This is part 16 in a series of essays about when I was a young man (30+ years ago) trying to figure out how to “make it” in the world. Click HERE to go back to the beginning of the series.
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I was born in January of 1958. Twelve days later, my grandfather Kimball (who I am named after) opened a passbook savings account for me at the First National Bank of Fort Fairfield, in Fort Fairfield, Maine. He started the account with a deposit of one dollar. Here’s a picture of the passbook and entry:
Over the years my grandfather Kimball made numerous small deposits in the account. In October of 1964 he made two deposits of $500 each. In December of 1965 the deposits end. He died in January of 1966. In 1968 the account was closed. My grandmother moved it to another interest bearing account, but she saved the old passbook.
In the spring of 1978 I was 20 years old. I had worked ten months on a dairy farm, managed to save enough to buy my first car, and then my Grandmother Kimball sent me the money from the savings account my grandfather had started. I don’t recall the exact amount but it was around four thousand dollars. It was mine to spend as I wanted.
That much money would easily pay my tuition to the building trades program at Alfred State College in the fall. So that was a big load off my mind. A fair amount of money remained. What would I do with it?
Well, I knew exactly what I wouldn’t do with it. When I was in school in Vermont I knew a kid who, near the end of the school year, turned 18 and came into some money. It must have been far more than $4,000. He bought a pickup truck and all kinds of other stuff. I remember he took hundred dollar bills and ripped them in half and gave one half to some of his friends. The idea being, the next time they got together after school was out, they would have a party.
I wanted to be wiser with my Grandfather's legacy to me. With that in mind, I decided to start a business.
To be continued.....
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