important part of Elwood’s success that words can only begin to express his appreciation for her. She had a very kind way of servicing customers and later had customers drive up to 100 miles to visit her and the store. She was a dedicated believer in natural foods and a born sales lady. Florence worked full time, and then some, while Elwood put in about 12 hours at the store per week in addition to 60 hours at Fearn. Florence single-handedly built Elwood’s retail store into a success and annual retail sales are recorded below: YEAR 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 $SALES $25,392 $38,292 $49,404 $65,604 $79,572 In 1968, Elwood had his only serious problem with Florence and it happened like this. After five years of losing money at the store, Health House finally made a profit and Elwood decided to give raises to the employees that made the store successful. He increased Florence’s pay from $1.30 per hour to $1.55 per hour and gave a second lady a nickel raise to celebrate. Surprisingly, Florence became enraged at her co-worker’s raise, because she felt that the other lady was not worth the increase! She was so upset that she walked out of the store during midday and didn’t return. Elwood chased after her and, eventually, settled her down enough to reconsider her decision. In the end, Florence came back to the store only after Elwood promised her that he would open a second store that she would run basically on her own. In 1969, the Lombard Health House opened and quickly became a success. Within three years, Florence had that store humming, selling over $140,000 in Lombard alone in 1971. The other lady, Helen Howard, stayed in Elmhurst and became quite a health believer herself. She developed inoperable breast cancer and began reading Adelle Davis’ words of wisdom in her books. Helen eventually put her cancer in remission and cured herself by consuming very high doses of antioxidant vitamins C and E. Meanwhile, at Fearn, another big break came when Fearn’s high protein powder was used by the U.S. team that climbed Mt. Everest in 1963. This was major publicity for Fearn and led to a whole campaign of window banners, store literature, on the product. ‘High Protein Food’ was labeled “for athletes, body builders, and those wishing to develop strong muscles. A natural food supplement containing all needed amino acids, in convenient form for energy, vigor and vitality. High in biological value, pleasant tasting and economical.” Somehow that old-time marketing verbiage looked partly extra honest and partly extra promotional. “You can set records too”, ads claimed. In one sense this was quite true as Elwood, Lou and Bill all used soy protein powder in their high school years, and each noticed better times in distance running after using the product. Elwood later did research with Joe Newton, the Elmhurst high school cross-country coach, using soy protein for endurance. Joe Newton was such a running icon, winning many state and national cross-country championships, that he later became the only high school cross- country coach to serve on the Olympic Committee! 22 BEATING THE ODDS industry news and a rush
