Gallup Lumber & Supply Company-Sheree Stauder

from May 2018 Gallup Journey Magazine

A Lesson from a Homebody: Michele Reeves

GALLUP LUMBER & SUPPLY COMPANY

By Susan Clarke

Sheree Stauder’s great grandfather started Gallup Lumber & Supply Company in 1939. It has passed down through the family line through all these many years, sometimes through men’s hands – being mainly thought of in society as a “man’s business” and sometimes in capable women’s hands. Currently those hands belong to Sheree Stauder.

Sheree and her sister were raised in the lumber yard, the hardware store, in business meetings, and in the offices of Gallup Lumber. The smell of cut lumber is a backdrop to her life. Sheree and her sister were given business tasks from a young age and expected to finish the tasks successfully. At home at night, in front of the fireplace, she and her little sister were given calculator rolls and register receipts and expected to check them to make sure they matched up. If they did not, then the receipts would be gone over with their Dad until the finances were reconciled. One time during an in-store inventory, the girls were told to count nails. The sisters (10 and under) thought about it and decided to see just how much a pound of nails weighed. As kids, they were encouraged to figure it out and learn how things were sold and managed in the hardware store. Counting nails one by one does not cut it!

Sheree was included in every aspect of the business and expected to learn and do all tasks well. She worked in every area of the yard: sweeping, cleaning toilets, moving cinder blocks, working in the Guard Shack, stocking in hardware – when tall enough – operating the register, etc., and expected to do it well. The unofficial family motto is “Dig In” (and do it well). As a child, Sheree enjoyed working with the family and was not afraid of the work.

Sheree graduated in 1983 from Gallup High School. She pursued Hospitality and Tourism and Business Administration with a dual in Las Cruces. Sheree maintains a close relationship with the Dean who supported her education and guided her development in so many positive ways. Sheree felt she had the freedom to choose any path in life. She did try Dental Assistant work but felt the draw of the lumberyard, as the smell of fresh cut wood was in her blood. She also highly values the family environment with her Dad still at Gallup Lumber and the sense of family with all the employees.

Sheree says family is so important in her life. As she was growing up, Mom always had fresh-baked treats when she came home from school. Sheree feels blessed that her Mom is a loving mother and stayed home to raise the kids. Her dad worked and taught the girls so much about the lumber yard and the hardware store.

Per Sheree, “My Mom is my ear in life and my Dad is my ear in business.” Sheree is a very busy woman. She loves coming to work, enjoys her employees, and sees her work environment as one big family - including her customers. There is laughing, joking, and even sometimes crying. She does try to have a plan but sometimes plans fly through the window. That is when everyone digs in as a team and works together to get it done. When asked what it means to be the boss of one of the biggest longest-running businesses in town, Sheree answers, “A title means nothing to me. It is what you bring to the table.” She knows she is the boss and sometimes has to be firm but really believes in the spirit of family and of Gallup as a small town with strong longlasting ties.