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Home / Washington Business - January 2006 / Profile - Nancy LeMay: Preserving the Past, Growing for the Future |
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Profile - Nancy LeMay: Preserving the Past, Growing for the Future |
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Written On: January 2006 |
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Written By: by Daniel Brunell |
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During World War II, Harold LeMay owned several trucks in Seattle. He made his living transporting workers to and from factories. One day he noticed that garbage was piling up in front of area businesses. Though all of his friends thought he was crazy, Harold took one of his trucks off the regular routes and started hauling garbage.
After a brief stint in the U.S. Navy, Harold returned to start the Spanaway Garbage Co. in 1942 at the same Parkland location where LeMay Inc. operates today. "We started with one part-time employee," said Nancy LeMay, president of LeMay Inc. and wife of the late Harold LeMay. "Today we have more than 500 employees."
Over the years, the company expanded to the point where they are now serving Lewis, Grays Harbor, Mason, Thurston and Pierce counties.
LeMay has also expanded the type of services offered. It is a diversified company in not only residential but commercial garbage service, recycling, transfer stations and land fills. Over the years, the company faced many challenges such as the rising cost of equipment and an increased commitment to the environment with an optimistic bravado. As Harold quipped, "Pushing decisions to the edge of technology and the bank to its credit limit." Recently, Nancy expanded into commercial shredding with a mobile commercial shredder on a truck chassis in order to service businesses.
Nancy married Harold in 1963 and worked closely with her husband until his death in 2000. When she married him she thought that he was an average businessman and she would be an average homemaker. She quickly found out that Harold was no ordinary man. With a personal motto of "one way or another, the job gets done," the LeMay’s have always looked at challenges as opportunities to move forward. Yet, it just wasn’t Harold’s drive, but also his commitment to his company, his family and his employees. "Harold loved to work, he loved people, and he loved old cars."
One of Harold’s greatest legacies is a massive car collection. The collection numbers well over 1,500, including many of the most hallowed names in automobiles such as Duisenberg, Rolls Royce, Packard, Cadillac, Chevy and Ford. The collection also spans the entire history of the automobile, from the first horseless carriages, to the grand touring cars of the 1920s and 1930s to the 1960s muscle cars and priceless one-of-kind autos.
Before Harold’s death, he and Nancy founded the LeMay Museum, America’s Car Museum. A dedicated volunteer team maintains the collection. They come in once a week. They talk about old cars, toss around old Harold stories, and Nancy buys them lunch. They then go in, one by one, starting the cars, judging what condition they are in and what is needed. Because of zoning restrictions, Nancy cannot maintain a public museum. However she opens it to the masses with hundreds of volunteers and thousands visiting every year. "Harold wanted people to know the history of these great cars and wanted them open to public," said Nancy. "He really wanted to share his love of these cars with others."
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