“I started Pine Island Turf Nursery in 1966, with 15 acres of sod, which was my portion of the business. I had good relations with the equipment dealers. My wife, Ruth, and our family, Chip and daughters Christine, Cindy and Candy were all solidly behind me. Tough there were a few times I questioned my sanity, leaving a well- established position for digging in the dirt, I treasured our beautiful spot and the productivity of our land.”

He started with a walk-behind Ryan sod cutter and did a lot of the sod rolling. He says, “Years later, I’d get two new knees because of that. At first, we worked with independent truckers, packing sod into their enclosed trailers. Flatbed trailers were a step up from that. Te first few winters, I made snow in a snow resort to supplement our income. As our acreage expanded we built up the sales volume. I was so thankful for that. Ten, in 1971, we purchased a Brouwer harvester and could do twice the work with two or three than we’d done with 10 or 12.”

His philosophy: I won’t lie, I will help where I can and we’ll all survive. Believing a good competitor is good for your business; he encouraged, assisted and occasionally, even trained them.

ASPA Charles recalls following the formational progress of ASPA and became actively involved in 1969 or 1970. He refers to a principle emphasized by his Dad and passed along to Chip, “With anything in life, as you give so shall you receive. If you succeed in business, you need to give back to your industry by sharing the knowledge and expertise you’ve gained through the years.”

Charles Lain, Sr. took an active role in ASPA marketing and pubic relations from the beginning of his involvement with the association. Photo courtesey of the TPI Archives.

Charles put that into action. In the early days of ASPA, when some were reluctant to pass along business “secrets,” he addressed students and colleagues stressing the business side of operations. He delivered a strong message, “We have to get off that tractor and work on the business end of our operations. We must know our bottom line and what we need to get for our product. And we have to market it. If we can’t get out there and sell it, how can we expect to have other people buy it?”

He also stressed this point, “Te sod industry’s research and development arm is centered in the Ag research universities. If we don’t assist, respect and support them, we’re being fools.”

“I’ll never forget Ben Warren, a pioneer in the industry and ASPA,” says Charles. Charles was elected to the ASPA Board in 1974 and worked closely with Norm LeGrand, Glenn Rehbein and John Hope, before and after their terms as president. “We were all farmers just building our sod farms, not that well off or successful as yet, but we shared a passion for ASPA.”

Charles, Sr. and Chip Lane savor the moment during TPI’s Field Day at Pine Island Turf Nursery in July of 2010; a great party as Chip was wrapping up his term as TPI President. Photo courtesey of the TPI Archives.

Charles had developed his marketing skills during his time with Weyerhaeuser and put them to work for ASPA. Two significant introductions in 1976 that spurred the association forward were directly-related to his input.

90 TPI Turf News November/December 2016