Got The Honor Of Repairing The Slate Roofs

A Roofing Contractor that I always looked up to died last August. He was 80. Worked up till the time he died. Died from complications from a broken hip. Loading a lawn mower off his truck. The last 18 years he battled cancer. Went through the cancer treatments and worked the whole time.

The supply house opens at 7. A lot of times Louie and myself where there loading up supplies at 6:45 and gone before 7. Just gave the owner a list of what we took. We never really talked to each other. But he was definitely a roll model for me.

Went to the auction for his business. His son came right up to me and thanked me for coming. I never met his son, but he obviously knew who I was. That was an honor in itself. We talked a lot before the auction started. I told him how much his father's work ethic impressed me and how I want to go the same way. Doing what I love to do.

I bought a lot of his stuff. I definitely kept the auction moving by bidding. I would have bought more, but did not know where I would have put it all.

We came back on Monday to get the 1,800 slate and the 300 bundles of shingles, I had bought. When we got there his son asked me to fix the slate roofs on his father and mother's house, and his father's rental property's. Meant a lot to be asked. Will be one of those memory's that I will never forget. To fix the slate roofs of a man you looked up to. Louie Laub it was an honor to know you.

http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/mcall/obituary.aspx?pid=166424822[url]

Seen-it-all, I like to hear about people like that.

I just drove past a concrete job yesterday. A guy I know working by himself, 68 years old. Sold his buisness about 15 years ago. Worked for the guy for about 2 years to get him going. Then started to do his own work again by himself.

Nice. There is a local roofing contractor that advertised "In business since 1954" the same year I was born. Was still working at 75 years old with a crew. The last few years he only did small jobs with a buddy about his age. Used to see him at the coffee shop while going thru the drive thru but haven't seen him the past few months. I always admired his work ethic also. I should look him up and have a coffee with him before it's too late.

My wife's uncle just told me a story about a fellow he knew that was a partner in a large roofing company. He said the guy had fallen off the roof into a kettle of hot with one arm and shoulder burnt up to his neck, broke his leg and heel, broke his hip, walked on a piece of ISO that was extending out over the edge of the roof and fell two stories onto his head and spent 6 months in a coma. He went back to work each time. His partners bought him out at 70 years old and he got bored and bid a school roof contract at 76 years old and hired some kid off the street and did the whole job by himself. Outbid his old company in the process.

I admire these warriors going out in style.

Friends, they cheer you on when you cross the finish line first, they lift ya up when you're down, and they smack ya in the head when you're in the midst of an unwarranted pity party.

I'm a lucky guy to count you both as friends.

Mike,

You are on that list of people I look up to. The things that make me who I am are reinforced by watching successful people like yourself and picking up tips on how to improve.

My Dad gave me my work ethic, and the high standards of quality and always doing more then I am paid for.

You have the same work ethic, just does not show up in the same place. I wish I could work till 2am on a bid.

I am honored to be listed with Eric Gordon, Dennis Crookshanks, and the rest that were not mentioned. It was a fullfilling experience.

I wouldn't worry much on that account, Mike. People will stand up for you. When you strap on the bags every day and become personally indivisible from your product, there is a kind of integrity you can get no other way, but people need jobs and there is a kind of self-indulgence in it when you consider it from a certain angle. You're a lion-heart and you're willing to share. What you've done is a constant inspiration to me. I have plenty of courage and patience and fortitude, but you've shown me what I could have achieved if I'd had a little bit more.

That was a great story, Lefty. Made me a little sad, as I know that something like that will never be written about me.

But this I can say, getting the opporunities over the years to work with and/or know people like you, Eric Gordon, Dennis Crookshanks, and... well ya know how lists go, it's best to stop them before you forget someone... people that are just purely honest, for all that word can imply, about what they do and how they do it, with a passion that's more like love than anything else, well, it's just an honor.

There's an awful number of people in this business to whom an experience like yours would have meant nothing more than just an opportunity to pick up some equipment at bargain prices and celebrate the elimination of one more competitor, and you can tell that the best thing you got was something that filled your soul, not your warehouse.

Good for you.

BTW, the link doesn't work though. :blink:

That was nice Lefty. :)