Caglia, Richard, 2014 Leon S. Peters Distinguished Service Award recipient
Item
Title
Caglia, Richard, 2014 Leon S. Peters Distinguished Service Award recipient
Description
Talks about his businesses, the Electric Motor Shop, Industrial Waste and Salvage and Cedar Avenue Recycling and Transfer Station. He discusses attending local Catholic schools and Fresno State, learning about business from his father and the importance of service to the community. He also talks about his friendship with Leon S. Peters and how he was inspired by him.
Creator
Caglia, Richard
Relation
Leon S. Peters Legacy Collection
Coverage
Fresno, California
Date
2014
Format
Microsoft Word 2013 document, 2 pages
Identifier
SCMS_lspl_00036
extracted text
>> [Background Music] The Leon S. Peters Award is the highest honor the Greater Fresno
Area Chamber Of Commerce can bestow on an individual. It represents the virtues of Leon S.
Peters: outstanding business leadership and a devotion to public service.
[ Music ]
>> Richard Caglia: My name is Dick Caglia, and I am the president of the Electric Motor Shop.
And that company has three divisions, which is the construction -- electrical construction and
electric motor repair and electrical distribution. And we also have an Industrial Waste and
Salvage and Cedar Avenue Recycling and Transfer Station. And at those locations, we have a
rock crushing operation where we make base rock, and we also have a demolition operation,
which my nephew Nathan operates. And we also take care of the, the county collection in the
County of Madera as well as run the, the Landmead [phonetic] Landfill. My thoughts about
growing up here. Just that I am so appreciative of the fact that I was able to attend the, the
Catholic schools of St. Alphonsus as well as Our Lady Mount Carmel and then going on to San
Joaquin Memorial, being taught by the Christian Brothers. And then onto Fresno State where I
received my degree in electrical engineering. And then from that point in time I started full time
at Electric Motor Shop and pursued my professional engineers license. Dad took me down there
when I was about nine years old to the shop. And it was not so much to help him out, but I
think to get me out of Mom's hair. But I did learn from a, a Mr. Frank Bone how to properly
sweep the floor. You don't sweep around things; you move them and sweep under them. And
that was advice from Mr. Frank Bone, who I was most appreciative of. I did have a, a cow
named Betsy that I milked faithfully twice a day for several years. And I might say that I was
the only one in the family that would drink the milk. My mother drank the cream, but I drank
the milk. My brothers and sisters wanted no part of it. Learning that discipline did have a lot to
do with my growing up and learning the, the things that I needed to learn and do the things that
needed to be done; yes, by all means. Especially the idea of getting up early in the morning,
which to this day I still do. I try to attend daily mass and pray for all the different things that
need praying for, whether it's across the world or in my home community or my relatives,
family. Just very important. It's, it’s my, it’s my compass. I learned a tremendous amount from
my father starting from school when I would go to the shop after school. I worked -- I basically
worked alongside my dad pretty much all my life until he could no longer come in at age 95.
But morals and ethics and doing the right thing for the right reason were all things that my
father contributed to me. I, I learned a lot from Pop. In dealing with the demands and, and
needs of customers, it's a situation of you need to prepare yourself to be able to take care of the
customer when the customer wants, not when it's convenient for you. And that's one of the
things that I learned from my father many, many, many years ago. I would hear him talking to
the customers, and it was always with a positive attitude towards being able to take care of
them. The hallmark of our businesses I would say is basically service to the community. We
have been blessed with, with very capable employees that have a, an interest in taking care of
our customers. And this needs attention once in a while and you've got to kind of tweak it here
and tweak it there. But it's the employees that we have that, that make it all go. Without them
we have nothing. Keeping the businesses going and with all the challenges that it has, I, I guess
I'm fortunate in that I have my mother's temperament but a lot of learning and experience from
my father. As a business, the many challenges, whether it's rules and regulations, the, the things
that you need to have today, say, even in HR, safety and whatnot, if it's not documented, it did
not happen. In terms of family, your, my brother and sisters look to me to, to guide the, to guide
the ship and I've just done my very best to keep it going down the straight and narrow. In terms
of giving back to the community, if I heard my father say it once, he said it numerous times,
about how grateful he was to be able to come from his little hometown in Italy to Fresno,
California and achieve the things that he was able to achieve. And he was just so thankful for
that. And he just was just, so to speak, overjoyed to be able to give back to the community. And
that's just something that we've stuck with. We, I think back of Dad and all the things that he
did do, and we're just gonna keep it going. Relative to counseling the younger generation, it, I
would first off tell them what my father told me many moons ago about doing the right thing
for the right reason. And work hard to achieve what you would like to achieve. Do not expect to
be given everything; you must work for it. That's how the, so to speak the, the Greatest
Generation arrived at what they have. Reflections on Mr. Peters. Yes, afar and very close. I'll
tell you a short story about one of my encounters with him. Electric Motor Shop, well, he and
my dad were buds. And when electrical work needed to be done at Valley Foundry, Mr. Peters
called my dad. Well, I had graduated from college and I was working full time. Mr. Peters
called Dad and said, "I've got a project for you." So Dad calls me over and says, "Go over and
see Mr. Peters. He has some electrical work that needs done." So I drive over there. I get
escorted into Mr. Peters' office. He explains the project to me and when he's all finished, he
says, "Come on, now, let's go. I'll take you out to the plant and show you where it's going to
be." As we’re walking through the plant, he made a comment to me about the fact that he often
does walk through the plant and observe what's going on, how the jobs are doing, so on and so
forth. And to this day I do the same thing. And many times when I'm walking through the
territory I think of Mr. Peters. And I am so ever grateful that I was nominated for it. And to
receive the same award that my father received in 1988 even makes it that much more special.
And just the idea that I have such fond memories of Mr. Peters, that makes it doubly rewarding
and enjoyable and something to be very, very thankful for.
[ Music ]
Area Chamber Of Commerce can bestow on an individual. It represents the virtues of Leon S.
Peters: outstanding business leadership and a devotion to public service.
[ Music ]
>> Richard Caglia: My name is Dick Caglia, and I am the president of the Electric Motor Shop.
And that company has three divisions, which is the construction -- electrical construction and
electric motor repair and electrical distribution. And we also have an Industrial Waste and
Salvage and Cedar Avenue Recycling and Transfer Station. And at those locations, we have a
rock crushing operation where we make base rock, and we also have a demolition operation,
which my nephew Nathan operates. And we also take care of the, the county collection in the
County of Madera as well as run the, the Landmead [phonetic] Landfill. My thoughts about
growing up here. Just that I am so appreciative of the fact that I was able to attend the, the
Catholic schools of St. Alphonsus as well as Our Lady Mount Carmel and then going on to San
Joaquin Memorial, being taught by the Christian Brothers. And then onto Fresno State where I
received my degree in electrical engineering. And then from that point in time I started full time
at Electric Motor Shop and pursued my professional engineers license. Dad took me down there
when I was about nine years old to the shop. And it was not so much to help him out, but I
think to get me out of Mom's hair. But I did learn from a, a Mr. Frank Bone how to properly
sweep the floor. You don't sweep around things; you move them and sweep under them. And
that was advice from Mr. Frank Bone, who I was most appreciative of. I did have a, a cow
named Betsy that I milked faithfully twice a day for several years. And I might say that I was
the only one in the family that would drink the milk. My mother drank the cream, but I drank
the milk. My brothers and sisters wanted no part of it. Learning that discipline did have a lot to
do with my growing up and learning the, the things that I needed to learn and do the things that
needed to be done; yes, by all means. Especially the idea of getting up early in the morning,
which to this day I still do. I try to attend daily mass and pray for all the different things that
need praying for, whether it's across the world or in my home community or my relatives,
family. Just very important. It's, it’s my, it’s my compass. I learned a tremendous amount from
my father starting from school when I would go to the shop after school. I worked -- I basically
worked alongside my dad pretty much all my life until he could no longer come in at age 95.
But morals and ethics and doing the right thing for the right reason were all things that my
father contributed to me. I, I learned a lot from Pop. In dealing with the demands and, and
needs of customers, it's a situation of you need to prepare yourself to be able to take care of the
customer when the customer wants, not when it's convenient for you. And that's one of the
things that I learned from my father many, many, many years ago. I would hear him talking to
the customers, and it was always with a positive attitude towards being able to take care of
them. The hallmark of our businesses I would say is basically service to the community. We
have been blessed with, with very capable employees that have a, an interest in taking care of
our customers. And this needs attention once in a while and you've got to kind of tweak it here
and tweak it there. But it's the employees that we have that, that make it all go. Without them
we have nothing. Keeping the businesses going and with all the challenges that it has, I, I guess
I'm fortunate in that I have my mother's temperament but a lot of learning and experience from
my father. As a business, the many challenges, whether it's rules and regulations, the, the things
that you need to have today, say, even in HR, safety and whatnot, if it's not documented, it did
not happen. In terms of family, your, my brother and sisters look to me to, to guide the, to guide
the ship and I've just done my very best to keep it going down the straight and narrow. In terms
of giving back to the community, if I heard my father say it once, he said it numerous times,
about how grateful he was to be able to come from his little hometown in Italy to Fresno,
California and achieve the things that he was able to achieve. And he was just so thankful for
that. And he just was just, so to speak, overjoyed to be able to give back to the community. And
that's just something that we've stuck with. We, I think back of Dad and all the things that he
did do, and we're just gonna keep it going. Relative to counseling the younger generation, it, I
would first off tell them what my father told me many moons ago about doing the right thing
for the right reason. And work hard to achieve what you would like to achieve. Do not expect to
be given everything; you must work for it. That's how the, so to speak the, the Greatest
Generation arrived at what they have. Reflections on Mr. Peters. Yes, afar and very close. I'll
tell you a short story about one of my encounters with him. Electric Motor Shop, well, he and
my dad were buds. And when electrical work needed to be done at Valley Foundry, Mr. Peters
called my dad. Well, I had graduated from college and I was working full time. Mr. Peters
called Dad and said, "I've got a project for you." So Dad calls me over and says, "Go over and
see Mr. Peters. He has some electrical work that needs done." So I drive over there. I get
escorted into Mr. Peters' office. He explains the project to me and when he's all finished, he
says, "Come on, now, let's go. I'll take you out to the plant and show you where it's going to
be." As we’re walking through the plant, he made a comment to me about the fact that he often
does walk through the plant and observe what's going on, how the jobs are doing, so on and so
forth. And to this day I do the same thing. And many times when I'm walking through the
territory I think of Mr. Peters. And I am so ever grateful that I was nominated for it. And to
receive the same award that my father received in 1988 even makes it that much more special.
And just the idea that I have such fond memories of Mr. Peters, that makes it doubly rewarding
and enjoyable and something to be very, very thankful for.
[ Music ]
>> [Background Music] The Leon S. Peters Award is the highest honor the Greater Fresno
Area Chamber Of Commerce can bestow on an individual. It represents the virtues of Leon S.
Peters: outstanding business leadership and a devotion to public service.
[ Music ]
>> Richard Caglia: My name is Dick Caglia, and I am the president of the Electric Motor Shop.
And that company has three divisions, which is the construction -- electrical construction and
electric motor repair and electrical distribution. And we also have an Industrial Waste and
Salvage and Cedar Avenue Recycling and Transfer Station. And at those locations, we have a
rock crushing operation where we make base rock, and we also have a demolition operation,
which my nephew Nathan operates. And we also take care of the, the county collection in the
County of Madera as well as run the, the Landmead [phonetic] Landfill. My thoughts about
growing up here. Just that I am so appreciative of the fact that I was able to attend the, the
Catholic schools of St. Alphonsus as well as Our Lady Mount Carmel and then going on to San
Joaquin Memorial, being taught by the Christian Brothers. And then onto Fresno State where I
received my degree in electrical engineering. And then from that point in time I started full time
at Electric Motor Shop and pursued my professional engineers license. Dad took me down there
when I was about nine years old to the shop. And it was not so much to help him out, but I
think to get me out of Mom's hair. But I did learn from a, a Mr. Frank Bone how to properly
sweep the floor. You don't sweep around things; you move them and sweep under them. And
that was advice from Mr. Frank Bone, who I was most appreciative of. I did have a, a cow
named Betsy that I milked faithfully twice a day for several years. And I might say that I was
the only one in the family that would drink the milk. My mother drank the cream, but I drank
the milk. My brothers and sisters wanted no part of it. Learning that discipline did have a lot to
do with my growing up and learning the, the things that I needed to learn and do the things that
needed to be done; yes, by all means. Especially the idea of getting up early in the morning,
which to this day I still do. I try to attend daily mass and pray for all the different things that
need praying for, whether it's across the world or in my home community or my relatives,
family. Just very important. It's, it’s my, it’s my compass. I learned a tremendous amount from
my father starting from school when I would go to the shop after school. I worked -- I basically
worked alongside my dad pretty much all my life until he could no longer come in at age 95.
But morals and ethics and doing the right thing for the right reason were all things that my
father contributed to me. I, I learned a lot from Pop. In dealing with the demands and, and
needs of customers, it's a situation of you need to prepare yourself to be able to take care of the
customer when the customer wants, not when it's convenient for you. And that's one of the
things that I learned from my father many, many, many years ago. I would hear him talking to
the customers, and it was always with a positive attitude towards being able to take care of
them. The hallmark of our businesses I would say is basically service to the community. We
have been blessed with, with very capable employees that have a, an interest in taking care of
our customers. And this needs attention once in a while and you've got to kind of tweak it here
and tweak it there. But it's the employees that we have that, that make it all go. Without them
we have nothing. Keeping the businesses going and with all the challenges that it has, I, I guess
I'm fortunate in that I have my mother's temperament but a lot of learning and experience from
my father. As a business, the many challenges, whether it's rules and regulations, the, the things
that you need to have today, say, even in HR, safety and whatnot, if it's not documented, it did
not happen. In terms of family, your, my brother and sisters look to me to, to guide the, to guide
the ship and I've just done my very best to keep it going down the straight and narrow. In terms
of giving back to the community, if I heard my father say it once, he said it numerous times,
about how grateful he was to be able to come from his little hometown in Italy to Fresno,
California and achieve the things that he was able to achieve. And he was just so thankful for
that. And he just was just, so to speak, overjoyed to be able to give back to the community. And
that's just something that we've stuck with. We, I think back of Dad and all the things that he
did do, and we're just gonna keep it going. Relative to counseling the younger generation, it, I
would first off tell them what my father told me many moons ago about doing the right thing
for the right reason. And work hard to achieve what you would like to achieve. Do not expect to
be given everything; you must work for it. That's how the, so to speak the, the Greatest
Generation arrived at what they have. Reflections on Mr. Peters. Yes, afar and very close. I'll
tell you a short story about one of my encounters with him. Electric Motor Shop, well, he and
my dad were buds. And when electrical work needed to be done at Valley Foundry, Mr. Peters
called my dad. Well, I had graduated from college and I was working full time. Mr. Peters
called Dad and said, "I've got a project for you." So Dad calls me over and says, "Go over and
see Mr. Peters. He has some electrical work that needs done." So I drive over there. I get
escorted into Mr. Peters' office. He explains the project to me and when he's all finished, he
says, "Come on, now, let's go. I'll take you out to the plant and show you where it's going to
be." As we’re walking through the plant, he made a comment to me about the fact that he often
does walk through the plant and observe what's going on, how the jobs are doing, so on and so
forth. And to this day I do the same thing. And many times when I'm walking through the
territory I think of Mr. Peters. And I am so ever grateful that I was nominated for it. And to
receive the same award that my father received in 1988 even makes it that much more special.
And just the idea that I have such fond memories of Mr. Peters, that makes it doubly rewarding
and enjoyable and something to be very, very thankful for.
[ Music ]
Area Chamber Of Commerce can bestow on an individual. It represents the virtues of Leon S.
Peters: outstanding business leadership and a devotion to public service.
[ Music ]
>> Richard Caglia: My name is Dick Caglia, and I am the president of the Electric Motor Shop.
And that company has three divisions, which is the construction -- electrical construction and
electric motor repair and electrical distribution. And we also have an Industrial Waste and
Salvage and Cedar Avenue Recycling and Transfer Station. And at those locations, we have a
rock crushing operation where we make base rock, and we also have a demolition operation,
which my nephew Nathan operates. And we also take care of the, the county collection in the
County of Madera as well as run the, the Landmead [phonetic] Landfill. My thoughts about
growing up here. Just that I am so appreciative of the fact that I was able to attend the, the
Catholic schools of St. Alphonsus as well as Our Lady Mount Carmel and then going on to San
Joaquin Memorial, being taught by the Christian Brothers. And then onto Fresno State where I
received my degree in electrical engineering. And then from that point in time I started full time
at Electric Motor Shop and pursued my professional engineers license. Dad took me down there
when I was about nine years old to the shop. And it was not so much to help him out, but I
think to get me out of Mom's hair. But I did learn from a, a Mr. Frank Bone how to properly
sweep the floor. You don't sweep around things; you move them and sweep under them. And
that was advice from Mr. Frank Bone, who I was most appreciative of. I did have a, a cow
named Betsy that I milked faithfully twice a day for several years. And I might say that I was
the only one in the family that would drink the milk. My mother drank the cream, but I drank
the milk. My brothers and sisters wanted no part of it. Learning that discipline did have a lot to
do with my growing up and learning the, the things that I needed to learn and do the things that
needed to be done; yes, by all means. Especially the idea of getting up early in the morning,
which to this day I still do. I try to attend daily mass and pray for all the different things that
need praying for, whether it's across the world or in my home community or my relatives,
family. Just very important. It's, it’s my, it’s my compass. I learned a tremendous amount from
my father starting from school when I would go to the shop after school. I worked -- I basically
worked alongside my dad pretty much all my life until he could no longer come in at age 95.
But morals and ethics and doing the right thing for the right reason were all things that my
father contributed to me. I, I learned a lot from Pop. In dealing with the demands and, and
needs of customers, it's a situation of you need to prepare yourself to be able to take care of the
customer when the customer wants, not when it's convenient for you. And that's one of the
things that I learned from my father many, many, many years ago. I would hear him talking to
the customers, and it was always with a positive attitude towards being able to take care of
them. The hallmark of our businesses I would say is basically service to the community. We
have been blessed with, with very capable employees that have a, an interest in taking care of
our customers. And this needs attention once in a while and you've got to kind of tweak it here
and tweak it there. But it's the employees that we have that, that make it all go. Without them
we have nothing. Keeping the businesses going and with all the challenges that it has, I, I guess
I'm fortunate in that I have my mother's temperament but a lot of learning and experience from
my father. As a business, the many challenges, whether it's rules and regulations, the, the things
that you need to have today, say, even in HR, safety and whatnot, if it's not documented, it did
not happen. In terms of family, your, my brother and sisters look to me to, to guide the, to guide
the ship and I've just done my very best to keep it going down the straight and narrow. In terms
of giving back to the community, if I heard my father say it once, he said it numerous times,
about how grateful he was to be able to come from his little hometown in Italy to Fresno,
California and achieve the things that he was able to achieve. And he was just so thankful for
that. And he just was just, so to speak, overjoyed to be able to give back to the community. And
that's just something that we've stuck with. We, I think back of Dad and all the things that he
did do, and we're just gonna keep it going. Relative to counseling the younger generation, it, I
would first off tell them what my father told me many moons ago about doing the right thing
for the right reason. And work hard to achieve what you would like to achieve. Do not expect to
be given everything; you must work for it. That's how the, so to speak the, the Greatest
Generation arrived at what they have. Reflections on Mr. Peters. Yes, afar and very close. I'll
tell you a short story about one of my encounters with him. Electric Motor Shop, well, he and
my dad were buds. And when electrical work needed to be done at Valley Foundry, Mr. Peters
called my dad. Well, I had graduated from college and I was working full time. Mr. Peters
called Dad and said, "I've got a project for you." So Dad calls me over and says, "Go over and
see Mr. Peters. He has some electrical work that needs done." So I drive over there. I get
escorted into Mr. Peters' office. He explains the project to me and when he's all finished, he
says, "Come on, now, let's go. I'll take you out to the plant and show you where it's going to
be." As we’re walking through the plant, he made a comment to me about the fact that he often
does walk through the plant and observe what's going on, how the jobs are doing, so on and so
forth. And to this day I do the same thing. And many times when I'm walking through the
territory I think of Mr. Peters. And I am so ever grateful that I was nominated for it. And to
receive the same award that my father received in 1988 even makes it that much more special.
And just the idea that I have such fond memories of Mr. Peters, that makes it doubly rewarding
and enjoyable and something to be very, very thankful for.
[ Music ]