Ron
Marrone, Businessman
Ron
Marrone is a robust, middle-aged Italian-American with a sparkle in his eye and
a lust for life. A third generation
American and a life long resident of Pittsburg, he is a generous businessman
giving of himself to the community. He
is known and loved by all; and because of his dedication and vigorous work
ethic, he has come to be known simply as “Ron.” Along with his two brothers, Ron has built the unshakable
foundation upon which Marrone’s Incorporated, a food service business, stands
today. Marrone’s Inc. is a family
business started almost seventy-five years ago, but has come to flourish under
Ron’s direction. Ron is very involved
in his community, and was recently given the honor of Outstanding Alumni of
Pittsburg High School. Ron is a true
inspiration and is an asset to the Pittsburg community.
Well, my grandfather came from Italy with my father to be
coal miners back in the late 1920’s.
They later got into farming and started to sell fruits and
vegetables. Then they had a grocery
store, and then set up their own fruits and vegetables warehouse which [was]
owned by my grandfather and my three uncles.
My uncle Ernie, my uncle Frank, and my dad and some of my aunts were
involved in [the warehouse]; but, they took over the company probably in the
late ‘30’s. They [later] had to close
it up because they all three enlisted and went into service in World War
II. Then, coming back from the armed
services, they sort of dissolved the company.
It was Marrone Brothers and then my dad, Albert J. Marrone Sr., took it
over and it became just Marrone Fruit Company.
When we were six, seven
years old, I [remember] living next door to the business, just walking to
work. We were in there [the warehouse]
picking up potatoes, and onions, and running tomatoes, what I mean running,
sorting rotten from good. Of course, in
this time also we lost our mother; she died of breast cancer. I was in second
grade, so my father then became a single parent at a young age. He was raising three of the wildest boys,
probably not only in Pittsburg, but the whole state of Kansas, maybe the whole
United States. He had three boys to
raise all the way up to when we were teenagers; so, he was a single parent all
the way through. Like I said, my mother
died when I was in second grade, and he [had a] dual role of mother and father
for us.
The most difficult time for
me was most definitely when I lost my mother.
I think having her for those six short years, that wasn’t enough. Not to have her be there as I went to parent
deals. Of course, my father always
went, but not having my mother there--being at scouting activities, at athletic
events--that definitely was an impact, was sad. But we got through together.
It made us appreciate the people around us more.
The reason why we’re mean
[now] (laughs), you know, when we [were] kids we always used to fight each
other, you know with three boys. One of
our neighbors used to call us the three destroyers because everything that got
in our sight we destroyed. I think the
funniest thing was one time we had gotten into a big fight in the house. We’d break windows, and stuff like that, you
know three boys in a house. One
afternoon we got in a heated fight, and my younger brother stuck his head
around a corner and my older brother hit him over the head with a pop
bottle. [Laughing] So, I said, “Well, dad’s going to be mad,” I
says, “I think you just killed Dale.”
[Laughing] Albert is the oldest
brother, and then Dale is the youngest brother.
But, you know, we had sad
times; we had a lot of sad. The good
times outweighed the sad we had. It was
kind of lonely not having a mother, you know, growing up and stuff. But we had aunts and uncles that came over
and stuff like that to check on us.
Besides, my dad took us everywhere.
I mean he would never leave all three of us at the house at the same
time. [Laughing] We all took turns to go with him on his
route. We’d drive all over, all day
with him. Sometimes it would be boring;
but then sometimes it wouldn’t. You
know we always had to work. [Dad]
taught us the right way and the correct way to work. I think a lot of us have lost that, you know. [We] used to have family businesses. Students now don’t know how to work because
no one shows them. How to be there,
that they need to be there on time, that they need to be there to do the
work. [To] have someone mentor to them
and show them how to do the work and do the work properly is another thing.
My dad was an inspiration to
me. Anybody that can raise three of the
orneriest kids, work like he did, and still keep his laughter and
composure. He was always laughing, he
never got down, he never got upset.
A lot of Italian families,
when they immigrated to the United States, they all left provinces. So, most of the people who settled here
either were related to each other, or knew every family. At our house, when we were small, we boys
were the only ones that spoke English.
I had both sets of grandparents spoke Italian, their friends that came
over spoke Italian, and my mom and dad spoke Italian. Dale, Albert and myself, you know, it was like we were in a
foreign country. I guess when you are
small like that you figure out, ‘Wow!
You know, we’re different.’ The
first generation had come over, which had been my grandparents; and of course,
their kids had been the second generation.
Most of those aunts and uncles maybe made it to fourth, fifth or sixth
grade. They didn’t really have a formal
education, what you’d call. I think one
of the aunts, because of the military service, had a better chance of getting a
better education because she stayed in the service, in the military. The third generation are seeing the benefits
that my grandfather didn’t see, or my mom and dad never saw. They had opportunities, they came over to
better themselves, and they did do that.
But they never imagined the opportunities that we have encountered by
getting a good education here in Pittsburg.
Well, we started our
education at a private school, it was a parochial school; then as we got older,
[we] then transferred to the public schools.
We went to Lakeside, and Roosevelt, and then on to Pittsburg High
School. All three of us are Pittsburg
High School graduates; not only myself [and my brothers], but I have two
cousins and now several nieces and nephews that have graduated from Pittsburg
schools now. Well, I think all of [the
teachers] do [stand out in my memory].
I think the first person I met was Tom Bath, and his son Bob. They were presidents of the school board;
and [as] I walked into Roosevelt school, they met me and later took me
downstairs to meet coach Garmen.
[Laughs] But there was Mr.
England, Mr. Morey, and Gail. There was
a whole bunch of teachers and guidance people that just kinda smothered
us. They really took interest in us;
and you know, we really appreciated that.
Being three boys, seeing how a whole system like USD 250 takes care of
the students. Even back then it was
apparent that the students are the greatest resource. Of course, now that we remain here we give back to the
community. [I] feel glad that we are
here doing business, and keep other kids interested in bettering
theirselves. When it all boils down,
it’s an individual thing; it’s what’s inside you. You have to be the person that makes that first move. [When] you want to do something, [or] it’s
got to be done, you are going to do it.
All the coaching in the world, or whatever the teachers tell you, aren’t
going to do a thing if you don’t motivate yourself. But several of my teachers were good motivators many inspired
me. I’m glad to tell you that; it’s a
good testimony to them.
After high school, I got a
football scholarship and went to play for Coffeyville Community College. I stayed there for one year. Then I transferred to Missouri Southern
State College, in Joplin, on a football scholarship and I stayed there for
three years. Then, after that, I
transferred to Pittsburg State University and was trying to complete my degree. When I was
nineteen, almost twenty, my father passed away
with a heart attack. [Then] we
took over the business. I lacked a semester and a half from
graduating. I should have gone back and
got that, but I never did. I should
have taken the time to do it, but I never did.
I just appreciate the teachers, the coaches that took time.
[I met my wife Vicki] in
church, then I formally met her at my aunt’s house. I knew Vicki and her family years ago, it was one of those
Italian deals you know, you had to come and meet the grandma and the aunt. Really, we started dating probably in the
late ‘70’s, and were married in the early ‘80’s. By the way, Vicki’s grandmother, my uncle’s wife, were
sisters. So my uncle was already
married to the sister of the grandmother.
[Marrone’s] has over fifty
[employees] now. Back when I was a kid,
it was small. Just my dad, and he had a
driver; and us boys helped him and that was about it. We incorporated in ‘70, ‘72 I believe it was. Then in ‘77 we purchased a business that was
going out of business. [It] was another
grocery company. We then received a
600,000 dollar bond issue from the city of Pittsburg to purchase the building,
and to start our business. We started
with, I think we only had eight employees back in ‘77, and now we are over
fifty employees. We go into three states,
about [a] 150 mile radius in Kansas, Oklahoma and Missouri. We have sales people that live in Clinton,
Missouri; Warrensburg, Missouri; Neosho, Missouri; Joplin, Missouri; Carthage,
Missouri; Carl Junction. Of course,
Frontenac, Kansas; and Arma, Kansas; Parsons, Kansas; so we have people pretty
well scattered all through. Pittsburg
is our home base of operation, [and] we’ve been in business almost seventy-five
years.
[In
my lifetime I have been awarded] Inspirational Leader, Top Dragon, All Conference
for football, All SEK Football Team. [I
was] past president of the Salvation Army Advisory Board, honorary co-chair for
the United Way of Crawford County, past chairman of the Pittsburg Area of
Chamber of Commerce.
[I was] nominated [by] the
Pittsburg Education Association for the Apple Award, also I was given the
Friends of Education Pittsburg Community Schools Award. [I was] past president of the Pittsburg
Sunrise Rotary, and also Rotarian of the year.
[I was given the] Boy scouts of America Outstanding Leadership [Award]
in the 2000 Friends County Campaign, Volunteer of the Year [Award] at George
Nettles Elementary school. [I have
served on the] Board of directors of Gold Bank, [I was a] past board member for
the First Church of the Nazarene. [I
was the] president of the Children’s Advocacy Center here in Pittsburg. [I am the] president of the USD 250
Foundation. [I am on the] Board of
Directors of Marrones, Inc. and also co-owner of Marrone’s incorporated with my
two brothers. I was [given] the
Distinguished Alumni Award and also the Spirit of Pittsburg Award. I’m also a Paul Harris Fellow for
Rotary. I was the past chairman of the
Mount Carmel Medical Center Board of Trustees.
I was also involved in the HOST program at Lakeside Elementary
School. Also [served on the Health]
Fact [Board]. I chaired the Pittsburg
Millenium Celebration for Just Imagine City.
Also, [I am the] president of the Pittsburg High School Alumni
Association.
The USD
250 Foundation has been formed in order to help more programs [have] more
financial help, for the district or the students. Right now, we are on a “250 for 250 Campaign,” which [is] raising
endowment money for scholarships. We
hope to raise 250 thousand dollars and use the interest off that money to help
fund scholarships for Pittsburg High School students. The Foundation also has been very active in helping renovate
Hutch[ison] field. [It] has been active
also [in], whatever the schools, high school or school district needs. People can now funnel funds into that
foundation, and not only help students here in USD 250; but also get a tax
deduction off the 5013C certificate, which we here at the foundation have. The general purpose of the foundation is to
enhance and help USD 250 students. [To
help, people] could call the USD 250 Board office. Right now, I am the president of the USD 250 Foundation or they
can call the superintendent, Gary Price, or many of our foundation board
members. David Huffman is one, Jeff
Elliot is one, Don McNay is one, Henry Mengheni is one, Jerod Rhodes, Koeta
Bryant. So, we have quite a few people,
community people, that serve on 
our Board.
[Many people say I have
accomplished] a lot in my life. But, I
think [to have] accomplishments, first you have to meet failure. I’ve had a lot of failures, and I learned by
those failures and mistakes to be successful.
I think that is my greatest accomplishment: to accept failure for what
it is. [To] not let it get me down, but
to go on to a different level to better myself.
The food service business is
like many other businesses right now.
Small independent businesses have to be more creative and have to be on
top of things a lot more due to the fact that the big multi-hundred million
dollar companies, who are out consuming everything at such a disastrous
rate. I think that a lot of the
problems we have today [are due to the fact] that we’ve not support[ed] those
small independent people that bring business.
Now, when we want to talk to someone, or [want to] have some service, value,
or quality, it’s no longer there. We
sacrifice human connections. [For the
future of] our business, my goal is to hopefully continue it to a fourth
generation; and pass it on to our children if they choose to enter that
business. [As for my personal future
goals] I think some of my goals are to just provide a service to my fellow man,
to help people, to serve people. I
think that is an important goal for everyone.
I think good stewardship, too, is a goal I have. To continually give back, after so many
people have given back to me. Also to
fill my life. One of my goals is to see
my children’s children, and to be a great part of that. I think everyday everyone should strive to
make a goal, [but] just take one day at a time. I don’t really think you can do a long-range goal. I think setting goals should be obtainable
goals; you shouldn’t set them so far out that you can’t reach them. Like I said, ‘You learn from failure.’ I think a lot of my success I owe to
failure. If I hadn’t failed, I wouldn’t
be as successful as I am now. So I
embrace failure, not as something to be degraded or looked down upon; but as
another opportunity to do better.
Morning
Sun Article on Ron
Marrone
http://www.morningsun.net/stories/060800/sun_0608000002.shtml
http://www.morningsun.net/stories/061302/loc_0613020050.shtml
*Text within [ ] was not
said by interviewee.
This oral history was
researched and prepared by Jessica Wharran, Spring 2003.