Russellville Lives RG

                                                        

                                                                     Roy Garbarino        

                    Here is a fact: Roy Garbarino's life as a business man was hugely successful.  Here's another fact:  If Harvard Business School were to do a case study of Roy's success it would drive them nuts. And therein lies a tale.

Roy is 91 and looks much younger.  Works out every day and since the 1950s has walked to the moon and back so always stayed trim with good posture.  He's been an inmate at Russellville since 2019.  As a young man he was an indifferent student in school but his grades were still OK.  Graduating from high school in Gresham, Oregon in 1949, Roy had no master plan for his life's journey.  The winds of war were blowing in from the Korean peninsula and creating a draft in America, so Roy and three of his buddies dodged it by enlisting in the U.S. Air Force.

After the war he found himself a 25 year old civilian without a clue as what he should do with his life. No job. Broke. So he says to himself, "Maybe I should get married."  A pattern is forming here. Not the best decision under the circumstances but an excellent result: 58 years together with a family of one son and two daughters.  But, with a new wife, it was apparent that employment was a prime objective and so Roy started cold calling on different craft unions, looking for an apprentice job. He scored with the electrician's union and was on his way to becoming a certified electrician.

Roy worked for four years at Wacto Electric before deciding to leave with two other Wacto employees to open their own shop.  They could not have picked a worse time to get their new venture -- The Electric Group -- off the runway and flying.  The American  economy in 1983 was in the dumpster but the saving factor for the trio was the relationships they had made with three large companies while at Waco. They took those companies with them when they left. Another questionable decision that led to a rich reward.

Roy and Ed Danill bought out their third partner and continued on with a rock-solid handshake that resulted in their company operating with a harmonious management that never went in the red. At no time did they have a written business plan but the confidence their client base had in their reliability fueled a continuing successful expansion.  Roy is self-deprecating about his decision making but the proof is in factual results. Like buying a $10,000 share in a less than five star golf course near Boring, Oregon and seeing it evolve into a giant winner.  His long fascination with the go to the moon or go to the bread line  stock market has also been rewarding for him. He ditched his old broker after she advised him to 86 his McDonald's and Costco portfolios and started flying with his own wings.  There was always turbulent air but far more smooth landings than crashes. In Roy's lifetime obsession with poker it's the joy of playing that provides the main reward while the chips coming his way have their own special zing.  And let's mention golf which Roy describes as the evil stain on his soul.  His more than decent eight handicap testified to his lifelong dedication to the sport, as do his 12 holes-in-one ("Hit a million balls," Roy says, "and some of them are bound to go in a hole.")

If Roy decides to open Garbarino College he will probably tell his students (after he banks their tuition payments), "Don't bring notebooks and pencils to class because we'll just talk about the importance of doing what seems comfortable at the time.  Take the rest of class off.  See you next week." 

Roy's resume is not too bad for a guy who never got a Harvard MBA and who made a nice living twisting wire and changing light bulbs.