Sept. 11 would have been Jay Hormel’s 123rd birthday. Because Jay was a child when he lived in the Hormel Historic Home, I thought I would share a story George, Jay’s father, recounted in his autobiography “Three Men and a Business.”

George described Jay as a rambunctious young man who showed his industrious nature from an early age.

“I hadn’t wanted him to be a packer. I had hoped he would choose a profession, preferably law. My friends, Catherwood and Shepherd, whom I greatly admired for the many useful ends to which they put their knowledge of men and institutions, were trained in the law. The packing business was exacting, treacherous, and confining….  He had the chance to step into a field which I could never hope to reach, and I urged him to take advantage of his opportunities.”

“Although I had wanted an easier life for him than my own, I had wanted him to know first-hand how money was earned. Spending money wasn’t given to him; he mowed lawns, raked leaves, and cut wood for his dimes and nickels. In order to point up the lesson of thrift, both in business and at home, I showed him one day how many pennies went down the kitchen sink in the particles of grease the average housewife didn’t think worth saving. Together, we made a fifty-pound lard can into a grease-trap into which greasy water could be poured. The water escaped down the sewer, but the grease remained in the can. He was all attention at the demonstration. ‘Now,’ I said, ‘I’ll pay you four cents a pound for all the grease you bring to the plant which you collect in this can. You’ll be surprised at how much money goes down people’s sinks. Grease is used in making soap, and soap costs money. Money is a form of energy — it’s a medium of exchange, and smart people don’t waste energy, they use it to get what they want out of life.’”

“Nothing more was said about the matter, but shortly thereafter an astonishing amount of grease seemed to be going down our sink, judging by the amount Jay salvaged. I made inquiries. It was the neighbors’ grease which Jay was buying from a number of housewives, paying them half the amount I paid him. His argument to them being that by not allowing the grease to go down the sink, they would save themselves large plumbers’ bills.”

It seems Jay put his creative mind to work early.

History Happy Hour

The History of Mill Pond

5:30 p.m. social and snacks, 6 p.m. presentation,

Monday, Sept. 14

Tim Ruzek will talk about the past 150 years of Austin’s Downtown Mill Pond area.  Swamp to state park to highly valued commercial/industrial sector with flood walls. Free for members of the HHH, the Mower County Historical Society, and the Friends of the Public Library.  $5 for non-members.