Tibby

Women have many faults,
But men have only two.
Everything we say,
And everything we do.

Eulogy for Tibby delivered Jan 1,2005

It was by divine providence that I ended up working at MFX.  Shelia Ellis worked there and one Sunday morning after church in June of 1977 she told me Donnie Thibodeau had moved to Fryeburg and Tib might need a salesman.  I asked my Dad at lunch that day about Tib and he said "Ask Owen Smith."  So I called Owen and he said that if Tib would hire me, one year with him was as good as an MBA from any college in the country.  So I called Tib and went to see him.  He kind of looked like a college professor......blue and white short sleeve shirt, pen in the blue-stained pocket (he had a nasty habit of forgetting to put the top on those felt pens,) blue knit tie complete with a coffee stain and an oversized paper clip for a tie clasp, khaki pants, and of course, brown wing tip shoes.

We talked a few minutes about my college education and work experience when suddenly he gave me the final exam.  He asked, "Would you rather have something bought and not sold or something sold and not bought?"  "Bought and not sold," I said confidently.  He leaned back, put the pen in this mouth, smiled and said "Anybody can be a buyer, I need someone who can sell.  But you can start Monday because you are Arnie's boy."  (Bob Sirois and Dave Whitaker failed that test as well, just so you know.)  "What time do we start on Monday?" I asked.  "6 am" he said.

Monday morning at 10 minutes to 6 I met Tib on the front steps.  He showed me how to make coffee, where my desk was and gave me my customer list, which was the entire Blue Book.  For those of you who do not know what the Blue Book is, it's a list of every produce company in the United States and Canada.

Tuesday morning at 10 minutes to 6 when I arrived, Tib had the coffee made and was reading the paper.

Wednesday morning at 20 minutes to 6... I was waiting for Tib on the front steps.  We went upstairs, made coffee and split up the paper to read.

Thursday morning at 20 minutes to 6.... Tib had the coffee made and was talking on the phone to some poor soul who cound not find Soldier Pond and his truckers map.

Friday morning at 5:30.... I met Tib on the front steps and told him that I would see him at 6 the next morning.  If someone had not called a truce, we might still be there!

Tib was known for his sales sayings like "Tell to sell, select to collect", "Work smarter, not harder", and "Information is knowlege...do you have enough of both."

Then there were his favorite Bible verses, "I say ah" (Isaiah), chapter 4 verse 2.....With all thy getting, get understanding."  Actually, that verse if found in Proverbs, but he just liked saying, "I say ah."

One day, after telling a buyer I could not deliver a load to Raleigh, he told me another Bible story.  He said that Sampson killed 10,000 Philistines with the jawbone of an ass, and that 10,000 sales were killed everyday with the same instrument.  That was a real confidence builder for a young salesman!

Spring was his favorite time of year.  You knew it was close by how many fish he would draw on his order sheets.

When things started to warm up in March, he would say that the good news was that spirng moved north 7 miles a day.  The bad news was that it had just left Jacksonville (Fla).  And if you wanted winter to go quickly, sign a $250,000 note in November that was due in April.  The months just seemed to fly by.

He was comfortable with princes and paupers, all men were his equal.  "Be careful who you step over on the way up the ladder of success," he would say, "you may need them to break your fall on the way down."

His leadership style was that of a servant leader....never asking you to do anyting he had not done himslf several times, pushing you to succeed everyday by knowing your customers and taking a chance every once in a while to make sure they got what they needed.  For every problem you faced he had a story to tell.  He would never GIVE you the answer, he would LEAD you to it.  I always said that he gave me enought rope to swing like Tarzan or hang like Jesse James.

Tib's body may be gone now and we grieve that we will not see that smile and that twinkle in his eye, but we have so many memories, stories and lessons learned that his life will never end.  He lives on in the sayings and stories I have passed on to friends and family.  I know that each of you have something you treasure and will make them family heirlooms as well.

Tibby, we love you. Thanks for everything and I'll see you at 6.

Bob Davis

A VISIT WITH THE POPE !!!!!

(Tib would share this story when the topics of football and religion would pop up.)

The pope knew nothing about American football and when Joe Montana led the Notre Dame Fight Irish to a national championship, the pope invited them to the Vatican.

When the team was introduced to the Pope he asked to speak with the captain who was Joe Montana.  The coach told Joe to be sure to be respectful of the Pope at all times.

The Pope asked Joe if the game of football was a rough sport, and Joe said that yes it was.  He asked if players got hurt and again Joe said yes.  The Pope then asked if that did not lead to swearing?  Joe said to the Pope he could explain it this way.

He said when they were playing for the national championship with only seconds remaining and they were on the USC 1-yard line.  He lined up behind the center and the ball was snapped to him.  The problem was that the ball never made it.  He explained that players were jumping all over one another, the bodies were piling up and he yelled "Where is the ball?"

Immediately the Pope jumped to his feet and exclaimed "Well where the hell was it?"

"He who's bread you eat, who's song you'll sing."

Before the days of crop insurance Tib would tell us that the only crop insurance you could buy was your spray program.

Many times we would ask Tib how to approach a business decision when it involved other companies or people.  Invariably he would give us this quote:

"Paddle your own canoe !!"

Each summer we would wonder what kind of year we would have, so Tib would repeat this story once in a while.

A young reporter, who was new to the the Presque Isle area, wanted to do a story on the upcoming winter.  He asked around about whom to interview and was told to go the Don Sanapass out in Chapman as he was a Micmac Indian and surely would know Nature's signs.

As fall approached the reporter made a trip out to Chapman to find Don.  He found him working on a basket and set down to ask a few questions.  Finally he asked him what kind of winter we would have.  Don said it would be a long, hard, cold winter.  The reporter asked if he knew because the squirrels were putting away more nuts, of the caterpillars were extra wooly, or if the leaves on the trees turned early.  Don said it was none of those things.  The reporter asked, "Well what is the sign?  Don answered, "White man cut much wood !!!!"

"There's never been contract made that cannot be re-negotiated."

Lincoln Meena was the head potato buyer at Winn Dixie Stores in Jacksonville, Florida.  Tib called him 4-5 times every day to get orders that were wired in from the various divisions for Raleigh, NC to Miami, Fla.

Found on the wall of Lincoln Meena's office at Winn Dixie headquarters in Jacksonville, Florida.

"I had no shoes and complained, until I met the man who had no feet."

A story about Tib when he was 18 years of age as recorded in the book "Pine, Potatoes, and People" by Helen Hamlin. 

Written in 1948, it is a history of Aroostook County, Maine.  I was telling someone Tib's account of this story and they said that it was written in a book.  We determined the author and title and went to a used bookstore. The copy I purchased was $10, but the jacket said it originally sold for $3.00.

Chapter XII.  "Bodadoes"  Pages 143-144.

Everyone living in a one-crop county feels the effects of the success or failure of that one crop.  The seasons of the year revolve around the planting, growing, and harvesting season.

Even the first date I ever had to go to the movies with a young gentleman was somewhat overshadowed  by the all-important potato crop...

  Larry Thibodeau is now a sales manager for the Maine Potato Growers in Presque Isle, which is a cooperative marketing orgaization for the farmers.  He is still a young man and one of the best informed and most competent potato men in the industry.  At the time he took me to the movies he was only eighteen and still in high schoool.  I was quite thrilled about the "date," but we had no more than found seats in the theatre when he excused himself to make a phone call.

"Just bought five carloads of potatoes," he whispered excitedly when he came  back and found his seat again in the dark, "for $2.10 a barrel.  Not bad, eh?"

Ten minutes later he was paged for a phone call, and when he stumbled over the five seats on the outside aisle again, he said he had sold them for $2.75 a barrel.  Then he sat and fidgeted, excused himslf again and rushed out.

"More potatoes?" I asked icily.

"Yeah," he said enthusiastically, "knew where I could get ten carloads at $2.35, so I grabbed them."

Half-way through the movies he departed again and sold those spuds.  While we were leaving the theatre he met someone he knew and I stood around shifting from one foot to the other while they carried on an endless conversation concerning a potato house.  Then Larry rushed me home, apologized profusely and explained something about a "big deal" he had just heard about.  Anyway, it wasn't a very good movie.

Larry's first big deal is typical of Aroostook potato speculation.  He had heard of a potato house at St. Francis, a little town above Fort Kent, with fourteen thousand barrels of potatoes in it that hadn't been sold.  The price of potatoes was sky rocketing and Larry hot footed it for St. Francis before someone else found out about it.  He  bought the whole lot, loaded a potato grader on the train and shipped them out at a profit of almost ten thousand dollars.

Within a few days he lost most of the fabulous sum on another deal of four thousand barrels of potatoes which he bought at a high price and was stuck with them when the market dropped again.

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This story was told to me by Tib more than once, but his story was a little different.  My recollection is this. 

After Tib and Helen entered the theatre he asked if she would like some popcorn or candy.  With an affirmative answer he headed for the popcorn stand.  While standing in line he noticed a farmer walking by the theatre he had been looking for.  Tib needed supply and this farmer had some unsold potatoes in Wallagrass a small town just south of Fort Kent.  Tib ran out the door to catch the grower and negotiate a price.  The grower said his potatoes were for sale, but he wanted Tib to see them first.  He said the freight was about to leave the station and if he wanted them he had better come now.  Tib looked at the theatre and then at the train.  He never looked back at the theatre again.  He said he bought the potatoes that night.