A Goodbye To The Greatest Man We Knew

Justin Kratter (March 1, 1928 - December 21, 2017)

I remember my sisters and I asking him, “but daddy, what would you want people to know?” He said simply, “that I was a good person, who loved animals, and I respected everyone.” This understated, humble, and simplified summary of a man lacked just one thing… everything.

Although there will never be enough or the right words to share just how great a man that our dad was, my sister- G, seemed to come very close in her words shared below.

“He was fair, thoughtful, empathetic, and as many know, very funny. He was a dreamer, an innovator, creative, and always pulled for the under dog, because he was an underdog. He was curious by nature, and tenacious. Our Dad always tried to stress the importance of hard work, a strong work ethic, and the importance of integrity. He tried to instill kindness in his children and he spent many hours encouraging his children and grandchildren to be their best, to work hard and to try. "Did you TRY...can you TRY... but at least you know you TRIED." He believed in ATTEMPT. He would often say, “What have you got to lose?”

Our Dad started in business by hauling scrap materials. He soon discovered that there was silver and precious metals that could be harvested and sold from the materials he hauled. Primarily the silver used in silver coated copper wire.

When he first tried to break into this industry, he would call the Purchase & Production Manager at Hudson Wire ( one of the largest wire companies in the country) and ask for a meeting. His requests fell on deaf ears. So our Dad TRIED  something different. He started to call the President of Hudson Wire every week until he finally got that meeting. The President finally relented and let my Father make his pitch. Our Dad said, “Give me the opportunity to sample the material and I promise you a higher return than any other company.” The return ended up being greater than any of his competitors and my father landed the Hudson Wire account. 

The secret to being able to give the higher return was that our Dad was hungry, but not greedy. He barely paid himself. He knew that if he could land this one giant, he could build a business. Even if it meant leveraging himself, he knew that he was not afraid of failure. He was not scared to TRY. 

Our father never walked away from opportunity or any responsibility. Our father always knew how to step up and when to step in. He was the type of man that never gave up on an idea or the belief in himself. He was resourceful and he was determined.

He decided to develop a technique to harvest the product. His company, Midland Processing Inc, became the largest independent processor of film and of silver plated wire. It developed a wet chemical method for reclaiming silver from film doing world wide business. 

In fact, his company processed more film than any other domestic firm except Eastman Kodak. Without ever using a single salesman. He was a pioneer in the metal industry who built a Silver Processing Plant that serviced such giants as Shell Oil, DuPont, Dow Chemical and Kodak Film.

Our Dad also tried to to share opportunity. He made every single employee of his company an owner. He truly cared about the men and women who worked for him. Every morning, my father had rolls, donuts, and coffee delivered to his company so that the employees….every employee from the plant operators to the secretaries could start their day off right. 

 One evening while at the grocery store he noticed that soda was being sold in plastic bottles instead of glass bottles. He realized that not unlike copper wire and scrap metal, there would be a market for these plastic bottles. So he started to research the science of plastic. After learning that these soda bottles were made from PET (Polyethalene Terephthalate) he discovered these bottles could be transformed into yarn and other industrial products. My parents decided to take a risk and they built a processing plant in Sumter, South Carolina. The bottles were crushed into small chips. Then they were heated and poured into a spinerrete. The fibers were drawn into smooth strings, crimped, dried and baled and were then sold to textile manufacturers.

This innovative thinking has had a lasting affect on the environment, as less plastic is dumped in landfills and is now marketed to create other products. He was a pioneer in the area of recycling. You can find this material today in everything from clothing to carpets. 

All of this because he tried.

Our Father would want us all to TRY. Try to be good people. Try harder to be kind, Try to attempt something you are interested in, Try to develop yourself, Try something new. Try to overcome your fears, Try to be a nice person.`Try to live a good life... It doesn't hurt to try.”

TRY SOMETHING THIS YEAR, TRY ANYTHING.