Hi Ken –
Yes, your times are correct, and you and any of your guests are welcome to join us for lunch. Again, our apologies for the confusion. As you may have learned BTSB was founded in 1920, so we have been celebrating our 95th anniversary this year. The Founder, Lawrence D. Sibert was the grandfather of our current President, Robert L Sibert. The Presidential timeline is something like LD Sibert 1920-1979, Robert F Sibert 1979-1998, Robert L Sibert 1998 – present. (There is actually some overlap in those dates.) Robert F. Sibert was 5 years old when his dad started the company, so he would have been 100 this year- same as Dr. Bone. I believe, RF Sibert, Walter Bellati, Chet Bone and others were part of the IC class of 1936. They were there celebrating their 50th reunion when I graduated in 1986. Robert F. Sibert joined the company shortly after graduating from college. That’s the way it was done at that time – you went to college then went right into the family business. RF Sibert helped the company grow working in all areas of the business. During a Library Show in Louisiana, he met a librarian who became his future wife – Jessica Boatner. What a time at BTSB – The Depression, the war years and on into the more prosperous 50’s. LD Sibert and RF Sibert led BTSB and pushed through those decades without a layoff and continued to employ numerous people, including in many cases brothers and sisters, and some husbands and wives. One of those examples includes Henry and Edna Arenz. It was a time when everyone understood that getting that 5 cents an hour raise was a big deal, but really just being employed was a blessing! LD Sibert, and probably RF Sibert were involved in all aspects of the company. It was a time when you never missed work. You sat up straight at your desk, you dressed appropriately for the workplace, and you worked hard from the time a bell rang at starting time, until a bell rang at quitting time- AND the story is LD Sibert walked around and made sure the work was done properly. He was known to pull a pencil out of the trash if someone had thrown it away when it was only half used ! That was wasting money! I believe it was in the 30’s that Henry Arenz strapped ice skates to his shoes to skate to work down the city streets during an ice storm. You didn’t was to miss work! By the mid 1950’s the company had grown and desperately needed a new more modern facility. Property was acquired on West Morton, where the city was just barely seeing some development in that area. A large one level, modern, brick building was built to house the new BTSB, at that time, actually called New Method Book Bindery. LD Sibert and RF Sibert oversaw the layout of this nice modern, production facility. Again, a lot of dedicated employees carried BTSB through the interesting 60’s. By the early-mid 70’s Robert L. Sibert, was heading to college. All of the long- time employees knew him as Bobby or Little Bobby. That stuck until, probably, for some, until just a few years ago! By the late 70’s, RF Sibert was ready for his son to come in and join the business. Unfortunately, this was the 70’s and Bob (or Bobby) was a little more adventurous and curious about the business world and the world in general. He worked for a year or two and then went on to get an MBA, not at the U of I, but at Columbia, in New York City! (I’m sure RF Sibert thought, “that’s not the way we did it my day…) Bob (oops, little Bobby) eventually came back and joined the company in the early 80’s. When his Dad’s health was failing in the late 90’s, he became the new CEO and has led the company through very changing times since then. In about 2005-2010, many, many long term employees were at retirement age – Brenda Beets, Cathy Mason, Mark Lovekamp. We saw a huge change in the workforce in those years. A lot of those employees helped build the company through the 60’s, 70’s, 80’s and 90’s. Thanks to solid management and smart decisions, the company is very strong today. It’s a different world. Fortunately for us, the librarians and teachers still want the book, and many studies show holding and reading the book is much more beneficial than trying to retain something read in an electronic form. I guess I should share a couple other BTSB teams. Mark and Kay Lovekamp both worked here for many years, and my wife Lori and I have both worked here many years – yes, she is by far the smarter and better looking of the two of us! I am going to send a few of the BTSB Archival Interviews home with Karmen Kruse. I believe they include Henry Arenz, Robert F. Sibert and Ralph Evans. Ralph was our long time Sales Manager. He was loved by all! Ralph’s daughter Sue was married to Gerry Beard. Just one little BTSB connection to Arenzville! (Then Brenda Beets starts explaining her family and then Karmen Kruse explains his mother was a Beard but he’s not in the same generation as Bob and Gerry, because some in the family had a lot of kids, and then it gets out of control!) I copied my original message below in case I have left out any other information. Thanks Again Andy 11/19/15 Hi Ken- I understand someone (possibly Carrie Burleson) asked you to speak at our Bound To Stay Bound Christmas Party. I recently asked Carrie if she had been in touch with you, and she said something like, "No, I thought you were supposed to do that..." Committees are always a lot of fun! I think I did send home the BTSB company history book with Karmen Kruse a while back, and hopefully he passed that along. Anyway, I am more than happy to be your contact person, and I will do anything I can to help with information you may need about this event. Our party is Wednesday, December 23 from about 12:30-2:30 at Hamiltons. (We'll be in the big room- we have about 150 employees and 25 retirees. Not all will be at the party – maybe 125 total. ) We'll eat a nice meal, do some announcements, have entertainment or a speaker, and then do some fun drawings. You are, of course, our entertainer/speaker. So, I didn't know if you wanted to give us some general words of wisdom about the holiday spirit, share some holiday music or would you like to get into some BTSB history or come up with some humor from BTSB stories - we do have those legendary Arenzville area long time BTSB employees like Brenda Beets, Mark Lovekamp and Karmen Kruse. I think there may even be a story about our current President Bob Sibert learning how to drive 40+ years ago - if I remember the story correctly, he was practicing driving in the parking lot (as many kids do), and ran into the building! I'll see what else I can come up with... Please let me know if I can help in any way. Andy Smith asmith@btsb.com 245-5191 473-1120