Comments:
When I was a senior at MHS I dreamed of owning my own business someday. That dream became a reality in 1979 when I bought a small auto & truck towing company called Northside Towing in North Mankato. In 1984 I merged my company with the Mankato towing company known as Kost Service. Together, we moved into a combined facility on Poplar St. and named the new enterprise All American Towing which continues even today. By 1989 I started to get the itch to move to another part of the country and to explore new horizons and opportunities. I loved vacationing in the southwest and in particular the beautiful mountains of Colorado so I made plans to relocate. In 1990 I sold my interests in All American Towing and loaded a small uhaul with all the necessities of life and headed west to find my new fortune. My destination was Fort Collins Colorado, a college community very much like Mankato only somewhat larger. (Pop. today is 189,000 with 250,000 people in the county) My goal was to buy an exsisting business of some kind and to start a new life with a new beginning. Born and raised in Minnesota, I have no regrets and many fond memories, but I wanted to try something new and before I got too old to take the risk.
So it took me a few years to land the opportunity I was looking for but in 1995 I took over a small company called Nelson Metals and changed name to Colorado Iron & Metal, Inc. My company represented a small steel sales operation (we sold new metal) and a metal recycling scrap yard, (like Mankato Iron or Gopher State Salvage there in town) neither of which I new anything about, but I rolled all the dice and there was no turning back now. When I bought the company it was doing $ 250,000 dollars a year (very small) and we doubled that number the first year. With only three employees in those days we started with a very humble beginning. As luck would have it; a lot of hard work with some intelect, experience, determination and perseverance has contributed to our continued success. Today we are a multi million dollar enterprise employing dozens of people and operating out of several location in northern Colorado. I'm proud to say that migrating west has been the best decision I have ever made. While I still call Mankato "back home", I feel very blessed to be able to live and work in such a beautiful place as Colorado.
Besides enjoying much success here in Colorado, I have also rediscovered my faith and play an active role in several Christian organizations and ministries. I' am currently the President of the Board & interim Executive Director for an outdoor ministry called Lutheran Ranches of the Rockies. Our camp is called Sky Ranch and it is located at an elevation of 8900 ft. and adjacent to Rocky Mountain National Park. We serve 100's of families and kids each year with high country camping, backpacking and biking. We also have a high ropes challenge coarse, white water rafting and rock climbing. In a world that seems so desperately lost sometimes, Sky Ranch is truly a mountian top experience that is transforming hope in the world.
Most of my immediate family has left Mankato for opportunities else where. In the 40 yrs. since graduation I have buried my father (1977) and two siblings.....oldest sister (1989) younger brother (1998). Though I have never been married myself, I have helped raise nieces, nephews and grandchildren along with my widowed mother. She is now 81yrs. old and we share a 6800 sq.ft. ranch home where she lives on one side and I live on the other. (I deserve a medal for this!) Out of this experience I've learned on thing, mothers want to mother their whole lives. You would think they would have enough trouble managing their own lives without trying to manage everyone else's. Even so I still love her to death.
So, my life this past 40 yrs. has been a series of challenges and opportunities, successes and few failures, more highs than lows, and mostly rewarding and gratifying. I'm pretty happy the way my life has turned out and harbor very few regrets. Actually I hope the best is yet to come; who knows I might still get married!!
Kent G.
