Friday the 20th of July 2018 we attended the celebration of life for John Jayne. He was my boss at Disdero Lumber from 1986 to 1997. A good mentor and great golfer John, Dave Menkens and I frequently paired with a fourth in industry golf tournaments. John carried a 2 handicap and we won many events. I remember a 10 year stretch where we won at least one trophy each year. Lots of good times on the course.
John was very personable and he was an asset in developing relationships. Disdero grew from a Northwest company into a much larger base under his watch. He brought in Lockdeck with Gunner Brink, added distribution yards in Washington and California and found profitable lines to promote. We was generous in dividing the pie and always was upright and fair.
John gave me a long leash at a young age. When he became GM I was part of his executive committee along with Perry, Loren and Coop. These were good years and we had a lot of fun.
My run at Disdero ended in 1997 after I pushed too hard for quantitative compensation for some of the employees. The ultimate last straw though was a book that I had shared with the Seattle branch manager. Gunner described it like this in a speach given in December 2017 “He was also strong willed, confident, and didn’t always agree with management. Young, aggressive, and not yet politically savvy, he pushed things a little too far… he loved books, and he loved to share them with others, but when he gave the president of the company a book titled, “How to fire your boss”… one chapter ended and another was about to begin.”
I will always remember John for his good natured personality and great golf game.