The Community, Connections & Commerce Podcast, presented by OUE & St. Clairsville Chamber - Community, Connections, & Commerce Episode 11 with Jason Wilson

Episode Date: October 25, 2024

Welcome back to Community Connections and Commerce. I'm your host, Drake Watson, as always, with Wendy Anderson, the co-host. And we are joined today by our special guest, Jason Wilson, owner of Wilson Furniture, Wilson Funeral. Jason, it's a pleasure to have you on this morning. We really appreciate you taking the time out of your busy schedule to come help us out and speak to us. And we couldn't be more thrilled to have you. Well, thank you. Thank you, Drake.

Thank you, Wendy. It's good to be with you. Good to be. I'm glad you're here. You have a lot to talk about. My mom told me that for years. Did she? As well as my wife has said that.

Okay. So let's just get right into it. So give us a few of your titles. Oh, most importantly, father. Yes. Husband. Okay. Brother, uncle, but I think I know what you mean. I love that, though. Yes.

You know, interestingly enough, my family is over 100 plus years, 127 years actually been in business in the Ohio Valley. Wilson Furniture. I've worked at Wilson Furniture since I graduated from Ohio State in 1992. So I am the owner. My wife and I are the owners of Wilson Furniture. But after my dad passed, I took over Wilson Funeral Homes in partnership with my brother, my younger brother, Jarrett. So I'm the owner of Wilson Funeral Homes. Also, I'm a proud U-Haul dealer. Not everybody knows that, but we have the U-Haul dealership on the outside in our parking lot of Wilson

Furniture. So I'm a U-Haul dealer. And then our family is also in commercial real estate. So we own the Advanced Auto Parts stores in Bridgeport in Weirton, West Virginia. Oh, I didn't know that. And did that back in the late 90s in partnership with my dad and my other brothers. And so, you know, we've been in real estate. We do that. We do, you know, we do try to be entrepreneurial and see opportunities. And one of the things people probably remember is both my father and I served the community. My father as state rep, state senator, and U.S. congressman, Charlie Wilson.

And of course, I was state senator Jason Wilson for a period of time and back in 07 to 2011. And then I went on to work for Governor Kasich in the governor's office as the director of the governor's office of Appalachia until 2019. And then most recently, we opened the Ashley Home Store at the Highlands here in Tridelfia, West Virginia. Yes, you did. So you literally have no grass growing under your feet because you are so busy. Well, we're never too busy, but we're active. That's awesome. God bless our employees, our family.

People are very understanding. Leah, my wife, and I have three kids, one just graduated college, one in college, and one in high school. Wow. So, yes, so it's pretty active, but we've, you know, see opportunities. We've tried to, you know, work, you know, strongly and actively with our core business, which is our funeral and furniture business, and we do some other little things around the sides of it. Okay, so let's start talking about the fire. Yes. So you want

to give us a little synopsis of what happened, the date, time, and all that? Sure. Well, approximately November 18th at about 9 p.m., luckily all of our employees had left for the evening, locked the doors. The Wheeling Christmas Parade was happening, and my wife and I were actually having dinner with some friends at Kent State University up in Kent, Ohio, so a little bit out of town. And my phone started blowing up and people started calling me, including the fire chief at Bridgeport, and said that Wilson Furniture was on fire. And for many, many years, we had had the volunteer fire department go through the building, charted it out in the event something ever happened.

And the first thing I said to the chief when he called me, I said, please do not go in that building. I don't want anybody to get harmed in this building. It's an old building. It was built in the 1870s. There was a lot of furniture in it, a lot of walkways, a lot of little cubby holes, a lot of stuff you never want to be in the dark. And it's unfortunate that it started probably in electrical, something to do with one of our furnaces, because we had like nine of them in that building because it was super inefficient, big and old. And unfortunately, I think it was going on for at least an hour or two, according to what the fire department said. So it was burning while we were there, while people were in the building. But luckily, everybody left for the evening, and it just took time for it to burn through the ceiling. And then people from the parade were calling me because they could see it up in the sky.

They could see the flames and things coming. And unfortunately, it burnt down. There's no doubt. I mean, it burnt. When I say burnt, there was nothing left. I mean, we had hundreds of pieces of furniture in there. We found very few pieces of furniture. So what we know as the Three Gainers restaurant or the restaurant side, that was gone, completely gone.

The building that stands today, which was the original furniture store, the 227 North Lincoln, is still standing, but it's destroyed inside. So the whole structure will eventually be removed. So Friday night, my wife and I and our employees and lots of volunteer fire departments and a lot of people stood out there and watched tragedy happen. And it was sad and we cried and we thought, oh my God, what would my dad say? You know, but, you know, like every trauma, you have to take a moment, take a breath, listen, you know, kind of make sure you're there. We went, I think we said we got back to the hotel late or early, whatever, three in the morning or something. And by eight o'clock the next morning, we were back

trying to sweep up, clean up, figure out what we were going to do. You know, I think it was important that the next day we got together as a family, had dinner, and my wife and I charted out a plan for what we were going to do from here. and we wrote it on the hotel wall they had a whiteboard in the hotel the Hampton Inn and we wrote on the wall what we were gonna do and what we were gonna do is come back we were gonna not you know walk away we weren't gonna be destroyed by this you know we made a commitment that we were gonna move forward and over the next several days some of my two brothers that lived out of town came in town as well as many family members.

I had people volunteer to just come and help. What can we do to help? We had numerous people pick up food and drop it off. Community members called, wrote, stopped by, honked, all the things that you would want. And it really was. The community was very supportive of us. A guy, you know, out, Kenny, out in Bridgeport, who has a pizza shop, brought a couple pizzas. And he even said, hey, I brought some pizzas. I know you guys are working. What can I do to help? Put on some gloves and help carry some stuff and move some stuff. And proudly

to say, Black Friday, which was the Friday after, we were open at 10 a.m. That's incredible. Yes. That's incredible. And we just moved down to what we call, people know it as maybe the Scott Lumber Building because it was there for a long time, but to our Wilson's Mattress First mattress department. We took out most of the mattresses and put sofas and love seats and sectionals and recliners. And so we have

like a mini furniture store. So we went from 25,000 square feet of Wilson furniture to about four and a half thousand square feet Wilson furniture today. So today we're a Lazy Boy, primarily a Lazy Boy dealer there with sectionals, sofas, recliners, and then England furniture, which is the stationary partner of Lazy Boy Furniture. So we're a Lazy Boy comfort studio at Wilson Furniture on the corner. Oh, okay. Wow. That is an incredible story. And you know, I'm sorry, because my husband's a volunteer fireman, and he was there helping that night. Thank him. Yeah. And, you know, it was really sad to see that because that was such a legacy in Bridgeport, especially in Bridgeport, you know.

Yeah. Well, we're still there. Yeah, you are. And people ask that. Actually, we got some things going on for Labor Day that we're going to talk more about it. But we are primarily, like I say, a Lazy Boy store. I love it. But we are primarily, like I say, a lazy boy store. And then what we did, and I worked very hard at this, one year to the day, November 18th, 2023, we had the grand opening of the Ashley Home

Store in Tridelphia, West Virginia. So one year from tragedy, we had a new opportunity through the Ashley Home Store in Tridelphia, and we opened on that day. And I had written the date on the wall when we were doing the drywall, and everybody's like, well, what's that? What's that? I said, that's the day we'll be open. And they're like, no way. That'll never happen.

You know, the state guy didn't believe me. The Ashley people didn't believe me. We were open November 18th. That's incredible. And how much of a challenge was that to get that deadline, to meet that deadline that you had set for yourself? Well, Drake, a lot, you know. Yeah. You know, probably one of those things where, you know, I had one goal in mind. I had the support of my wife and because she, you know, she had to agree to it or else it would have never worked. I had my kids, frankly, helping.

I had everybody. I hired extra people. I did whatever I had to do to meet my goal, the deadline. And so we worked a lot, did a lot of emails, a lot of everything, a lot of drywall, a lot of got to get it done. Yeah. So that's what I would say. We had a get- done mentality. And the Ashley people, the, you know, Frank and Sean, the people from Ashley Furniture

said that I set the record for the quickest time to open an Ashley Home Store from an empty box, what used to be Bed Bath and Beyond to a fully what they call 7.0, which is their up-to-date version of a Ashley Home Store is that that was the quickest they'd ever seen it done. Wow. So, and, you know, a lot of good people to help, a lot of, you know, people who did things, you know, local carpentry type people, electrical people, you know, all of the above. That's important. Yeah.

I think I hired about 10 guys to do nothing but open boxes and put stuff together. Yeah. And which, you know, and then this is really interesting, but we have part-time employees at the funeral home, people who open the doors, people who work sort of on the side, if you will. We had a team of our funeral home volunteers, or not volunteers, pardon me, funeral home part-time people and other people, friends and family who came in and literally did like the accessories and put tags on things so I had this like army of people that we assembled for this you know putting everything

together and it worked and we got it done that is awesome that's that's supporting local supporting our own and that's important and I like the fact that you have a business in Ohio and West Virginia. Absolutely. So, you know, Belmont County and Ohio County. So you're keeping it in the Ohio Valley. Right. And just you touched on the local part of it. I mean, we've always been a family-oriented local company.

And that's how we exist. Sure. Whether it's funerals, furniture, U-Hauls, or otherwise. I mean, there's nothing. I mean, we depend on the community at large to support our business. And when we go back to how we got, you know, how we put things together, you know, again, these are people that work, they might work at our Martins Ferry Funeral Home part-time, but they were willing to come up and pitch in because they saw this opportunity.

But on the, on the Chamber of Commerce side of it, the business side of it, I think the Ashley Home Store is a perfect example of how you can bring a national brand but have local ownership. Because sometimes when you have national brands, they don't consider the local conversation. They don't. We talk about that almost every time. That's one of our biggest conversations. And so when people say, well, it's that, you know, it's, you know, the terminology is licensee.

That's the legal term. The legal term is Ashley Furniture is a national brand, number one national brand in furniture in the world, by the way. Right. Number one assisted brand in all furniture. You know, so the number one brand and the largest producer of furniture in the world. Right. Ashley Furniture. So that's a lot of firsts it is but to bring it locally and have it owned by a local business person and and bring the national design the national pricing the the

reach the all the things that you want but i'm still there and you know and and our sales people are you know local from st clarisville and Dillonville and Wheeling and Moundsville. And these types, they're all local people working in a national store. And so it's the perfect marriage, I'd say, of how we want to do business and how it would be an example of how to do it in the Valley, where you can bring the national attention to us, but have it locally owned. And that's what I have an issue sometimes with some of my members. They don't want to go to the big box stores, but I tell them, listen,

it's not just that. There's local people that own it. There's local people that work there. And our college students, that's where they get their, they have their summer jobs, their part-time jobs. You know, we have to create that local mentality that it's all right and that's a prime example so thank you for doing that sure no it's and i mean and that's why we wanted to do it and that's why it was a great opportunity to do it you mentioned the both sides of the river yeah and i you know said this you know growing up in you know the valley went to lindsley you know so i i you know was from bridgeport but I went to school at Linsley. So I got to know a lot of people at Wheeling Park and Wheeling Central

and John Marshall and places of this nature because I played hockey at Wheeling Amateur Hockey, Waha, Wheeling Amateur Hockey Association. So we got to know kids outside of Bridgeport, outside of Wheeling, in these different places, and a lot of good friendships from that. But when you look at business, the river is not our dividing line. It is not our divide. I said that. We need to have that plastered. It's more so like the nucleus of it all. Correct. It is. You're right. Yes. The river is what brings us together, not separates us.

And so when we look at it today and we, you know, at Wilson Furniture for the last, you know, 30 plus years, I mean, we have great customers up and down the river from, you know, Moundsville, Glendale, Wheeling, Tridelphia, St. Clairsville, Cadiz, you know, all the way up to basically East Liverpool. And today, even more so, because now that we're up here in Tridelphia on the hill, we're doing business in, you know, Avella, PA, you know, Cannonsburg, Pennsylvania, Morgantown. You know, our reach is even bigger than it was before. Sure. And we, again, we go all the way to East Liverpool and up to that area and into Pittsburgh, not in the city of Pittsburgh so much, but, you know, on the outskirts. Because I didn't realize there's a number of people from the PA area that don't want

to go to Allegheny County. They won't go into the city. They like our Walmart. That's what they tell me up here. That's what I've heard. I've heard that. They like the Menards up here. They like Cabela's.

They'll come from PA into the West Virginia side to do business and shop. And a lot of times, different reasons people will say, well, how far is Bridgeport from here? And we'll say, oh, it's like 14 minutes. That's it, yeah. I know. You know, it's not far. Yeah.

You know, but people act like it's like, you know, Utah or someplace. I know. We get that same thing in St. Clairsville. Well, how far is the Highlands? Like, oh, my gosh. We say like 14, 15 minutes. Clair'sville. Well, how far is the Highlands? Oh, my gosh. We say like 14, 15 minutes. It's okay. You know, you can go and shop.

But the Ohio Valley, and that's one of the reasons, you know, when looking and planning this Ashley Home Store, they looked at the Ohio Valley and what that means, the Ohio Valley, you know, from, if you will, from Washington, PA to Cambridge and from, frankly, New Martinsville to East Liverpool. And that's a big valley. That's huge. Yeah, that's a big space. Do you think that was part of their consideration for where, I mean, how did the, what was the process of choosing the location? You settled, obviously, on the Highlands and that's kind of a central location for the entire valley that you just described do you think that was something they were mindful about is absolutely in the middle of it all yeah I mean they target these

things they look at the demographics they look at the numbers they look at the density they look at the houses you know they look at all those things yeah economics and when we looked at it you know when they looked at it you know they have you know technology that you know kind of helps pinpoint these things is that you know the highlands made a lot of sense and when we looked at and having learned this now is that when you see a company like bed bath and beyond that vacates a space there's a lot of national people that watch for those things so today uh in the world people are watching some of these stores being vacated by rite aid okay rite aid is leaving a lot of footprint they call it buildings footprints and space available that there's going to be a lot of national people try

to enter into those rite aid spaces because they're leaving the market in many places and they're good locations they're typically on a corner. The buildings are fairly new. There's a lot of positives for refilling those spaces in with other retailers. And that's exactly what Ashley has done with Bed Bath & Beyond locations all over the country. Oh, okay. Not just here. Not just here.

This is what they're looking at. Actually, the Triunafia West Virginia Home Store was the first bed and bath that had been converted from bed and bath to Ashley. Oh, really? But I can tell you they've replicated that probably 25 times since last year. Well, they know a good thing. Around the country. Yeah. Oh, yeah, because now they have the layout.

They have the footprint. Yeah. All those buildings are the same. What kind of cost do you save when you don't have to build a new building every time? You don't have to buy a big piece of land. You're just taking a sold building. It's a very significant factor in the business, Drake. Very significant.

Because you're looking at probably 10% to 15% of the entire revenue. Really? So that's a lot. Over a time period, 20 years, that's a lot. That's a lot of money. It's also a lot of opportunity, a lot of savings that you can put your money into the advertising, into the employees, into the, you know, what you're displaying. And you're not spending it on a structure that already exists. So no, it's been a crucial element. And when we look at vacancies in real estate,

what it really, what we're looking at is opportunities. And so, you know, when one thing leaves, that just gives an opportunity for something else to fill, backfill its space, which is a great opportunity. What I didn't realize was what you said about folks who are maybe on the outskirts of Pittsburgh in that Cannonsburg, Washington area, and they don't want to go into the city and go and shop or whatever. So they come here to spend their money. I think that's incredible. And that's a huge opportunity for the Valley to put some of the best around here that it can have and bring those people in. Well, Drake, I know in our conversations, I have a really unique position because I get to talk to people when they come in. And we always say, are people looking for furniture?

Well, yeah, they're looking for furniture in this sense. But they're also looking to solve a problem. Yeah. You know, we're moving houses. We have a problem. We don't have enough furniture. We have old furniture. We want some new furniture.

We're going to have kids. We want to, you know, have some stuff for the, you know, the baby and this type. Or, hey, our kids are getting older. I don't want that, you know, piece of furniture we had. You know, kids are growing up. We want something else. So I always say they come to us with an issue, not a problem, but a challenge. Hey, we need to do this.

Or I've got family coming in from out of town. We need a sleeper sofa, these types of things. But what it also does is it gives me a chance to say to people, oh, so where do you live? Oh, really? Well, why do you live there? Oh, really? What do you do? So I kind of get to have

my own little survey if you are yeah and talk to people and that's where i've learned about the number of people who come from pennsylvania what what brings you this way you know yeah because you know a lot of times people would say oh you're in pittsburgh oh pittsburgh you know there's all south hills mall yeah you know all this and why wouldn't you go there and and their and their very quick answer is it's's too traffic-y. We don't like to get, you know, we don't want to spend an hour going up there or longer. There is actually some construction going on near the Ross Park Mall, which, you know, I wasn't overly familiar with. I mean, I know where it is.

But people said, oh, there's construction on Route 19 in Ross, but we're not going up there. Because they're not going to sit in traffic for another half hour, 45 minutes. It probably takes less time to get here, which is further. It's much easier to get here. And it's a straight shot on the highway. And then, you know, I don't want to say there's no construction, but it's much easier. There's no congestion. And there's nothing that'll get rid of traffic quicker than traffic.

Because people won't go where they know there's a little red line on their map. Oh, yeah, on their app. Yep. Yeah. And they'll say, well, I'm not going there. They'll literally turn around and drive the other way. Yep. But, you know, so I've gotten to see, you know, what's going on up in the sort of the

Pittsburgh suburbs, you know, why people live up there, what people do up there, what brings them this way. And usually when they come this way, they're coming as a family, you know, versus what I would say, one of the big differences that I say when we had our independent store in Bridgeport only is that we saw singular people. We saw the wife and she would go and scout. Yes. Or we'd see the husband on a Saturday morning. Hey, I'm going to go do this before I have to go to a ball game or before I do that, you know, so you would see them in separates. What we see now is people together.

So we'll see mom, dad, two kids, and they'll come in the store because they're together on a Saturday or a Sunday afternoon or a Monday evening. And so it's actually a much better opportunity for us to serve our customer because we have the decision makers in the conversation, not, well, I need to get back to you next week because my husband's out of town or my wife's working and we're not together today, but we need to get a mattress. And how do you sell a mattress to two people when they're not together? It's hard. Yeah, you can. I mean, you can try, but it's hard. Someone's going to get in trouble. Yeah, exactly. Somebody's picking the wrong thing. Yeah. It's hard. Yeah, you can. I mean, you can try, but it's hard. Someone's going to get in trouble. Yeah, exactly.

Somebody's picking the wrong thing. Yeah. So. Talk to me a little bit about your time in Columbus serving the state as a representative. I think that's really interesting. Yep. Well, I had the opportunity to go to Columbus as a state senator in the fall of 2007. And then I was there through 2011 when I left to go to the governor's office.

But it's always a great opportunity to serve, you know, your community, your people, your state in this regard. So I was one of 33 state senators. I really got involved in the oil and gas business. Obviously, our area was, you know, the sort of the center of oil and gas. And being a person who grew up, my grandfather, my mom's side was a junk dealer. And people think of junk dealers or scrap dealers. Well, we spent a lot of time in the mines because that's where a lot of the scrap came from, as well as steel mills. So I was used to being what they call a dirty fingernail kind of guy. So when it came to oil and gas, I was like, yeah, let's do it. Absolutely. Because I knew it was an emerging industry and an opportunity for our area because the demise

or decline of steel and coal, we needed an infusion. And there it was. And I had the opportunity to be the dual co-sponsor of the bill that revitalized the oil and gas bill that hadn't been done in 20, 25 years. And we saw what was happening in West Virginia and Pennsylvania because it was kind of like a cloud, if you will, where you could see it coming, sort of coming towards us as the industry involved. So I was happy to be involved, did a lot of time, worked with a lot of people, did a lot of oil and gas research, knowledge, because obviously we want to be informed when you make a bill or make a law.

Did a lot of good things, I think. There's been a few updates since, so we didn't do it perfectly. That's what legislation is about, is modifying things as the world changes. And people forget that. A lot of times people want everything, you know, one time. That's it. Well, you know, in politics, or I shouldn't say politics, but public service, you know, laws, you know, things like that, they evolve, they change, they become different, and you have to be educated and mature about it and explain to people

why and how. And I did a lot of public meetings where I drank water, which people were like, they were uncomfortable with, but I wanted people to be assured that I was willing to drink the same water that they were drinking yeah we're you know we're not going to destroy your water and then walk away where you know if there's an issue we'll address it if there's problem but you can drink the water that came out of the ground and it's not ruined yeah and thankfully knock on wood i mean you know there's always some challenges but i think generally the industry has been pretty good to work with they They've provided a tremendous amount of money into the market. There's a lot of folks that have owned land and worked in the oil fields who've been able to provide for their family and make money that they've never had been able to do before. And it's a real deal. I mean,

we've seen very significant investments in our area, and I think we will for the next several years. But that's one area. Obviously representing think we will for the next several years. So, but that's one area, you know, obviously representing your area and trying to do good things. My job, and I think my dad and I worked together on this from the day we started in 1996, that we went to Columbus, we went to do these types of things to bring industry and to bring opportunity back to the Ohio Valley. You know, it wasn Valley. There was no selfish reason other than the selfish reason of if we have people in our area that can work, live, raise a family, then people will be here to buy furniture. People will be here to be served by our business. So we were selfish in one regard, but we did it indirectly.

Indirectly to say, if you're comfortable and you're buying a house and you're living here and your family's here, then we'll benefit ultimately from it. We'll have the opportunity to serve you. So it was really about economics and getting our area recognized, bringing people back to the area from the area. Looking at one of the projects I did was when we knew Wheeling-Pittsburgh Steel was going to go out of business, was using those properties to do something in the future. And we don't know necessarily what they all are, but those are a lot of great. There are many good buildings, rail access, water access, all the ingredients you need to have an industry or develop an industry. It always takes longer than you think.

Just like in Rayland, Ohio, they're building buildings. They're building a very big building over there. I personally don't even know what it is, but I know that that property is in private hands. They're building a building. There's somebody intends to do something there. I'm not sure what it is. You see that. You saw what happened up in Steubenville and the things that are happening there.

Mingo Junction has had an infusion of, you know, investment there, and they're actually doing steel work in Mingo Junction has had an infusion of investment there, and they're actually doing steel work in Mingo Junction, which is great. And there's some people building some things. So it's not dead. It's not weeds growing in a field. There's actually production happening and opportunities will be coming about in the near future. Yeah, and I'll actually be in Rayland and Steubenville in that area today,

and I go up that corridor a good bit up Route 7, and you do see a lot of what looks to be run down, and it's always something that I've thought about that I hope that somewhere somebody's making the right decisions to make sure that this area doesn't get left behind because it latched onto something that was profitable maybe 50 years ago. And, you know, I hope somebody has the, has the, you know, the awareness to make sure that something in the future can keep this moving along and stay in front of things. Let me share this with you, Drake, because we're probably talking about your parents, grandparents, and probably your great grandparents is that, you know, those industries, whether they be Wheeling, Pittsburgh Steel, Weirton Steel, I mean, there were wonderful industries that provided for many, many people, for many families, for many years. But if we just take Raylan, for example, and when Raylan was operating, making tin plate and doing the ductilites, which is the duct work

in buildings and houses and stuff like this, that's what they were making. Today they're not making it. There's nothing there. But if you looked at it, and let's just use round numbers, there were 500 people that worked there. That was 500 people that made a living, 500 people that shopped, 500 people that might have bought a car, and that's how economies are built. But if we look at that 500 people in that space, one of the problems,

and this is difficult for people to understand, is we're not going to have a one company 500 people so much anymore in the future. Yeah. But if we had 10 companies that employed 50 people, right, that equals 500, obviously. But that's what we have to focus on. We have to focus on a company that mixes product for the oil and gas industry, which you can see them dotting around. You can see them in Rayland, as a matter of fact, right by the school. There's one sitting right there.

But you can see a paper bag manufacturer, somebody who bends or paints metal, on and on and on and on, these types of things. But when we have allowed our industries or these industries have matured and gone away in some regards, we can't give up on the idea of we have the right people. We have the right access on highway, rail, water, all the things, the ingredients that you need to succeed. But what we need to do is get to the right people and bring them to the table and give them opportunities to create businesses. Well, I hate to stop you there. We're about out of time. This has been a super informative. I think I've learned the most today than I have in a few days.

Yeah, same here. But yeah, we really appreciate you coming on and appreciate your insight. And we're thrilled to have been able to talk to you this morning. Well, I will tell you, Drake, my father was an OU graduate at what was then considered probably what, the OU Belmont branch? Yeah. Yeah. And it was Michael McTeague that was instrumental in getting it to move to St. Clairsville, I believe.

Absolutely. And my dad was a nontraditional student, meaning he went to school for two years at OU on the main campus in Athens. But life got in the way with getting married having my two older brothers and you know being involved in a business and he had to leave school to go to work right and but he had the branch or OU you know to go back to and he is a proud graduate of OU and had told everybody about the Harvard on the hawking when he was there and so you know so our family are proud OU alums within our family and it's a great institution both here in Belmont County and in Athens and other places that they have locations. Isn't there the leadership, the Charlie Wilson leadership?

That is correct. And that was one of the things when my father passed away, our family, you know, was able to put some money aside for OU because my dad was a firm believer that, you know, a lot of people think that, oh, I just go to the branch or I just go to OUE. Right. No, you're at Ohio University and you are an important person. And I give you credit, Drake, for, you know, taking on the show and doing things. Yeah. And he wanted to make sure, and we had this conversation when he was in the hospital,

what would you do different? You know, isn't that a great time to ask that question? Right? And my dad said, I want to help young people become better leaders. Oh, that's great. And that's where the inception of the Charlie Wilson Leadership Program, which we haven't fully developed all its opportunities, but we wanted to take some of the money that we were able to put together over the years and put it in a place where people could use it and hopefully develop people like yourself, Drake, and many others. I hope so, and I appreciate your time and everything that you've given us today,

and we're about out of time, but for myself, Wendy Anderson, and Jason Wilson, thank you for listening, Community Connections and commerce.