Friday, May 8, 2009

Whatever Happened to Gabel-Risdon

In case you are wondering what happened to Gabel-Risdon Creamery, the Gobles News of Gobles Michigan reported that in 1932--

"Gabel-Risdon and Belle Isle Creamery companies of Detroit were merged January 1 to become the Borden Farms Products company of Michigan, C. Rowland Risdon, president of Gabel-Risdon, has announced. Both companies are owned by the Borden company of New York.
"Mr. Risdon will be president of the new concern. Adrian M. Heyboer president of the Belle Isle company, will be vice president and general manager; Norbert J. Roder, executive vice president; Herman Koelz, vice president; W. A. Foster, vice president, and C. E. Stowe, secretary-treasurer."

I reckon I don't have to tell anyone what the current status of the Borden company is.

Willa A. Foster: Quality quote perpetuates idiotic mistake.

Thousands of people with very little original to say about quality are prone to quoting this quotation, and attributing it to either Willa A. Foster or William A. Foster.

"Quality is never an accident; it is always the result of high intention, sincere effort, intelligent direction and skillful execution; it represents the wise choice of many alternatives."
I can forgive a little sloppy attribution, but to make a mistake transcribing the name of the author of this quotation is so ironic that I won't even bother to complete...
Here are the facts, people:
Around 1930 or 1931, Will A. Foster of the Gabel-Risdon Creamery Co., 16900 Grand River, Detroit, MI (long since gone) gave an address entitled "Advantages of a Business Depression to a Sales Organization." In that address, he said what is quoted above, but those words are the middle part only of his statement, which I here quote in full:
'Whatever you or the public may consider quality to be, this definition is always a safe guide to follow: "Quality is never an accident; it is always the result of high intention, sincere effort, intelligent direction and skillful execution; it represents the wise choice of many alternatives, the cumulative experience of many masters of craftsmanship; and it also marks the quest of an ideal after necessity has been satisfied and usefulness achieved." '
You can find an abstract of Will A. Foster's full address in the Proceedings of the Twenty-Fourth Annual Convention - International Association of Milk Dealers. There's a copy on file at the University of Wisconsin in Madison. And you can read a snippet at Google Books: Sales and Ad.... of Milk Dealers
An alumnus of the University of Wisconsin, by 1947-53 Will A. Foster was Vice-President of Advertising and Sales at the Borden Cheese Company. In 1958 he wrote "All Honor To The Cow--Facts and Fiction."
So the question becomes-- Who was Will A. Foster quoting, National Geographic? Or did he make up that definition himself?





I Long To Roam The Ouachitas

O Ouachita thou wrinkled land
Of woods and streams and rock
I love to take a stick in hand
And climbing you go walk.
Burma Shave