Tom’s Reasons For Joining

In April of 1976, Tom Carstensen joined the company after 16 years as a trader with North Pacific Lumber Company. “My original intention was to leave North pacific and goo into business for myself. I had had conversations with Jack Patrick and Bb McCracken and joining Patrick Lumber seemed like a good idea too.

“But leaving North Pacific wasn’t going to be easy because everyone there was party to a non-compete agreement and Doug (Doug David, one of the founders of North Pacific) was a very litigious sort of an individual.”

Ron Yeager recalls a particular lunch meeting he, Bob McCracken and Jack Patrick had with Tom:

“We’re having lunch at the Arlington Club and talking about Tom coming on board at Patrick,” Ron recalled, “and in walks Doug David. Well, Tom sees him first and he just turns to us and says, ‘I gotta go. I gotta go right now. I’ll see you guys back at your office.’”

In the end, Tom says, he left North Pacific on good terms and the non-compete never became a real issue.

Why Patrick?

“Reputation, and the idea that they were willing to allow me to buy into the company at the outset,” Tom said. “And I liked the people. I particularly liked Jack, as nearly everyone did. I got along pretty well with Bob McCracken and I had known Ron Yeager since his days in Blue River, Oregon, with his family mill. It just seemed like the best opportunity at the time.”

When Tom joined the company, he purchased 2,000 shares an d the Bob, Ron, and Tom era had begun.