Issue link: http://psai.uberflip.com/i/1390352
ASSOCIATIONINSIGHT Portable Sanitation Association International News BIWEEKLY EDITION JULY 7, 2021 Page 9 Fathers and Sons of the PSAI Part II…continued from page 8 Continued on page 10 I had the privilege of visiting Ken and Roger Winter and their company as part of the PSAI Fall Board Meeting held in Toronto in 2007. I found this amazing father and son team to have a built a well-organized company with a highly enthusiastic team of employees. Their professionalism and dedication to their customers made me proud to be a fellow PSAI member. Bernie Moore and sons Larry and Jeff Moore A Company is a name that dominated its market for years. This successful family enterprise was started by a military veteran and then passed on to two sons, both of whom served as PSAI Board Presidents. Its founder, Laurence Bernard Moore was born on April 2, 1930, in Wallingford, Connecticut. Centrally located between New Haven and Hartford, and Boston and New York City, Bernie Moore graduated from Lyman High School in 1948. Upon graduation he enlisted in the US Air Force—the new branch of the military that was just established the prior year. Bernie proudly served in the USAF for 21 years and saw action in both Korea and Vietnam. He fulfilled his dream of serving his country while also pursuing his love of flying. In Korea, Bernie met Dorothy Bakke, a second lieutenant in the Air Force. Bernie and Dorothy married, and she was then assigned to duty in Alaska. Bernie soon transferred as well, and the young couple began a family of five children. After some time, Bernie was stationed at Mountain Home Air Force Base in southwestern Idaho. Located 40 miles southwest of Boise, Bernie and his family remained there after his retirement from the military. Bernie attended Boise College—now Boise State University—from 1969 to 1972. According to son, Larry, "Unbelievably, Dad worked on a project that was a business plan for a porta potty company." It must have been fate. Larry then tells the story that we all long to hear, the one of how a person becomes involved in the portable restroom industry. "Dad was involved in real estate, and a retired friend of his from the Air Force was building a home. Dad obtained a contractor's license to help in the building process as well. He noticed that there was not a portable restroom on site—probably [as the result of] his college business plan—so he built one. He obtained plans from a California design firm and built [a restroom] out of plywood." (At this point, one may wonder, did these plans originate from a portable restroom operator in California? The Andy Gump Company? MC Nottingham Company? We may never know but it is an interesting point to consider.) "Another contractor saw the wooden portable restroom and wanted one," Larry explains. And so, it began. Bernie Moore began building wooden portable restrooms for contractors in and around the Boise area in 1972. He selected "A Company" as the name of his new company which is, of course, a military unit identification. Ken and Roger at PSAI roundtable Bernie Moore's gravestone Jeff and Larry Moore