'Lumberyard brat' climbs out of coal bins to build award-winning business

SUN PRAIRIE - A self-described "lumberyard brat," Dave Chase is now at the helm of four area businesses.

He is president of Chase Lumber and Fuel Co., which is based in Sun Prairie, and has other locations in Cottage Grove, DeForest and McFarland. Both of his children, Val Stiener and Stu Chase, have joined him in the 110-year-old family business, but they didn't start as young as he did.

Chase, who is the fourth generation to operate the business, was about 10 years old when he started sorting bulk nails for the lumberyard. Not long after, he was part of the crew delivering coal. Because he was smaller then the men, Chase climbed through the homes' basement windows to help guide the coal into the bin - then making his way back to the window to scramble out when the bin was full.

He was driving a company truck by the time he was 12 or 13 years old.

"I got the chance to do things most kids my age didn't do," said Chase, whose company received a Wisconsin Family Business of the Year Award in 2007.

Started in 1897

The Chase family got into the lumber business when Chase's great grandfather, James Willis Chase, became part owner of Gibbons and Son Lumber in downtown Sun Prairie in 1897. In 1908, James Chase's son, Ben, purchased the company and in 1923 the name was changed to Chase Lumber and Fuel Co.

Ben Chase's oldest son, Ted, didn't necessarily plan on making a career in the lumberyard business. But Ben Chase died when Ted Chase was away at Ripon College and after graduating, he started working for the company in 1933.

Ted Chase, who served as Sun Prairie mayor from 1969 to 1975, had six children - three girls and three boys. While Dave, who was the oldest boy, worked in the store at a young age, the other sons, Ted Jr. and Byron, worked in the store after high school. Then they went into insurance and real estate. All three boys served on the board of directors.

After Dave Chase graduated from Sun Prairie High School, he went to what was then called Colorado A&M in Fort Collins to study light construction - a field that was part of the Chase company at the time. After a semester, he quit to join the Marines. But instead, his parents talked him into going back to school so he transferred to Ripon College where he graduated with a degree in economics, which was then the closest thing the school had to a business degree.

Worked in Seattle

After graduating, he worked at a Seattle lumber mill to gain a different perspective. He also joined the Army where he served for 30 years, some of the time in the reserves. Four months into his lumber mill job, he had to report for active duty.

After serving for six months, Dave Chase was asked to come back to the lumberyard because the company was in transition.

He married Janet Tetzlaff in 1960 and then was called back to active duty in 1970. When he returned, he continued to work for the lumberyard, which purchased Cottage Grove Lumber in 1972 and renamed it Chase Lumber and Fuel Company.

In 1981, Dave Chase continued to work for his father and on his own purchased Central Waubesa Lumber Supply in McFarland, which later was renamed Chase Lumber and Fuel Co.

Ted Chase died in 1984 and Dave Chase took over the business.

Ten years later, the company purchased F.L. Chase Lumber Co. in DeForest, which was owned by Dave Chase's cousin, Fred Chase. It was also was also renamed Chase Lumber and Fuel Co. and for a time was managed by Tom Chase, a fourth cousin of Dave Chase.

While Dave Chase got the chance to do things at a young age, he said working for his father also had its disadvantages.

"He was always harder on me than he was on anyone else," Dave Chase said.

When other employees took time off to go to a ball game, Dave Chase had to stay and work.

Brother-sister team

Dave Chase's son, Stu, now 46, worked at the business during summers while he attended Sun Prairie High School. He attended Ripon College and then went into the National Guard before attending lumberyard management school in Pipestone, Minn.

He did an internship at Menards in Minnesota before starting work at the Chase location in Cottage Grove - a move he figured was inevitable.

"It was kind of in my blood," Stu Chase said.

Today, Stu Chase serves as vice president of operations and does a variety of jobs such as purchasing, estimating and waiting on customers. During his internship, he was expected to hit the ground running. At Chase, he's been allowed to do a fair amount of self-teaching, he said.

Val Stiener, who didn't work at the company when she was young, studied sports medicine at UW-La Crosse and had aspirations of becoming a personal trainer. But while she waited for her husband, Jim Stiener, to graduate, she worked as a receptionist at EPIC Life Insurance in Madison. She found she liked the work and stayed on, eventually becoming part of management until she wanted a change and started looking for another job.

Her father then asked if she wanted to join the business, partly because he needed help with the growing human resources needs and making the company automated.

That was 12 years ago and since then she has been learning on the job. Her title is executive assistant and she also is the company secretary/treasurer. Her responsibilities include human resources and other administrative work.

Val Stiener, now 44, who needs to vent more than her brother, said her dad "lets me rant and rave."

"He lets you make your own mistakes," she said. "He's very hands off."

The brother and sister get along well because they personalities complement each other. Val Stiener is appreciative of her brother's knowledge of the business and he is fine with being more on the front lines of the business.

Like a big family

Each store has a manager who is not a family member and the company benefits by having a number of longtime employees. One employee has been there for 42 years.

"It's like a big family," said Val Stiener, who has a son, Chase, 15, and a daughter, Sydney, 13.

Stu Chase is married and his wife's name is Carrie.

The Chases belong to a group called Sons and Daughters of Bosses, which was created by Smith and Gesteland.

The family also has begun to meet with an attorney to talk about a succession plan.

Dave Chase, 71, is still at the lumberyard six days a week but is there fewer hours as he tries to ease out of the business. While his children continue on-the-job training, Dave Chase can see the day when he can completely let go of the reins.

Pamela Cotant is a freelance writer.