It was 1972 and I was just laid off from my job as manager for Great Eastern stores in East Meadow.
I had a wife named Christine and two young boys named Tommy and Bobby. We ran into hard times financially and had to sell our house in Queens Village and moved into a two-bedroom apartment in Hempstead.
We ran out of money and were forced to go on welfare.
While shopping one day I ran into a salesman named Sid Lowit who I had ordered material from one time when I was manager. His father-in-law Larry Becker had co-owned a plumbing supply named International Plumbing in Freeport with two brothers named Lou and Max.
I told Sid my troubles and he set up an interview with the brothers. When I met them they offered a position that would be part time and if things worked out they would put me on full time.
I said yes because I really needed a job to restore my self-confidence and gain back my respect as a man wanting to support my family.
As the job progressed, I went full time and handled their package lines. Sid Lowit opened a number of new accounts, which meant he needed myself and two other employees to go with him setting up plumbing lines in stores like Great Eastern, Whites, Modells and other home improvement centers on Long Island, New Jersey, and Upstate New York.
Now the real kicker was that the two other men were named Fred and Fred and at the shop we had three Joe’s. The Joe’s were called Jim, Joe and Joe-Joe.
Now us Freds were called Fred, Freddy and myself they would call by my middle name which is Robert; they would call me Bob.
We worked long hard days setting up and Sid would tell me this was good therapy because we both were having serious marriage problems. Now the company I worked for was very diverse, the employees were mainly African-American and Spanish and that made me a minority.
But we all got along and tried to help each other out on the job.
As I look back, International Plumbing was like family and our employers cared about us. When I needed money when my wife left me with two small boys to raise by myself, they floated me a loan with no interest.
It truly was a great place to work while I was there.
A few years after I left this 100-year-old company to join the U.S. Navy to make a better life for my boys and myself the company folded due to bad economic conditions.
It was a shame for a company that had so much heart and concern for its employees to have to close down.
I have worked for another plumbing supply named Northeast Plumbing for 34 years. They are located in Mineola and have shown good will and concern for their employees under their president, Wayne Reed.
Mr. Reed’s kindness and generosity to his employee’s can only be outdone by his tenacious efforts to keep Northeast Plumbing as a thriving business entity for all concerned.
I guess I’ve just been lucky to have had such good bosses.
Yet I still feel if it weren’t for International Plumbing with Sid, Max, Lou and Larry who gave me a chance to be somebody and gave me hope to survive some bad times, I don’t know how I would have ended up.
Now for that I say thank you.
Frederick R. Bedell Jr.
Glen Oaks Village
