The point could be made that the origins of Source9 trace back to the early 1970’s when, after many years of working within the industrial packaging industry, my father made the decision to form his own paper and box company which he named Bi-State Paper and Box Inc., located in St. Louis, Missouri. On more than one occasion – and well before Take-Your-Son-To-Work Day became a novelty – my father would have me accompany him as he visited his clients throughout the Bi-State area. He was a true Windshield Warrior.
Pop’s car was his office; sticky notes clung to his dashboard, a beeper clipped to the car’s air conditioning vent was always within arms’ reach, the ashtray brimmed with silver coins which he would use for making phone calls, and always assorted paper and packaging samples in the back seat and trunk of his car. When he was paged, he would pull in front of the nearest public phone booth, grab a handful of silver coins along with his notepad, feed the payphone, and begin to scribble notes – plenty of notes. His ability to locate a phone booth from anywhere in the city was truly uncanny and akin to a moth to a flame.
I clearly recall the afternoon when Pop taught me the S.L.O.P. method of navigating the streets of Downtown St. Louis. Traveling south on North Tucker Blvd. from Washington Avenue you will eventually travel across a set of primary streets that run east and west consecutively – St. Charles Street, Locust Street, Olive Street, and Pine Street in that order. I cannot be certain that this was a widely known rule or one that he devised on his own, but I still conjure up this acronym while navigating Downtown St. Louis to visit my clients.
And like my grandfather did when he owned and operated Pacini’s Café (now Scottish Arms) on South Sarah Street in St. Louis, Pop truly enjoyed and cherished the personal and professional relationships he developed throughout his many years in business. He was as sturdy as he was good-natured, and as energetic as he was resolute.
As Pop would often remind me, the hardest part of any project is just getting the project started. I still whisper this quote to myself prior to digging into a project around the house, in the yard, or at work. So here I am, getting the hardest part out of the way. And with the memory of my father and my grandfather serving as my way finder, I immerse myself into Source9.