"Family enterprise system also found in cherry processing" from the August 8, 1978 Door County Advocate
By JOHN ENIGL
Family enterprise system also found in cherry processing
By JOHN ENIGL
PART II
Ed Poehler and Dale Sinkler are a father and son-in-law team that operate the former Goldman processing plant just north of town, near Apple Valley Lanes.
Ed's pretty proud of what the family team, (which of course, includes his daughter,) has done. They are completing a new hydro-cooling section, developed largely by Gaylen LaCrosse, a local young man from Sevastopol. The process involves cooling of water in a concrete pit by running freon gas through tubes in the pit.
Ed took me directly to the hydrocooling area when we stopped at the plant.
"Dale and I learned that cherries pit best at 34 degrees Fahrenheit, and this device was designed to cool the pallets of cherries down to that temperature. The cooled water will run through hoses into the pallets. We expect to get a lot better quality using this process."
Ed's daughter had just finished taking some people on a tour of the plant and it was evident she, too, was deeply interested in this family affair.
"So you found a son-in-law you could get along with," I said.
Ed returned, "Well, let's say he puts up with me!"
It was evident that the Poehler-Sinkler combination is one that works, for the plant full of innovations, clean, and runs along smoothly.
Ed Poehler of Poehler-Sinkler by his new hydro-cooler
The family team situation is certainly well personified by the Ramstacks, who operate Chico Enterprises in the former Martin Orchard processing plant on County HH in the town of-Sevastopol.
Dick's ancestors were early settlers of the Brookfield-Elm Grove area, near Milwaukee. The Ramstack tavern, a landmark, still stands in Elm Grove. Dick was manager of Wisconsin Foods (now Krier Preserving) until he decided to go out on his own.
Dick and his family re-opened the Martin Orchard processing plant after it had been closed for several years. It was a monumental task to get together a crew that knew anything about processing cherries. Often a factory crew partially consists of experienced people who may have retired from other jobs but come out of retirement each summer for the cherry season. There is always someone who knows how everything works.
But the Ramstacks were faced with a situation where many of the hands had gone on to other jobs so they had to learn to do the work themselves. They were faced with the job of literally taking the plant "out of mothballs" and finding out what machinery and parts had deteriorated due to lack of use.
,Upon opening the plant, a huge conveyor belt broke, forcing them to fly in a replacement. They surmounted this and other difficulties with courage and determination, for the Ramstacks work closely as a family unit.
Last summer serves as a typical example of how the Ramstack family operation works.
Julie Ramstack Williams and her husband Jerry live in a primitive area of Arkansas but come back to assist in the cherry harvest. Jerry ran the fork-lift truck, unloading the pallets containing cherries from the field. Julie took the tare and recorded the Weight from the automatic scale.
Kerry Ramstack Parmentier contacted growers and ran the Sister Bay rrecuevubg statuib kicated at the old Fruit Growers Cooperative plant. (This plant last operated as Red Creek but the machinery was removed when it discontinued operation.)
Polly Ramstack Underwood now lives in the state of Washington but she comes back each year to do the bookkeeping.
Marian Ramstack is as much of a go-getter as Dick. She can hold her own anywhere, whether it be with the 400 or anyone else you could name. Many are the times the work at the factory runs into the late hours but she is as calm and capable as if she had a 9 to 4 job, always ready with a smile.
I once kidded Marian about missing the House and Garden Walk because she had to work. But she returned with, "Yes, I'd like to go. My house was on the Walk once, you know."
Dick is another person in this family affair who always maintains his dignity. He never seems to "lose his cool" as the young folks say. Dick talks in a leisurely way and gets people to do their job correctly.
The cleanliness of the plant, even the restrooms, reflects the family atmosphere at Chico's. But what impresses a grower is the friendliness and easy going nature of this family that works together.
In addition, the Ramstack family, along with Jeno's which purchases the output of the plant, host a dinner each year. Even processor competitors are invited to attend. It's an evening of fellowship that reminds me of the Reynolds parties of the 1930's and 40's. The Ramstacks help us to feel that there is a future in this Door county industry. Not only that, but we see clearly that nearly all of the growers and processors present at the dinner are a husband and wife combination, emphasizing again the "family affair" concept of our cherry ventures in the county.
Dick and Marian Ramstack of Chico Enterprises
Jim and Crystal Barnard are the latest entrants into the Door county cherry industry but the Barnard name has long been well-known in orchardy. Jim's father, Ray, was one of the few people in the county that made a living strictly from fruit farming, mainly cherries and apples. Only once did he work out, for three months in a shipyard, "To pay the taxes."
One of 10 children, Jim operated an apple orchard not far from the Illinois border but chose to return to Door county.
Jim worked out an agreement with Comstock of New York to supply pie cherries, and set up a receiving station at brother Bob's place last year on the southern edge of Egg Harbor township.
This year Jim set up a permanent installation at the former Charley Martens place 2 ½ miles north of Carlsville. The cherries are packed in ice and shipped to New York state for processing.
Jim is a very determined young man and says he's in the business of buying cherries to stay. He said he would be back in that business last year and he is, and his wife Crystal gives him her full support.
Crystal and Jim Barnard and daughter Susan of Comstock Foods
Ken Pearson bought the processing plant owned formerly by Mark Schlise and later, Norman LeFevre, near Maplewood. Strong family involvement and support were found in the case of all three.
The Frank Ullsperger family has long been associated with fruit growing and the promotion of cherry sales for Door county. In addition to running an apple and cherry orchard, Frank is a key man in the Krier Preserving Company. The Krier company has long been a family affair, originating in Belgium, Wis.
(Belgium is a community near Milwaukee populated largely by Luxembourgers, — emigrants from a tiny west European country located between Belgium and Germany. A Belgium resident told me that the early Wisconsin map makers inadvertently switched the name of the Belgian community in Kewaunee county with that of the Luxembourger community in Ozaukee county. The curious change stuck.)
A few years ago, a key Krier family member, Jerome, died unexpectedly. Frank Ullsperger paid him a tribute that emphasized the family influence of the Krier company.
"Jerome Krier was a man like Karl Reynolds. He was the kind of person you could meet, and he inspired confidence in you. He knew your name, he knew your wife's name, your kid's names and the name of your dog."
Frank's description was quite similar to that of a teacher friend of mine who came from Belgium. Wisconsin. From her, too, I got the impression that the family influence is important in the Krier company. Also, the Kriers involve themselves in many activities for the betterment of the community.
Herb Solway of Krier Preserving Co.
I learned from Frank Ullsperger that his own family has been in the orchard business for three generations. Frank's orchard is on the location of his grandfather Hatch's cherry orchard, the first in Door county, set out in the 1890's. Frank was on the board of directors of the Red Cherry Institute for 12 years and has held other positions that improved the growing and advertising of cherries. He knew all greats in the history of the cherry industry, and was a close friend of Karl Reynolds, key member of Reynolds Brothers Preserving Company, who lost his life in an airplane crash on Dec. 4,1948.
The Reynolds family operated Reynolds Brothers for many years, first processing peas, then cherries and apples. The plant, now abandoned, is about a mile west of Highway 42 on County HH in Sevastopol township.
Karl and Don Reynolds were two of the brothers who principally operated the plant. Brother Herb was a photographer. and to him we owe much of the photographic record of Door county of the 30's, 40's and 50's. He went along with Karl, who was a pilot, and photographed from the air the orchard of every grower who shipped cherries to Reynolds Brothers.
Hundreds of these aerial photographs are still in existence, and provide an excellent source to use for comparing the present day development of Door county with that of the past.
The influence of Karl Reynolds on the cherry industry and his beloved community deserves more than a casual reference. Therefore, I have asked the editor to allow me to do an in-depth story about him to commemorate his death 30 years ago next December. Although I knew Karl Reynolds only casually, my father knew him well, and ironically, is the person who is credited with seeing Karl's plane crash. He reported the crash and caused a search for the plane to be started.
Consequently, I am in the process of interviewing many people who knew Karl intimately, and have obtained pictures of Karl from his son, Tom. I would like to appeal to anyone else who knew Karl for information about this dynamic leader. Some say he would have been governor if he had lived.
One fairly young person who knew Karl well is Herb Solway, now part of the Krier organization. The Solway family has also been involved in the cherry growing and processing industry. Eli Solway was orchard superintendent for Reynolds Brothers until his death in 1958. Eli's ready smile and easy going manner made him well-liked by his men and they did a good job for him. Herb grew up with the orchard business and took over where his father left off at Reynolds. Kriers now benefits from these years of experience. His good humor reminds one of his father.
Other families were involved in the industry in the past. For example Sam and Sadie Goldman ran what is now Poehler-Sinkler. Sadie was a real lady, well respected and liked by the community. I recall in 1950 when I was running an orchard on Washington Island I needed a sprayer pump leather and Sadie gave me one to try out. She never billed it out and I forgot to pay for it. Years later I told her about it and she told me to forget about it. I guess Sadie often lost money by helping people. But she did well in the little processing plant, and she would be glad to see the improvements Ed and Dale have made.
Mike Miller, of course, will never be forgotten in the annals of cherry processing. Jewish, like Sadie and Sam Goldman, he had to overcome all the prejudices of those early days, and that made him try a little harder. I'll always remember my dad saying. "We have to give Mike some of the cherries too. We need the competition."
Unlike the Goldmans, where Sadie took over the business. Mike's first wife never appeared to be directly involved in the business. Neither did his second wife, whom he met in Israel after his first wife died. Rather, they were in charge of the home as is traditional among Jewish wives. In that way, by providing a comfortable home, a refuge, they were doing their part in supporting the family business operation.
Mike is gone, but those who knew him miss the little guy with the cigar, who would say, "Yes, I knew your father. I used to buy cherries from him."
Although not a family operation, Egg Harbor Orchards is an example of a partnership of kindred souls. Will Mitchell and Charley Sollenberger are two engineers who decided life was too short to spend it anywhere else than Door county. So they purchased the Spencer Eames orchard a half mile east of Egg Harbor on County Highway E. The Eames family operation had long been noted in the orchard business. In fact, Spencer Eames' orchard was the one where the fungicide Dodine (Cyprex) was first proven to be effective on apple trees.
The family affair anthology reaches into several other areas, as we shall in the last installment of this story.
Courtesy of the Door County Library Newspaper Archive