Happy 80th Birthday J.W. Allen!
August 6, 201236 Years of Good Times and Counting!
August 7, 2012
J.W. Allen has been good to it’s employees over the years and continues to do so. I guess that’s why many of us have stayed so long. When I arrived, Mr. Bernard was president of the company. He looked and acted tough, but he was a sweetheart, especially to the ladies. I remember him saying one summer day, it’s hot outside. Here is some money, go across the street and get everyone an ice cream. Little things like this remain a part of everyday life at J.W. Allen.
I can’t help but remember one day when Billy was out of the office on an errand, Mr. Bernard sent everyone home because of bad weather. Well, Billy came back to the office and everyone was gone. He asked what happened, and Mr. Bernard said that he sent everyone home because the weather was getting bad. Billy was not a happy camper.
Lester, our beloved Past President, was a quiet sort with a dry sense of humor who loved to sing. While running ladings, copying documents or doing the mail, you could hear him practicing his singing. Lester would always lead the birthday song when celebrating an employee’s birthday with a cake. Every Friday, Lester would pickup donuts for the office, and even took everyone’s order for their favorite donuts.
I’m not saying that it’s always fun and games all the time, but by doing little things like lunches, jean day, etc. makes it less stressful and more manageable during tough times.
For the first 11 years I was here, I handled exports because we did not clear imports yet. The imports that we did handle, were sent to a local broker who cleared the shipments for us. Billy came to me one day and said he would like me to learn imports because he wanted to expand and offer import services to our customers, so I started learning and handling imports.
After I had a couple years under my belt, Billy started teasing me always saying, “Beth Raymond CHB!” My response was always the same, “NO WAY!” After enough teasing and gentle pushing, I broke down and agreed to study for my brokers license. I finally got my license 1-1/2 years later and have been doing imports every since. Currently having 4 licensed brokers on staff, we are working on developing 2 more; you can never have enough. Billy never lets me forget how I became a Licensed Customs Broker, “Beth Raymond CHB.” We still laugh about that.
Happy Birthday J.W. Allen!
Beth Raymond
Vice President – Imports