At the age of 14, Alan Lower had to make a decision that no young teenager should have to make. His father had suffered a serious heart attack a couple of years before, and he had started working in the family’s custom processing business. Potential buyers had shown up to, as they claimed, acquire the Lower’s business. While most kids are planning for high school, Lower was asked to plan out his future.
“He wanted me to decide if I was interested in continuing in the business; I think he was tempted to give up,” Lower says. “He stayed in the business because I wanted to. Everyone thought he was crazy, that he should just sell out and go fishing, but he fought to the bitter end.”