Thirty years ago Ken Baruth comes into my life and wants to marry my daughter. No one is good enough to marry my daughter—at least that was my thinking at the time. He didn't even ask my permission. He just assumed it was going to happen. And it did!
Thirty years later he watches one of his two daughters walk the university line and receive a two-major degree in business and accounting. Next year he'll be watching the other one walk with a different degree, but nonetheless walk.
Perhaps the giant smile on Ken's face in the photo betrays his real thinking. If you'll look close he claims he's out of money.
Through the good, the bad, and the ugly of daughter-raising Ken has provided his girls with the means to receive the best education possible in their chosen fields.
I find it fascinating that this executive with a Midwestern twang, who doesn't like golf, gets to work an hour before his employees via a one-hour, one-way commute, totes a brown bag for lunch, is a die-hard Nebraska fan, and teaches Sunday School, has made it way up the ladder of automotive finance. And he's accomplished most of it in California where many are suspicious of the Midwestern twang, will play golf at the drop of a hat, get to work an hour after their employees, go to an early Sushi lunch with colleagues, never heard of Sunday School, and are die-hard USC /UCLA fans. How did this happen?
Well he started at the bottom repossessing cars and worked his way up to where he's standing as a vice-president of a prestigious global financial enterprise. And the people who work for him love him.
He's smart! It took me years to find this out. But I had a clue back there when he chose my daughter as his wife. Good choice! I would have said, yes had he asked, as if my yes or no would have made any difference.
