One of a series
His beloved Chamber of Commerce played the Anniversary Waltz over the weekend to help Steve Rose, their leader, to celebrate 25 years since, due to a confluence of unsuspecting circumstances, he became President and CEO.
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Birth to death, he was expected to carry on the family’s upholstery business. He might have except for changes beyond his reach.
Why, he was asked, did he want to lead the Chamber?
Ever poised with a lightning quip, the funloving Mr. Rose smiled wanly this time. “I needed to make a living,” he said. “At Christmas 1986, I became sick and was hospitalized. While in the hospital, the stress of the family business I was involved in became too much. At the age of 40, I eventually decided it wasn’t worth it anymore.
“I closed the doors, and I went to seek out other things.”
What was the source of Mr. Rose’s stress?
Ever candid, he did not disappoint.
“Do you want me to be honest?” he wondered.
“The upholstery business had changed on employees while my parents were running it. They came here from Germany prior to the war. When they opened the business in 1947, a year after my (late) twin brother and I were born, you had a lot of European craftsmen and people who had learned the trade here.
“During the late 1970s and ‘80s, there was a switch to more of the Hispanic immigrant community who would not learn English. It became much more difficult to explain the work process to them.
“I had a tough time communicating with them,” Mr. Rose said.
“It caused a lot of internal production issues. I felt I couldn’t maintain the standards I had been taught by my parents, and it wasn’t worth it.”
(To be continued)
