Starting From Scratch
Ted and Ernie Manthei
worked hard to build their veneer business, enjoying growth and success in a
partnership of over twenty years. But in
late 1967 their veneer mill caught fire and burned to the ground. The tragedy made a lasting impression on all
the brothers.
“I jumped in my car and
ran down there just in time to see the roof cave in on the place,” said Mark
Manthei, President of Manthei Development.
“It was an emotional, dramatic time because I think all of us had a
strong identification with the veneer mill.
My dad and my uncle both had a really strong work ethic and they had raised
us with that same ethic. And we all
spent time working in that plant.”
Jim Manthei, now Senior
Vice President of Manthei Development Corporation began earning his title as a young
boy. “I had worked in the mill since I
was about seven or eight with my dad.
And when I was about ten two of my brothers and I bought a little
sawmill. We set it up out behind the
veneer mill.”
“That was actually our own
little business that we were running,” Mark added. “And of course it burned along with
everything else.”
“I remember very well when
it happened and I thought this is going
to change my life,” said Tim Manthei, President of Sky Valley Parks. “Oh, no.
This is an awful thing.”
But once again Ted and
Ernie found a way to turn a “negative” into something positive.
“They were both about at
retirement age and decided they didn’t have the energy to rebuild the mill,”
Ben Manthei told the camera. “So they
came to our generation and said if you guys would like to continue with the
business we will help you rebuild but you’ll have to run it from there.”
It would be a daunting
challenge but Tom Manthei remembers that all the brothers and cousins wanted to
take it on. “At that time ten of us
started into the business,” he explained.
“It was eight brothers plus two uncles.”
Rebuilding
the mill from the ground up turned out to be a formidable challenge.
Tom clearly described what
the new beginning was like. “None of us
really knew how to rebuild a veneer mill.
We didn’t know a lot about how to do business. Most of us were very young at the time. So, it was a time of tremendous turmoil and
conflict, and learning how to build a physical plant on one hand, and how to
work with each other on the other hand.
There was a lot of physical and emotional struggle going on while we
tried to figure out how to put all these elements together.”
“It was a very difficult
time,” remembered Dan Manthei, Senior Vice President of Manthei, Inc. “It was probably much more difficult for the
older generation than for the younger generation. We were a bunch of young kids coming in and
telling our uncles, our elders how to do things, and they did not accept that
very well.”
“Whenever you have a
problem in life, it’s also an opportunity God that has given you,” observed
Mark. “I think when you look at it that
way, this was an opportunity to rebuild the plant with all new equipment, and
all new systems, and with all new ways of doing things. We did have a little bit of a struggle with
some of the guys who had worked in the plant their entire lives because they
wanted to rebuild it just as it had been.
And some of us younger guys were thinking we should build a plant a
whole lot better than the old one.”
With a mutual desire to
work through all the issues of reconstructing the family business, and with unwavering
persistence, the Mantheis felt their way through those early years to
eventually build a viable, thriving business.
The conflicts they encountered along the way and the methods devised to
solve those conflicts would play an important role in shaping their future
business.
© 2012 Philip Kassel
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