Family, Business A Good Mix For Citrus Achievement Award Winner

Vic Story: 2012 Citrus Achievement Award Winner

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This Q&A is the third of six installments featuring Florida Grower’s 2012 Citrus Achievement Award winner Vic Story addressing all things citrus. This month, the president of Lake Wales-based The Story Companies shares tales related to raising a family in the citrus business.

Q: Do you feel fortunate that you were able to grow up and later raise a family in the citrus business?

A: Yes, I do. There was a gentleman here in Lake Wales named Walter Woolfolk, who was an attorney that began investing in groves. By the time I was a young man, he had about 500 or 600 acres of pretty good grove land. It got to where he stopped practicing law and devoted full time to his citrus.
There was a point where the fruit prices were really bad and I was down in the dumps about it. My boys were still young at the time, but my oldest was working in the groves in the afternoons, weekends, and summers. One day I was talking with Mr. Woolfolk and complaining about how bad the citrus prices were. He listened quietly and then said, “Vic, never underestimate the value of teaching your sons how to work.” I thought, you know, he’s right. I’ve never forgotten that statement. Not everybody has the opportunity to teach their children about the value of hard work. Especially today, where a lot of these kids don’t get a chance to work until they go into full-time employment after high school or college.

Another somewhat humorous story I recall is my father and I had an opportunity to purchase a 20-acre block of citrus near Alturas in 1980. I had five children to get through school at the time and my brother had two children, so Dad and I decided to set up a new company with this grove dedicated to getting the kids through school. We designated it the Grandchildren’s Education Block.

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We thought that was a pretty good idea. But, then in March 1980, we had a pretty good freeze and it hurt the grove a little. Then we had more freezes in 1981 and 1982 — never mind the freezes of 1983, 1985, and 1989. I recall surveying the damage after one of those freezes and telling my father, “Daddy, the only people getting an education in this grove are you and me.”

 

Q: Did your father teach you the value of hard work? 

A: Yes, he did. I was pretty good help to him in the groves by the time I was eight years old. I remember one time when I was older and there was something that I wanted to buy. I didn’t get paid a lot. I could drive the family car and had a little bit of an allowance, but really didn’t get paid in the traditional sense. So, one day, I asked my dad how much he was going to pay us for doing this one particular job. He said, “Boy, I am going to dip your plate tonight just according to how you work this afternoon.”
My dad was a hard worker and he passed that work ethic on to me. We were very fortunate as a family to have that opportunity.

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