Next week, again, we hear from one of our own, as long time Rotarian Dr. Paul Marsidi shares with us some of his experiences while exercising one of his favorite hobbies, scuba diving, around Komodo Island.
He especially enjoys diving in the pacific ocean, with his favorite place being the "coral triangle" due to the prolific marine life and number of species of coral in that area. He went diving around Komodo Island in August 2008 and became one of the few people in Union City who has seen the Komodo dragons in the wild, which he will share with us, since he is also a prolific underwater photographer.
Dr. Marsidi was born in Jakarta, Indonesia and left when he was 17 years old. He went to college and medical school in Belgium where he lived for 8 years before pursuing further training in urology in Ohio and finally settled down in Union City in 1981.
Last week,
Rotarians were enlightened on the long and successful career of a local business over in Fulton, known as The Ferry Morse Seed Company.
Trevor Hurst, the company’s Vice President and Chief Financial Officer presented an interesting power-point presentation, with accompanying slides and impressive numbers, not only in years but also in the number of businesses the company does business with throughout the nation and world.
The company was born in 1856, and became incorporated in 1879. Trevor related to some of the things which were not around when the company was founded, such as it was before the first public schools, and much to the disappointment of some in the audience, it was also before Auburn University was established, or even the Treaty of Paris, also Western Union was established in that same year.
According to Trevor the company has changed hands several times in it’s history and located a plant in Fulton Kentucky in 1958. During that same year the company was bought by the Purex corporation, and in 2005 it was purchased by Jiffy’s of America.
He also related to things that affect the company and things that do not effect the company, as far as production and sales. He said that due to the trends which people turn to during hard times, or recessions Ferry Morse hold steady , as most people tend to return to the old times and plant and grow their own foods during these times and therefore buy many more seeds to support their families.
The company has recently undergone major renovations in Fulton, and also a new plant-warehouse in So. Fulton.
He also mentioned that Ferry Morse has contributed greatly to the community of Fulton, such as spending several dollars helping the Fulton City School System renovate and put up new lights on their Football Field and several more contributions to the local community.
The company still enjoys a sales growth unparalleled to many, as they continued to ship to 17,000 stores in 2008. The Fulton facility employees 144 permanent positions and 340 temporary positions.
