After Ward’s passing last year, his son George kept the family business going
In the words of Ward Walston’s son George, who stepped into his dad’s role after the patriarch of Great Harvest Bakery died unexpectedly last year, the transition involved what was indeed a steep learning curve.
“In a way, it required me to go back to my days of growing up in my dad’s hardware store in Idaho. I was somewhere between 6 and 8 years old in those days, and it seemed that I did a bit of everything: Organize the plumbing section, unload the trucks… watching and observing my father, seeing how he ran the business—always treating the customers well.”
It was a small town and a small business, recalls George. My dad knew everyone on a first-name basis. Which is perhaps how George, now that his father is gone, has managed to keep the South Tempe bakery going, even adding some touches that he wasn’t able to do when his dad was in charge.
Although he says he was “passingly aware” of most of what his dad did to keep the business running smoothly—purchasing, solidifying relationships with vendors, knowing the secrets to repairing equipment around the bakery…having the hammers, screwdrivers and electrical diagrams of most everything that could fail—there was still what George recalls as “a steep learning curve.”
Now, after spending the past months trying to recreate the qualities he appreciated most in his father, George says he hasn’t reached quite the level of perfection his dad possessed. Says George: “It’s been a tough act to follow; my father was indeed one incredible guy.”
