In this chapter, two friends who had not seen each other in years joined a wildlife rescue team to determine security of bald eagle fledglings in a vast natural recreation area. After the work was complete they went camping as a reward. What happened that evening in the rugged wilderness taught as much about nature, as it did about strength, precision and determination, in a man named Peter Churchfield. Who made a fortune while all those around him were losing theirs. Continuing the conversation…
Peter grew up in Cleveland near the shore of Lake Erie, which is the tenth or twelfth largest lake in the world, depending on which local you ask. The lake is largely responsible for Cleveland’s unpredictable and often severe weather. Random lake oscillations in the form of a seiche can whip winds up to forty miles per hour that last indefinitely. In winter, subfreezing temperatures can snap in overnight without warning and continue for weeks. On one such subfreezing Tuesday in 1969, Peter Churchfield and his wife, Wendy, packed up their car and their two young children and left Cleveland forever.
Peter’s love of nature influenced his life, and it forged our relationship. He was inspired by water and was conscious of Lake Erie’s pollution problems—and was troubled that he as an individual was powerless to solve them. After Ohio’s Cuyahoga River caught fire in the summer of 1969, he saw that as a call to action and from that point forward remained committed to keeping a small part of the world pristine.
When he wasn’t selling office machines to support a wide variety of companies from mom-and-pops to Fortune 100s or involved in ecovolunteerism, my friend Peter liked to relax while fishing in a clear, cold mountain stream. He loved to feel the bending fishing rod in his hand and the tug of a feisty trout grabbing the fly on his line for a game of give and take, catch and release.
Now that he had been retired for a few years, his passion for fishing—and clean water—had intensified. We shared a love of the outdoors and had spent time working to keep its fauna in good condition in our opposite sides of the country but shared by phone our experiences about enjoying the peace of campfire conversations, sleeping in bags on leaf carpets under stars, and eating breakfasts to the sound of flowing water.
Over the years, Peter experienced a lot of give and take, some hard luck, and at one point, even a broken neck. With stamina and resolve, he’d found his way from a minimum-wage job on a factory floor to a sales job in which he was able to build wealth. I thought I knew him well, but on that last trip we took together in the wilderness, I learned the truth about Peter’s personal meaning of wealth—thanks to my friend and a complete stranger.
Read the complete success story in the book, The Quiet Rich: Ordinary People Reawakening an American Dream.
Kevin J. Palmer, Author
The Quiet Rich
