I just wanted to say "nice job" [to Rick Star] for the Final Word article in your July issue [Thanks for the business, July 2005, p. 48]. My father started our business 30 years ago, literally in our garage, when all he had was about $200 in the bank. As the son now running the business, I can say that your article was right on target.

The groundwork laid down by my father will continue to exponentially affect myself, my children and my grandchildren (unless I screw it up!). Like the song says...it's not what you take with you when you go, it's what you leave behind. If we all work with the benefit of our children in mind, each generation will enjoy a progressively higher quality of life.

Sometimes I wonder, given the "easy" life I grew up with, could I have accomplished for my kids what my father accomplished for my brother and me? I would like to hope the answer is yes, but maybe I'm just thankful that my father did it first.

Rob Strayton, Thermal Devices, Mt. Airy, Md.

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