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THEN & NOW with George Pace
In a continuation of our new series called Then & Now, we highlight the evolution of the wood products industry over the years by conducting personal interviews with people who worked in the industry and their relationships with Forestry Mutual Insurance Company.
In this issue, we visit former Forestry Mutual Chairman George Pace. For 17 years, Mr. Pace served as Chairman on the original NC Forestry Self-Insurers Fund that transitioned into Forestry Mutual’s board of directors.
George was born in Sebastopol, Mississippi, in 1935 and grew up in Lena, Mississippi. He says that growing up working on a farm and in his father’s general store helped shape his business approach, character, and the importance of integrity. George graduated from Lena Consolidated High School and knew that if he wanted to advance in life, he would have to earn a higher education. He moved out to attend a college that summer, he took a job with room and board working on a farm owned by an elderly maiden lady who worked at Mississippi State College. In addition to his studies, and working the farm, George also drove her on various errands. He admits that he missed out on a lot of college life due to his responsibilities but laughs that he had plenty of fox squirrels to hunt and a big fishing pond, and that was a wonderful setting for him.
Being outside in nature has always been a driving force in George’s life. While in college, he and a friend went out to Sisters, Oregon, to work that summer in fire control. The next three summers, George spent his time working at a forest summer camp, and during his last year, he was a smokejumper in Missoula, Montana. George does admit that he may have fudged his actual height to be the required five-foot-eight inches to be a smokejumper. He tells a story, and if you know George, he will tell you a story. George spoke about how close to the ground the planes flew in the mountains. Laughing, he said, “and if you were too high, you’d end up on another mountain than where the smoke was.” As one young man discovered, weighing in at only 135lbs, George says, “he hardly ever got back to the smoke,” chuckling, saying it was a fun summer.
I asked George while he was laughing, “Is that where you found your love for forestry, or was it just the direction life took you in?” He said that it was “probably in eighth or ninth grade when he saw this picture of a fella on a big white horse on top of a mountain in a forest service uniform. And that’s when I went to study, and I never thought of anything else.”
George’s family had very high regard for education. When he worked picking cotton at eight years old, every dollar he made went into a school fund. “If I needed a dime, then daddy gave me a dime. But if I made a dime, it went to the school fund.” Before graduating college in 1957, George got married to Kathryn on Christmas. They had known each other since they were kids and always knew they’d be together. It was just an unspoken thing, and when George asked about when she wanted to get married, Christmas Day was her answer.
After graduating college, George began his long career working in the forest industry. His first job was with the forest service and he was sent up to North Mississippi on a flood prevention project. He talked about how “there were places up there where the world’s washing away. There were gullies that you could put a large house in and walk a hundred yards over, and you couldn’t see it.”
Working with the government and the farm planters, who were making the farm plans, the forest service was able to build brush dams and plant pine trees to stop the erosion. Many farmers were skeptical of the government and convincing them that the government had no control over their land was a challenge. The evidence of erosion control overcame their skepticism. After leaving that position and working several other jobs, from forestry consultant to working at a hardwood mill in Greenwood, Mississippi, George had the opportunity to come to Plymouth, North Carolina with Georgia Pacific, which moved him to Emporia, Virginia.
I got the impression from George that moving was just part of life, as he did it so many times.
It was there, in Emporia, while working with the original owners of Georgia Pacific and his remarkable friendship with Ashton Lewis, that he learned the simple business principles he brought to Forestry Mutual while serving on its board. “Don’t kill your competition and do your business so that you can always go back.”
George, Kathryn and their dog Lizzie In their garden in Ahoskie, NC
Aftering moving to Ahoskie, North Carolina, and responsible for two plywood mills, two chipping sawmills, and three hardwood mills, George and nearly every large timber company got involved with the North Carolina Forestry Self-Insurers Fund. They all knew back then, as George recalls, “we supported that every way we could, logging was terrible. I mean, killing them right and left. Ed Pittman, a forester with Weyerhaeuser, and Bill Cale were very concerned about it, and they really got this thing started.”
One of the keys to Forestry Mutual Insurance success has been the dedication from the board and Keith Biggs to find the right individuals to manage and guide Loss Control for the company. George says, “loss control just keeps booming and going, and the secret? Accidents have dropped so much because it’s a dedicated bunch of boys working with the loggers and convincing them that once they see the lower cost of insurance, it’s easier to convince them. Without what was the self-insurers fund, now Forestry Mutual, logging would not be as safe as it is today. It really would not be.” Trucking is the next big concern George says that he has seen with the logging industry. Trucking accidents could be avoided if truck drivers would just slow down. He feels that using new technology in the truckerss cabs, cameras, and GPS would help bring down senseless accidents and injuries. George says, “the other thing that these cameras help, is log trucks being accused anytime there is an accident.”
At the age of 80, George retired from the board at Forestry Mutual Insurance and lamented, “I’ve missed it, you know, I loved it.”
He continues with a story about Kathryn, his wife of 65 years this Christmas. “She was riding with a bunch of women somewhere, and a log truck comes by. Somebody in there says I hate them log trucks. Kathryn says, that ain’t a log truck, that’s a bread truck.” Laughing, “so that stopped that conversation right out.”
From all of us at Forestry Mutual, we could not be where we are today, celebrating 50 years of dedication and service to the industry if it had not been for the wisdom and guidance that George Pace gave to Keith Biggs and his team.
Keith Biggs, George, Kathryn In their garden in Ahoskie, NC
