Advertiser Forum: Always Remember to Soar Anna Stamm As I read replies to notices I posted of her death, I was impressed with how many of Susan’s friends and colleagues mentioned the joy my sister brought to their lives. Be it authors she helped throughout the last three decades or classmates she has not seen since junior high and high... Read More February 2025 Issue #17307 Page 6
Advertiser Forum: The Hardest Days of Our Lives Anna Stamm Anyone who reads my column knows I’m always looking for the bright side in a challenge and the lesson that can be learned. Unfortunately, sometimes there is no bright side for us, and the lesson is merely that life is too short and too bittersweet. For My Sister, Susan When I left... Read More January 2025 Issue #17306 Page 6
The Last Word: Rural Cousins in the Truss Business — The Last Chapter Joe Kannapell, PE In 1990, when Dickie Vail traveled from his shuttered Virginia plant to his job interview in Burlington, NC, he didn’t have much going for him. He was 35 and broke, and he was meeting Carroll Shoffner, a 57-year-old mega-millionaire who owned over a dozen highly efficient truss plants.... Read More January 2025 Issue #17306 Page 172
In Memoriam: The Generosity and Genius of Sid Ketchum Joe Kannapell, PE George “Sid” Ketchum, cofounder of the Wood Truss Council of America (WTCA), and an exceptionally generous man, passed away peacefully on November 11, 2024. Sid had a long and distinguished career in the truss business, beginning in 1973 when he took over PDJ Components, a... Read More December 2024 Issue #16305 Page 43