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Robert L. Goldsmith, 33°
S.G.I.G. in Florida and Grand Orator, The Supreme Council, 33°
10474 Wellington Springs Way, Jacksonville, Florida 32221-1100
For Ill. Dave Thomas, life's obstacles became opportunities,
and his personal success became a way for him to serve others.*
 Ill.
Dave Thomas, 33°, G.C., is the founder of Wendy's Old- Fashioned
Hamburgers Restaurants. Often referred to as "the Lee Iacocca
of the Fast Food Industry," Bro. Dave always does things
his way, right down to getting his diploma 45 years after he left
high school to pursue a full-time career in restaurants. "I'm
tired of being a drop-out," he said, just before he donned
a traditional cap and gown in preparation for his graduation at
Coconut Creek High School. (See photo on next page.) "I've
been kind of ashamed I didn't finish," he said. "Some
students asked me why I didn't get my GED [General Educational
Development Certificate], so I thought, 'why not?'" The high
school band played the traditional "Pomp and Circumstance"
as the Fort Lauderdale, Florida, resident, the lone graduate,
marched down the aisle, accompanied by his wife, Lorraine, of
39 years.
By any standard, David Thomas is a distinguished Brother, a charismatic
leader, and a great humanitarian. Yet he is genuinely modest and
prefers to stay out of the corporate spotlight rather than make
his own commercials.
Adopted when he was six weeks old, Bro. Dave, at age five, lost
his adoptive mother, and life for young Thomas after her death
became a series of moves, schools, jobs, and sporadic friendships.
As his adoptive father traveled from state to state searching
for work, Bro. Thomas, by the time he was 15, had had three stepmothers,
changed schools frequently, and had moved at least ten times.
He became a quiet, lonely boy whose sense of family togetherness
grew out of what he saw at restaurants. At age nine, he remembers
being impressed simply by "watching families sitting together
having a good time going out to eat." These sights of warm
family gatherings and heaping platters of food attracted him to
the restaurant business.
After beginning his first job, delivering groceries in Knoxville,
Tennessee, at the tender age of 11, he had a series of other jobs-busboy,
soda jerk, lunch counter attendant. With great difficulty, he
managed to attend school while working 12-hour shifts, often waiting
on more than 200 people during a shift. Compulsive about good
performance, Bro. Dave took only 15 minutes off for meals and
managed to earn 25 cents an hour and about $5.00 in tips each
day. When Dave was 15, his family moved to Fort Wayne, Indiana,
but when his family prepared for yet another move, Dave decided
it was time to meet life's challenges on his own, and he settled
into a room at the local YMCA. While working late one night at
a Hobby House Restaurant, he realized he was too tired to attend
school and that he could learn more about the restaurant business
through practical, not academic, experience, so he left school
after the 10th grade.
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Illustrious Dave's wife,
Lorraine, gets him ready to receive his high school diploma. |
Shortly after he turned 17, Bro. Thomas joined the United States
Army where he attended the Army Cook and Baker School. Assigned
to Frankfurt, Germany, he became one of the youngest soldiers
ever to manage an Enlisted Men's Club and to be promoted to Staff
Sergeant. After being honorably discharged, he returned to the
Hobby House Restaurant in Fort Wayne as a short-order cook. There
he met his future wife, Lorraine, a waitress. They were married
in 1954.
In 1962, after spending almost 20 years learning every job pertaining
to restaurants, Bro. Dave seized an opportunity to take over some
failing Kentucky Fried Chicken units in Columbus, Ohio. He turned
them around and then sold his interest to the parent company,
making him a millionaire at age 35.
Some months ago, a reporter asked Brother Dave, "Did you
have a corporate marketing plan when you opened your first Wendy's?"
Dave replied, "I had one plan: to pay the rent."
Realizing his boyhood dream to own a hamburger stand, Dave opened
the first Wendy's Restaurant in 1969, naming it after his 8-year-old
daughter, Melinda Lou, nicknamed "Wendy."
In its 32-year history, Wendy's has grown from a modest one-store
operation to a multi-billion- dollar worldwide marketing giant,
consisting of over 4,200 restaurants with more than 130,000 employees
in 32 countries. Today, Bro. Dave owns about 6% of the Wendy's
Old- Fashioned Hamburgers Restaurants chain, a share worth about
$100 million at its recent market price [statistics as of August
1994].
In 1982, Bro. Thomas, after working non-stop for 38 years, gave
up his CEO and Chairman titles, though he remains Wendy's Senior
Chairman and is still very involved in the business, its expansion,
and the introduction of innovative ideas. For instance, he still
logs more than 100,000 miles of travel each year throughout the
United States and overseas for inspecting restaurants and conducting
promotional tours.
More than an exceptional businessman, he's also one of the most
highly recognized persons in America today. This is due mainly
to his appearing in most of the Wendy's television commercials
where his plain, down-home style inspires confidence. When Brother
Dave speaks on any subject, especially the products of Wendy's,
he looks sincere and he sounds sincere because he is sincere.
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Illustrious Dave always
has time for kids as he visits the 4,200 Wendy's restaurants.
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Bro. Thomas believes that when one has taken from the community
and become successful, there is an obligation to give back to
that community and assist others who are less fortunate. Among
his many special concerns and philanthropies is the adoption of
children, particularly those identified with "special needs."
In 1990, he was asked by President George Bush to be spokesman
for the National Adoption Initiative. Its theme was "Adoption
Works for Everyone." Of course, Bro. Dave jumped right in.
He found that, nationally, 100,000 children live without relatives
or a permanent home. Waiting for adoption, they are classified
as "special needs" children. Some are minority children,
some have handicaps, others are older or part of sibling groups,
and all have been passed over by couples interested in adopting
a child. Dave's personal experience gave him a driving motivation
to start a nationwide adoption awareness program. He created an
adoption program for employees of Wendy's by initiating a policy
giving eligible employees financial assistance, plus time off
with pay. He then wrote to the executives of 1,000 major businesses,
asking them to adopt similar policies. More than 200 responded
positively.
"I think it is one of the most important causes," Bro.
Dave says, "because there are children in America who need
homes. I was lucky to be chosen." He then began a publicity
blitz, in which he appeared on public service announcements created
by the United States Department of Health and Human Services.
He also paid for posters, appeared on national TV shows, and spread
information during his travels. President Bush wrote to Bro. Thomas
saying, in part: "If our society is to respond seriously
and effectively to the issue of special needs adoption, it will
be because of the leadership and commitment of concerned individuals
such as you and your employees. Generous and innovative programs
like that of Wendy's can turn dreams into reality for America's
Waiting Children."
I am proud to note here that the Scottish Rite of Freemasonry
has recognized all this distinguished American and Mason has accomplished.
On November 13, 1993, along with his fellow designates, Brother
Rex David Thomas was invested with the Rank and Decoration of
a Knight Commander of the Court of Honour in Jacksonville, Florida.
| Ill. Dave receives an appreciative
hug from one of his special children. |
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Following the ceremony, Bro. Dave was the guest speaker for the
Investiture Banquet, where he addressed over 500 Brethren and
ladies and said, "There is no doubt in my mind that Freemasonry
is the cornerstone of America." In 1995, Ill. was coroneted
a 33° Scottish Rite Inspector General Honorary, and in 1997,
he was elected by unanimous vote of the Supreme Council to the
Grand Cross, the highest honor bestowed by the Scottish Rite in
the Southern Jurisdiction.
As Sovereign Grand Inspector General in Florida, I have spent
some time with this remarkable man. I cherish his friendship and
wish each of us could "walk in his moccasins" for a
short while and understand his perspective on life. He has turned
obstacles into opportunities, created an incredible number of
worthy philanthropies, and inspired the lives of others, while
at the same time zealously insisting that Wendy's continues to
prepare the very best food at the very best price.
All this has been possible, Ill. Thomas says in his best-selling
autobiography, Dave's Way, because "this is the greatest
country in the world, where you can do or be whatever you want."
Bro. Thomas knows this for a fact because, with God's help, he
did it Dave's way!
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