Holly and I first met Tom and Dee around 45 years ago when I became a member of Tom's staff at Speed Queen in Ripon, Wi. Running a business with nearly 2000 employees is a demanding job but Tom, with his hard work growing up in Ohio and experienc in the Marine Corp, never let it get the best of him.
Those were challenging times and work demanded long hours together on planes travelling to our plants and many other destinations. Often times we spent more hours at work together than we had with our families.
I can truthfully say that Tom saw the best in me and supported me through some difficult times in my personal life. This is truly, to me the passing of an era.