The late J. Kirby Risk II called himself ‘a small-town businessman from the banks of the Wabash.’ He was much more. The fastidious, dapper man from Lafayette, Indiana, exuded philanthropy and free enterprise. Like a sheepdog, he tended the flock, rounded up strays, darted to key places to close up stragglers, and nudged everyone toward a common goal. Sometimes his stubborn persistence caused clashes. His demanding behavior was for good, no matter what others thought. That was Kirby’s way. Kirby’s integrity was the basis for his two occupations. His first career was compassion, and his second career was the building of the battery company he cofounded in 1926 with $500 borrowed from his father. Today, Kirby Risk Corporation is a multimillion-dollar electrical products and services industry headquartered in Lafayette, Indiana, and led by Kirby’s son, Jim. Kirby’s Way captures the essence of this imitable gentleman, who with his wife of fifty-five years, Caroline, raised four children, gave time, money, and meals to strangers, refugees, Purdue University students, and their beloved community, while building from their kitchen table a successful Midwest corporation. He believed in ‘sacrificial service.’ Kirby noticed people. He recognized their importance. In turn, they loved him and wanted to help him. He dwelled on his favorite song, ‘Mankind is My Business.’ Relationships shaped his success. Kirby was quiet about his deeds. He lived the Bible passage, Matthew 6:3—’But when you do a kindness to someone, do it secretly—do not tell your left hand what your right hand is doing.’ Kirby Risk may not have wanted this book. Yet he would have esteemed it as a parable, a spiritual truth that compels readers to discover certainties for themselves. From heaven, he tends the flock and rounds up strays, so more people might live Kirby’s Way.
Tabela de Conteúdo
Foreword
Preface
From the Banks of the Wabash
Common Denominator
Girl from Oat Fields
Kirby’s Charge
World’s Fair Wedding
Off to Work They Go
Florida Circus
Surplus Man
When Prefab Was Fab
Camp Kirby
God in Us
Open-Door Policy
Just Desserts
Wedded Bliss
Junior Achievement
Taking Risks
New Directions
Building
Distance Run
Without the Gentleman
Ghost of Christmas Past, Present, and Yet to Come
Sobre o autor
Angie Klink writes biographies, histories, documentaries, children’s books, essays, and advertising copy. Klink was the scriptwriter for the 2013 documentary about public education,
Rise Above the Markl, narrated by actor Peter Coyote. She is the author of
Kirby’s Way: How Kirby and Caroline Risk Built their Company on Kitchen-Table Valuesl (Purdue University Press, 2012), a spirited profile of one of the Midwest’s leading businessmen, his wife, and their company, the Kirby Risk Corporation. In her book
Divided Paths, Common Ground: The Story of Mary Matthews and Lella Gaddis, Pioneering Purdue Women Who Introduced Science into the Home (Purdue University Press, 2011), Klink brings to life two remarkable female educators who improved the lives of American women. She also has authored the popular lift-the-flap children’s books
Purdue Pete Finds His Hammerl and
I Found Ul. Klink is published in four titles for the
Chicken Soup for the Soul series. She has won forty-four American Advertising Federation ADDY Awards and an honorable mention in the 2007 Erma Bombeck Writing Competition. She holds a BA from the Brian Lamb School of Communication at Purdue University.
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