Today is January 6th. Long term coworkers at Willmar Electric know that today is Elmo Chapin Day. Every year we celebrate our Grandfather’s Birthday by explaining to those of you that didn’t get the chance to meet him what he stood for in life.
Elmo Chapin lived all our core values at Willmar Electric. He was thrifty, he believed in the Merit Shop and meeting our customer’s needs. But most of all he believed in treating others that way they wanted to be treated. He had a great respect for everybody. He want to create an environment that allowed everybody to get and give the most out of their God given talents and abilities.
Going point by point through the core values here is a picture of Elmo Chapin. (If I had been thinking ahead I would have worn his red sports coat in his honor and taken a picture).
• Treating others the way they want to be treated. He would listen to people. Really listen. Try to get an understanding for where the other person was coming from. He had a great concern for his follow man.
• Merit Shop. He thought that construction should be done in an open market where every qualified contractor competed on a level playing field.
• Thrifty. He was recycling before it was cool. Both sides of all paper got used by Elmo Chapin. The lights were turned off in all empty rooms.
• Meeting the customer’s needs. The examples for this value are numerous but I will stick to the simplest one. He always preached that you left a place better then you found it. Even if that meant you cleaned up something that was part of somebody else’s mess.
So again I invite to celebrate Elmo Chapin Day by joining me and be like Elmo. And if you have a red sports coat I suggest you wear it.
