Life Lessons of Determination
It’s easy to say that parents of Olympic athletes are incredibly proud of their children. Bloomsdale Excavating employee Joe Fischer and his wife Kim can say the same of their daughter Sarah. Joe has worked for BE for seven years. For those unfamiliar with Sarah’s story, she contracted bacterial meningitis when she was 3 1/2 months old and at 10 months she suffered a stroke.
The prognosis was grim; doctors didn’t expect that she would ever walk. Fast forward to today. Sarah has participated in the Special Olympics for the last five years through the Ste. Genevieve R-II School District. Joe says she has come a long way since her first competition where she had to walk with the assistance of her teacher.
Sarah competes in the Special Olympics in Cape Girardeau in both the spring and in the fall. She likes bowling the best. The Spring Olympics are held at the Show Me Center in Cape. This past April, Sarah competed in the 30-meter independent walk and the t-ball toss. Yes, Sarah proved doctors wrong and walks independently. Sarah won silver in the toss and gold in the walk.
She was very proud of her accomplishment, as were all her fans – especially Dad. Joe says Sarah has faced many challenges that they didn’t think she would be able to handle. She has surprised them all with her determination and perseverance.
Kim says the Special Olympics is a great event and shares her thoughts, “It’s amazing to see all these individuals get to do events and sports that without Special Olympics they would never experience. It’s also great for the parents and care givers of the participants. We see these kids and adults struggle daily with life. But on this day – everyone is the same and everyone gets to do the best they can and still feel the pride of the winning and getting that GOLD or SILVER medal. The whole day puts a warm glow in your heart.”
For more information on the Special Olympics, visit their website at www.specialolympics.org.
BE Holds 8th Charity Golf Tournament
On Wednesday May 18, 2011, Bloomsdale Excavating held its 8th Annual Charity Golf Tournament at the Ste. Genevieve Golf Course in Ste. Genevieve, MO. Thirty-four teams enjoyed a day full of fun that raised $33,173 for Pony Bird, Inc. – a private, non-profit organization that supports severe to profound mentally and physically disabled individuals through residential care, adult day programming, recreational and community activities, and respite care. Pony Bird homes have been in the Jefferson County communities of Mapaville since 1977 and De Soto since 2005. For more information on Pony Bird, Inc, please visit their website at www.ponybird.org.
Additional donations of $3,086 were raised for The MASTERS – The Missouri Association of State Troopers Emergency Relief Society, whose mission is to assist the families of Missouri State Highway Patrol who have fallen in the line of duty. For more information on The MASTERS, please visit their website at www.themastersmo.org.
Living with an Attitude of Gratitude
One meaning of the word mission is “a specific task with which a person or group is changed”. Bloomsdale Excavating employee Bill Priemeyer has been a part of four mission trips to Belize, Central America. Bill has worked with a team that has transformed the lives of many Belize residents. In doing so, he has experienced a deep change within himself.
Past trips have found him accompanied by his wife, Debbie, and other family members. His most recent trip took place over Thanksgiving 2010. This trip was particularly special as he was able to bring his 17-year-old daughter Abby. Trips are typically a week long and one finds themselves completely immersed into the country’s culture. Long and intense days full of sweat and labor are rewarded by the appreciation shown by residents.
Bill has been involved with Hand in Hand Ministries, the organization responsible for planning these mission trips. In Belize, one of the responsibilities of the group is to build a home for a family in need. The mission doesn’t stop there. The group is building for change and strives to help these people beyond providing a new habitat. They take part in other community activities while on these trips, such as working in soup kitchens and most notably, working in an outreach center with children affected or infected with AIDS.
Mission work is something Bill considered as a child. He became even more interested as a college student where he met his future wife. Bill and Debbie are married and have three children whom they’ve raised to have “an attitude of gratitude”. These mission trips have only reinforced those values.
Bill has dedicated himself to this ministry and helping the people of Belize. In return, spending time on these missions has taught him to slow down and be present. He has gained a new appreciation for the importance of balance in his own life and how that applies to his family, friends and colleagues.
All of Us are Born for a Reason
When you drive up to the corporate headquarters at Bloomsdale Excavating, there’s no doubt it’s an impressive sight. What’s even more impressive is to think this office was once housed in the breezeway of a green, ranch home on Highway 61.
Marvin Drury spent many late nights in that breezeway, bidding jobs and doing paperwork. Days were spent on the jobsite where projects worked six days a week. At that time, the union only allowed eight-hour days.
He had a routine for entering a jobsite. First was to check and make sure everything was safe. Second was to find a way to make it more productive. Safety on a jobsite followed a common sense approach and didn’t have the requirements or training found on today’s sites. He made a point to say the hard work and dedication to safety found today at Bloomsdale Excavating has definitely proven to be a success.
One of the projects he found particularly interesting was in Gads Hill, MO. The company was supposed to construct railroad siding in a rock quarry for MO Pacific Railroad. This was also the site where five members of the Jesse James gang held up the train in 1874. According to Jesse’s widow, his share was one-fifth of $2000 and used to finance their wedding and honeymoon trip. Marvin remembers digging and finding the old timbers from the train station in that area. Other notable findings on jobsites over the years include Indian relics and arrowheads.
During Marvin’s working years, most jobs were close to home. However, he was involved in several businesses and it took quite a bit of time away from his wife, Ethlyn and their six boys. His hard work and determination was rewarded. He officially retired in January of 1990. He is extremely proud that he was able to build a stable company that is able to provide jobs for his family, including his children and grandchildren. He speaks highly of the caliber of employees found in the company today.
Marvin and Ethlyn have enjoyed extensive traveling during retirement. Most of they time they took long trips in their motor home. You’d find them in convoys, driving as far as Alaska, Mexico and Nova Scotia. They’ve even traveled with their motor home on trains and a barge. Current travel plans find them in Florida two to three months out of the year. Keep in mind, that even over 20 years after retirement, he still looks at jobsites along his travel routes. He’s quick to judge whether someone is being productive and using their time effectively, whether or not it’s a BE site. He still enjoys visiting company jobsites today and meeting with current employees. One of his biggest retirement projects was the development of Lake Lasata.
The lake has been a wonderful gathering place for friends and family. To date, the family includes 22 grandchildren, 29 great-grandchildren and one great-great. (It was discussed we combine the great and the great-greats since he’s already a “great” guy!)
Marvin and Ethlyn have made significant contributions to charity over the years. He said it was a lesson learned from his parents, “if someone needs it worse than you, give it to them.” They are strong supporters of St. Agnes School and Church.
They developed the Bloomsdale Catholic Foundation several years ago to help sustain the parish school. Marvin counted out five generations that have attended the school located in Bloomdale, MO.
They have also contributed to Pony Bird and Sisters of the Most Precious Blood. It’s important to them that these groups are not forgotten. They are generous in their support of the Ste. Genevieve County Memorial Hospital and St. Jude’s Children’s Hospital. Marvin referred to St. Jude’s founder Danny Thomas’ famous quote. “All of us are born for a reason, but all of us don’t discover why. Success in life has nothing to do with what you gain or accomplish for yourself. It’s what you do for others.” It seems that those words were spoken with Marvin Drury in mind.
Field of Dreams
With reputation comes responsibility. A number of years ago Bloomsdale Excavating’s reputation for being a leader in the community where we live and work led to the extensive involvement in the planning and execution of building a new sports complex for the Rolla school district. The result was the completion of one of the finest high school baseball fields in the entire state of Missouri. BE was one of a multi-member team coupled with other like-minded community leaders to see this vision become a reality. “If you build it they will come” is the famous line from “Field of Dreams” staring Kevin Costner, who heard voices while in his Iowa cornfield that directed him to build a baseball field. It seems as though the voices are back, this time promptings are for the girls, not in Iowa but in Rolla, MO. While the boys have been enjoying their baseball field for several years, now it’s the girl’s turn. Tom Manion heard the voice. Not in the cornfield however, this time it was a phone call from Dr. Aaron Zalis, superintend of the Rolla School District. Dr. Zalis was inquiring if Bloomsdale Excavating would be willing to help with the planning and building of a girls softball field as we had with the boys baseball field. With reputation comes responsibility or the ability to respond, and respond we did. Tom Manion brought the request to ownership and ownership graciously agreed to be involved again. The process began with Jay Maben doing the “voodoo that he do”. Topos of the existing ground and overlaying various designs until we got the footprint right. At this time all the initial grading is complete along with all the structures, dugouts, backstops, irrigation. As we say in the industry, “all that’s left is the finishing” and finish we will do when weather permits. In any ball field it is the “foot print” that is so important to get right. In business and in life the same is true. It’s the positive image or the “foot print” that we leave that is as important as anything we do.
Demonstrating Teamwork, Integrity and Performance
From time to time we like to pass along letters we receive indicating we’ve excelled in the area of client satisfaction . Here are a couple we’d like to share:
From the Missouri Department of Transportation (MoDOT)
Subject: J5P0844 and J5P0844B Quality of Work
Contract No. 070727-502
Job No. J5P0844 & J5P0844B
Route 50, Cole Co.
I felt compelled to write this letter to commend your company and personnel on its quality of work on a recent job you had with our office. The job consisted of 2 roundabouts, new intersection, new bridge, Pipes, Class C and Class A, and a development of a new Wal-Mart site for their building with a City Street, and 3 large MSE walls.
I dealt with you, Rick Hofstetter, Ethan Bryant, Ed York, Jay Maben, Jeff Becker, Fred Shiver and Berry Hance.
The personnel you had assigned to the job always conducted themselves in a professional manner. Although we didn’t always agree on everything, we could always air out our differences and come to a conclusion on a plan of attack. The supervision of the job was exceptional and anything that was asked by my inspectors or myself was addressed in a timely manner.
We had several issues on the project with design errors that were caught by Ed York and Jay Maben. On other projects that had Contractor Surveying we have had some problems with quality of workmanship, but this was not the case on this project. This was the best Contractor Surveying I have had on any of my projects as far as Knowledge of surveying and actually caring about the project, which is a breath of fresh air.
Your Company should be proud of the personnel you have working for your company and Management of your Company.
Again I appreciate all the work done on the project and I hope to have your company on more projects with our construction office in the future.
Sincerely,
Cary Armour
Senior Construction Inspector
Terry Imhoff
Resident Engineer
From CCS Group, Inc. (Creative Construction Solutions)
Re: Jefferson County R-VII High School
As you are aware, the new Jefferson High School was completed within budget and opened on schedule in August of this year. This was an incredible accomplishment from a schedule standpoint, made possible in good part by Bloomsdale’s commitment to performing its two contracts on a highly compressed schedule.
Based on Bloomsdale’s performance on the first site grading package, CCS Group took a risk in recommending that Bloomsdale be awarded the subsequent site utilities and paving contract, even though it was not the low bidder.
I am pleased to report that our risk was rewarded with superior performance in completing the work that was necessary to allow the building contract to begin on time, as well as exceptional cooperation in coordinating its paving work with the building contractor in order to open school on time.
Both projects were handled by Bloomsdale with skill, professionalism, honesty and integrity that is very rare in this business. We truly appreciate your efforts.
Based on the capabilities shown by your entire staff, I will not hesitate to wholeheartedly recommend Bloomsdale Excavating to any owner considering your services.
Thank you for all your efforts. Best wishes for the New Year.
Sincerely,
CCS Group, Inc.
Craig A. Lindquist
President
Job well done Team BE!
A Note from Mom …
Charity plays a big role at Bloomsdale Excavating. Our employees truly enjoy helping others. For many years, we have been fortunate enough to work with the residents and families of PonyBird. It’s always rewarding to hear what they have to say. Thank you Nathan’s mom for the following letter:
Dearest Bloomsdale Excavating Employees:
I’d like to take this opportunity to first thank you for your dedication and compassion to the residents of PonyBird. You see, my son Nathan calls PonyBird home, and if it were not for folks like you, it would not be the wonderful place that it is. For you see, PonyBird is much more than just a building with four walls and your every-day employees. It is a place called home … one where individuals take care of our family of special ones with the love and devotion that I as a parent would. But they are young and energetic and can take care of them better than sometimes we are parents can. And its because of employees like those at Bloomsdale Excavating that give as well, to make sure these individuals can live the quality of life that they do. Sure, you could do other things and help other agencies, but you have chosen PonyBird as your way to give back to the community, and for that I say thank you. Individuals such as yourselves are very hard to find these days … individuals that give from their heart to help those less fortunate. I pray that God will truly bless you and your families for the good work that you do. Don’t ever think that it goes unnoticed for it does not. I know that you give because you care. And for that I wish that much health and happiness comes your way. Again, please accept this heartfelt letter as a token of my appreciation, and please forgive me that I am not there in person to read it to you. I thank you so very much for everything you do … and the wonderful way in which you do it.
Thanking you from my heart and Nathan’s, I remain Sincerely Yours.
Retiree Spotlight: Ralph Drury
When you walk into the museum of Bloomsdale Excavating, look to the left and you’ll notice a large portrait of a familiar face. That smile belongs to none other than Ralph Drury.
Ralph began working for Bloomsdale in 1946. He was in high school and at the time, BE was a feed store. Business was a bit slow so he worked for a shoe factory during the winters of 1948 and 1949. He was in the service from May 1, 1951, to August 5, 1952. Upon his return, he began full-time employment at Bloomsdale Excavating as a laborer, working with the backhoe operators and running a hi-lift. He supervised projects at River Cement and LaRoche Industries to name a few. He officially retired in 1996.
Ralph and his wife Lucille have five children, 13 grandchildren, 19 great-grandchildren. Ralph is incredibly proud of his family and their diverse career paths, including the field and game industry, construction, medical field and education.
Over the years the family has enjoyed many adventures, including vacations. Ralph has taken his family to Lake of the Ozarks fifty out of the last 53 years. They’ve also traveled to Gulf Shores, Washington state, Indiana, and California. At the time of the interview, he was extremely excited about their upcoming Alaskan cruise. He is taking all of his children, grandchildren, spouses and significant others to celebrate their 60th wedding anniversary. One of the highlights of the trip will be a helicopter glacier tour. They took the same trip 5 years prior. It was such a great time that they voted to repeat the trip.
Other post-retirement activities have included building a subdivision in Bloomsdale. He is also active with the Bloomsdale City Council and is involved with St. Agnes Parish.
One of his fondest memories involves his nephew, Tom Drury. At one time, Ralph was the police judge in Bloomsdale. He determined the ticket or punishment for law breakers. It was a pretty uneventful job, as he had only a small handful of customers, nephew Tom being one. Seems he was driving a Jeep too fast and was able to outrun the authorities by cutting across the creek on Jersey Lane. Sounds like Tom was fortunate to have an uncle for the police judge!
Ralph was an active member of the Associated General Contractors. He served on the board at Jefferson City for 18 years and the St. Louis board for three. Ralph and Lucille are generous supporters of St. Agnes School. They were instrumental in helping fund the first computer lab at St. Agnes when the new addition was built. Quite a few of his great-grandchildren currently attend the school. His daughter, Linda teaches third grade and daughter Barb is the Pre-K teacher.
While speaking of his own academic experiences, he admitted that he was not a fan of typing. It seems he had a deal worked out in high school where he provided the girls with transportation and, in turn, they would do his typing assignments.
Ralph shared many stories about his childhood and life in Bloomsdale, including picking blackberries and time spent with his siblings and parents. His favorite quote is from his grandfather, “Have fun every day. If not, that’s one less day you’re going to have fun.”
Golf Tournament Raises Nearly $33,500 For Pony Bird
Bloomsdale Excavating Company, Inc. hosted its sixth annual charity golf tournament May 20 at the Ste. Genevieve Golf Course.
Bloomsdale Excavating, tournament sponsors and 36 teams of 144 golfers raised nearly $33,500 to support renovations to Pony Bird’s Mapaville homes.
Special guest, Sgt. Al Nothum of the Missouri State Highway Patrol, joined the tournament to support Pony Bird and promote membership in “The Masters.”
This program allows Missouri citizens to support a benevolent fund for the financial aid of a trooper’s immediate surviving family members in the event he or she is killed in the line of duty.
Prizes were awarded to the first, second and third place teams in Flights A, B, and C, and for special event winners.
Longest drive awards were presented to John Matlock (men’s) and Becky Henebry (women’s). Dana Hockensmith earned the award for closest to the pin.
Skins winner, Independent Concrete Pipe Company, donated its winnings back to Pony Bird. Additional tournament events included “Double Your Money” and “Team Red, White and Blue.”
Bloomsdale Excavating and the Drury family have been a support team for Pony Bird, Inc. over the years. Their community service also includes supporting organizations such as the American Cancer Society and the World Wildlife Bird Sanctuary.
Pony Bird, Inc. is a private, non-profit organization, which provides residential, recreational, educational, and adult day programming services to individuals who are non-ambulatory with profound to severe physical and mental disabilities.
The following are tournament winners.
A Flight-1, Austin Powder Company (Mike Larkin, Lanny Largent, Stain Blair and Bob Giovando); 2, Castle Contracting (Josh Lehde, Mike Myers, Jeff Grass and Pete Buback); 3, Plattin Creek Excavating (Mike Harman Jr., Paul Beatrici, Matt Clark and Mark Hartman).
B Flight-1, Millstone Bangert, Inc. (Rick Tibbles, Chris Wolf, Ben Sanchez and Rick Grey); 2, Wachovia Securities, LLC (Ron Burnside, Pat Martin, Ray Politte and Jerry Flagg); 3, Simpson Construction Materials (Jason Rainey, Tom Simpson, Brian Boyer and Steve Simpson).
C Flight-1, Schneider Electric (Randy Jansen, Bob Jansen, Steve Ruff and Kevin Lamb); 2, Bloomsdale Welding Company, Inc. (Keith Johnson, Jim Osman, Lou Schilly and Phil Rogers); 3, Rudd Equipment Company (Jeff Southworth, Ed Moss, C.B. Schiff and Mark DeBrosse).
Longest drive (men’s)-John Matlock.
Longest drive (women’s)-Becky Henebry.
Closest to the pin-Dana Hockensmith.
Skins-Independent Concrete Pipe Company (Lex Lindholm, Dan Swidrak, Jack Gorzny and Rick Hofstetter).
Welcome to Bloomsdale Excavating!
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