook, Jimmie Halsten, if he could run a bakery.
He stuttered and stammered, "mmmme, sir?"
I told him that he was the only one among us who knew how to make bread and Todd leaned over to whisper in his ear, "We got your back, bro, go for it!"
Jimmie agreed and I called the realty agent and made an offer to him of $450,000 for the property, the building and all the machinery in it and he jumped at it.
By the end of the month, we were the proud owners of an out-of-business bakery in Stockton.
It took us three months to rehabilitate the Valley Gold Bakery and get the Health Department's stamp of approval before we could start baking.
Jimmie tried his dinner rolls out on the Blount Farm boys.
Gordon Tillinger, our biggest farm hand told Jimmie that the sample was fine, now, where is the rest of it?
The sales force had been working overtime, they had designed a logo and had it painted on the side of a couple of delivery vans as a surprise for Jimmie.
Jimmie was a little red-faced at the logo, it showed a picture of breads and rolls and it said underneath the picture, "Jimmie's Buns and Breads"!
He wanted it changed, but it was too late, the orders started flowing in, first from the mostly Italian Restaurants at Fisherman's Wharf in San Francisco and it rapidly spread until the bakery was sold out and Jimmie had to hire more people to fill out all three shifts!
The frozen foods crowd wanted to market frozen bread products to be home-baked, but they had to wait until we enlarged the bakery.
Before the year was out, we were negotiating for property in Fresno and also in Long Beach to supply the southern part of the state.
Joseph handled much of the bakery deliveries to restaurants through his dairy products delivery system, the Dairy Division was running a fleet of more than 400 trucks all over California, Oregon and western Nevada.
He figured it was a natural combination, of milk, butter, cheese and bread!
The grains and corn came in strong in the summer of 1957, the rains had been just right and we began our annual scramble with the winter wheat. We had built three new grain siloes at the new bakery in Stockton and filled them with the winter wheat, which was supposed to be the best for the type of products the bakery was producing.
We had planted and increased acreage of rice and, for the very first time, the Vances were unable to claim it all. The market was good for rice, much of it was going to Japan and Southeast Asia.
By the time the corn was ready for harvest, we knew we were in trouble again for silo space as we filled up the last of our own siloes and all the remaining siloes at the Co-op.
We rented space down in Lodi and had to send the corn by rail.
We were selling grain at a brisk pace and we were lucky to have some siloes freed up in time for the barley and oats.
Josef's crews were feeding 15,000 feeder beeves and 12,000 feeder swine. They gobbled a lot of oats and some of the barley. I was contented when I read the daily reports, it was going to be a good year and it would be my last year in the state legislature. I promised my family that I would NOT stand for reelection.
The younger boys were growing like weeds, Billy and Jonathon were in their last classes at Heald's College and Glenn Ito was entering his freshman year in high school.
Albert was laughing at Glenn's frustration with school, it wasn't going fast enough to suit him.
Tommie Ito had just started at Heald's and, from his first reporting period, I am going to have to sit down with Albert and discuss something that I have thought was going to be necessary.
If Tommie continues like he has started, I want to send him to the University for another two years so he can get his degree.
That young man is beyond smart!
As fall began, the grape harvest started down in Ripon and David wants to hold a Harvest Festival.
I told him to go ahead and plan it.
I am running short-handed right now with Tommie away at school, my step-brother, Billy, is filling in as best he is able; he has been managing fruit sales in addition to filling in for Tommie.
For the first time, canned peaches are out selling the fancy fresh peaches or fresh frozen peaches. We still are sending fresh peaches to Chicago, the fresh fruit market remains very profitable and, between our chillers and the new refrigerated cars the railroad is using, there is very little loss.
Our Farm Gold Peaches command a premium and the broker is always asking that we ship more.
Chapter 2 - FALL FESTIVITIES
By mid-September, the weather had begun to cool off and we were deep into the grape harvest. David planned on a Harvest Festival for the last weekend in September and he and Josef have had their heads together in planning. David treats Josef as an equal, despite having a Doctorate Degree and Josef is truly coming into his own.
Josef always was a "go-getter" but his management skills and sophistication is becoming noticeable. He is equally at home discussing the merits of his cheese with various wines as he is describing why vegetable tops make the butter more yellow! Heinz, of course, busts his buttons every time someone mentions his son and his successes. I plan on promoting Josef to Vice President of Cattle and Dairy Operations at the next board meeting, although, he is even better than that!
I went down to Ripon for the Harvest Festival, we leased the vacant property across the county road for parking this year, I didn't think making the sheriff unhappy with us a second time was a very good idea. Roberta and I got there at about 11 am and the parking lot was jam-packed. I had to go around the area a couple of times before I found a space to park the car.
I found out later that they had saved a place for us behind the winery, but nobody had remembered to tell me about it.
The grounds were wall-to-wall people, many of them carrying tote-cartons with bottles of wine in them. The tasting room and the sales office were doing a land-office business and David had winery employees hauling cases of wine into the sales room to replenish the shelves!
I looked at him, he had a harried look on his face and he was trying to restock the shelves faster than the customers were putting bottles in their carts!
Farm Gold Ripon Wine was fast becoming a favorite.
David told me that a wholesaler out of San Francisco had purchased a thousand cases for a group of restaurants in San Francisco, especially Fisherman's Wharf. It was going to nearly wipe him out of Cabernet and Petit Syrah wines and they were just starting to crush this year's crop.
Last year's crop was still aging, so it was going to be a while before those two varieties were again available.
Josef was standing, beaming; his cheeses were flying across the counter as fast as the six clerks could ring up the sales. He told me that he had called for two more trucks of cheese. They were nearly out and it was not quite lunchtime yet!
Roberta was beaming, she considered Josef her honorary son and I had told her of my plans for the young man.
Heinz was standing nearby, his eyes were glowing in happiness and his boy knew that his Papa was proud!
The next day was Sunday and the Festival did not open until 2 pm, folks started lining up at the gates before noon in the hot sun.
Some enterprising boys from Blount Farm went through the crowd selling lemonade. I heard later that they had cleared over $5,000!
They had used the Farm's trucks to haul the cauldrons and ice to make the lemonade, but I said nothing, they were hustling their own spending money!
After it was all over, I sat down with David and was amazed at the amount of wine he had sold. I was going to have to revise my opinion of wineries.
Josef had just about emptied his warehouse of packaged cheese, he would be hard-pressed to supply our regular customers for a couple of weeks while he rebuilt his supplies, but it certainly put our products on the map!
School was beginning the fall term, we still had about 40 children at Carl Ito Children's Center and I was worried that their lives didn't have enough fun in it. I had read that the Ringling Brothers Circus was coming to Redding, so I put our telephone operator to locating their business agent.
That afternoon, I got a call from a Fred Tankersley, who said he was the assistant booking agent for Ringling Brothers, Barnum and Bailey Circus.
I explained my idea to him and, I could tell it affected him.
He replied, "Sir, I grew up in an orphanage in Ohio, I wouldn't wish that on any child, supposing I book some animal acts, clowns and a parade of elephants and wagons pulled by Clydesdales for your kids. The kids can ride in the wagons and we can set up a tent, if you have a space, for the animal acts and the clowns?"
I replied, "That would be great, we can put you in the pasture right next to the Children's Home. What will the charges be?"
The man replied, "Sir, I have been authorized to tell you there will be no charge."
The booking office sent us a box of fliers and posters to be put up and, by the time a string of railroad cars pulled onto Blount's Bluff siding, the excitement at Carl Ito House and all over the Farm was running at a fever pitch.
We decided to also invite the children in Marysville and, of course, all the children on the Farm. The minute they saw those railcars, with the circus logo painted on the sides, all hope of naptime was lost!
In fact, that Friday, they might have just as well cancelled both grade school and high school classes. The only subject on the children's minds was CIRCUS!
Bright and early Saturday morning, the children somehow got word that a parade was forming up. Breakfast was forgotten and parents were badgered into bringing their children from Marysville.
There must have been 500 children standing at the fence as the elephants were led from their paddock and the huge Clydesdale Horses were hitched to the bright red and white wagons.
The wagons had seats and the few children who could not find a seat were placed in the clown's "funny cars" and they went whizzing around on the parade route.
There was even an old-time steam calliope that began shrieking out a tune as the parade formed up. There was a drum and bugle squad that began to play and the Drum Major twirled his baton and started the parade.
The clown's in their funny cars and passengers whizzed around and the exhausts popped and banged to the children's delight. The parade took them through Marysville and back to the Circus Grounds, where all the children were unloaded and escorted to seats inside the tent.
It was a two-hour show, Roberta and I were in tears at the happiness the children displayed. I looked around us, there were no dry eyes among the adults watching the children's delight.
I located Mr. Fred Tankersley, he was a young man and he was enjoying the show as much as the children. I insisted he take my check for $10,000 to be used at some other location to provide children with as much fun as our children were having.
There was little sleep that night at the Carl Ito Center, the children were too busy discussing the different clowns, the marching elephants and the giant horses.
Chapter 3 - END OF THE YEAR
The year was winding down and I spent several days planning my End of Year Report. I first made several calls up to Davis and the University of California there.
Once I had all my information put together, I started working on the "Meat and Potatoes" part of my report. It was a report that was going to make a lot of us happy, but I had some special plans for Tommie Ito and Josef Heinz.
The next Wednesday was our Annual end-of-year meeting, so I got all my paperwork together and told Tommie and Joseph that I wanted them both to attend the meeting.
They looked at me kind of funny, like maybe a few of my marbles had come loose, but, they agreed to attend.
Roberta knew what I was planning and she asked Yoshi Ito if she would help hostess the meeting. That woman is getting sneaky in our old age!
I opened the meeting by telling them that the corporation had cleared $61 million for 1957 and that I had several projects I wanted to progress with.
I asked Josef Oscar Heinz to stand up.
Josef's Daddy, Heinz, was sitting in the back row and I knew he was a little hard of hearing, so I spoke loudly and clearly, "Joseph Heinz, I am appointing you Vice President of Blount Farms, Incorporated in charge of all Sales."
There was a gasp from the back row and a "VOT?"
I laughed and said, "Yes, Poppa Heinz, your boy is all grown up now and he has earned this promotion. He is almost as good as you were!"
Heinz rushed to the front of the room and hugged Josef, then turned to me and said, "Nien, Colonel, he ist ban better dan me!"
Josef's eyes were still kind of glazed when he sat down in his chair.
Tommie was looking at me and squirming in his seat, wondering what rabbit I was going to pull out of my hat for him.
Albert had a grin on his face, nearly ear to ear and Tommie was looking daggers at his Dad.
I announced that Tommie had a scholarship to finish his degree at the University of California at the Davis Campus in Farm Management Science.
When Yoshi gasped, it was the first time that either Tommie or Albert had known she was in the room, they both rushed to Tommie, who was shaking like a leaf and looked as if he were going to fall over.
When all the congratulations were over with, we got down to the business of running the corporation. We finalized the construction of the new bakery, the purchase of additional acreage for the vineyard and a multitude of smaller items until we came to the last item on my agenda.
I stood up and said, "I propose that we establish a medical care plan for our employees and that every employee be allowed a week of paid sick leave for every 10 years of employment. In addition, I propose we enlarge the medical department at the Carl Ito House so that all employees and their families be allowed to be taken care of there for minor illnesses without having to go to the hospital."
There were questions about these last items, but nobody was against them, so they all passed. It really was not any change as we had always paid our employees' medical bills and also their families, too. But, now, they all knew it before they got sick, not while they were laid out in a bed, wondering how they were going to pay the bills.
The history of the Blount Family and their Farm will continue, perhaps sometime in the future their story will be brought current.