Our story starts with my (Grace) father, Dale, a.k.a. “Limey,” who grew up in socialist England amid 18% unemployment. His single mother did her best in that economy and under those conditions, but he and his brother Glen were always hungry. Limey tells the story of his mother routinely visiting the butcher shop to ask if they had “bones for the dog” until one day, he questioned her because they did not have a dog. She would use the bones to boil down to a broth. Limey’s childhood hunger fueled his ambition.

As a teenager, and with some keen ingenuity, he was accepted into Her Majesty’s Royal Academy of Trades, a four-year college. With hope for the future and a wide-open door of opportunity, he graduated as a master plumber. He left the academy with his motorcycle and a bag of tools, forging ahead and landing several commercial clients. Several years later, he and his brother left England for the U.S. and quickly landed in the pipefitting field, where they were dubbed “The Limey Brothers.” During their early days in America, they went grocery shopping with their first paycheck. Limey tells of how they, now ages 22 and 24, crying as they gazed at their nearly overflowing carts. They were overwhelmed by the amount of food they could buy. Their days of hunger were behind them. Their hearts were deeply seeded with gratitude for this country and the open-ended opportunity. My dad later settled in Minnesota, where he raised his family.