Ron Greenwood: A Life of Responsibility

Ron Greenwood: A Life of Responsibility

Ron Greenwood of East Randolph's L.W. Greenwood and Sons received the Randolph Chamber of Commerce's business person of the year award Friday evening. With Greenwood are (back row, left to right) Chamber President Bob Wright, Edna Burnett, brother Butch Greenwood, and Scott Jamison. Standing beside Ron in front are his wife Lillian and two of his daughters Kim and Kara. (Herald photo / Robert Eddy)

The following is the speech that announced the selection of Ron Greenwood, proprietor of L. W. Greenwood & Sons, as the Outstanding Business Executive of the Year, an award made by the Randolph Chamber of Commerce. The speech was written and delivered by Edna Burnett a vice president of the Randolph Savings Bank, who was last year's recipient of the award.

Tonight’s recipient of the Outstanding Business Executive of the Year award winner is all about RESPONSIBILITY. Born in 1938 during the latter years of the great depression, and like many of us who were raised during the 30 years following this dark period, our executive’s parents were conservative, hard working and resourceful. Besides instilling these characteristics, they taught the acceptance of responsibility at a very early age.

Just think about this for a minute…as a senior in high school this individual helped do the morning chores on the farm, then cleaned up, dressed and ate breakfast … then, boarded the school bus and DROVE it to school, picking up kids along the way…upwards of 35 to 40 each trip. After class it was back on the bus, dropping off fellow students and back to the barn for evening chores.

At 12 years old our recipient was to begin his first "real" summer job, but a broken arm delayed his start date to the next summer!

Our then young executive was mentored by a father who ran a thriving slaughterhouse and door-to-door meat business up and down the valley and into the hills around Randolph through the 1960s. He sold beef and even his own rendered and canned lard until the early ‘50s. During these early days, Dad bought some small abutting farms and began a good-sized dairy farm and sold agricultural equipment and machinery.

Saturdays were our recipient's days to slaughter; no "regular" chores on Saturdays, just four cows to take care of. To many of us this would seem like a lot of work and a grueling task for a teenager…but the claim is that it was a welcome change from chores and school.

Following graduation, it was off to four years at Norwich University, then military service. It was in Germany that our guy met his wife of 37 years, a New York City gal and the mother of his four daughters.

His next assignment was a four year teaching stint at the University of Alabama where he taught 12 classes a day…about 600 students, for the Army ROTC program. Those of you who teach can see the challenge here!

He then spent a year in Vietnam where he was assigned to work with a group of locals known as Montagnards (mountain men) similar to our own native Americans. Looked down on by the North Vietnamese, the Americans worked to insure the Montagnards got provisions and supplies that they were due. Our recipient and his unit were advisors to their guards up in the jungles and mountains. In turn, they were loyal and true to this country.

Action was all around him and he lost count at 72 "incoming" mortar shells. Frightening at first, they later became a disruptive annoyance, leaving a mess everywhere! When asked if he’d return to Vietnam for a visit, the answer was "no, but the country is beautiful, mountainous and much like Vermont".

Over the years there have been reminders of that year of war including a life-threatening battle with prostate cancer most likely caused by exposure to "Agent Orange". With a lot of guts he took major responsibility for his health in dealing with this disease. With a bleak, less than two-year prognoses, he located an extraordinary cancer specialist willing to aggressively tackle the problem…that was nine years ago!

After the intensive teaching assignment at UA and the year in Vietnam, the two years he spent at a CIA station in Washington seemed like a piece of cake. If that wasn’t enough responsibility, he knew he was needed back in Vermont.

His father was beginning to struggle with health issues and needed him. He had moved the farm equipment sales across the road and he had sold the farm some years before. The equipment business was taking off and growing rapidly. This year's award winner and his family left the opportunity of an upcoming promotion to Lt. Colonel and came home to Vermont.

Shortly after returning, his brother joined him, and together they expanded the business with new products and services. They consider their sales territory to reach between Bradford and Rochester, and from Windsor to Waterbury. They provide sales and service to three industries:

• Agricultural industry with new and used, large and small tractors and farm implements;

• Recreational industry with snow machines and other equipment associated with the industry;

• Construction industry with tractor based construction equipment.

Much of their growth can be traced to newcomers in the valley, while their basic bread and butter income is credited to loyal long-term customers in the farming community. Nowadays, newcomers provide exponentially more impact to the local economy and to the business. They purchase equipment for personal use and they hire local contractors to build buildings, who in turn purchase construction equipment and so it goes. Today about 60% of their sales are for non-farming purposes … a number that still surprises the owners.

Farm equipment demands are down in numbers, but up in the size of equipment. For instance what were once five small farms each with a $5,000 tractor are now one big farm with a $120,000 tractor!

Ron’s roots grow deep in the farming community. His charitable giving is primarily focused on agricultural based events; for example, he gives over his sugar lots each spring for training at the local vocational center.

In the event any of you have not guessed by now who our recipient is—it's Ron Greenwood.

With Ron, it is all about responsibility … for family, for country and for community. It's for taking responsibility for his health, for speaking out about cancer, for enjoying his daughters and for sharing his values with them, for partnering with his wife Lillian to make a good life for his family.

It’s about a little hunting and a little fishing and an occasional good book. Ron has been a quiet but effective force in the valley and with his father and his brother Butch, they have helped support the economy of the Randolph area for a span of 75 years (for 33 of those years Ron has been at the helm). It is time now to take our hats off to the Outstanding Business Executive of the Year 2003, Ronald Greenwood.