The year was 1990 and I was Quality Assurance Director for Pacific Tambour, Inc. We were experiencing growing pains. From a 30-person operation in 1987 we had grown in three years to a company employing nearly 140 people on two shifts, building oak office furniture for Sam’s Club, Price Club, Office Mart and other “big box” retailers.

We were running at peak capacity, so the owners began to consider opening a plant somewhere east of the Mississippi to handle orders from that part of the country. It made sense to split the business in two, but at the same time we were concerned about the quality of the potential workforce.

Pacific Tambour’s success was largely due to the dedication of the production workers, who were nearly all of Mexican origin. They were paid an above-average wage and enjoyed great benefits. They rewarded us with hard work, quality products, few complaints and a tremendous loyalty to the company.

To be brutally honest, the Americans hired to work in a production capacity never lasted long. The work was too hard, they would say. They couldn’t keep up with the pace of production. Would they work overtime or Saturday? Forget it. Frankly, there was concern that a production crew composed of American workers wouldn’t be nearly as efficient or quality-conscious as the Mexican workforce at the Chula Vista plant.

Dennis and Dan, the owners of the business, traveled east looking for a site and found a promising one in Princeton, West Virginia. The facility had previously housed a manufacturer of hardwood products and was located just out of town in an industrial park that sat right next to a major highway interchange.

A production management team was hired, and flown to Chula Vista for orientation. I knew nothing about West Virginia or its people, except for what I had heard through tasteless jokes over the years. I must confess to half-believing the entire state was populated by lazy, ignorant Bubbas and Goobers whose main passions were moonshine and hunting.

However, it didn’t take long for these new managers to earn my respect. I quickly realized how seriously they took their new positions, and noted their eagerness to learn the basics of the business and how to manage people. The economy back home was in bad shape, they said. Good jobs were scarce, and they knew as the facility expanded it would mean even more jobs.

For privacy reasons I won’t give their full names, but Howard, Fred, Regina, Betty and the others were shining examples of what I now know as true West Virginia spirit. They wanted the new plant to be a success not just to earn a paycheck, but for the good of their community and their state.

This group was acutely aware of how high the stakes were. If the Princeton facility couldn’t produce quality products and ship them on time, the owners would not hesitate to pull the plug. When I flew to Princeton for two weeks to assist in quality assurance training, I got to know the managers and their people better and saw first-hand how hard everyone was working to make this thing “go”.

In October 1991, I moved to Princeton permanently to work in management at the new facility. That’s how confident I had become in their future. By 1995 we were shipping over $2 million in orders monthly. Rapid expansion brought a host of problems but we overcame them all. The managers, and more importantly the people they supervised, rose to challenge after challenge and met them admirably.

Unfortunately, the owners made some bad business decisions that ultimately put all of us on the unemployment line. Through no fault of the people who actually worked at the facility, in March 1995 Pacific Tambour East closed its doors forever.

Life goes on. I worked at Roller Floral in Princeton for a few years, and then joined the staff of the Bluefield Daily Telegraph in 1999. I left there in 2007 to work for ERA as Marketing Director.

However, I will never forget the friends I made at Pacific Tambour East. Their hard work and dedication were truly inspirational to me, but I’ve learned since then that people like them are the rule in West Virginia, rather than the exception.

That same community spirit and strong work ethic imbues countless others throughout this beautiful state I now call home.
West Virginia has more than its share of problems and obstacles to progress, but I believe in its inherent greatness. If we its citizens have the collective will, we can accomplish wonders.