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Our longtime helpers |
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Here are the folks we've depended on over the last 3 decades of our little cottage industry, some of whom have been with us for over 20 years. They've been loyal, supportive, cheerful, hardworking and in tune with our passion for fine quality work and personal freedom. These are treasured friends, as well as appreciated workers, and they have helped us maintain the excellence of every aspect of our operation. Several are also Kadon stockholders.
The laser shop:
Gone but not forgotten:
Jack was born and raised in Wellesley, MA, outside Boston. He now lives in Severna Park, Maryland, conveniently close to Kadon to drop in once or twice a week to keep us updated. We are fortunate to have his skill with numbers and his dedication to accuracy. Jack left home at age 21 and tried various lines of work. In 1952 he joined a young food-vending company and worked there for about 20 years, rising through the ranks. He then got a chance to be Field Service Engineer for a vending machine manufacturing company and spent the next 25 years there, until retirement. He and his wife of 56 years raised 5 children and lived variously in New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Maryland, Illinois, Texas and on the Eastern shore of Maryland. Jack traveled all 50 states plus Canada, Mexico and Central America, until he just wanted to stay home. He lost his wife in 2007 after a long illness and has since then made many new friends, including the folks at Kadon. Interesting connection—his late wife was the niece of Josiane Smith's late husband. Does that make Jack the nephew of Josie? Rita sews some of the fabric bags in which so many of Kadon's gameboards are packaged, and pitches in with other production as needed, helping us heroically to meet deadlines and rush jobs. There is a marvelous view from her kitchen across the rolling farmlands of Carroll County, Maryland, serene and fertile. A warm, old-fashioned family feeling permeates Rita's home, populated variously by up to 9 cats, her husband, Tony, an extended family of sisters, cousins, brother, nieces, nephews, friends and neighbors, a son, a daughter, daughter-in-law, and three grandchildren. In the summer the action moves to the large swimming pool and patio out back. Permit us to name-drop: Rita's son, Steve Krauth, has his name on the credits of the animated film, "Prince of Egypt," for doing computer magic for Steven Spielberg's Dreamworks in California.
A graduate of the Baltimore School of Massage, Rita has many tools of holistic healing, and the wisdom to use them well. Photograph by Angelika Petrik |
| ©1998-2010 Kadon Enterprises, Inc. | 
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Josiane Smith is the office manager and production coordinator. Her ability to keep track of countless steps, items, tasks and orders is a gift. More than once, though, we caught her writing memos in ink on her palm, to remember to take home. "Slips of papers can get lost," says the supreme organizer. She runs the gamut from gluing to sewing in turning components into finished products. In the shipping department, Josie wields the tape-gun with the gusto of an Annie Oakley. After seeing to it that all others are assigned their particular projects, "everything else" is done by moi, the French-born Mrs. Smith notes. When not tackling Kadon stuff, Josiane does yoga, works in her lush garden, and converses with her two loving felines, Cato and Panda. She lost her beloved husband, Dave, in May 2002.
