Meet the Craftswoman: Jeanetta Yoder

A granddaughter of “Grandpa Bill Stoll,” Jeanetta doesn’t remember a time before “the shop” existed. As children, they would often go to "the shop" (as it was always called in Stoll land) with their mom and play while she worked in the office. She remembers riding bikes, romping through the neighbors nearby cabbage patch, and playing in grandpa Stoll’s barn behind the shop. In those early days of entrepreneurship, there were a lot of sacrifices. Long hours, short holidays and managing several departments at once are all things her dad, Dennis, and his brother Robert had to do to keep the small business afloat, especially during the winter months. Work was a family affair. One year, when she was 13 or 14 years old, the shipping department manager was suddenly unable to work. This happened in the middle of the busy season, so her dad asked if she would go to work with him at 4:00 am in the mornings before school to help him package the doors ready to be shipped out. It was just another winter season in the life of a Stoll.

Jeanetta graduated from a local private school and went straight to working full time. She took care of customer service, but things weren't as "compartmentalized" back then so her job included answering phones, solving problems, order entry, accounts payable, helping retail customers in their local showroom, ordering supplies, and anything else that needed to be done! It was like a college course all its own. She learned many valuable life lessons, from working in the wee hours of the morning so she could complete the tasks on her plate, to handling difficult situations and unhappy customers, to driving 15 miles after hours to find a UPS drop off because they promised a customer their product would ship that day. Her world was opened up wide by her job at the family business in the little town of Abbeville. Isn’t it funny how real life is always the most valuable textbook?