Here's the eulogy Stan delivered at former employee Bob Suel's funeral this month.
I have been asked to say a few words about Bob Suel today. That’s a problem. I write, I do not speak. But Pat and Mike said I could just read something, so, with your permission, that’s what I’ll do.
Bob Suel came to work for us sometime after his graduation in 1972. He never left us. During his tenure, we watched him become a loving husband, a father, a survivor, a homeowner, and a basement railroad engineer.. His remarkable consistency and unquestioning support were the hallmarks of his longevity.
You could count on Bob.
When he opposed something, it was not for selfish reasons, but for what he believed was best for the company. He cherished his role in the informal inner circle of decision makers, meeting over a beer in the boss’s green room, genuinely guiding the future of the enterprise he felt was in his personal care. He was a truly rare and comforting asset when we were making difficult decisions.
Pat can recall the dreaded 2 a.m. phone calls on Thursday mornings, when something wasn’t right, faraway at the newspaper printing plant, a midnight pressmen calling for a quick decision from Bob. She remembers the relief that followed after he had solved it. Thank you, Pat, for those nights of interrupted sleep, the supportive anxiety, and helping Bob to get his paper to bed.
Bob wasn’t high tech. He reached his clients the old school way, shoe leather and friendships. His clients grew fond of his steady ways, and trusted him, relied on him.
Whenever a competitive challenge or bad idea loomed that he felt would spell trouble for the company, he was fond of saying, “We will have to stomp on those dragon eggs” in other words, get ahead of this thing before it is big enough to bite us.
He came to work about 50 years ago. Newspaper owner Bill McGarry was a good friend of Bob’s father, the late Brendan Suel. Bill acquired Brendan’s son Bob over a cup of coffee and a donut one morning.
Then Bill came around and told me to find a place for him. Bob thought he might like to be a writer, one of those journalists. So we sent him on a wing and a prayer to the Victoria City Council meeting.
We decided that a better fit might be on the sales team, where he had some experience, by representing the company on the main street in Chaska. We had one telephone line and an extension phone at the time, so Bob had his work cut out. He put on a tie and went to work in a role he would never leave.
His buddies had all picked up various entry level jobs, and were astonished to see Bob going to work so soon wearing that tie. Where ever is he going, many wondered. How could it be?
Bob dressed for success from that point forward. Years later, when “casual Friday” was in vogue and his partner came to work without a tie and wearing jeans, he was quickly admonished by Bob, “Oh no, we don’t do that on the Southwest sales team” he reminded the junior miscreant.
A few years before Bob took his own bride, he did me a solid: He volunteered his father, then the clerk of Scott County court, to marry me to Kathleen and her family, under a gorgeous maple tree in Chanhassen’s Lake Ann Park. Both marriages remained durable throughout the tumult of newspaper challenges.
Bob deserved many thanks for his lifetime of service, unwavering through thick and thin. Our success as a growing firm lay squarely on his shoulders, and many others like him, who put the good of the organization above their own immediate needs. Thanks go to Bob, a good and faithful man.
Marcy was waiting for her big sister, Missy, to arrive on the bus today, when lo and behold, of the thousands of dudes strolling the Minnesota State Fair, someone she knew! Her own son, Maxwell, out and about himself at the Fair. Didn't say if Maxwell's aunt Missy got there in time for a
fulsome family reunion.
Cars keep steaming into the parking ramp here in Eden Prairie, as more fun seekers find the trip to the fair is a lot more pleasant on the $6 round trip bus service made to the fair front gate. The two ramps top out with the Renaissance traffic and the State Fair combined.
The crowd hushed as the official scoreboard tallied the damage. Had she kicked her husband’s butt?
Not quite, but good enough to be declared co-champion, and vowing to settle the crown in a future grudge match.
