Pride and Passion

My sister, Carolyn Walls Brandt, in our family’s back yard with the family car (a 1950 Plymouth in the background). In this picture you can see the north walk-through gate with the native stone and concrete posts that Dad made. Carolyn is wearing the pretty red dress that Mom made from seven chicken feed sacks. 

Margaret Walls

  
Photo by  

Written by 
LeRoy Walls 
 

Our yard was fenced to keep the cows out, on the farm where I grew up. It had a walk-through gate on the north (for going to the barns, shed, woodpile and outhouse) and one on the south (for going to the hen house and to the driveway which led to the main road where we met the school bus and got our mail). The corner and gate posts for our yard could have been the round functional post oak or white oak type we cut for use in normal farm fencing. They could have been but instead my dad (Lloyd Walls) made six native stone and concrete posts.

Dad was a man who washed our car almost every Saturday even though the roads we drove on to church or to town were dirt roads that were usually dusty or muddy. Dad also insisted on keeping the saplings and brush cut out of our fence rows. I understood this since people saw these from the main road, but back then I could never understand why we had to dig out sprouts and thistles every year in our back pasture.

Mom (Margaret Douglas Walls) was one who took pride in our house, flowers, garden, sewing and in how her kids were dressed. She also took pride in how her children behaved although “pride” wasn’t always the emotion she felt from some of our actions.

There were few frills on our farm. The few examples like the rock posts and pretty dresses were those made with basic materials but with great pride in the crafting.

My parents’ passion for progress wasn’t always shared by me. There was little glory in picking rocks off of the fields, clearing land with a saw and axe or in digging out sprouts and thistles. Yet these activities (optional on some farms) repeated consistently over the years are how we increased yields in our fields and turned rough wooded hills into useful pasture acreage.

Our Woodpro entrance isn’t graced with any native stone posts but we do take pride in how our entrance and building looks. And while you may find a few sprouts and thistles in our back lot, I hope that you have already found that we are passionate about taking care of you—our customers. We are also passionate about completing and shipping on-time every item you order. This is clearly represented in our fill rate that has averaged 99% since 1993.

Our self-directed teams take time every day to tidy up their work area and to properly maintain their production equipment. The Woodpro team continues to reduce defects and over the past 10 years has shared over 10,000 ideas for improvement.

We on the Woodpro Team are regularly filled with pride as James Whetstine, Eddy Noll and my brother Glen frequently share with us descriptions of the excellent businesses throughout the United States who choose to display our Personalized Bath Cabinetry. We realize that your showrooms represent all your hard work as the Rock Gate Posts and Pretty Red Dresses of your business. Please know that we are honored that you have found us worthy of your valuable showroom space. We will do our best to deserve the trust you have given us. 

12/17/2001