Making The Break

Well I have finally made the break and moved to Hawaii to live.

1983 was the first time I came thru here and fell in love with the place and I've been hoping to move here ever since. Twenty-eight years later I've finally done it!

I left Idaho happy to be heading for Hawaii, but with the sadness of leaving loved ones in Idaho.

Every once in a while we meet someone that goes above-and-beyond and really makes a difference in our lives. In Idaho that person was Gary Dawes.

I immigrated from Canada and when I got my work visa Gary's company Expert Marine Technology was the first place I applied for a job. He hired me and over the last ten years I had the privilege of working for him. I had never worked for a company that put so much effort into looking after employees. Gary often said his employees were family, and he meant it.

His rules were easy to follow; "if you make a mistake say so, a person will never be fired for making a mistake no matter how bad it is. No one comes to work intending to break sh**."

If you asked for a day off you got it, no matter how badly he may need you that day, he always found a way to make it work for his employees. We got a lot of three day weekends when we needed them.

My first month working for him he heard of a sailboat going for a really good price and told me about it. As a new immigrant money was tight, the immigration attorneys had taken it all "helping" us through the process. He bought the boat for me and told me to make payments on it as I could and if I sold it for a profit we'd split the profit. When I finally sold that boat I had made a couple of grand profit and handed him his half. He refused it and told me to put it down on the house we were trying to move into, we had outgrown the apartment we were in.

We got the house and Gary rented a moving van and he and his son told me to stay outta the way as they moved all our furniture. My boss rented a truck and personally moved my furniture for me!

Eventually I became the General Manager of his business and was privy to the financial end of things. Our Business is seasonal and in the dead of winter, with the crew laid off for the season, I have seen him give his last hundred bucks to an employee who needed it.

I could go on and on as there was seldom a day that Gary didn't do something above and beyond for somebody.

If it was not for him I would not have this boat, I would not have had the house, the previous boat, etc etc etc. He's a great man and I really miss him.

Thank you Gary for all you've done.